Version 2.0 of the previous image

Yeeaahh.. soo.. the more I looked at the sketch from yesterday the more I wanted it to be cleaner. So I had to redo it. Here's the cleaner version. Now I have to decide if I want to make it into a print, or what else.. it feels like it needs some more substance..

Yay, some stuff..

I'm actually going to photograph some pieces this weekend (I hope!) so there will be a real update with a couple of new pieces coming up shortly. For now though, here's a little sumi piece I did this afternoon.

A Debate from the Sept. Issue of "The Artists Magazine"

In the Sept issue of "The Artist's Magazine" there's a letter from the editor (as well as some from readers) concerning the nude figure in art. Apparently, in the June issue (which I somehow missed), artist Bob Palevitz wrote to the magazine stating that his gallery happily sells his still life paintings, but is reluctant to show his paintings of nude figures. The article then launched into a question about whether nude figures is considered pornography in our modern age. In the "Letters from Readers" you can glean a little more about the debate. One subscriber writes that a female artist friend, who also shows paintings of nudes, has a huge difficulty selling her work. Other letters (one from a grade school teacher) comment that some parents become outraged if, when going to an art museum, their children are "exposed" to classical paintings depicting the nude figure. Another comment makes the broad statement that most nudes seem to be painted by male artists (she specifically referenced a work by David Leffel in her letter). Anyway, reading the full article really irritated me. If you actually get a chance to read the letters, one says it's terribly ironic when movie stars are paid more than teachers, and I believe the same mis-placed priorities are applied here as well. People don't protest about photos of naked GAP models on public billboards, but they have a problem with a classical painting of a nude figure. Ignorance indeed. I especially think it's silly to accuse men of being the only ones to paint nude figures. Mainly because I paint them as well, and I enjoy it. Imagine that. :P

The finish.. based on the last piece.

So, this is pretty much the piece that evolved from the preliminary drawing. It's nice enough, and it looks like how I planned it, but I don't know if I'm entirely happy. I'd say it's a means to an end, and not the end.. so it'll probably just inspire another piece, and another, until I finally stumble onto something good. But this was part of my final for the semester.

Preliminary, as a finished piece

Sometimes, when you're developing an idea, you unfortunately fall in love with the rough draft. It happened to me when I was developing the design for this piece. This isn't meant to be the final draft, but I fell for it, so I had to finish it before I could move on, mentally, to a better idea. The hands are my favorite part. :)

A banana..

Really bad photo of a quickstudy I did this afternoon.. not much to it, just a banana. :P

Megwolfe.net site update

Bunch of stuff added, some stuff removed. Since a large portion of the artwork I'm doing now is my own work and not school projects I feel like I'm finally building a coherant body of work (yay for portfolio!). Oh, yeah, and on some of the new pieces I've also added commentary to let you in on what the work is about, and where I'm going with it. :) Edit> Slapped together an "About the Artist" page, so you can check that out also. I'd been putting it off for far too long. :P

An interesting article..

..from Wired magazine on artists, young geniuses, and late bloomers, and how most of us fit into one of those two camps. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/genius.html

Donated paintings on display at 79 NM

I donated some of my paintings (studies) to the Undergraduate Dept of the Academy of Art University (79 New Montgomery), so if you go up to the 4th floor and look around, you might catch a glimpse of them. One is a landscape of the beach in Carmel, one is a study of some backlit pears (this one is in someone's office), and I'm not sure where the third one is, but it's a portrait (profile) of an older gentleman. I neglected to photograph them. The lady that took my pear painting was totally estatic though, so that made me pretty happy. I wasn't sure the paintings would find a good home since they were donations, but I'm pretty sure now. :)

Yeah, uh, stuff.

*gasp* OMG! It's a painting! Yeah, right, I know. I need to update this more. I actually have a few things worth posting now, but lately I've been really preoccupied with getting my portfolio together, as well as studying for my psychology quizes. :P Suckage. So here's a cute little acrylic painting for you. Same size as the last one, so it's about 5x7.

Update: Portrait of a Cat showing

I mentioned before that "Portrait of a Cat" was on display at 180 NM for the Illustration Dept's annual Spring Show. The painting has been relocated to 655 Sutter (an Academy building). You can see it very plainly in the window from the street; it's very nicely displayed. :)

Deadly with Nerf..

Yeah, so Albert bought a bunch of nerf guns and, you know me, being the fps junkie that I am, I like to play with guns.. and I have quite the eye for it. >:D Oh, yeah, and we actually have a real target, but for some reason the darts keep bouncing off of it instead of sticking. Go figure. :P

Intermission..

So.. I've been working on some small 5x7 acrylic paintings over break. I've finished two so far and have started the third one. This one was the second. Now I have to figure out framing..

Gallery news

Several pieces displayed on this website are up for sale (as well as some others not displayed) through the Create A Way on-line gallery at http://www.createawaygallery.com/ The pieces include "Suspension", "The Poet", "Speak Softly", and "Velvet". They are unframed and vary in price range. Also, if you live in Connecticut, you can actually visit the gallery in Collinsville, however, my pieces are only available through their website for the time being. And, if you are from San Francisco, "Portrait of a Cat" is on display at 180 New Montgomery, downtown SF, in the Illustration dept section of this year's Spring Show. There is no price displayed for this piece, but if you are interested in purchasing it, contact me at (415) 412-8610. Cat is already sealed and wired, ready for hanging.

Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!

Sigh. Finals suck. Here's some rabbit studies for you.

Acrylic figure..

Here's another abstracted figure (acrylic) for you. This one was also painted on top of an old disposable palette. Sorry the colors are a little washed out in this photo. :P I don't have the painting with me so I can see to correct it.

Still untitled piece..

Still trying to think of a title for this, but here is one of the two acrylic paintings (technically a mixed media piece) I've been working on this past week. There are a few corrections I intend to make to it (as I don't feel it's entirely successful yet), but otherwise this is what it looks like, as well as a close up. I really would like to do more pieces like this.. I think it's interesting that it's flat, but has a degree of depth to it. If you ever see it in person, it messes with your eyes just a little because each building comes forward.

Searching for pushpins..

Before I forget, I turned off the members only comments (sorry about that). You can now comment without the need of a blogger account. Today's work was mostly drawing, and one of the things I latched onto were these pushpins (note that the low res photos are a great deal darker than the images are in person). Somehow, in the process of drawing these, the answer to one of my questions came along and slapped me in the face. For the past year I've been cataloguing my work and wondering what it is about certain subjects I enjoy more than others. I know what subjects I don't especially enjoy, subjects pertaining to politics, or subjects that comment about the society we live in. For the most part I really don't care about either of those things. The world is what it is (irritating), so whatever. :P Other subjects I'll latch onto with a passion.. subjects that I select before I stop to consider why I'm drawn to them. Why do I HAVE to paint or draw this? Why? In Portrait of a Cat I depicted a playful subject with an underlying melancholy. The charcoal drawing "Roaming" was also a similar fascination, and so are these pushpins.. a playful subject that is also a bit threatening. I like that. I like for my work to be playful, and, perhaps, to also have a little bit of an edge to it. Almost like a fable that's told to entertain, but is also meant to be a warning. Or the hero in a book who is not all that good. For there to be light, there must be dark. I like that a lot; it's interesting and I'm inspired. I want to see what else I can find that's like that. Expect more work from me later this week.

Landscape

Some landscape trees for you. Not much else happening right now. Everything has been kind of blah this spring (possibly an indirect result of all the yucky weather we've had here in SF). I'm working on a couple of new pieces, but they've been rather slow in coming. One has been giving me some trouble, and the other one was just to test a new technique. I'll post one or both if/when I finish them.

Acrylic painting..

An acrylic painting I did.. painted straight onto an old acrylic palette. I like this because it reveals some of my process and my thinking. It's a continuation of some recent ideas I've had (similar to the abstracted apple from a previous post). But with this you get to see some of my tools IN the piece itself, as well as what I accomplished with them. And it's a nice compromise between realism and abstract.. which I very much enjoy.