Kewpie mayonnaise (delectable)

Sparkling sake (not my cup of tea)

Sumi ink set and brushes

Ink and grinding stone

My attempt at a watercolor fish (painted on rice paper using Chinese watercolors) using this YouTube tutorial

Some of you may remember the first two as photographs from the Tea Ceremony I watched a few months ago, and the latter image is also from a photograph my sister took in New Orleans. Venus is probably one of my favorites from this year, despite her uncanny resemblance to Owen Wilson.

Currently I’m working on an 8 foot painting due in 2 days. Shortly following that, I’ve got a Japanese final, for which I’m going to start preparing tonight. Wish me luck – I’ll see you on the other side!

It has been brought to my attention by a commenter that my paintings/descriptions of them could be construed as offensive, mocking, or exploitative. That is not at all the intention of this series and I apologize for any offense it may have caused. I intentionally chose to eliminate the background/passersby (and replace them with the subject as a triptych) because I did not want this to be about the novelty of my experience, but rather about her grace and what she sexually identified herself as – regardless of how others perceived her. I was not aiming for shock value (as for the third part of the painting, I felt like it was an important piece of information), nor was I trying to be cute or edgy. Honestly, this is one of the things I truly LOVE about New Orleans – that anyone of any gender identity could be directing traffic in fishnets and a miniskirt on a weekday, and it would be the “norm.” Now onto the images!

The painting is actually a triptych in three separate pieces, digitally collaged together here. For your reference and mine, I photographed my process!

Momo always stays up late with me on Sunday nights to watch me paint!

Some of the original photographs:

Photos by my sister, Lulu!

And in the end, I bring you a well-timed painting that I think adequately reflected my mood during the time in which it was painted. This time, I remembered to take photographs of my progress. As always, the painting is not quite finished, but it is definitely at a point worth posting.

The yellow is liquid resist, which is used to a) preserve extremely white highlights (since the paper will ALWAYS be the whitest highlight… even whiter than gouache), and sharp edges (in this case, for the gold clasps and the suspenders).
Workdesk includes: watercolor palette, coffee cup of water, pack of menstrual relief pills LOL, and more nonsense…

Peeled away some liquid resist to tackle first suspender, and laid down first wash of skirt. This is where I started freaking out – the black came out TOTALLY cloudy and definitely not what I had in mind. Realistically I should’ve expected this but I was somehow hoping for the sheer tulle of the skirt to automatically paint itself. Also added: darker skin shading

The current product, which is still not finished:

And for those interested, the photo reference:

Julia

Love Jas, but Julia did not turn out as planned. Hopefully my next one will be better!

This painting is still a work-in-progress! When working with watercolors, I have such a difficult time pushing dark values because I fear putting down something that I can’t take off the paper. So I predict about ten additional layers of paint with this one, haha.

(Closeup)

It’s entitled 鮪, read “Maguro” (the Japanese word for “tuna”). It will be part of a series of at least ten paintings that I complete throughout the semester, related to women’s sensuality. I was kind of underwhelmed by this one, but you know, you win some you lose some. Hopefully my next painting will be better.

Click to enlarge.

For a diptych assignment, I juxtaposed two photographs I’d taken, and decided to paint a light study. I don’t consider myself an impressionist; I prefer painting objects rather than just light. However, because watercolor is such a transparent media, I do enjoy giving a lot of attention to light and the way it plays off of surfaces and people. I was particularly upset with the way this photograph came out, because the colors are uneven (both images in real life have an identical color palette).

Closeup

At the moment, I’ll only offer a preview of this series, as the photos were just TOO dark. A few weeks ago, I had to paint three paintings (simultaneously) in a series. For this particular one, I chose my father’s old football helmet (circa the turn of the 20th century). Although these paintings were composed using a camera, I was able to reference the actual subject as I worked, which helped tremendously when I decided to bring in non-local colors and textures.

Closeup of my favorite from the series.

For my final project, which I’ve just proposed today, I’m doing a painting (scaled 90inx22in) in the style of an ancient Japanese ink painting. The Japanese are known for pioneering a method of painting perspective, known as “atmospheric perspective.” This particular style creates depth by employing washed out colors and blurred objects in the background, with more detail and contrast in the foreground. I’ve also written a short haiku in Japanese to match with it. I’m still working on placement of the text and composition, so any suggestions and criticisms are welcome!

Click to enlarge.
雪の中
で狐、あいつ
嘘作る
fox in the snow, that rascal tells lies
Haiku is also a work in progress, but this is draft and the gist of the painting

Faux fur coat, $19 from Patricia Field (last winter)

A watercolor illustration-montage I’m working on, entitled Fox in the Snow (inspired by the Belle & Sebastian song)