Monday, January 2, 2012

playing with shapes

Margaret's Misgivings, oil on canvas, 11"x14"


This piece was super fun; I usually start with a fairly accurate 'drawing' with paint, but this time I started putting down paint before I knew what my subject would be. Finding a head and shoulders in this mess was a challenge, but a rewarding one. Despite this, the drawing must always happen- whether its on a pre-toned canvas with a bit of burnt umber or squishing through a quagmire, if the drawing doesn't happen, defining structure- its honesty, its sincerity- is impossible.

My teacher, Vilas Tonape, once told me that in an objects structure is its soul. I wasn't sure at first what he meant- but it becomes clearer each time I paint.

4 comments:

  1. Daniel,

    This is one of my favorite pieces of yours. There is a ton of interest and the way you are applying the paint is fun. Its also interesting to follow both your "Shoulders of giants" blog" and see the inspiration behind the pieces you are working on.

    The dark straight lines around the neck in this piece are distracting, but the yellow area on the figures left shoulder is a nice direction.

    Looking forward to seeing more, you are making huge leaps of progress! Thanks for the feedback and reblogs on Tumblr recently!

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