migration

This blog with this hilariously horrid name is being discontinued. We've moved to new blog: http://marilynpaintings.tumblr.com/

Please visit and follow us! *fanfare*

Love from Melissa & Celeste

colored paranoid

Hello, tardiness. This is the first legitimate painting that I've done in a little less than a year. ("Legitimate painting" being "actual store-bought paints on an actual certified canvas", and not being "ketchup spread with fingers on cardboard".)

I'm also proud to say that this is the first painting I've done without using any black. I tried to forgo white too, but the models I used had really nice highlights that the murky yellow just couldn't articulate well enough. In the end, my OCD tendencies dominated my budding "spontaneous & artistic" alter-ego once more. The two will go at it again the next time I pick up a paintbrush, so hope is not lost on my being one of those carefree and lazily hip art students, which would be the unspoken dream.

Interrogation, 16" x 12"

I admit that this is more of a color study than a real response to "contemplative"... I could have delved into the meaning of "contemplative" to attempt a thought-provoking (and ultimately more satisfying) picture full of deeper meaning. Unfortunately, I interpreted "contemplative" here as two females, one with a questioning gaze and one with a resolved gaze. The female with the questioning gaze is tilting her head, assessing the viewer (you). She offers a chance. However, the other woman stands in front and is giving the viewer a decidedly dead stare, evidently having already made her judgment. And to beef up this sausage link of bullshit, the longer hair of the women in the background could represent femininity while her concern represents maternity. The other woman could represent the modern feminist, with a sharper, masculine hair style and more defined cheekbones, a look that did not become attractive until after the 1960's. The make-up of the lips and eyes also reflect the differences between the two women. Of course, this was just a happy coincidence from the models that I used for the painting.

Everything was done in about 3 hours with the red, yellow, blue, and white acrylic paint using models from an old Harper's Bazaar magazine. This was also the first painting I've made where I didn't draw in the models first with pencil (maybe that's why the second model looks like a man). I just went for it with some degree of spontaneity, which was about all the excitement I could handle in one sitting. It's an overdue step forward.

horseblood

I'm not going to pretend I didn't procrastinate and spend a whole day watching movies instead of painting. Initially, when I picked "industrial" as the next theme, my mind had been full of dichotomous images of rusted engine parts (ranging from a dull brass to an antique gold) and newly buffed metallic contraptions (in pristine silver and gold). Quickly, I realized that there was very little I could do to reproduce these images with the set of markers and watercolor paint that I had. Someday, I'll get a whole stack of goldleaf and create a fucking luxurious painting a la Klimt.

Until then, I'll be working on color theory and time management.

I interpreted "industrial" as two meta-human-lantern-fish robot cyborgs... and in consideration of the seemingly overall theme of this blog, the two metal-clad figures are engaging in lightly / questionably sexualized activities. I was thinking of the 1999 film, "Iron Giant" when I started drawing.

I was really drawn to the dark and hulking metal body, yet the brightly lit eyes (the kind of light you'd imagine of lighthouses piercing through the foggy night sky). I also wanted to recreate the feeling of over-clutter of armor over the body, while still maintained a very distinctly slender figure. I hope that all made sense. I used marker, colored pencil, and covered everything with watercolor. Here is an up-close & personal zoom!

And finally, I played around with inverted images because I really wanted a darker image at first. I'm a noob at computer-based art programs so bear with my fascinations with special FXX.

Theme 9: Contemplative

On my second day back, I had literally gone from unpacking to converting my living room into a mini-studio. I've been really loving working with spray paint, especially as a means of laying down a background. It takes away the scariness of a white piece of canvas, and actually, gives the surface of the canvas a glossy surface, which makes it easier to paint on.

Anyways, I'm taking full advantage of the spray paint I have at home. I only have a few colors -a lush pink, a fleshy pink, a bright red, and of course black. For this piece, I wanted to just experiment with the pinks and the red and lay off on the black a little.

I didn't really have an idea in mind; I literally just sprayed the pinks and red on top of each other in my garage, waited for it all to dry, and thought about what I would do in the process. I then brought the canvas in and used the shapes that I was getting from the spray paint as a guide to what I would paint (using acrylic instead of watercolor this time). I repeated and layered some spray paint over acrylic partway through. Half of what turned out is probably the product of me inhaling the paint fumes while waiting for the spray paint to settle and dry, but it's one of my most imaginative pieces yet. (Let's not talk about the nineish hours it took to get there)

Sink 20x24

Inspiration? I'm sort of in this James Jean - influenced phase. Very fluid, almost surrealistic. I've always been fond of contemporary pop surrealism.

I took some pictures of the whole process, finished product is the last photo (obviously). Hope you all enjoy!

Side-note: That building in the background and the tan peaking through on the sides (i.e. the buildings behind the spray paint in the first picture)? I'm semi-recycling old canvases. Tired of buying more canvases when I can scavenge my old stuff.

Theme 9: Contemplative

The next theme is contemplative.

The due date is 11:59pm EST May 22th, 2011.

Theme 8 (Industrial)

My first thought was "chrome": some black spray paint, a stencil and maybe a wash or two of acrylic. I wanted to capture the metal-machinery that lies in the void between clean silicon technology and the steampunk of our dreams.

I started with the spray paint, but never really developed a stencil. I had the acrylic, but was too lazy to find it. Instead, I found myself painting with chunks of watercolor on top of black spray paint and alternating between the two mediums. I probably inhaled too much of the spray paint, because I ended up going figurative rather than abstract, and the palette was more cyborg than chrome.

This ultimately turned into more of a reinterpretation of nature in the modern age rather than an expression of 'chrome'. She's fractured, but still present. Some of her is still flesh, but some of it has been eaten up, fallen apart, abandoned.

Here she is, our mechanical mother nature:

Mechanical 16x20

The texture that I got laying the watercolor over the spray paint was fascinating, though it started to crack as it dried. I put gloss medium on it today to both seal the painting and to varnish it, giving it a glazed, chrome-like surface.

steeled

The next theme is industrial.

The due date is 11:59pm EST April 28th, 2011.

Sorry about the tardiness!