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Painting

I have a love/hate relationship with painting.  On one hand, it's a fascinating medium and it's the kind of art I like viewing the most.  On the other hand, it's messy, takes a lot of preparation, and requires that I work alone for hours on end to make any real progress.

I also had a terrible painting instructior in college that honestly believed that pain was a prerequisite for great art.  She bullied students and openly ridiculed art that wasn't her style of art.    Man, I hated that instructor, and I hated making art.   I took several years off from painting after that class...
The Road Home E-mail

the_road_homeWatercolor on Paper, 1997

I'm not very good at watercolor.  In fact, this was done in a drawing independent study I had.  I don't know why I had to work with watercolors in a drawing class.  I hated them at first.  Sadly, my favorite one is in the possession of my mom, so I haven't scanned it (she lives in LA).  This one has a nice simplicity to it, though.
 
Color Study E-mail

girl-laurel-2

girl_laurel

Acrylic on Canvas Board, 1996

Well I finally got a new scanner, and I get a good scan of my most unimpressive painting.  This one was more of a project than a painting, but a great project nonetheless.  It involves taking a famous painting and creating an exact duplicate except for the colors, which are changed dramatically in order to create a different mood.
 
Out of Darkness E-mail

Acrylic on Canvas, 1995

outdark*Sigh*  Scans of photos just don't do color paintings justice... This was the first Christmas present for my wife, Michelle.  I finished it in little less than 40 hours, but I wish I had more time to put into it.  I remember being sick all that week, while she was with her parents in St. Mary's.  I worked in the cold painting studio on campus, listening to my Robin Hood and Conan soundtracks, painting furiously.  This is a basic Juxtaposition piece, with the melancholic greys and withered trees to the right, and the vibrant, living trees to the left.  It was pretty symbolic of my life up to that point.  Michelle helped me out of my own darkness.  She was (and still is) my elven princess.
 
Beware the Eyes of Marx E-mail

Acrylic on Canvas Board, 1993

eyesmarxI finished this in my Senior year of High School, but it took FOREVER.  I'd say about 100 hours of time.  I really didn't know much about painting, and I must have painted everything 3 or 4 times over.  I also painted everything with a tiny brush, and was VERY obsessed about the details.  I still see major problems with certain elements in this piece, but overall, one of my better ones, even if it is 16 years old (sheesh).   Sorry about the quality of the file.  It is a scaled image of a bad scan of a poor photo of my painting, so it has lost a lot in the transfers.