The Tyler class has been extended and I couldn't be happier! Here's what I'm working on at home based on our in-class explorations.

a few observations:
1. Painting yourself is harder than painting others
2. Painting with a knife rocks because you don't have to clean the brushes
​3. Not smoothing everything out is hard to adjust to

Due to NAEA Convention, I will miss the final week of my class at Tyler.  I am truly devastated by this - I loved every minute of this painting class and feel truly lucky to have had the opportunity to work alongside such awesome people and with such an extraordinary instructor.  Here's where each painting stood when I left class yesterday:  

In week four, we began out contemporary piece - our suggested subject matter was to create a figurative piece.  I didn't bring images so it was suggested I work from observation - self portrait time!  I was only permitted to have the mirror for about 15 minutes - forcing me to loosen up, work conceptually and, well, play.

Last night, I couldn't stop looking at her - a total Narcissus moment.  I decided she needed a partner and after our delicious brunch, went to Jerry's to fetch up another canvas and the magical colors I had borrowed to begin this work.  
Gary was a dear and "posed" for me - "how long is this gonna take, babe?" - 5 minutes, promise.  I didn't take many "in process" photos for this one but here's what I have: 

And here they are together - finished maybe.  I have a third in mind - us together on one canvas.  Not sure when that will happen since I should be doing about 100 things other than painting and blogging...

This is the painting that I began in class at Tyler.  When I started it - and the home set up - I was really loving the change of pace and style.  However, as I was finishing this, I lost interest and don't know that I love it (or its buddy) quite as much now...

This still life from the oil painting class I've been taking at Tyler is slowly coming to life.  I've never used glazes before and, though I like the look a great deal, the time and the patience and the planning required to slowly build an image in this way is probably not going to be for me.  Believe it or not, the images below are each different - I find it really hard to see the progress!

The class at Tyler, and more importantly, the instructor (Kathleen Eastwood) has pushed me way out of the comfort zone and into something new that I'm not sure how I feel about.  The following images represent my work at home that was inspired by our Impressionist palette and technique assignment.  
Things that are different from how I would normally approach a painting include:

• the colors on the palette itself 
• the application of paint 
• the lack of pre mixed colors applied to the painting
• the lack of drawing to begin the work - rather, block in base colors and GO!
• the inclusion of more than one object - this does not represent the Impressionist challenge, rather it represents me breaking my routine of painting lonely objects.

Some technical issues exist - box edges, questionable perspective - and the final photo is all washed out in the upper right corner due to lighting conditions, but for now it feels done.  Honestly, when I look at it, I don't feel like it is my work - and I'm not sure how I feel about that...  If by some chance you see this, eh hem Kathleen, please know that I love your class and that you are challenging me to create differently.  

As a transfer student, I somehow managed to skip over some entry level classes that leave me feeling like there are holes in my painting knowledge.  I decided to find a class to try to fill those holes in hopes of breaking my routines and developing my skills in news ways.  

During the first week, we worked with a traditional palette to develop on underpainting.  I had never done this before.  The thinned out paint made me a little crazy but as the class went on, I felt more comfortable.  During week two, we added more paint to the image, building the darks and lights of the image.  During week three, we began using medium (liquin) to add glazes to the image - creating deeper darks and eventually, richer lights.  The process is slow and forces me to think about painting in a very different way than I have been working. 

Half way through week two's class, we set aside our traditional work and began a piece using an impressionist palette.  In contrast to the first piece, the goal was to block in as much color/light as possible in the first day - "drawing" with he brush was discouraged.  During week three of class (week two on this painting) the goal was to start building the light in the image - again focusing on color and not form or line or structure of the objects.  Brushstrokes and the play of colors off one another are key in this process - blending the paint on the canvas is to be avoided, a tricky thing for me to avoid. 

Between weeks two and three, I felt the urge to make another attempt at the impressionist approach - I was hugely disappointed with my composition on the painting I was making in class.  The next steps for this piece will be to stat building the light and color with brushstrokes in the same manner that has been started in the above piece.  I'm looking forward to getting back to this painting during the week and working to create the lively sense of color and light that is starting to emerge from the in-class piece.

There is one more week of class for me - two for everyone else.  I'm not sure how far I will get but I am really looking forward to seeing how each of these images develops.