Nic Silvia

I have gotten another 5'x3ish' section done since this picture. Also found a strange not-mold substance on the top of one of my ink jars. I am very interested in figuring out what sort of chemical reaction caused that. I'm thinking its got something to do with the ink, vinegar and- I think that batch was gum arabic, not corn starch- coming into contact with air for long periods of time. Whatever it is, I'm glad that it isn't affecting the useability of that jar.

Sarah Logue Progress!

I hit a standstill with my work. I let myself get bogged down by the details and wasn't sure where I was going. After some much-needed advice and prodding I finally decided to start going big and thick. This one is the parasite woman. She will be surrounded by botflies and pulling larvae out of her skin. I choose poinsettias for flowers because both poinsettias and botflies are natives of Mexico.

This one is based on poisonous plants. She is holding a bouquet of deadly nightshade and begonias. The stems and leaves are wrapping around her hand and arm. She will have a rash and will be bleeding from the eyes as if she's been poisoned.

This one is based off of deep-sea creatures. She's sort of a mermaid. I've started giving her that underwater/flowy look. 

I've decided to start working on some smaller panels to help get my energy back up.  These will be close up studies of various plant and animal textures. I have a whole bunch of gourds and leaves that will be good for this. 

Lucas Wisniewski this week

Laura Cinicola

 

So I have still been experimenting with my landscapes and drawings and this image is one I don't think I showed yet. At the moment I am working on a new one that I'm really excited about. I also did another photo-shoot with my model, so hopefully I will have some new ones of her that work well in the landscapes, because I have been working on trying those images but most just weren't working. There really isn't too much to add to that just that I have been experimenting and reshooting and that hopefully something good came out of my reshoot. - Laura

Emily Schumann

Really my only update is that I dove into adding acrylic paint to my deck of playing cards, and I've decided to add the color to all of them because I really like how they're turning out. Not only do the animals show up clearly, but it gives them a unique feel, and I think having an entire deck will be awesome. Other than that, I'm adding more layers to my elephant piece and am hoping to shift between working with the playing deck/acrylics and my other pieces in oils and beginning the cultural pastel paints on the elephant by the end of the week. I'm thinking of doing one more medium sized painting that involves a species of bird, but I have yet to pick a species, so I'm waiting on that as well.

-Em

Heather Seppelt

 

 

I starting playing with different ways to print in order to follow through the whole process with imperfection, except for taking the actual photograph itself. First I tried dipping my hands in the developer after and then splashing and drizzling it onto the paper. I liked seeing the developer take its own direction with little manipulation from myself. I also experimented by soaking a sponge with developer and then running it across the top of the paper and letting the developer drip down like that. I also tried wetting only my palm and making handprints all over the paper. I have also recently made a new negative which combines the surrealism aspect with the destroyed negative aspect to see how well the two ideas mix. 

Kelsey Rawson

I believe this piece is nearly finished.  I will continue to make minor changes by glazing cooler and warmer colors unto the red walls to achieve a raw and bloody look.  I also am going to attempt to render eyes into the tiny figures in the window.  I do not want to call too much attention to them, but I do want it to be obvious that they are the ones 'viewing' in this piece, that it is their stereotype.

This piece is also almost complete. I will render the faces in the bottom corner a little more, but I will not add eyes, the only eyes will belong to the figure in the window.  I am pleased with how they grab your attention now.

I rearranged these pieces on the wall and am interested to hear what people say about the two faces being side by side so they make a complete face.  I believe these works are also very close to being complete.

This piece is very different from the rest of my series, because I am trying to stick with the disney design, but also because this piece does not match the balance of the rest.  I think the movement of Belle's dad to the right side helps this balance- the piece is now more similar to the other childhood view.  I think to further show that comparison I may add another character smaller in the corner of the right side in the background.  The crazy old man from Aladin, who is actually Jafar, is who I plan to paint there.

I also have primed two additional canvases that I will start on shortly.  One of them may be the comparison to OCD.

Kyle Petchock - Beginning of Set #3

Katie Valencia

Both of these images are nearly done. I have minor tweaking to do on the collage image but it should be ready for print soon. The singular image needs to be painted but I am also thinking about adding more of a gradient into the shadows.

Lights. Tintypes. Varnish. - Laura Brennan

So the other week the one strobe light I had been using decided that it was going to die.  It was frustrating, but I'm pretty sure it was a sign that I needed to work on my varnish.  The varnishing has be a frustrating process. I've had to filter it so many times in order to get all of the bugs, twigs, leaves, etc out of it from the Gum Sandarac. Once I filtered it plenty of times, I had problems with getting a smooth finish. Tiny bubbles kept appearing.  The book I've been using recommends to heat both the plate and varnish - this seemed to make the bubbles even worse. Eventually I tried not heating anything, and it worked much better.  The second issue I encountered was the varnish making the images very dark.  Michael recommended that I thinned the varnish down with a little more alcohol, then it wouldn't be so heavy. Low and behold that worked!  

I now have two working strobes. It took some time figuring out the exposure, but I think I've got it. Now I just have to battle with the Advanced Digital class for the strobes. I've attempted roughly 30 tintypes to date. Tonight I hope to do seven more different people, and I have a few others lined up. Things are starting to go smoothly, so I guess we'll see what decides to go wrong next.

Gabe Riggs

I keep forgetting to post things here so here are some stuff from the midterm and a section from what I've started since then.

Here is a picture of this one finished.

The tube one, from around midterm. I still have to finish the WWII underground station but I think that's all I'm going to do (and I've done more than is pictured here).

And here is a pic from last week of the one I've started. I've done more than this but not enough to quite justify another pic. :P This is for my piece on Paris. So far I'm just doing one Paris drawing, although there are some things I can't fit into one so I may do another one- we'll see, I'd rather do more London ones. This in particular is a giant elephant that actually used to exist in Paris. It was supposed to be made of marble in the place where the Bastille had been during Napoleon's rule, but he was impatient and had one made of plaster as a placeholder. The real one never got built, and the plaster one stayed there for a long time- until the 1850s. The elephant in Paris has always been fascinating to me because I noticed basically my whole life that often things that were set in historical Paris would reference an elephant, and I wondered if it actually existed, so I was super excited when I found out that it did! 

For the rest of Paris piece, I am going to have a few different things. The elephant is in the right front, and behind it I think I'm going to have Père Lachaise, which is a famous cemetery in Paris. (It's where Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison are buried, among others.) I may include Oscar Wilde's grave or just a reference to him (which would be peacock feathers probably, if only because basically all my bajillion copies of Dorian Gray have them on the cover). On the left top I have Sacré-Cœur started and I will have some sort of windy street thing to be Montmarte. In the bottom left/centre I'm going to have the green house shops that were by Notre-Dame because one of my best memories from Paris is when I bought a little ceramic hedgehog from probably the nicest French guy on earth.

lucas wisniewski mid term

Kelsey Rawson update 3

 I am pleased with how my pieces have changed.  I changed the background of the green building piece to make it more realistic, and I think these colors work better.  The longer winding road, also symbolizes a long journey, and how difficult and far away people with schizophrenia feel.  The Disney piece is problematic.  How do I render the Disney figures while also keeping my style?  I think I will go in and work on the piece and add more layers, pushing the characters back.  I hope this will make the characters seem blurry and more my style.

Erin Cieniewicz

Ok so I'm pretty confident in where everything is going. The wood pieces add an extra element to the whole thing. The two that are posted are the ones that are the furthest along. I have to add the wood before I can start adding oil to them. I did purchase a 2x8 which is going to give me more surface space to draw larger objects on. I am also adding other smaller drawings of injuries in the negative space. The injured part of the muscles are going to be in gross muddy colors just so that they stand out a little better from the bright colors.