First of all, I took a trip to the Indianapolis Museum of Art to prepare for my Ivy Tech class tomorrow. (art appreciation) I am creating a scavanger hunt worksheet to fill out.
While there I discovered a whole new section I had forgotten about, tucked away in the European art, up some beautiful stairs - before I had dismissed the area as being connected to the 2nd floor elsewhere and did not bother to climb them - turns out that small upstairs area was exclusive to the EU art area. A while collection of J.M.W. Turner drawings, many when he was a student! Really cool stuff. I wish I had more time so I could study them in detail. Maybe one of these days I'll actually go to the IMA for myself, and look at just ONE section, in depth. And maybe stare at the Hieronymus Bosch paintings for an hour too.
ANYWAY. I thought I would post my progress on a small painting I'm working on.
I have a private commission to paint 2 Cthulhu paintings, 5" x 7". After days of thinking and sketching and brainstorming, I finally came up with 2 ideas. The first one I've been working on is somewhat complex. (for so small)
The INTERESTING part is, this is the VERY first painting I've attempted in oil that is both FANTASY and has actual DEPTH. (A definable background, and not just splatters or a flat design.) There are a lot of reasons I've not done this before - first of all, I have trouble with depth backgrounds - I usually stick to interesting flat or abstract backgrounds. The second - having to do with oil - for the longest time, I had a 'purist' block with oils - forbidding me to use oils for anything other than painting from life. I was trained on oils that way, and anything I tried from my imagination just looked terrible. (this is in oils only! I have no block with any other media) So, its worth mentioning that this piece is a great building block for me. Perhaps one of the final nails in the 'purist' coffin. Speaking of purist painters, while I was at the IMA, I bumped into one of my painting professors from IU. THE purist - but I do not say that as an insult. She was a genius, and I learned some of my best skills from her. She also doesn't seem to enjoy running into past students... it was a quick conversation.
Onward, to the posting.
The drawing and the work in progress.
The final (I've done a few touches since then, like adding some darker waves behind him)
(all images copyrighted by Lydia Burris, Sept. 2009)
This is based on brief reading of the Cthulhu descriptions early in the H.P. Lovecraft book, along with the city of R'lyeh. (my own interpretation, of course)That is all for now. its time for my past midnight snack. I was supposed to make soup tonight but I forgot.
