Tuesday, November 18, 2008

To Class Today...


I took these things to class today:

The work-up on yupo of the painting I'll do, the sketch on tracing paper, and what I traced of the sketch onto a half sheet of Arches 300# coldpress paper. I don't normally work on 300# paper but it's all I have left except for hotpress in this size (which I don't want to use).






Sorry, the sketch isn't very dark - and the photo is even lighter than in real life...
Basically, I went in thinking about this (I have a notebook where I wrote out ideas, thoughts on where I wanted to go, what colors to use, etc.) and having an idea of what I wanted to do.
When I showed everything to the class, they either laughed, were very silent, or said it was disturbing. Good! I no longer want to paint just pretty pictures - I want to put some emotion into a piece that someone might feel - whether that is a "positive" emotion or a "negative" emotion, I want them to think about the painting - what it might mean, say - how much of it is autobiographical, etc.
So...stay tuned tomorrow for what I did today - it's not finished but I'm heading in the right direction, I think.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

you changed the yupo version? why?

#300 lb will work perfectly for the water areas Rhonda, I'm sure you won't regret.
The sketch already conveys the feeling of drowned/empty/dead, this is going to be a favourite of mine! Can't wait to see more steps, and just for the record, I agree 110% with what you said, let the painting speak, tell a story, move the viewer in some way; disturbing? that's a winner in my books! go for it

RH Carpenter said...

Sorry, Teresa, I didn't intend to change the yupo version that much - just kept fiddling and you know you just can't fiddle with yupo without changing the whole thing along the way!
I've started on the 300# and it's working well because I'm prewetting areas as I go. Thanks for your comments and support, girl!

Ann Buckner said...

Rhonda, good changes on the yupo painting. I like the way the hair flows out more and that you showed more of the shoulder where the water was covering it previously. Disturbing, even though not always pleasant, is good as it makes us think/react. I like the direction you are going.

Dawn said...

I like it Rhonda, but remember you can paint pretty paintings and they can still have meaning.

thanks for the idea about the notebook, I have small slips of paper on my wall.

loving the Wyeth book, I got two of them by the same author one skinny and one huge.

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Ann and Dawn. Yes, pretty paintings can also have a message - or an internal feeling about them. And I love pretty paintings as much as the next person. So I imagine this will be a process where I'll meet somewhere in the middle as I work it out :) I'm looking at the book, Wondrous Strange, now - on NC, Andrew and Jamie Wyeth. Talk about some disturbing paintings! haha