Hello! So I guess this is the start of my art blog. I'll be posting my work as often as I can and hopefully some of you will be able to offer some feedback etc. I'm currently in the process of putting together a portfolio to head down to Siggraph and ADAPT next year (2008).
I've decided to start off by working on my traditional skills and creating a wide range of pastel landscapes, from there I'll move onto the digital portion of my portfolio (using Maya). I'm a bit unsure of what subject matter (beside an environment) to do as I don't want to appear to be copying things that have already been done by the large studios. So...what does that leave you with? I'm not quite sure... I'll have to think long and hard about what I end up doing.
You may notice that a lot of the pastel pieces I first post will all have a resounding prairie feel to them. What can I say...I live in the prairies! I find myself being drawn back to wide open spaces, grain elevators and the beautiful skies you can only find in the prairies. The lucky thing about living in Alberta is the wide landscape range. Mountains, prairies, forests, desert (hoodoos etc in Drumheller). Which is why we have so many movies filmed in and around Calgary/Edmonton (most recent being Brokeback Mountain & The Assasination of Jesse James)
I'll be working with soft pastels on Pastelbord (Claybord) which is a "clay and gesso coated hardboard panel with a granular marble dust finish comparable to a sanded pastel paper, except more durable and versatile". I really enjoy using the pastelbord as it allows me to layer colour nicely as well as providing something a bit more stable/strong to work with than paper.
The sort of "style" I currently use is that I smudge my pastels. I quite admire the artists who can just lay colour on top of and next to without smudging. So far any attempt I've made at trying that technique turns out horribly/I just seem to have an urge to smudge. I guess I'll just have to get more comfortable with the medium (just started using pastels a month ago) before I attempt another technique.
So! Hopefully I'll be able to post the pastel piece I'm currently working sometime in the coming week. I'm still figuring out how I'm going to digitize the painting, but I'll figure something out (anyone have any suggestions?)
