Cambodia: Impressions I

Angkor: Tree

Pencil, charcoal,

and colored pencil on acrylic paper

10x16 in, 2010

First piece of artwork inspired by my trip to Cambodia. I borrowed the tree design from a relief on the wall of a temple at Angkor, combined it with other motifs I saw there, and added my own flair.

Major Catch-Up.

It's been eons since I've seen you, blog. Sorry about the long absence. Catching up to the present would require several posts, which was daunting, and putting it off just increased the intimidation factor. But at last I've got up the courage to start. ;)

So. let's start with the end of school; two months ago now, it was.

Final project of the semester: self-portrait.

The sequential images were so popular with the fall painting, so I thought I'd try it again.

begin: light wash coat and sketch on the canvas.

another coat: wipe out the highlights while it's still wet.

darken the shadow areas.

darken again.

and again.

fine-tune.

adding in color, waiting for face to dry.

ultramarine blue coat for skin tone base.

more color.

yellow ochre over the blue for more base build-up.

at last, actual skin color! eesh it looks ghastly here.

phantom?

that's better.

darken those shadows!

add in the details.

final product. :)

Studio shots.

I seriously love this art studio. And the people in it. We have a great department.

Just some ramblin' shots of other artists' stuff. :)

Graphic Design.

Graphic design-

which fulfils aesthetic needs,
complies with the laws of form
and the exigencies of two-dimensional space;
which speaks in semiotics, sans-serifs,
and geometries;
which abstracts, transforms, translates,
rotates, dilates, repeats, mirrors,
groups, and regroups-
is not good design
if it is irrelevant.

Graphic design-

which evokes the symmetria of Vitruvius,
the dynamic symmetry of Hambidge,
the asymmetry of Mondrian;
which is a good gestalt;
which is generated by intuition or by computer,
by invention or by a system or coordinates-
is not good design
if it does not co-operate
as an instrument
in the service of communication.

-Paul Rand (who knew he was a poet?)

The other day, I had a good idea for a poem.

Now I've forgotten it. Blast.

In other news, check out this great website with quotations about design of all kinds.

http://quotesondesign.com/

it's time.