Paint it Black

In this art piece, my goal was to create a well blended, interesting painting of a reflection. I accomplished my goal by zooming in on my subject until I found an angle with a fun look. I was very surprised how hard it was to blend the paint and create the "right" colors. The best way to fix this issue was by holding the paint to my subjects to compare color values. I believe that I experienced the switch to right brain thinking when I stopped looking at my still life as objects and instead just painted colors. I feel like the lipstick in the painting really works. If I had a do-over, I would make the yellow in the reflection less yellow and more green and I would make the handle of the cup thinner. I would also give the edge of the cup a more rounded look. Through this art piece, I learned how to blend colors and mix color values. I feel that the best thing about my painting is the lipstick. I love the highlight on it.

Artist Pages: Robert Stark

Version One:

I think Robert Stark did a great job with the color on his projects. In Red Dory, one of his paintings, the beautiful transitions from sea to sky really caught my eye. In addition, the small lines he made to suggest distant ships or birds really brought the piece together.

Version Two:

I really connected with Robert Stark as an artist. His use of the color blue throughout his paintings had a calming vibe that drew me into each of his works of art. The way, and the things, he paints present a tranquil mood for his audience; so as a person who needs some calamity in the chaos that is my life, I was instantly interested to learn more about Robert Stark. One of my favorite things about Stark's work was his smooth transitions. I love to have paintings that flow, and all of Stark's paintings do just that. Not only do they flow between values, but they also flow between sky and sea. By studying Stark, I learned the importance of color values and how hard it can be to transition between values without an object becoming flat or a solid color. Throughout this oil pastel, I felt calm and free because no matter how badly I messed up everything could be fixed through blending and layering and if everything wasn't perfect it didn't matter because, as a luminist and expressionist painter, Robert Stark didn't try to be perfect either.