Studio Time: Beginning Painting

So I am taking my first painting class ever this semester and it's been kinda rough getting started. Working so representationally and in two-dimension are very foreign modes of operation for me. It was a real struggle to get started but now that we've completed a few projects I'm really having a blast. 

I wanted to share my progress with folks, so here's a little info about the paintings from top down: 

The first assignment was to create a collage from 10 or so ink and water line paintings that we did in class. My inspiration, as you can see, was San Francisco artist Rex Ray. One of my faves. I had a lot of fun trying to emulate his variations of shape and value.

The second assignment was more open- paint a three-dimensional space.  This was the hardest for me. I struggled with figuring out what to paint, how to use the paint, figuring out value scales that weren't just flat acrylic.  It was so hard, but my teacher, Lisa Solomon, was super encouraging and I think her pushing paid off. It looks pretty three-dimensional to me and I learned how to get texture from the medium.

The third assignment was a still life... kinda boring. It's the least successful I think. Or perhaps it's just that I don't like it very much. Still lives without color are very boring I think.

The last assignment was a master study. I chose Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Das Blaue Mädchen in der Sonne. I love the wild strokes and bold color and the painting makes me think of my Nana which makes me quite happy.  For the reproduction we could only use two complimentary colors so I chose red and green, my favorites.  This one was the absolute most fun to work on. It was so freeing so work so big and loose for someone who is used to painting tiny little precise patterns and designs.  I hope to paint more like this in the next assignment. 

The paintings at the bottom were from a live model we had in class. I've only ever had a live model a couple of times in my life. This was so awesome.  Painting live and so quickly was a great exercise. The first four paintings were five minute poses, the next two were 20 minute poses, and the final two both came from one 40 minute pose. My favorite is the red 20 minute pose.

The next assignment it a figurative/narrative of our choosing using any colors we'd like.  I built my very own canvas for it from hot pink linen so I am quite excited to get started tomorrow... I can't wait!