Nicole Silvia

Painting that is done so far. I am maybe 2/27ths of the way done. I am excited to start the bags. It'll be a nice change in media. Even with the gum arabic and corn starch, the ink is still a bit runny and I am short, so I end up with stained hands and forearms. It goes on the canvas nicely though!

TWENTY FOUR jars of ink. 2 half pint, 9 pint and a half, and 12 quart jars later, I am finally finished. It has taken me about a pint of ink to paint what I have so far, so about 38.5 pints (almost 5 gallons) *should* be enough. I have spent at least 40 hours so far making the ink, but multi-tasking and doing homework while simmering it, plus the $40ish it cost in supplies, turned out to be much more cost effective than asking someone else to make this much ink for me. 

 Side project: the actual walnuts are of no use when making ink, just the husks. Walnuts are expensive. Plus, waste not, want not, so I took the usable nuts and dried them in the oven, 250* for about 3 hours. The outside is dry to the point that I am concerned about catching them on fire if I leave them in any longer, but the meat is still soft. Hopefully they will air dry to the point of being able to store them and give some as gifts to the people who donated them to me. Now that I know how easy it is, I kind of regret not saving any from the 5 previous batches. I couldn't get all of the husk fibers off, so they don't look as clean and pretty as store bought walnuts.

Real Life Tintypes! - Laura Brennan

I'm not entirely sure if anyone checks this regularly, but many of you missed my excitement Monday night.  I produced my first [semi]successful tintype! Today I had the chance to work on several more, but I encountered a few issues.  The dark slide that covers the plate in the film holder kept coming in contact with the wet plate, resulting in the plate being smeared.  To resolve this, I just didn't use the dark slide. I simply just load the film holder into the camera while only the safe-lights are on. Once everything is in place, I'm then able to turn on the strobes.

I also had some issues with lighting and having enough light to properly expose each plate.  With a some help from Mike (and a little damage to his retinas), I think we have the lighting figured out. It will probably take a little more trial and error.

Another issue I've had is in coating my plates.  I've found getting the technique down in coating the plate with collodion will just take some practice.  I've managed to survive with only a fraction of the silver nitrate that I ordered (the rest should be in by Thursday). Development is also tricky, but I'm starting to get the hang of things.

Below are all of my tintypes that I've produced (both successes and failures). Enjoy!

First One!

Laura with the her tintype

All of the ones I've attempted so far.

Most recent.

Nearly Finished

So here's my most recent progress picture of this because I'm awful and keep forgetting. I'm getting closer! I am almost finished with the dots, even though it's kind of hard to see in the photo of it. I'll be happy to be done with that. I also added the silver ink on the buildings, but I think it needs to be bluer so I might go over with a little blue as well. Other than that I just need to add the detail to the buildings on the left and then add some more detail on a few places and some colour.
I still haven't done a lot more in the other piece because I'm struggling to find a good reference picture of the WWII part, and I think I need to have that at least sketched before I go too far, or it will mess the rest of the picture up.
Just because I forgot to post for a while, here are some other in progress pictures that I obviously took with the intention of posting, but never actually did.

 

Kelsey Rawson update #2

The first image has not changed since the first post.  I agree with the comments from the critique that I need to work on the colors and some of the expressions.  In the second piece, OCD, I will continue to stain and add as the paint drys.  The next three images show the progression of the next two pieces.  For the one with the face, I will have most of the detail in the face.  It is my hope to create a very relatable sorrowful look on their face.  The background will be bright and somewhat happy, and the figures in the back ground will be given more detail.  With the final orange piece.  For now I will continue to work on the small scale.  I will make the room look bigger, to exaggerate the tortured feeling of the person hiding in the corner. 

Sarah Sipe update 2

This one has about three layers on it right now. Most of the layers have been glazing with oil. The words stick out a little to much for me, so I might try to take them to the background just a bit. 

This one has about four layers so far, again mostly glazing with some dry brushing. I want to make the eyes more detailed and rework the eyebrows. So far this one is my favorite. 

Erin Cieniewicz

Getting all the muscle injuries transferred on to the canvas. I like the effect that the extra paper that is left on from the transfer process. Seth gave me the idea to add wood to the canvas, whether it's coming off from one of the sides or coming straight off of the canvas itself; I'm still deciding what's going to happen with that. The last picture are just some ideas I came up with for what I want to put on the pieces of wood. I was also thinking of adding some of the extra sketches I have to the canvases but smaller and in random positions.

Matthew Amendolara

This is about the 8th layer of acrylic and gesso, the idea is for the masonite to function as a multilayered clayboard when I begin to paint and sand. 

One of the first layers of gesso experimenting with color. 

I attempted to use the air powered drill bits in the basement as a subtractive drawing technique, but was unsatisfied with the results. I think instead I'll try a more traditional subtractive technique using wet paint. 

Not sure what the subject of this one will be, but for now I'm more focused on layering and establishing a color theme. 

In this piece I am attempting to capture elements of the visual culture surrounding surfing and kiteboarding. There are also elements of long boarding included, because of its association with surf culture. I've been layering the clay board with a combination of multimedia materials. By using a power sander, handheld sand paper, and other subtractive techniques, Im attempting to pull forward and push back each layer. So far i've focused mostly on abstracted imagery, but I'd like to begin combining photorealism as well. I plan on accomplishing this through a combination of direct and indirect transfer methods. 

Ben Leinaweaver

I have finally completed the first sculpture shell, and I have began to add substance to it. I have also made a sample of what I want the surface to look like that will have projection on it. My next step will be to collect more trash to finish the legs and torso of the sculpture and begin creating subsequent ones. In addition I will be thinking about the content that will be projected on to the cigarette surface.

Emily Schumann: Week 2

Alright, so I've made a decent amount of progress on three of my paintings:

The rhino piece is all laid out and I'm adding washes of color periodically to add depth, particularly to the two rhinos in the center. I also need to go back in and add more details throughout the whole piece.

The Sumatran Orangutan piece is coming along nicely, I'm really happy with it so far. I want to add an outstretched hand as if the orangutan is reaching out to the viewer, and holding a mound of dirt with a seedling plant that's fighting to survive in his palm. I really want to emphasize his human-like expression as well.

The Yangtze River Finless Porpoise piece is still in rough shape. I'm trying to figure out exactly how I want to make the composition, and it's already changed from this photograph. Ideally, the human reaction to what our race has done to the creatures will be the forefront of the piece, with suggestions of our actions in layers in the background.

I've noticed a growth in these three pieces -- from the actions of humans out of selfishness (South African rhinos), to a plea for change (the orangutan), and finally, realization of what we've caused (the finless porpoise), and I really like that idea. I like the idea of people viewing my pieces and seeing different things in each that drives them to a concrete conclusion: we need to change.

Laura Cinicola: Colors

So, I started to add color to my drawings and I downloaded a bunch of watercolor brushes in Photoshop. Here are only a few of them and as I said I have about 13. Seth, I know you wanted me to try to overlay them, so I  tried it on a few and it just seems to much on the ones I tried, but on the top right one is an example of one that I didn't think was too much. I'm not sure if I like it or not but I will continue to experiment with them. Also, I started taking some photos of my model and have started to add her into the landscapes. Right now I am also trying to figure out how I want to make her be if that makes sense, because now she is just the picture I took and from previous works I have done with this I used the watercolor brush to paint over her and I also lowered her opacity, which I will probably do again but I want it to be at least a little different then before. Also, this isn't the definite pose for this landscape, it was really just to show that I started this process. That's pretty much it so far, I just have been doing a lot of experimenting and need to continue to do so. I'm also sorry if this is a little jumbled, but if anyone has anything to comment or questions then please inquire.

-Laura

Lucas Wisniewski 5 weeks in

Heather Seppelt

I've started not only destroying my negatives but I have moved onto cutting up my negatives to put them together again, creating a new image. I think I want to continue on with remaking the image while continuing to explore to destruction of them. I have started making some prints of these altered negatives and I have also taken new negatives to work with.

Sarah Logue Update 2

All of the paintings have oil on them! This piece is in the beginning stages and will be focused on poisonous plants. 

Also in the beginning stages, this piece will be focused on brood parasites. 

The following three pieces are the ones that are the furthest along. Skin layers are done and only need a few alterations. Second will be hair followed by various flora and fauna. 

Behold the deep-sea anglerfish mermaid! 

Gotta love those botflies. 

Amazon lady before choking tree...

Amazon lady after choking tree.