Process Post - Project 6

During this quarter I have pivoted back to painting because I really want to present a body of work that I am proud of for both the hallway exhibit and the senior show. Right now, I am working on 3 pieces that continue to exhibit the birds I created at the end of junior year. I have been exploring visual elements like grids and checkerboards to introduce some variety and a sense of space into my work, and so far it has been going really well!

For my first piece, which is the biggest, I created a checkerboard background alternating squares of muted yellow and dull tan. Initially, I planned to paint the yellow squares and then paint the tan squares after, however I quickly learned that my method was inefficient and horribly time consuming. After painting about 1/2 of the brown squares and the entire yellow section, I decided to start over because I wasn't achieving the uniformity that I wanted with the squares and the process had been so time consuming. I started over by coating the entire canvas in a layer of the dull tan squares, and then layering the muted yellows on top which proved to be much more efficient and also made me feel a little dumb for starting the other way. For the actual birds, I would like to experiment with depth and I have been considering painting the birds to interact with the actual squares (possibly flying in and out), but I haven't completely decided what I want to do yet.

For my second piece, I have painted a weaving grid with a scarlet red to jump out against the powder blue background. I plan to add highlights and maybe some shadows to give the threads of the grid a sense of depth. With this piece, I am certain that the birds will be weaving in and out of the grid itself, and I am excited to explore a sense of space within the painting. I have been considering making a series of stamps for the shape of the birds so that I don't have to had draw each and then adding detail after stamping the shape onto the canvas to make the process faster.

In the third piece, I used the same yellow that I mixed for the squares in the first piece. I would like my collection to look cohesive, so using that yellow just made the most sense to me. The piece will zoom in on 2 cubes which will have 3 birds resting on the shelf of the first cube. I want to paint the birds with a ton of detail which will connect the first piece that I ever did and this most recent one.

So far, I have made progress with the backgrounds and will be moving into the actual birds over the next week!