Mixing the middle neutral for these reminded me how punchy phthalo green is. My neutral tended to veer towards it and I had to correct course often. Enjoying following my curiosity for different lighting/intensity scenarios for these boxy pals.

Red and Pthalo Green. Might attempt a full scale one next. Funny it is summer here and going for the cooler colours or perhaps not. x

I'm also finding out that I kinda love the desaturated red/browns created with this particular combo.

Bottom: Terra Rosa and Terra Verte (Earth Colours)

I could mix a grey with the earth colours and not the above, can somebody that understands this let me know. Thinking it might have something to do the the colour’s bias or temperature.

Not sure which ones I like best - guess it would depend on my mood. x

These are a bit messy and maybe I am scatterbrained as well! Going to see if I can do more today.

red + green of similar warmth: cad red med & chromium oxide green

cooler red + warmer green: magenta & cad green.

I struggled the most with the last pair but landed in a place I'm happy about.

Mars red was the bully in this combo. I'm curious to see who would win out if combining it with phthalo green. Maybe that'll be for the next meditation session.

I do like the earthiness of these two together. Reminds me of a moody forest on a rainy day.

next, I wanna use this as a template and apply just 4 color-values from my red-green set to follow the 4 values in the collage.

I tried using the olive green and the yellow green, essentially a light value and dark value green to maintain more saturation in the light.

Really loved breaking down the value structure. This one ate up half of my pencil, but I had to see those darks realll dark. 😅 The subtlety of the glass in the middle wrapped with the vine.. the lush flow of the fruit shapes.. just mmmmm!

Playing with yellow and violet colored pencils

Also I’m kind of obsessed with the little figures at the bottom, which I didn’t even see until doing the drawing for this!

My husband, Ken said he loves my drawing about the same scene, and he doesn’t understand it anymore. But I love this slow careful and thoughtful approach which gave me lots notice. :)

I’m excited to use this piece as a reference for the next exploration, and think it will be an invaluable tool for getting to know the bones of images in the future. Still working on simplifying shapes more..

Thank youu KT and AJ for offering all these processes, entryways, for seeing and constructing an image in a new way. Learning new ways to see, more and more. Being an artist is so effing fun!

AND

Opaque block-in using full dyad palette, not strictly following temperature of light rules, rather just dancing instinctually among the color contrasts and local hue groupings.

These may be 1st passes on more developed paintings, or may stay as is...

Satelliting with Yellow is next!

Compared to the initial sketch, felt a lot more of its compositional energy and motion when putting together the collage. Really interested in abstracting it even further!

Left: gouache

Right: oil first pass

I’m not sure which color I prefer. From design, I love the rhythm of the gouache painting. One of the consideration of the oil painting was the color of blue. I put the dark wine red but I still have the question that it works in this world.

I would like to make the gouache with better paper, and aim better paint quality. Trying different color sets looks fun too. I think oil one can be more interesting…

I painted this under the worst conditions. Coco's appointment was coming soon, she was in a bad mood, and the gouache was already drying. And despite all the effort, I didn't like this painting at all. There was something about it that felt "eww." Also Value and temperature structure were destroyed.

But when I gave it to Coco as a toy, she seemed drawn to the high contrast. She grabbed and moved the paper around. From another angle, it looked like flowers stuck in a vase, and I started to like it!

I’m glad nothing wasted! haha

Left: red light, green shadow tertiaries.

Right: adding some more saturated reds + the middle neutrals, still red light/green shadows.

It really made me slow down and look at how the different materials interacted with the light/shadows. The gourd (pumpkin? squash?) rind vs its flesh vs the plate the slices are sitting on vs the tablecloth, etc. Think I want to zoom back out for the next experiments, but really enjoyed getting to know this intimate moment.

This one reminds me of the Matisse Black Window we looked at. It matters to me.

Little Tarot cards...

Having problems with the lemon and peel will have to work out how to do it. Does anyone else have problems with yellow paint and getting a good opaque coverage.

I have painted scrape and tonked in an effort to try and get it how I want it. Kind of like what is happening when scrape and tonk. Trying not to be realistic - but that is always where I go. Simplification for me is very difficult. Trying not to be precious. But as soon as I deviate from the principles/tools KT gives us -just goes to shite!

But will keep experimenting and working on it. Second photo - I really like what is happening on the butcher’s paper after tonking the painting.

And I’m quite excited to share this. 4 values. I need to do some further touch ups, but I’m quite happy with how it turned out. It was delightful to see the number of places where the figure and ground dissolved.

Still feeling challenged to loosen up and let the paint do its thing more. Maybe some smaller, messy studies of my still life will be next?

During my two years at MCA, I took several breaks due to family passing, pregnancy, and childbirth. But I could back to the “real” when I was ready.

The beauty of having this second world is being able to become who I want to be, regardless of roles.

I think art is in our lives, and no matter what subject we paint. Love you there!

Really enjoyed the shape exploration and loosening up that came along with this process. Accepting that sometimes the paper glued itself where it wanted to glue itself, but it made intriguing shapes in the process that might not otherwise have happened if I had tried to control the outcome more.

Wondering - this is for the design gurus - the top right of the painting the dark and light angle - I think it works - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated?

The second image is my messy gouache set up - I’m using designer gouache and I found the stay wet palette actually took a lot of the moisture. I switched to mixing in yogurt container lids after having made a swatch chart. Worked much better and I had more uniform paint consistency.

Kimberly Trowbridge the angle behind the rose should I put it to the left a little?

Now on to the De Heem.

Cad Orange, ultra marine blue

First pass

I wish I’d reduced the number of shapes. Think I’ll let this dry and come back to block in chunkier shapes.

Would love some feedback!

1. Apple slice facing mirror..

2. Apple slice peeking toward viewer..

3. Dramatic lighting— Thought this was an interesting idea to incorporate to add to the drama of the scene, and could be integrated in either version above. I like the light that’s reflected in the mirror in the dark zone!

- Should I slice the onion in half to create a more flat plane that catches the light?

- Should I zoom in or out more? Come in at another angle?

- Any other thoughts?

Thank you 🙏😊

Liferoom

Questions in my head ..

• warm soft light or strong cool light?

• Which angle of the light?

• How many characters in it?

• Zoom in or Zoom out? And How much?

• Any colors do I put in?

I really enjoyed the first combo. Mars red is so earthy, warm, joyful (especially with IY), yet strong and assertive. It both enriches and grounds phthalo. I struggled a lot with the second pair. It's a weirdo set but the struggle taught me a lot about color key, especially when the temperature itself cannot yield a reliable structure.

I'll be traveling later this week so I won't be able to tap into oils for a couple of weeks, but am going to keep playing with this motif in ProCreate and colored pencil and see where that takes me.

Fanchon (Napthol) Red & Cobalt Green- what a bleh set! Was tough. Not enough body for me.

A lil’ Cad Med Yellow satellite.

It seemed to me, at least while doing these particular studies, that a jump in my intensity columns between the light and shadow (+/- yellow) led to the temperature being felt more overall. The warms feel warmer, the cools cooler. The smaller the jump (or no jump in intensity and just yellow added in), the more grounded it feels but the temp doesn’t pop as much. Satelliting in yellow just opens up a whole new avenue of discovery. Fun!!

3-value collage

1 pose, 2 options

2. CREEK - started this some time ago and want to revisit

There are major things that I want to figure out - value/temperature. The central triangle napkin and roll really bug me. Scraping down for now. And fresh paint piles.

The next is my portrait of Tim from life room last week in mars red, indian yellow, phthalo green, sap green.

The third is a life room painting using indian yellow, naphthol red, and helio green (phthalo and permanent green).

Our wounds "though not obliterated, can become their own kind of fuel, their own kind of illumination”.  Greg Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart.

"Martyrdom of St. Peter" by Spada Lionello

I have a cold and am pretty low energy so I’m keeping things small

Colored pencil (ochre, reddish brown, lavendar)

One day I may grow tired of painting this master study over and over, but today is not that day 😂

2. Life Room Study with Pthalo Green + Hansa Yellow Mix, and Quinacridone Magenta.

3. Box Study in Cad Red Medium and Pthalo Green.

4. Construction of tree shadows for the skull painting

I appreciate how it connects to what we are doing here, and every image and process showed by others gave me a guidance.

From rock study, I love more neutral colors and darker worlds. So I changed the floor a little bit darker.

From figure collage with KT, I love to see the light pass his on the surface. Also I enjoy figure ground relationships, and how light/shadow makes shapes.

De Heem also tells me how I love the figure ground desolation even though it doesn’t show the perfect objects

Really wrestled with mars in a dark setting (so dead after dying...) But feeling like I've fullfilled the learning goals here - a scene with two different light sources and various spatial depth.

Last night, I fell asleep after reading about the layers of material in Juan Gris’ multimedia collages. He lasagna layered those things. And made gridded under drawings. thanks to Kimberly for expanding my 🧠💙👁️.

Reading Marsh Island by Sarah Orne Jewett. Dug into my photos of a visit to her house last Fall and found this little owl monster. It’s one of her ink wells.

It attached to my subconscious. I’ve been taking photos of pareidolia moments for years. Keeping a file.

2. I repainted the background of the bird painting with wax.

3. Digital, pixelated version of same painting.

4. "Frosty Morning," thinking about how to activate the edges of the rectangle.

5. "Shed with Crow," playing with a deadpan style. How to paint the pastoral landscape where I live without making sentimental crap?

6. Work in progress - plein air maple

I’ve been feeling pretty exhausted from life stuff these last few weeks, but super looking forward to next term. I’m hoping that my spring schedule will allow me to be a lot more present with my own work, which I’m craving desperately. Anyway, that’s all, and I wanna be a painter so bad.

When in doubt, throw in some lavendar

This was my first time ever bringing paint supplies (acrylic gouache) to figure drawing, and I wasn’t able to brave using it until the very last pose, which was the tough laying down one on the first slide.

Addicting! Can’t wait to do it again!

1. What developments in your practice are you most excited about?

- Colors!

After looking back my works, the rock study is the most learned and important exercise for me. It expanded my imagination so much. I might have not understood the importance last year.

2. Where are you headed next in your work/ what are you longing for?

- I love my De Heem collages (both composition and detail ) because of the process. I glued many layers with questions. I needed to watch lectures and slides again and again.

I couldn’t join conversations so much, not only because Coco but also my English skills, but everything I heard gave me reflections and hints of development.

I’m so excited about next theme - painting from life. I don’t think I have an energy to paint whole things, interiors or stuff with using MCA brain.

I’m thinking to stick to collage/paint figures like Paula doing. Because these are very thoughtful and exciting, AND Baby glows up so fast…!

I’d like to keep this precious memory in my sketch and want to think about colors thoughtfully as I could in the De Heem projects.

'EXPANSION'

Developments in Practice What Excited About - Where headed next and what am I longing for?

• Going bigger getting looser and enjoying more play in my work. This is where I need to be! Would like to do some landscapes also and have been mulling over this for some time.

• Need to paint in a series have a number of paintings going at the same time - as I find once I have done a subject like the one below I don’t want to return to it.

• I also need some structure/discipline in my life which includes my painting practice. I just seem to get up in the AM and go where the wind blows.

• Need to step out of my comfort zone and take some risks with my art. Explore different ways of using oils (without solvents) and perhaps doing oils and multimedia - not sure how this looks at this stage - but will just DO IT and see where it leads.

• I am envisioning a place/studio where I can go to paint in solitude as too many distractions in my little room in my little house (which I love) to get into the flow and just paint!

• COLLAGE which I have been avoiding!

• Am learning so much from everyone else in this group and look forward to our last term together.

  Nighty night!!!

• 
  

- Growing sensitivity and vocabulary around color, slowly but surly.

- Taking time with a painting and the painting process in general.

- Conviction in the importance of painting in my life - it's instrumental in my way of being beyond the action itself.
Where are you headed next in your work/ what are you longing for?

- Shape and touch

- Balance my artistic expression and homework exercises

- Let go, and find what I truly want to say again

This term, I've been excited that the majority of my paintings are from life. An energy of color, form and chunky, intuitive paint applications has started happening. The Master study set me free to dramatically manipulate my paintings to create continuity and stronger geometry. That license is a game changer for me--to not be a slave to the reference.

Growing Edge

1. I'm thrilled to continue painting from life and memory, with photos as a safety net.

2. I'm longing (and scared) to do gouache collage and gridded abstracts. I want to develop a playful, improvisational language combining the graphic and illusionistic.

3. Make sexier surfaces by playing with wax and scraping.

4. I've been dwelling on Emily Carr who painted ordinary things with such intensity. I want to hold onto the original flash of perception throughout the painting and strengthen it. I notice myself overthinking, getting lost in the particulars, and doubting that original vision but when I trust it, it's good.

I pretty like the right top colors.

I had some crazy days these days. My husband got fevers and he has still sick. We’re going around to have many tour for Coco’s daycare, many information and documents, but we did not find a good option yet. 🤯😵‍💫

I’m not sure I’ll keep painting it, but I used the color sets from last rock studies, and used template from the last collage.