The Garden

The Garden - 21" x 24", oil, ink & watercolor pencil on Maple
click image to see it larger

The last piece in the series of tattooed ladies. Although I seem to have become strangely addicted to the tattoos  so I don't think this series has ended. I suppose I would call this more of a phase than a series.

 I consider this piece to be the best work that I've ever done. This feeling is a little daunting though.  In a perfect world, I would think that each new piece should be better than the last, but instead I feel like I just get lucky. Since I did these three paintings relatively quickly, I have learned from each piece vital things that I have carried in to the next. My previous piece, Eternal Summer, I wasn't entirely satisfied with how the skin turned out, as I found it difficult to use the oils on top of the primer. For this piece, as an experiment I applied the GAC 100 everywhere but the skin portion: 

I love the way the raw wood soaks up the oils; it makes them dry much quicker that way. I also paint in very thin layers and use linseed oil, which also aids in a faster drying time. The quicker the oil dries, the quicker I get to draw the tattoos! 

As you may know, I am usually the model for my paintings. I find that this way I have the most control over the direction of the piece, and I also don't feel any weird pressure to make it look like anyone specific. I don't try and make my ladies look like me, though sometimes it's kind of inevitable. This time around, I wanted to make her face very different from the others, so I did. She's modeled after Lara Stone, whom I adore.

The butterfly tattoo in her early stages. That afternoon the sunlight joined me through the blinds and warmed my hands.


  

Anyway, I'm strange. I work really quickly and sometimes I think I need to slow down. If I spend more than two weeks on a piece I seem to lose inspiration and I wont work on it any longer. I'm a maniac and will paint nonstop if I have to, while the window of inspiration is still open. If I wait too long, my mind and heart wander to other ideas, other patterns, figures, shapes..
Oils and I have rekindled our romance and I think I'm going to continue this love affair. I have many projects that I do need to be working on, but I'm tempted to just glue myself to my easel and not resurface for a week. Alright, so not the best idea.

xo,
C

blog facelift + progress pictures

Every so often I get really bored with my blog layout and make a radical change. Today was one of those days. I've spent the better half of this fine Tuesday eating burritos and doing html coding. ( I did some heavy reconstructive surgery on this theme, and the overall feel was inspired by my bff Morgan's tumblr )

--

Anyway, haven't worked on my painting today, but here are a few more pictures of the progress:

I finished the tattoo sleeve the other day, (the camera doesn't pick up the lines too well), but I'll be scanning her when it's all said and done. I am contemplating doing a chest-piece, but I feel it may be too much. What do you think? Perhaps  I'll save that for my next piece, which I'll be starting this weekend! Clealry I'm an artaholic. 

The words are difficult to make out in this light, but it says "thy eternal summer shall not fade", which is a line from a Shakespeare sonnet that I hold close to my heart.

I have also pretty much decided that I am going to treat myself to a victorian house tattoo(s) once the funds allow it! Excited.

Hope you and your Tuesday is going beautifully, thank you for stopping by.

xoxo

Charmaine