motorcycles!

Some drawings I did for fun while dreaming of a motorcycle lisence, winning the lottery and riding around the world!

Some various stuff I did at the end of this semester :)

Quick studies

Taking quick studies with Craig Nelson this semester. Great class and a great instructor, but quite challenging. The whole set-up is painting a lot, fast and multiple times. We basically do short studies in class (25-40 minutes) and a bit longer ones for homework (more then one hour, no more then two). I crash and burn all the time, but its fun and I feel like I learn a lot from this class. Although it might not come out so often during class ;)

A few of my homework assignments with titles such as "my studio", "cityscape" and "interesting cropping". In other words we are pushed to paint a lot of different things.

Sketchbook and a couple of digital painiting hw

Japanesey akvarell

So I'm right back, perhaps a bit more relaxed then last time (that one painting in the previous post seems a bit frustrated). I went to Japan, climbed a mountain, snorkeled with fish and slept in basements. Brought my watercolors and kind of fell in love with it, it really fits my lazy side (the right one). Hardly anything to carry, and way more spontaneous than oil painting on location.

I'm uploading a few of my paintings from japan, and a couple cityscapes I've done since returning to SF. Been going out weekly to paint, hopefully I can continue doing that.

End of the Road

Spring semester is over. I'm heading to Japan for 3 months. brb.

Odd Nerdrum painted my mum!

So some 30 years ago, Odd Nerdrum painted my mum. She grew up in the same city as him, and for a while they knew each other. When he exhibited it, it was too expensive for my grandmother to buy and the painting got lost. Nerdrum got very famous in the following years, - and lately my mum decided to track it down. After a lot of detective work she found it. It is hanging at an art collectors house in Oslo, but she got to go see it and take a photo of it!

I've got to say its a beautiful painting by a beautiful artist of a beautiful mum :)

Soundtrack:

And all is well...

since "there is hope in a hanging snore" - Eggen. of finishing my work before the spring show submissions this week. Lately I did a watercolor rendering of this dog we met at the beach, and a pastel portrait of Juan. The more transparent treatment of the portrait comes out a bit hard edged in the photo, especially around the face. Just recently had an awakening about the importance of massing value and local colour first, before playing with colour and planes. So hopefully future portraits will come out a bit more unified.

Soundtrack:
(Old Sage Francis track I recently rediscovered)

The world is full of things I need, that's what theyre telling me on TV!

Clothed Fig. painting hw. Liz and Ringo in the park. Had a lot of fun on this one, even though it was frustrating at times working so big (20x34, if my memory serves me right). The concept that I found as I was painting was the color red. Playing up the central red shape and bouncing that color around to create an interesting, more subliminal 2nd read and color path. I probably should have planned this approach out a bit more, so I didn't have to rely so much on the underpainting. Especially on the right hand side.

Anywhoo, that probably gets a bit abstract and far fetched, pretty happy with the outcome. Learned a few lessons about fill light I will try to apply in the future, and of course the many little things I could have handled better. Photograph is a bit high contrast, and later I might do a few touch-ups here and there.

Soundtrack:

Stirra ned, stirra ned, stirra ned

A couple of watercolors and two pastel portraits. Really took an instant liking to pastel, feel like someone opened a door to a completely unexpected medium :) Cool to get a break from oils, while still thinking in color.

The one watercolor is a portrait of the unquestionably genius Mos Def. The other one is supposed to be a shopping bag graphic for Wholefoods.

The fan don't work but the window will

Tried out pastel for the first time, did one of those really deep meaningful fine art paintings of my girlfriend and went and burned myself out really good. Time to recharge the batteries and win some wet t-shirt contests down in Mexico!