Wednesday, October 9, 2013


CONSTRUCTIVE FIGURATIVE STUDY
oil on canvas
Alise

13 comments:

  1. The texture you used is very interesting, I like it. I think your painting would benefit from some added texture in the background and on the pillows and couch; I think you had said you ran out of time. I like looking at the face, it looks very calm and tranquil. Since the skin has so much yellow, it looks great against the purple/blue background. Nice job on the facial highlights!

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  2. the style in which it was painted it unique and could have been really strong if it was continued into the background. color choice by presenting strong noticeable sections of color is interesting and provides for a new look to the piece.

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  3. I have conflicting thoughts when I look at this piece. I like the use of texture you used on the flesh, but it seems to look a little scaly in some places, and vibrate in others. I feel that that technique was used throughout the entire piece, I would enjoy it more. I do like the contrasting color palate with the skin having yellow and orange hues, against the blues of your background. They really make the figure pop away from the background. The highlights around the eyes look very good.

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  4. The colours on this piece are really popping out like crazy! I'm really digging the orange and blue contrasting hues. There are some really nice points of reflectivity in his skin, but I'm finding the blues in his chest a little distracting. I think in this instance it comes off as out of the place, but if you place that blue in other parts of the image, it will look much more cohesive. I'm happy that you're experimenting with textures as well! It admittedly does look a bit timid and very constructed, so if you chose to work with such textured brushstrokes, I think playing with some brush stroke variations will help from looking like scales.

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  5. The mark making is very very interesting to me. When i see this piece i automatically start looking at the marks. Which is nice because it show people the process that you took when painting cliff. All the colors work in harmony for me.

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  6. I love how the background and figure are in harmony with one another. The background is less engaging by having few colors and little texture, leaving room for the figure to be the center of attention. I think that using the palette knife created a very engaging figure, making what would seem like a boring figure study, stronger in appearance and creativity.

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  7. I love your style of painting. The use of being able to see every stroke and line from one to the next is very effective, especially in dimension. The color choice is great as you have balanced everything out very well with Cliff, to the pillows, to the couch, and then to the wall. But, yet ones eye is still drawn to his figure. The narrative in your painting really has a meditative feeling with happy filled thoughts. He also appears to look a lot younger than he is which is quite interesting. I really love the work in the chest and forehead as you use the blues, reds, and yellows to enhance the lighting fixtures. The strokes of the blue make him to even appear as if he has a lot of chest hair. The choice of hues and use of the palette is very well done.

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  8. I get a real serene feeling when I look at this painting. Your subject looks so peaceful and his expression is so innocent. I do get the sense like this is a painting of a young boy taking a nap. Your color choices also contribute to this feeling of peacefulness I get. Your use of warm tones radiates light and gives your piece nice dimension. The one suggestion I have is you can prevent you the texture in the skin from looking scaly by alternating the direction of your paint strokes so that they aren't in the same direction. Good job! This painting creates a narrative and was painted beautifully.

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  9. I really enjoyed seeing this painting come along. I remember when you had first started to use the impressionist style brush strokes, and how much character and life it gave your painting. I'm glad that you chose to extrapolate that mark making across the entire figure. By doing so, i think you broke through your standard process of painting and stumbled upon seeing the painting and the model in an engaging way. This is apparent in your rich color palette, and your high attention to light and reflectivity, such as on the figure's right arm. I agree the the figure ends up looking a bit fuzzy, but i think that problem can be easily fixed by incorporating your mark making style into the background and couch, or by using strokes that have different sizes and directions. Great job!

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  10. You were very effective in filling the space of the canvas without overcrowding it. As a result this image feels almost cozy or intimate, especially with the rich warm colors that are almost like firelight reflecting off of his skin.
    I think the uniformity of brushstrokes is an interesting choice. While it is not bad, I am not sure that it is good. I think that accentuating the strokes in areas slightly - Broader more gestural strokes - would have really helped to set off highlights or shadows in the figure and would have helped to sculpt the figure texturally. While it is not a flat figure, I feel like the depth is not as great or as effective as it could be.

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  11. This piece is placed on the canvas very careful and thoughtful. The style reminds me very much of fauvism or impressionism and the colors seem to create a very relaxed state and I love the way the brushstrokes create an effect that is optically blended and less physically. I feel if these strokes were brought into the background then it would create unity in the painting and would pull them together so they can exist more harmonically.

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  12. I appreciate the style of this piece. It is very modigliani/matisse-esque. vibrant warm and cool colors make for a very active and strangely unsettling surface, but in a good way (much like matisse). I would work on bringing the entire piece together with the same texture used on the figure in the backgound. lovely work though.

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  13. You have really great texture in this piece! i do think though that you could have used more cool tones in his skin. Compositionally, you did a very good job of bringing focus to the face and body and was definitely a much more visceral approach to this project and i like that!

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