Self-Evaluation

On the above project, I discovered painting with a pallet knife and am quite smitten with the texture it creates. The subject is Neil Patrick Harris and I only very loosely followed the haiku project guidelines as shown only in the sizes of the canvas (smaller, larger, smaller; 5, 7, 5 referring to the syllables in haiku lines).

What I personally think I need to improve upon most is the face and I also intend to improve the suit. I generally aim for an accurate rendering and here he looks a bit too much like a caricature. I chose the subject because I admire and respect him tremendously and so I do intend to work over him once the painting has dried. I feel that the background is much better than the foreground.

Through this painting I began learning more about painting skin tones and it shows that I'm still learning. Overall the piece is more warm than cool and this is mostly because I prefer using reds. In the future I will work more to keep a balance.

Haiku Project--I'VE GOT IT.

Portrait of Neil Patrick Harris across the 3 canvases (center one larger than the other two) and the background will be muddy blue transitioning to muddy red with some vibrant spots of color and white splatters here and there to emulate stars.

It's going to be LEGEN--

Haikus

All businessman types
Emailing just like at work
But here they are drunk

The above haiku is not mine, nor is it likely to be related to the painting that I will do inspired by haikus. I do find it amusing, however, and the series of 3 paints that I'll be doing will resemble a haiku because the first and last will be on smaller canvases. As for the subject matter...well, I'm still brainstorming.

Commentary and photo of my most recent project, albeit incomplete for now, will be posted in the near future.

Initial Statement

Strong Technical Skills I possess:

• Observation
• Texture/using brush strokes to describe subject matter

Technical Skills I need to work on:

• Speed - I'm a somewhat slow painter
• Color - I can always improve

What I most enjoy about painting is the paint itself and utilizing it to the best of my ability. I'm a sucker for nice texture and I love building my paint up so that it's rich in layers and color.

Preferred subject matter for painting is that same as it was for drawing and it hasn't changed since I was in the 5th grade: people. I love drawing - and now especially painting - human beings. I love painting faces above all else and I am partial to hands as well.

Why do I want to be an artist? That's obviously a difficult question to answer for most artists - that is, unless you break it down to simply enjoying making art. I've been drawing since the 3rd grade and painting since August 2011. Senior year of high school I changed my style to what is more or less a realist approach. I find making art calming and I'm a higher stress individual. It's therapeutic and rewarding in that I feel accomplished. When I make progress or, better yet, finish a project, I know that I'm being productive and it doesn't sit well with me to be anything less.

Of course, I would like to do more than simply make art to make myself happy. Most things I do I do to achieve some sort of happiness or satisfaction, but I would also like my art to make statements that words could never do as effectively. I want to take advantage of mediums and images and communicate a message more directly than I ever could verbally by showing viewers what I want them to see, what I want them to realize.

Rosetta 2, 2005-2006, Jenny Saville

Honestly I don't stay updated and aware of other artists enough. I would love to go to more galleries, but the fact is that I haven't. An artist I truly admire, though, is one that I was introduced to in Introductory Painting last semester, Jenny Saville. Her style and goal resonate with me because of the expressiveness of her brush stokes and the way that she approaches some women's issues and also transgender issues in her more recent works.