It has been a very busy month for me with a strong focus on national boards. In addition, I put together a student art exhibition at The Phoenix Art Museum in a weeks time! Their Children's Art Gallery space had a last minute cancellation for the month of November, so they called me and asked if I could put something up. The art department at North High came together and we matted and framed almost 40 student artworks. We had an opening on the 9th with a crowd of about 70 students and their families. It was more than fabulous, in fact it was one of the best experiences I have ever had! I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the exhibit and the number of people that showed up. I will post a few pictures when I can.
Being so busy, I have had little time to make art, plus I missed going to last Tuesday night's drawing session. I did go the week before, on the 1st. That's when I painted these three artworks. They are all acrylic paint on brown paper, 24" x 36". I used the brayer technique that I am currently fascinated with. We had a new model, Julian. He was rather long waisted and I struggled a bit with his proportions. In this first painting, he was wearing his glasses.
The second painting was a foreshortened pose that I started to get but am not sure about it. So typical of me to doubt my success. I do like the way this one turned out, the shading at the base shows that he was resting against something and the strong, diagonal black lines helps to unify the paining.
This is the third painting of the night and is probably my least favorite. On a good note, it does capture they way Julian looks.
To finish out the night, I worked a sketch in my sketchbook. It was a 30 minute pose and I wanted to focus on Julian's facial features. I started the drawing with his nose. I have found that if I try to sketch the shape of the face first, the proportions are almost always off. Instead, I start with the center of the face and work my way out. As usual, I ran out of time!
This month, I have only completed a couple of my 6" collages. This one is titled "Life is Good" (of course).
I was in Tucson the first weekend in November for the National Board Fall Retreat, so I didn't make any collages. I did, however, make some really good progress on my entries for National Boards. I completed entry 1 after getting some feedback plus I learned more about how to approach the analysis of my videos. This coming week, I will be videotaping in my classroom.
This collage is actually on a background oil painting on paper that I had cut up into 6" squares. It is somewhat experimental to see if the items stay adhered. It is titled "A Kodak Moment".
This one is title "It's a 2 Olive Night". Just basic fun.
I made this collage this morning in celebration of Aunt Dolores' 90th birthday which is tomorrow, November 14th. I will give it to her as a birthday gift.
I have a busy week ahead of me, but it should be a good one. I really hope to video just the right segments for both entry 2 and entry 3. Wish me luck!
