The first image is a completed oil painting, 8 x 10 inches. It's called "Catfight".
The second image is a sketch for my next 8 x 10 inch painting. The working title is "Crocodile Monster". I intend on this one to paint quite differently than what I've just done. I want more freedom to experiment. It seems that whenever I paint a monster I feel like the figure and the space around the figure don't have to "make sense" and I can layer colors in intuitive, abstract ways. "Catfight" told a story, and in order for the story to make sense I felt like I had to paint within the lines, and do things in a very stiff, restrained style. All that careful shading in "Catfight", you loose a little of the shading in the photograph. But there are no surprises, no colors where they ought not to be, nothing that adds mystery in "Catfight". I'm disappointed with the finished product. Its a straight primitive. A little creativity in the design of the dresses, a little creativity in the subject matter (pulling hair), and I'm not afraid of bright color, but really no creativity in brushstroke or use of paint.
The last two images are icons that I designed for a flier. They are intended to add color and eye candy to a notice that I will design promoting my mental illness peer support group. This flier will be distributed to nearby hospitals and library bulletin boards and centers where the mentally ill receive services such as therapy, medication monitoring, and vocational rehabilitation. The support group I'm advertising was started by a bi-polar woman who intended it to be only for other bi-polar people, and she named it Changing Tides. When the group was opened up to include people with all sorts of mental troubles the name stuck. Mental illness sure does make your state of emotional being an ever changing ride. I need to have imagery that had a lot of color and that illustrated our name, Changing Tides. I figure the red and blue wave can be a small icon on a business card, and the larger design with the sun burst can decorate the bottom of the flier.
I love your work Karen. It is fanciful and rich, done with such care. In "Cat Fight" none of the space is wasted. Both the figures (including the cat) and the background are lit up with great energy. From my perspective there's a lot of humor to the image, as well as beauty. And yet, it is serious. The painting also reads well up close and farther away and not all paintings can do that. Though your world has the edge of violence in it, I still have the urge to walk into the picture plane and join the scene.
ReplyDelete"Crocodile Monster" is bizarre, yet I like it too. I'm very interested to see how you handle painting it differently from "Cat Fight". There's sort of a strange Mother Goose kind of children's book feel from it and yet it's for adults (the severed head...). The drawing is alive once again because it is so carefully drawn and the subject matter is provocative.
Your support group logos are very powerful and beautiful. You've been kicking some butt lately Karen, getting a lot of quality work done. Bravo (or is it Brava?)
Love Kate : )