DARTS Digital & Traditional Arts: My first fall back in New England, I had to take t...

DARTS Digital & Traditional Arts: My first fall back in New England, I had to take t...: My first fall back in New England, I had to take the opportunity and make this series. Primarily photography but I did sneak one painting ...

DARTS: Deadmau5

I know I dropped off the grid for a while. It was intentional, I wanted to lock myself away for a month and do a digital portfolio. the results are here: http://donalsart.blogspot.com/
please check it out, hope you enjoy it, Its very different from how I usually do.


DARTS: Deadmau5: "Deadmau5 , originally uploaded by Donal Casey . Via Flickr: all is tinsel in the world of house. music makes me happy and dubstep has made m..."

OPA Tuesday June 28, 2011 (Workers assemble first Corvette in Flint, Michigan)

Hope the break last week was good. I did it to prepare you for this weeks OPA which will actually span the next three weeks and is due on July 19. This is a power full assignment that is good for everyone at every level. It is an exploration in technique basics and will help you find a technique that will showcase your skills and work habit. the assignment it this...
 You are to do 5 paintings on 5 different canvases of the same exact image. The image should be a portrait or landscape, taken from a camera. Do not re-imagine the picture in anyway after it is taken. For this assignment to be good we have to take all the content variables out of the painting. This assignment works best when you do not have to think about composition, content, changing lighting. Keep it simple, because its all about this, and this is the important bit... each of the 5 paintings needs to be done in a different technique. (ex. alla prima/ layers/ pallet knife)
I came up with this assignment last year when I was in a rut. I was painting everyday but it seemed basic things were holding me back. some parts of the paintings I could not believe I did and other parts looked terrible because I had no control of the variables in the painting. This assignment is perfect for this.
When it is done, line up these paintings next to each other  and really think to yourself which bits you liked and what did you hate. You will be combining  all the technique and process you like for a final and 6th painting next time on OPA three weeks from now, but lets get to that later.

This is an example of my best out of five last year. I drew the painting in raw umber and then used thin layers for color.

Had to Post

Mid-week check up
see this artist! :Deladier Almeida!

I was skulking around on the art nets and I found him on Southwest Art ( you should check that out too) but I thought this was pertinent to our blog.  look at the texture work!

OPA Tuesday June 14, 2011 ( the day Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes)

Sorry for the late start on thins opa tuesday... it is a relatively easy one, I figured anyone keeping up could use a little break. That and I am still without adobe cs5 which is really frustration, not to mention when I upgraded to leopard my hard drive with everything on it was lost... but thats not for you to worry about!

This weeks assignment is just anything that involves water. From a cup of the stuff on the table, to the ocean and anything in between, I just want it to look wet

 

remember, have fun and good luck!

DARTS: TARDIS Cake

...this is kinda like a painting, lol... painting with Icing

DARTS: TARDIS Cake: "TARDIS Cake , originally uploaded by Donal Casey . Via Flickr: TARDIS Cake! I made Olivia A red velvet TARDIS cake for her birthday! to ..."

DARTS: MATT SMITH aka the doctor

I'm counting this as my portrait... my self portrait painted its way right into the trash bin... Im still waiting on CS5 and its killing me but I hope to be able to buy it soon. meanwhile, enjoy some of the Doctor

DARTS: MATT SMITH aka the doctor: "MATT SMITH aka the doctor , originally uploaded by Donal Casey . Via Flickr: This is the first real painting since school let out, its even ..."

OPA Tuesday June 7, 2011 (The day Madonna's "Live to Tell," single goes #1 )

Okay so a first the bad news... being a graduated senior, my photoshop licenses has just run up and so I will be very late posting my own art responses. Hopefully this will be solved by the end of the week.

But in lighter news, your OPA assignment

The theme this week is one figure in a landscape. The point of this is to take the frustration of the last assignment and reflected all that it forced you to learn about how figures can interact with a landscape and how to abstract them. Lets face it, the expectation for last opa was not to produce a winner of a painting, it was set up to fail so you can have a go doing figure after figure. Now you should be a pro. Think of how the single figure will affect composition, atmosphere, scale, and try to take control of these aspects.

As always you should have fun and you should also take comfort that next week we are taking a break from people in our landscape... but it still is not going to be easy.
                            also donations can be made to help me save up 800$ for adobe CS5
               (just kidding, or am I?)
anyways ... good luck!

For Elaine (and everybody!)

Artist to look at

David Cheifetz

I am going to add him to the "artists we look at", there is some really great work here and might help with portraiture and texture concepts as noted below

Response to Elaine's Portrait

This is what I was thinking of when I was observing your texture. It is pulled off so well in your landscape and architect pieces but I have trouble too when applying the same thing towards people and faces. notice how this painting the most texture is in the highlights and as you move away it gets softer and softer... this does not work all the time but is a good generalization and is also easier said than done... i mean i still can't pull this off, its just not how i work but this might be use to you.

Portrait!

Sorry I'm posting so late!! Here's my self portrait... I don't often do portraits, especially from life, so this was really good practice!



Feedback appreciated of course!

Portrait

16X20" oil/digital

Self portraits are the worst... combine that with a three week absence from painting and you wined up with this mess... I knew there was a reason I picked this assignment.
So I felt bad for not posting yesterday but here is a piece of it. And If you say you want to see the whole thing, you can't because I just scrubbed it out so I can redo it. I'm not leaving the easel until it is done right.

Portrait

of myself because everyone in my family is uncooperative...

The good news: I feel like this was a great exercise and I look forward to doing more practice portraits in the future.

The bad news: ....well, let's let the picture speak for itself.

Acrylic and a bit of photoshop tweaking.

OPA Tuesday May 31, 2011 (The day St. Stephens tower rings for the first time)

Welcome back to another OPA tuesday!

As a note, you still have all day today to post for last tuesday's opa. I will not be posting until late because of a funeral but I will get everyone's sorted before the days end. But let me tell you about todays opa.

This is a challenge and I really hope everyone considers taking it! The assignment (should you choose to accept it) is to do 20 figures in a landscape! now, now, before you freak out here is the mad logic. firstly this is a huge jump from portrait but that assignment was to get everyone settled. Secondly, I know you guys can do it, you have the technology. Third, this will force you to get good at putting figures in the landscape by the time you put your 10th person in the landscape.

A few tips:
Start in the background, as you get figures painted, it will be easier to go from abstracted, simple, two tone background figures to ones in focus in the foreground

Work from life in a crowded place... that way you can edit who goes into your painting but enough people are there to give you ideas (spoilers i'm probably doing mine at the beach)

Last hint, don't get angry at it, 20 figures in a painting is hard, it will be a good exercise, and will probably be one of those things where this one might suck but the next simple figure you do in a landscape will be boss. Good luck and have fun!

Maybe something with a little more depth but you get the idea