A Piece of Chicago, Watercolor

Wasn't completely happy with how the watercolors were turning out so I switched over to colored pencil. Had a lot more success with this media. I was able to get a lot more contrast and detail within the piece. I'm going to stick with this medium for a while I think.

Ariana, Colored Pencil, 11x14

Another watercolor painting... my cousin Ariana, from a photo I took this summer. I'm liking the bright colors I'm noticing in a lot of my pieces. I started two new paintings, so watch for those, coming soon. One is of sunflowers, and so far it is looking awesome! The other is from a photo of the corner of a building in Chicago.

Recent watercolor painting, working on a series. I'm entertaining the idea of layering watercolor and colored pencil. Check back for more updates soon. I'm working on the goal of completing at least 8 paintings this semester. I'll be posting another one by the end of the week.

I'm putting the finishing touches on my piece called "In Costume". I think you'll notice a big difference from early photos.

I wanted to go ahead and tell you a bit about my process for creating some of these paintings. This one started with a photograph. I did a few sketches of the scene before using the artograph to transfer the image onto a blank, white canvas. Sometimes I start with an underpainting, but for this particular painting, I just started with local colors and quickly set down some color using oils. From this point, I continued to work on individual sections, using the photograph as a guide. Several people have wondered why I chose to keep the black-robed boy in the background. For me, the figure adds a sense of mystery and darkness which contrasts significantly with the little girl. This contrasting element really interested me and was one of the key aspects that drew me to paint this particular piece.

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These are a few pieces that I have been wrapping up just in time for my Senior exhibit which opens on March 23rd.

*Note* All measurements are in inches.

Riley and Madilynn, Oil on Canvas, 16x20

Avery, Oil on Canvas, 18x24

Liam, Colored Pencil on Paper, 5x7

Jay in the Snow, Watercolor on Paper, 10x14

These are a few pieces I have in progress. The top one is a 5x7 colored pencil drawing, and the following photos are of a 18x24 oil painting that I am currently working on, as well as a 16x20 painting. Sorry about the poor quality photos. They were taken from my cell.

I've rediscovered colored pencils. It's pretty amazing what you can do with them. I used some tissue paper for blending and also if you smudge a little turpenoid on top, you can really break down the pigments and smooth it all out really nicely. Here is a drawing I did this weekend which demonstrates these techniques.

Abby, Colored Pencil, 8"x10"

A bit of photography work I did last spring and summer. I'm not a huge picture taker, but I do like to get some snapshots from time to time. These photos include a few band pictures we took for Wax Eyes in various locations in Fort Wayne, and a picture I took of Danica when we rebelliously explored the old factory. :) I've also included a watercolor exercise of some eggs.

You Are Somebody

Vines on a Brick Wall

Broken Windows

Eggs

Graphic Design at GBIM

Here are some of the projects I worked on over the past year or so at GBIM. I do a lot of flyers, postcards, and some web stuff for them, along with assorted odd jobs that the different departments bring to me. I really enjoy what I do there, but unfortunately next semester I will have to cut back on my hours so that I can continue to go to classes... Oh college... haha.

Christmas Postcard advertising the Online Gift Catalog

Dvd case

Advertisment for the Timothy Project

Logo Design