DPAL happenings; project for March

Getting a bit bogged down by some small things recently, it seems. Luckily, my brain knows better, even though my emotions/energy level are being pulled downward. :P

Last week, I went in to model for a class at the DuPage Art League, and I will be going back for a second session tonight. During the five-minute breaks, I would go out of the room to walk around the main gallery—to check out other people’s entries for the February exhibition as well as to look through the teachers’ portfolio binder that was set out by the entrance.  As I was making my way around the darkened gallery, the space being lit up mostly by the light flowing out through the classroom door, some sort of heavy feeling sunk into me. I was struck by how literally the other submissions seemed to address the theme, by how straightforward their interpretations seemed to be. I also noticed that close to (maybe even over) half of the entries had gotten some sort of ribbon (DPAL gives out a few small prizes and some merit ribbons for every exhibition). Not having a ribbon seemed to be the exception, the minority, and my two wood panels were in that minority (at least they hung them together, unlike last month XD). That itself didn’t really matter, but it contributed to that feeling of isolation that was already creeping up on me. I felt like this was a world I wouldn’t ever belong to, and while I was thankful for that, it was still a lonely, miscast kind of feeling.

That said, doing something monthly for the DPAL is a good exercise. This month, I am finally getting to paint an original idea that I actually want to work on, as opposed to doing something that is either quick or a recreation of a previous work more for the sake of practice. The theme for March is “Green,” and once I thought about it for a bit, I realized that green is a color I almost never use. So I thought I would try to use it to symbolize/express a combination of envy, decay, and growth.

Currently, I’m just a little farther than this:

Next month, I’ll be sure to start working right away instead of waiting until the middle of the month. :P

February projects for DPAL //boringboring

Falling a bit behind on updating this blog, oops.

My pieces for the January exhibition at the DuPage Art League (oil version of “Coucher du Soleil” and “Viscera Astralis”) didn’t sell, so now they are back at home, sitting on the stairs above me—a bit lonely, but not offended at all, which is good. :P

The oil version of “Coucher du Soleil” was my first (and only, at least for a while) effort to submit something “sellable” to the DPAL. For the February theme of “Games People Play,” I chose to stray from the more unsettling interpretations and went with something a bit more “mindless”—I wanted to experiment with oils on wood, but not have to spend too much time on it. Soooooooooo--- for the first painting, I redid “Heart Type A.” I rediscovered the original lineart not too long ago and realized that something about the coloring really butchered/concealed the actual linework, which I still kind of liked (hate the colored version, ew ew ew). For the second painting, I needed something fairly effortless so that I could price it under $125 (silly requirements, courtesy of the DPAL), so I decided to go with an idea I randomly got one day while standing around at work. Staring down at my hands in boredom, I saw something that I could work with (and also something naughty enough in implication to spice things up at the DPAL a bit—drastically needed, if you ask me, but also a losing battle).

Won’t  babble on about this here, but I actually really enjoyed working on wood—loved the way the grain of the wood peeked through the layers of paint. Working in this kind of style was infinitely less painful than what I did last month. *__*

 
I worked on these two a bit more after these photos were taken, but planned on finishing them up completely after getting back from Ohayocon. Due to a massive snowstorm in Chicago, however, my bus trip back was delayed by two days, and I pretty much had to submit them in “unfinished” condition (pretty sure HTA would’ve still looked unfinished even if I touched it up like I wanted to, since I chose to completely skip any kind of background). Fairly certain no one will buy them, so I can work on them a little more after getting them back if I really want to. :)

New prints & experimenting with traditional media

The paper I ordered finally arrived a couple of days ago, so I spent a bit of time yesterday experimenting with different settings and trying to get the color just right. Hopefully this is the beginning of a very different way of getting ready for conventions. :P
Needless to say, having more control over the quality and consistency of my prints feels great.

Also, I have recently undertaken the task of recreating a couple of pieces I had previously colored digitally in traditional media. One of them is "Ms. Jelly Anne," which I was commissioned to color by someone who stopped by my table at NYCC/NYAF. At first, I thought a combination of pastels and colored pencil would suit the original lineart the best, but I ended up using colored pencil almost exclusively:

Colored pencil is not a medium I normally use, but working on this was a pretty interesting and refreshing experience precisely for that reason. It felt like the progress went very smoothly and I was able to complete the coloring fairly quickly.

Recreating "Coucher du Soleil," however, has been a bit of a different experience. There was not much I could do with the original lineart--it was drawn on the same type of sketchbook paper as "Ms. Jelly Anne," and not wanting to render it in colored pencil, I decided to experiment with........ oils! D:> A bit intimidating, since I haven't touched oils in about 4 years or so, but I dug out my little set of oil paints and brushes from high school times XD, bought a couple more tubes and a couple of small detail brushes (as well as the necessary mediums), and decided to give it a try. *__*
The idea to do this was inspired by the commissioner I mentioned above, who actually decided to hold off on having me color "Coucher du Soleil." I just figured that I might as well go through with it and, if anything, display it at the DuPage Art League during their January exhibition. I had been wanting to try out something in oils after going down to Atlanta to spend some time with Sasha this past September, and this seemed like a good enough excuse~~

What was perhaps more intimidating than the unfamiliarity (and price!) of this medium was the time restriction. I transferred the pencil image onto the canvas around Dec. 17 and knew that I would only have about 15 days to complete the painting, after which point it would take at least a few days for it to dry--just in time for the date of entry for the January exhibition. It would've been nice for those 15 days to have been completely free, but thanks to my work schedule, that potential working time was severely cut.

I still have a bit of work to do on the painting, but I think that the hardest parts are done. An associate at Blick suggested Galkyd as a painting medium--it drastically reduces the drying time, which gives me today and tomorrow to work. :)