kristabeepainting

[kristabeepainting]

5 Painting Series:

Inner Child, 2022, acrylic on canvas paper, silver wire, 18x24

Bittersweet, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 18x24

Reflection and Guilt, 2022, acrylic on canvas, mirror stickers, 18x24

Memories, 2022, acrylic on canvas, burlap, 18x24

Healing with Time, 2022, acrylic on canvas, silver wire, 18x24

Artist Statement:

[kristabeepainting]

Before I post my final series and the artist statement, I want to post my thought process while creating the paintings.

* These pictures are a before, I will not post the after images until I make the final post about all of my paintings!!! These are just to show how my paintings looked at the start! *

The first painting represents the loss of my childhood.

In order to add to this painting I wanted to make it more colorful and I even used my fingers to add more burst of color in the background. Using my fingers was on purpose because it is very childlike and this painting is how I feel about losing that part of myself.

My second painting is based on the helplessness knowing I can’t make more memories with my someone.

This painting was specifically made thinking about my grandma and I had found a burlap canvas in her house. She introduced me to art and I wanted to incorporate a part of her in this painting. Therefore, I braided threads of burlap and put it on the canvas.

My third painting is on the guilt I felt from loss and reflecting on how I could have done something different.

The one on the left was a failed experiment, I tried to glue a mirror, that’s like a sticker, to the canvas but it was coming off and I didn’t like the colors I used. The one on the right is the one I like better. I put one mirror in the middle and “broken” pieces of the mirrors around the canvas and at the edges of the canvas. The blue film is to just cover the mirror, but I will take it off! Also, I dripped grey and black paint over the light figure and let them dry like that.

The fourth painting is based on the bittersweet feeling I got from losing a friendship.

This was a failed experiment with trying to figure out how to represent bittersweet with colors and as shapes. I ended up choosing pink, like a hot pink for sweet and brown for bitter. The colors are living in harmony together like a checkered board but a messy one. I left this painting a little messy to represent how I felt while thinking about the friendship while painting.

My final painting is based on how I am healing with time, but the feeling never really goes away. I forgot to take a before picture, but I created a shape in black paint and the figure becomes softer and lighter in color as it gets bigger. On top of the painting, I used wire to also represent that with time the feelings become less intense. This painting is smaller than the rest and I did that to show that I am not completely healed so the feeling is not a strong as the other ones!

I had fun making this series and I happy I decided to make them abstract! It was very difficult to come up with good ideas that meant something to me, but I think I was able to recreate my feelings in these paintings!

[kristabeepainting]

I just wanted to share my favorite painting by Helen Frankenthaler. The painting below is called Grey Fireworks (1982).

I love this painting because I have always been fascinated with the idea of two very different things working together in harmony. Fireworks are bright and colorful, while the color grey is dull and is not usually associated with the word happy. Frankenthaler explained the grey in her painting as an “explosive grey” and not a depressing one. I think that comes across because I don’t feel depressed looking at this picture, I find it dreamy, or in a way, comfortingly loud. I love the way the colors splattered pop in the foreground, while the smooth grayish color calms the colors down a little bit.

I am so glad I found out about Frankenthaler in this class! She has really helped me work on the way I view art, especially the way I view my own art!!

[kristabeepainting]

As the semester is ending, I want to reflect on how my prompt for my final series has changed.

At the beginning of this semester the original prompt that I wanted to do for my paintings were based on the 7 stages of grief. The seven stages are shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance & hope, and processing grief. When I came up with this idea, I had just experienced the loss of a childhood pet and I wanted to honor her and everything else I’ve lost in the past 3 years. Then, I realized that experiences with loss are very personal to each person and I decided to create paintings based on my own “stages” of loss. These are technically not stages because they didn’t happen in a certain order, but they are the emotions I have felt due to the many different types of loss I’ve experienced.

My 5 Stages Of Loss:

I feel depressed looking back at happy memories and feeling hopeless that I can’t create more and can’t change what happened.

I got a bittersweet feeling from the loss of something I knew I should have lost a long time ago.

I have experienced that with time the pain gets easier to live with, but it never really goes away.

I’ve felt angry that I lost my childhood and myself, and that I can’t live life the way I used to.

Lastly, I’ve felt guilt of losing something even though it was out of my control and I was constantly reflecting on what could have been done differently, as if that would change anything.

I am happy that I can look back on the pain and the many other emotions I’ve gone through, and express them through my paintings.

[kristabeepainting]

In this video, I relate to the way Helen Frankenthaler thinks about how others would feel about her artwork. Then she says that it shouldn’t matter what they think about the work, as long as she has confidence in her own work and if she enjoys it, that’s all that matters. Growing up, I’ve always worried about how my art would look to others and I was always seeking validation. Frankenthaler helped me realize that it isn’t about the critics, art is about how you feel about your own work. I have been trying to let myself enjoy my art without asking for validation.

[kristabeepainting]

Artist Research: Alma Thomas

During my research for my presentation, I came across the artist Alma Thomas. Her work is interesting to me because I love the way her pieces look like a mosaic! Growing up, I loved the way mosaics looked and I never imagined you could make a painting look like one.

This painting is really interesting because white is the top color, and I can see this green color in-between the white “tiles”. I like that some of the white shapes are painted yellow, while on the bottom right the background is yellow. Also, it is interesting to see that it looks as if she added a shadow to some of the white shapes because of the dark color she painted by the white shapes. At the bottom, the white tiles almost seem messier, like she was less careful when painting them. I wonder if that was intentionality done. From a distance, this looks like broken up white tiles to create a mosaic, but when I look closer I can see the marks that show it is a painting.

This artwork stands out to me because the red and blue color are faded because of the white on top. I can see the vibrant red and blue peeking through, but mostly it looks like they mixed with the white paint and became lighter. I can see her mosaic style of painting in this painting, though it is not as obvious as her other works. I really enjoy the softness and subtleness of this painting.

This painting is very different from the first one because the colors are very vibrant and she didn’t really use the mosaic style. I still love this work because of the different colors and how they stand out due to the background color. I like that I can see her brushstrokes, it almost looks like it could have been created by a wide, flat palette knife. Also, I like the random splatters of black. This painting is messy in the best way and I would love to incorporate this type of messy painting into my final pieces!

[kristabeepainting]

Here is the board from my critique on Thursday!

[kristabeepainting]

Experimentation:

I stuck a paper thin mirror onto the canvas and painted over it. After, I used a palette knife to scrape away shapes, revealing the mirror underneath.

Then, I glued wire onto the areas I scraped out. Most of the wires are standing up and thin. I used some thicker wire and glued it down onto the mirror.

I really like that this artwork feels like a paintings as well as a sculpture. I think the mix of materials create an interesting visual. I definitely want to incorporate wire into my final series, I like the wire creating the shapes instead of just using paint!

[kristabeepainting]

Since my 5 painting series is focused on loss, I was thinking about scraping away paint to reveal what was underneath.

As I was scrolling on Instagram, I came across this video and it really intrigued me. I love how the different colors pop out with the contrast of black as the top color.

MY EXPERIMENT: I experimented with this process and painted multiple layers of paint on a canvas board. When I felt like I was satisfied with the amount of paint, I used a tool that is meant for nails to carve the paint. While I was carving, I noticed I carved a little too deep and I scraped the canvas surface.

This process takes a while, but it was very satisfying and cool to see the final product. I think I will try to incorporate this idea into my final series because it relates to loss since we are losing paint and revealing what is underneath.

[kristabeepainting]

ARTIST:

Frank Marino Baker

While researching artists, I specifically looked for an artist that used wire in their paintings. I came across Frank Baker. I found these paintings on his website.

In this artwork, it is interesting how he painted a mostly pale background with two shapes of a color that pops. Then, drew a picture with wire. The color on the right side of the painting looks like the person’s skirt and the color on the left looks like a small rug the dog could be sitting on. I like that the wire is placed onto the canvas but not completely. I can see the shadow the wire creates where it isn’t completely pressed down onto the canvas.

This artwork really stands out to me because the colors pop and I think they work really well with each other. The green and blue in the background compliment the yellow and reddish-orange subject. I love his use of wire in this work even though it doesn’t protrude off of the canvas, we can still see where he placed the wire. I like that he painted over the wire in some spots because it almost becomes invisible, or blends into the painting, but we can still see it. Also, I believe he included wire into the background, this is a little less noticeable. In person, the wire probably stands out much more, but I like that I have to really examine the painting to notice more and more wire that originally seemed hidden. The wire gives the painting a really cool texture!

This piece heavily relies on the shaping of the wire and a little less on color, like the second one did. The color palette is mostly light browns, reddish brown, and some light blue/purple hints. The wire creates the shape completely, like the first painting, however it is completely pressed down onto the canvas and it is not painted on.

I really enjoy the different ways Baker uses wire to create his paintings, whether the wire was the main focus, or not. Personally, I want to try to use wire in a subtle way, where you can see it if you look hard enough, but not taking up all the attention in my work.

[kristabeepainting]

While I have been coming up with ideas for my 5 painting series, I keep thinking of a quote Helen Frankethauler said in a video we watched in class. She said, “One rule is is that there is no rules. If you have your sense of limits, then you’re free to break out of them.”

I really love this quote because this is my goal when creating art. I’ve always been a person that needed rules on how to create something and as an artist, I want to break out of that box I forced myself in. My art doesn’t have to be perfect, I just have to enjoy what I make!

Hopefully, this will reflect in my paintings for the series!

[kristabeepainting]

EXPERIMENTATION #2: TIME

For these experiments, I wanted to show the history and the old marks showing through a new layer of paint.

The first experiment, I painted a canvas board blue. I painted this with a palette knife to add texture. Then after it dried, I applied pink, purple, and yellow over it and used a palette knife to scrape of paint while it was still wet. Unfortunately, I did forget to take a picture before I added the second layer of paint.

The second experiment I did was paint on top of a mirror. First I just wanted a mix of multiple colors, then let it dry to scrape lines of paint off. Then, I got stuck and did not know how to continue. Then I decided to add a second layer of paint and scrape more paint off so the mirror shows through more. If you look closely, you can see the history of the first layer and the scrapes that I made. I think having a mirror as a support is interesting and I like that you can see parts of your reflection through the parts I scraped off.

[kristabeepainting]

EXPERIMENTATION #1 : SURFACE

For this experiment, I wanted to see how a pillowcase would look with different “paints” and techniques to paint.

The first trial I used masking tape to create shapes and separate the area I was painting. I used food dye and squeezed it directly onto the pillowcase. After, I used some black and white acrylic paint to mix in with the food dye. After I peeled off the tape, the food coloring just seeped through and it was a failure, but I still really liked how it looked.

The next trial I did was to cause the food coloring to spread even more, so I wet the pillowcase and then applied the food coloring. I really enjoyed this process and I think the colors came out pretty! The only downside is that it seeped into the pillow so much, it started to affect the first trial I did.

The third trial I did was use tape to create a small triangle, then used gesso as a base to keep the food dye on top of the pillowcase, rather than deep through. It was successful; however, I did not seal the tape enough when I used the gesso and some of it seeped through.

Lastly, I wanted to see how acrylic paint looked on the pillowcase. I taped up shapes, like I did in the first trial, then I just painted the areas. I removed the tape and the lines were much cleaner than when I used the food coloring!

[kristabeepainting]

5 Series Proposal:

Everyone has experienced a certain type of loss in their lives, especially during these past couple of years. My series will focus on the greatest losses I’ve experienced throughout my life. Although losing someone is sad, I want my paintings to look neutral, or even happy, as if I am looking back on the memories of the people, or situations and not focused only on the sadness of the loss. I will create 5 portraits, and one will be a self portrait. My goal is to make the people look somewhere between realistic and abstract. I will achieve this by using materials other than brushes to paint with, like wires and a palette knife, and paint with bright and unusual colors. I am influenced by Helen Frankenthaler because I enjoy the way her artwork is not “confined” by any lines and it doesn’t have to look perfect. Also, I am influenced by Georgia O’Keeffe due to the bright colors she uses in her works and how her paintings are attention grabbing.

[kristabeepainting]

I haven’t really added to this piece, but I will soon! I really like the way the food coloring seeps into the pillowcase. Even though the tape did not really work effectively, it made for cool gaps between the different patches of food coloring and paint!

[kristabeepainting]

I decided to scrape some paint off of the mirror I painted and at first it wasn’t coming off, but if I pushed hard enough, it was able to scratch it! I definitely think this looks much cooler in person and when it is moving around because of the way the mirror underneath catches the light. Also, I included a picture taken of it with flash and I thought it was cool how the mirror almost looks black instead of reflective.

[kristabeepainting]

Experimentation:

I decided to work on this painting:

This painting was from my painting 1 class and I never felt satisfied with the way it came out. Therefore, I thought this was the perfect painting to transform! I wanted to experiment with strange colors, so I chose blues and greens. Also, I wanted to limit myself so I used one brush and a palette knife for this whole painting in order to not spend too much time worrying about everything being perfect and extremely detailed. For the background I used a palette knife and wanted to be a little messy with the paint.

This was fun to recreate! Every time I create artwork, I worry too much on following “rules” and painting only one specific way. I can’t wait to continue to push myself out of my comfort zone and create interesting artworks!