Next semester I'm going to be working on another series. I had a lot of fun when i was working on paneled houses, so i was thinking of painting homes around Denton. Older homes, with figures in the frame, and the paintings will probably be cropped differently. I want to work on the idea more, but i would like to know what you guys think. I sometimes have a hard time coming up with a concept, any ideas are great. I think it would be a good idea to get an early start on next semester. It won't really look like this, but this is the type of house i was thinking of.. and think of it in a different angle. I was also thinking of using smaller homes, the kind that people just pass by without noticing.

I wanted to post up more paintings that i have worked on this semester. Tell me what you think, please.

i watched a movie not too long ago called factory girl. It's about the life of Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol. After watching the movie i did some research on the original two, I had no idea how manipulative Andy Warhol was. It's a sad story, but really interesting. I sometimes think that the artists story is more of what makes the artist well known, maybe more so than the work, or at least in their case, in the long run.

This is Dean Mitchell's work. I also spelled his name wrong in the last blog according to Google image. I love the way he fills in shadows, everything is clean, and if you look close, you can find different colors where you least expect it.

So i had a critique with Millie yesterday, over my series on hurricanes. She told me she thought it would be a good idea for me to try to find a show by the coast, in Louisiana. It made me think of an artist who came to Denton a year ago, Dean Mitchel. He paints New Orleans and people from the coast. I think he has a gallery in New Orleans.. anyway he is really good, he influenced me.

So i have completely neglected this blog post, and i don't know why. With all of the other crazy things going on in my life now, i guess forgot to log on. I'm sort of mad at myself for letting this go. I think it was probably to my best interest, and at this point is pointless now. I still want to talk about what has been interesting me, and about the paintings i have painted lately. Last week i had to turn in an "adopt an object project," and i wrote mine over Jackson Pollock. I will admit that I waited until the last minute, like i do with so many things, but it worked out. I wasn't looking forward to writing or doing much research, so when i started cracking into the books i checked out, I was surprised to find that i enjoyed learning about Pollock. I could not put the book down, it was weird. I can't remember the name of the book exactly at the moment, I'm in the computer lab, but I think it was something like "Such Desperate Joy Imagining Jackson Pollock". No, that is what it is called. Its a good book, if your interested in Pollock, I recommend it.. It has everything about Jackson Pollock, about his life and his career, it even has a copy of his birth certificate, and social security card- which is kind of weird if you think about it.
Jackson Pollock is really an inspirational person, he broke the mold for artists of that time.

Two weeks ago, i was in a Ken Hosmer workshop through VAST (Visual Arts Society of Texas). I was able to participate in the workshop because I got a scholarship for the program. It was in honor of Mary June Impson, one of Millie Giles' good friends who passed away.
I had never participated in a workshop before, and really did not know what to expect. When i walked in for the first time, i was horribly nervous. I knew no one, except for Jo Williams, the president of VAST, and i only knew her through e-mail. To say the least, I was going into this alone, like the first day of school.
Everyone was so nice, more than I ever expected.
Ken Hosmer is a very good watercolorist. He focuses on color and design when he paints, and is very fond of the value system. The workshop was set up so that in the morning, Ken could teach his technique, and in the afternoon we would have time to paint. He would do a demo every day, each showing how he used the technique he taught.
I learned that you can't take everything you have learned out of a workshop, but you have to take what you learned, and apply it to yourself. I liked the idea of color change, and using value to complete a composition. I may or may not corporate those two styles into my next paintings, but I will always have a better sense of design.