Art Blaaaaahg of ehhd ehl

Monday, March 16, 2009


My first painting since I was in High School. I see so many problems with this but the entire time I was working on it I was learning. It was incredible. I really enjoyed working on it, it was tons of fun and I think I will work on another later tonight. This may just become a daily ritual because... it is the equivalent of an endlessly frustrating puzzle.

I should probably spend a little bit more time figuring out how colors interact... but for now I'm just having fun and that is amazingly liberating.


Oh yeah. I Adjusted afterwards in photoshop for two reasons; the light I was using added both Blue and an Orange-ish yellow and washed the image out slightly. So I adjusted past the original. I wish I could paint with such an energetic palette.

The funny part is I was happiest with the image probably 15 minutes in. 45 minutes after that I was just trying to bring the initial life, shapes and strokes back.

Tell me what you think?
The palette is muddy. The structure is not quite correct. I like the painterlyness; however the brush felt very... sticky. I would much prefer it had I more control over the paint, applying it et al.

4 comments:

Tooninator said...

cool man. I like that you were able to keep it loose. it's all about the strokes, baby

Edward Lillywhite said...

Thanks toon.

I was really trying my best to keep John Singer Sargent in mind while painting it. Trying to keep the accuracy and simplicity while maintaining structure and form.

Seo Kim said...

I can feel the passion in this painting! I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed the process and gained from it in spite of its imperfections. I had a similar experience recently when I went to the zoo. I hadnt been since last year and I expected to bring home the best animal drawings Ive ever done. Instead I sat at the orangutan pit for nearly the whole trip, just trying to truly understand and know their structure and how they move. As a result I filled up a bunch of pages of scribbles and no finished drawings but it was extremely fulfilling to know that I had learned so much. hey we should visit the zoo some time.

Edward Lillywhite said...

Thanks Seo!

I have the hardest time drawing animals so it would definitely be worthwhile for me to go to the zoo with you. I mean I know on an academic level how they work... but translating that to a drawing just doesn't seem to work for me.

We'll make a day of it once you're back in Toronto.