Five hands down! The process of taking pictures of hands and painting them has been pretty relaxing. Stepping back however, the detail of the hands is definitely lost in the mass of parking tickets. The messy brushstrokes also aren't helping, but I think if I push the brightness of the skin colors and contrast with some shadows and details, I'll be able to resolve the painting. Coach hall also added tips on pushing the contrast with the background and maybe adding another hand or another element entirely. I think over this week and weekend I will definitely have to push the contrast between the hands and the blue-green, but I'm losing a little steam. I think putting the tickets in certain spots is preventing me from creating texture with the colors of the hands, but it is what it is. There was no way I could've known I was going to be painting the hands like this.

I've added two hands. The original pictures I took in the last post seemed too "social action!" for my style, so I dropped the idea of one of the hands holding a key. Originally, this work was supposed to steer clear of car connotations, but after others pointed out the parking ticket connection, I tried to force the theme with the key, and I wasn't as satisfied with the idea. Afterwards, I kept the strict reference to the drawing in my sketchbook, and I like the way its developing in the painting. The flashes of pure color are most attractive to me right now, but I'm losing parts of the paintings in the strength of the background. I'll try to resolve that and add some more hands this week, but I'm pleased with how this painting is working out.

Now this painting has taken an even deeper turn away from continuing the cell trend. I really liked the hands drawings I was doing in my sketchbook, so I think I'm going to replicate one of the drawings I have and paint realistic hands but with blocks of color. I'm interested in the turn this is taking from the car idea, but I also really like the contrast between the skin tones of my friends and the blue green base. I'm really interested in how I'll be able to mix the colors, but I'm especially thankful for the Sta-wet palette I found from a couple years back. I can't believe I didn't think to find it while I was doing the Nova painting, especially because I can leave paints in there for days and not worry about having to remix a dried-out color. I want to bring out more yellows and pinks to match with the underpainting as I keep working, so I'll continue to post updates on here.

I've added all of the tickets I have, and mixed in more of the green to cover the pink. I like the direction this painting is taking, and look forward to continuing to integrate some more colors, maybe blues. I'm having a lot of fun, and its a relief to finally not have a stack of tickets accumulating in my room. I'll have to figure out what to do with the other ones I'll no doubt be collecting, but maybe I can continue to keep adding them as this painting progresses. I've left the cell idea behind, especially since I love the color that has taken over this painting.

My senior show was a big success!! A lot of hard work and staying after school, but I’m so so so happy with how it came together. I was also thankful to everyone who came out to hear my speech and everyone who helped me along the way.

Here are all the process shots from the NOVA painting!!! Although I'm not done, this size has been a challenge and I'll hopefully finish it by the end of this month. 

This break has been very productive. I spray painted the backdrop for my senior show (all that's left are the measurements, cuts, and installation). I painted the frame for my SEC picture and ordered it in poster size. I ordered vinyl stickers of the SEC, SS Cheville (its spelled Chevelle I realized later), and the set of the 8 photoshopped together. I found a black background for the other two walls, one that doesn't require me to paint the walls black, and one that my dad can use after (all thats left is to measure and cut and install). I started a new painting on the back of the cells because I don't want to work on it anymore. I bought a new 24"x24" canvas on sale that I'll prob do the cells on instead. All that's left is to give out the invitations, install everything, and figure out what I'm going to say, but I'm super excited for how this show is going to turn out, starting next week.

I'm so pleased by how the car turned out. I would have liked to add a darker color to contrast the edge between the wall and the ground, but scholastics said otherwise. However, I'm ok with the painting without that addition! Also, I LOVED how the pictures of the disco ball turned out (so much that I changed my website photo). I also included my other portfolio compilation in here for reference. Also, I made three more sculptures but only liked and used two of them. I liked how the tire rims turned out and the simplicity of the exhaust pipe (when I saw it in the junkyard pile I knew). Scholastics was hectic, but I'm impressed that I was able to knock out two portfolios and look forward to finding out if I got any awards.

Now that scholastics is around the corner, I need to finish my favorite painting and make three more sculptures. We bought tire rims, which are way more expensive than I thought they would be, and more from the junk yard, and I'll work on finishing them this week. I'm having some trouble with crowding from the grass and pebbles and part of the graffiti, but I think I can fix it by pushing contrast. Overall however, I am very proud of myself working on such a big scale. Also, I finished the disco ball, and am bringing it in to take scholastic pictures soon. It turned out well, but I wish I could've figured out a way to make the glass stick better as a base. It's very fragile and I haven't figured out a way to support it for traveling, so I hope everything turns out alright.

THE CAR! THE HEADLIGHTS! THE GRAFFITI! This piece is basically the culmination of my work so far and I love working on it. It's taking a long time due to the level of detail I'm trying to achieve, but it's so worth it. 

After painting the cells for a while, I decided to pull an abstract expressionist. Honestly, I don't want to ruin the painting anymore, so I'm going to leave it for next week and work on the car instead. I started adding the graffiti, and it's going well. In my sketchbook, I drew out a plan for my senior show, and I have a lot of work to do, but I'm excited for how it's going to turn out. I'm going to have to finish the cells eventually, but again, there's other things for me to do in the meantime.

This week, I worked some more on the disco ball, and started a new painting. I bought the canvas for really cheap, and decided to follow Coach Hall's advice to make a second muscle car painting to match with the muscle painting. Drawing the car didn't work out to well so I projected it instead and I'm so excited to work on it and go back to my car part painting days. I'm combining two reference pictures for the painting because I felt like this was the time to go back to my graffiti theme. By starting this project, I am now working on three projects, so we'll see how good my time management is.

I painted the cells light pink, but I think I need more contrast like it was originally. This project is taking a lot of time, and I'm starting to lose steam but maybe it'll pick up when I take it home for break. Also, I started a new project, one I've been planning for a while now! The emblem disco ball is on it's way to being a success!! I'm having some coverage issues between the adhesive and the spray paint and the glass bits, but I like how it's going so far.

After going back to remove the sharpie from the mask, I realized some of the lettering was coming off (I used nail polish remover) and so I decided to remove parts of the labels!! It turned out more interesting that way I think, and later when I was taking pictures it added nice contrast. I ended up taking pictures in the dark with flash, and the effect made the sculpture look 10x more complex and the details and scratches are more visible because of it.

In a one night fury I ended up cutting and putting together my home project. I ended up having four license plates left over, but the cutting of the license plates was hard enough that I didn't think to make anymore adjustments to the size of the mask. It looks kind of like an African mask, but I was debating adding more form. After an in-class process critique, my classmates suggested that I spray paint the mask silver to keep the identity theme. I ended up buying some silver metallic paint, and so I think it will turn out nicely like the back of the plates. Also, I will be bending the mask in half to add more form, and overall, I think that will resolve the piece.

It's a slow process, but I've been building up the layers on this painting. For the smaller sections, I'm going to use the matte board to make quick thickness, and I think that will save a lot time. On the other hand, the carving is taking a lot of arm power, even just removing the top layer of the three sections I will be doing. The assistant teacher suggested I make a print using this panel, but I think it will be too heavy and too uneven to do so, even though I think it's a really interesting preposition. I will only be able to do a progress critique and am pleased with how its coming along, despite the fact that I've only had the class time to work on it.

The following are some reference pictures as well as progress pictures from my in class project. After asking around, everyone seems to instantly recognize the cells and tissue so I figured I need to reference a city/landscape topographical image to make my painting more realistic. Overall, I really like the scale (4'x4') of the wood panel, but I realize that it is and will take much longer than I expected. I hope to have the base light molding medium layer done by the end of next week and decided to make the whole painting more interesting and more like a map by carving into the panel as well. Since the panel is so heavy and is relatively thick, I think carving in will help balance the piece. Also, I have not started with any colors yet, although I primed with a color I thought was closer to white. Regardless, I will be painting over the molding medium and between the molding medium with other colors to add depth. I have not decided whether I want to do colors yet and whether I will do tissue-like, city-like or black and white. Coach also brought up an interesting angle I hadn't thought of regarding the concept of "muscle cars". Although this project was meant to steer away from --haha-- the running car theme, I think that will be a nice complementary piece that will probably happen towards the middle of the year.

After my summer attempt to make masks out of license plates, I am revisiting the idea with my home project and going back to my original plan to make one mask. Instead of melting them together or hammering them, I will be welding, and learning a new skill along the way, just like my projects last year. I managed to make a scale model in my sketchbook by cutting small slips of proportional papers and I think this will be the final design, excluding the curved edges, especially because I had 4 plates left over that I can use as spares. I think I might round off the edges a little more, but the 3D aspect of the mask was hard to portray on paper so it might round off by itself. 

Finished the paintings!! The first four's invisible ink was very faded, so I didn't bother adding any for the new four, but maybe for one project this year I'll do something--plaques maybe-- with the actual forum text for each of the parts. I definitely still want to do something with the repair content, and am happier with how the new four paintings turned out in comparison with the old four, especially with the quality of the panels and the details of the actual parts. Also, together, I think the eight paintings are a good focal piece for my work collection so far, and I really enjoyed taking on this project this summer. As for my license plate project, it wasn't turning out like I would have liked, so I think I will let the idea simmer for a little bit, since I have the materials and the means, but I think the sculptural composition is something I want to refine since license plates are so hard to come by.

I have officially started with my paintings, and home to collect reference photos from my local junk yard. I have decided on a headlight, a tire, a shock absorber and piston shafts from an engine. I have also cut my “canvases” (wood panels) so that they are much cleaner than my last set and do not have exposed staples or glue, as was an issue during the critique for the first four parts. I plan on continuing with the invisible ink forum repair instructions and have even begun looking some up. An issue I noticed while looking at the first four panels was that the invisible ink was significantly faded in some parts so I think I will need to seal this new set. I have already painted my base coat for all four panels and will finish drawing and painting the others when I return from Bulgaria. Also, I have collected 10 license plates so far and looked into the melting temperatures of aluminum (which I can do at home) but I am not sure if I will be able to finish that project before school starts as i still need to make a mold that I can wrap be plates around but other than that it should be a quick project so I’m not worried about it being finished eventually, and delaying it should allow me to collect more plates. I am still considering using European plates, since I am in Europe and American plates are hard to find and expensive, but I am still debating about consistency.

This project came together relatively quickly, considering how much time I spent thinking about it's content and how it would tie to my  running theme. I had fun making it as school ended, but it will probably need some touch ups before it can be displayed. I think my next project during the summer will also use some big part of a car like a trunk or a fender or something because I really liked the scale and the opportunity to do something with it. Also, this project also allowed me to revisit something I wanted to do at the beginning of the year, which was paint something classical like the old masters on this trunk we had sitting around in the shed. I didn't know I would be cutting into it like I did, and I'm not really liking the size of the square that much, but in the end I think it was a good use of the trunk.
During critique, the paintings of the people were seen as unnecessary to most of the class, but others said that the trunk should be covered with more people. I like the latter option better, but I also understand the argument of  the first group. Over the summer, maybe I'll work on it more.

Final product!!! Overall, this has been one of my favorite projects, from engaging with strangers to learning new skills. I'm pretty pleased with the result, but know that the little boxes idea (detached) may cause problems in exhibition.

The final developed pics!! I have one more roll I developed in class too but it didn't turn out as well. Seeing these pictures now, I have decided not to use the ones that stay dark even on the light box, but am pretty happy with how the others turned out, especially because I did them myself and at home, which was pretty ambitious for a new skill.