Author Archives: ldfisher

Final Project – Lauren F.

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My final project was focused on something that I have struggled with since I began working in two-dimentional art.  While working with bold colors to create interesting schemes has never been much of an issue for me, choosing and implementing colors that are close to reality has challenged me throughout my artistic work.

Often, the nuances of skin tones and varience of color within a greater plane escape me.  When I look at a person, I see flesh color: not the hints of green and yellow that make up skin.  Hair is brown or red or blonde.  I have to look especially closely to see the red in black hair, or the green in blonde.

So, my final project was based on uaing colors that are representative of real life.  I decided to use myself as a subject and paint a self portrait using hues that are as similar to reality as possible.

From the beginning I was challenged with having to draw a face, and have that face be my own.  Capturing the essence of people is another thing I need to work on quite a bit, and my own face is a confusing subject for me.  I sketched out a fair likeness before moving on to mixing colors.

In an effort to avoid layering too much light paint over dark, I began with the lightest parts of my face.  White made up the shiny parts, followed by a mixture mostly of white with trace amounts of red and green.  The original hue was too pink, so I added a bit of yellow to bring it down a bit, which worked well.

the darker skin tones were more of a challenge, because the photo I was working with was oversaturated, showing a lot of reds that were difficult to replicate.  I think I went a little too brown with those.

my jacket was fairly straightforward.  It was black, but the lighter parts worked quite well made up of blue.

I think the hair was easiest for me.  I mixed the brown out of red and green, added yellow for the lighter parts, and layered it successfully.  I avoided trying to texture it too much, since the focus was on color and I disn’t want to overwork the piece.

I think the main thing I need to work on in using realistic color is finding more confidence.  I add skin tones slowly, and often end up working too light because I am worried I’ll make something too dark and lose the whole piece.

I am still pretty happy with this piece, though.  I think it helped me develop my skills substancially.  I would be able to pursue another project with much more confidence than this one, and perhaps be able to use color more effectively to give my work volume.  Being able to recognize differences in color will also help me work in black and white, as it will give me another point of reference within each subject.IMAG0861_1_1 IMAG0838

Final Project Proposal – Lauren F.

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For my final project, I want to paint a picture using a realistic color scheme.  The most difficult thing about managing colors for me is to  reflect reality.  There is so much to color that I just don’t inherently see, which makes it difficult to replicate.

I will paint a self-portrait in order to work with colors.  This will limit most of my palette to neutral skin tones, but I will attempt to find a backdrop or background that adds a bit more color diversity to the scene.  Or I might just make the background up when I have done the main portrait.  Wearing brightly colored clothes will also spice things up.

In order to gain concept of what colors I should be mixing in order to make the portrait look more realistic, I will spend extra time examining the subject in order to get an understanding of all of the colors that make up the color I perceive.  My hair is brown, now, but it has traces of red, black, and blue in it.  My face is peachy, but there are bits of green under my eyes that go unnoticed without careful attention.

After the portrait is finished, I will pay special attention to photographing it so that it looks nice on the screen.  I will touch up the colors to make them appear as accurate to the actual photo as possible.

I don’t really know what to add to this proposal to make it more representative.  Schemes and palettes make enough sense to me; they’re decently straightforward.  The main challenge I face with color theory is concerning actual color selection and communication of volume.  If I manage to pull off either of these effects, I will be satisfied with my work.

Lauren F. – Project 3

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I thought through several design ideas – a chapstick tube, a box for playing cards, or a grocery bag for a boutique – before I decided to take inspiration from Scott Pilgrim v. The World and make a box for Ramona’s made-up tea, liver disaster.  I decided that the unique thing about my product would be that it is an alcoholic tea – hence the name “liver disaster.”

I wanted to keep the design of the container simple, and refer back to the comic and movie from which the idea originated, so I used exes to refer to the evil exes Scott battles.  The exes as eyes also refer vaguely to game culture.

I decided to use teal and orange once again, because I find the combination pleasing, but this time I diluted the orange to make the box look just a little sickly, instead of bright and happy.

Constructing the box was quite frustrating.  I did the coloring before I cut it out, but even so, it was a pain to put together.

Lauren F. – Lesson 10

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I guess I’ve been feeling fishy lately.  I used the fish to demonstrate the rule of thirds, using the acrylics more like watercolors to create an underwater vibe.  I tried to bring the two fish in the left third forward by using warmer colors against the cool dark background.

For the rule of odds, I painted some strawberries!  I tried to add in some more dimension to the fruit, expressing more tonal range in the pink/reds.

Lauren F. – Lesson 8 Paintings

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The fish painting is supposed to act as my color discord project.  I found this particularly challenging, because you have to be quite specific in choosing colors.  It does, however, make for a really striking image.

My expressive color painting is of a mug I made in a ceramics class that I am quite proud of.  I was drinking tea as I was working on this assignment, and really enjoying it.  I find that teal, particularly with orange, is a pleasant and happy color.  I made my brown cup into a teal one, and added the orange into what is actually a texture difference to make it more striking.

Lauren F. – Lesson 7 Paintings

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I find pointillism to be extremely frustrating because it is so time consuming.  However, I was pleased with my finished product.  The thing I found most difficult about this project was that the image I selected originally is made up of complimentary colors, which made placing complementary points next to each other within color fields more challenging.  With more time, I could have been more discerning with color placement.

I enjoy trying to use Van Gogh-esque expression in brush strokes, but find it difficult.  He had such mastery of stroke, and I find myself searching for new ways to make marks when I try to mimic him.  I was less pleased with my second painting than the first.

Project #2 – Lauren F.

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I’m getting a little bit better at keeping up with the schedule!  Here’s my project #2.

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I decided to do a little research into Fauvism, which was discussed at length in my last Art History class, “History of Modern Art.”  I appreciated the Fauvist movement, because it was really bright and colorful and aggressive.  Fauvists got their name because of their tendency to disregard reality in an aggressive way; their name springs from the French for “wild beast.”

Of course, this style appeals to me because I tend to get frustrated trying to make things look as they do in real life.  Choosing to replicate a style that refuses reality is an obvious choice for me.

When I researched Fauvism, a lot of portraits came up, but I had been drawing people all day, so I decided to work with a boat, sort of playing off the more complex harbor scenes of Raul Dufy and Andre Derain.

I don’t think I was quite successful, though.  Fauvism tended to favor /chunks/ of color, where I used a lot of lines.  I tried to make up for it by using obvious brush strokes in the clouds, but I think with all the very linear reeds in the water, it was kind of too late.  I also didn’t leave very much white space, which fauvists did on occasion.

I think a little more attention to making my brushstrokes more chunky and painterly would have improved this scene drastically.  Also, perhaps more of an areal perspective would have been more true to the movement.

I loved the Tetredic color scheme though!  It allowed me to use really rich colors which made a warm, sunset-like scene.  I think the greens, blue-greens, oranges and red-purples were gorgeous.

Color Schemes – Lauren F.

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IMAG0563Ohhh, look, a punkin!  Here is my Triadic scheme.  I liked this one the least of all, because it ended up looking just kind of muddy.  It’s Halloween themed, though!

IMAG0564Complimentary Portrait – I wanted to do a self-portrait, but I have not yet learned how to get PEOPLE, if that makes sense.  I can get my lines right and totally lose my face.  I need work.  The color scheme was straightforward, though.

IMAG0565I decided to do a blue monochromatic scheme, because my mother likes that color scheme.  I liked using the blues because they made the forest seem mysterious.  Wish her head was in proportion.  But whatevs.

IMAG0567I liked this color scheme – Split Complementary – the best.  It has a lot of really great contrast.  I decided to use that and go for a relatively simple design, kind of impressionistic.  This is my favorite piece from this assignment.