a peek at some thesis work playing

So, I've been busy with being back at school and thinking about my thesis. I'm enjoying my Book & Box class and when I work on my History of Craft class homework I'd rather be working on my thesis experimenting, but I just do what I need to do.

My thesis is focusing on my trip to the Steens Mountain and looking at the Kiger mustangs. I know that I can paint beautiful and realistic horses, so now I want to play with color and challenge myself.

Something cool about thesis is that I get my own studio to work in, so that I don't have to clean up my work and move it every time I leave school. I'm sharing my space with my best friend (and bridesmaid) and it's so much fun to observe her style and then mine. We always can give each other feedback and keep on track with deadlines.

The following are paintings I've been working on the past couple weeks. The first is a study of all the watercolor and gouache paint colors and mixing them, all the while doing a small color study of a horse. For the next one I printed out a black and white photo, used colored pencils, and played with warm and cool colors to depict the structure of the horses. I then painted them, using my gut instinct and later one of my thesis committee members (I have one head advisor and an active committee member) and she said that the painting worked because I had the one green colored colt which turned the painting from possibly being a complimentary color painting to a more interesting one. And the last photo is of the wall with a landscape and herd of horses I did before experimenting with the color.

Monday I'll be working more in my studio and hope to make some collagraphs to print on top of a watercolor painting. and I'll also play around with dry point on possibly plexiglass, since it's cheaper than copper plate. This first part of my thesis year is about experimenting and playing with materials, exploration, and technique to see what I do and don't like.


I hope that everyone is having an awesome weekend and I'll work on updating my thesis year work in a more timely fashion!