Series 2013

August 5, 2013September 13, 2015 | ssemchuk

Series at Red Deer College 2013. I had the privilege of working with Jen Mallinson for five days and trying to pick up from her as much as I could. Jen is an amazingly, talented artist and generously shared so many techniques and ideas with our group that I am well prepared for many months of art practice. This is just the beginning of what I hope to be able to do as I continue to work with her her instruction and inspiration. And all of this is from someone who does not normally ‘do’ abstract work.

Artwork Update

July 21, 2013September 13, 2015 | ssemchuk

Starting a new job this month has completely destroyed my art schedule. My goal has been to practice drawing every day and to complete one finished drawing and one finished painting each week – not necessarily large pieces, but ‘finished’ – as in I actually persevere even though I sometimes am very dissatisfied with them and I finish them. Because that’s the whole idea of practice. I have fallen far short of that goal so far. Tomorrow another week begins and I will keep going.

I did get a chance to do a little painting again. And since I have been very frustrated withe my most recent work, I decided to eliminate one variable and paint in monotone. I had thought that I’d add a number of coloured glazes to bring colour back in, but when I started doing that, I didn’t feel the need to take if very far. My drawing of the support under the pear is horribly distorted (thus the need for more drawing practice) but I kind of like the way the fruit turned out. I had paint left on my palette and a little ATC sized bit of canvas paper handy, so I did another quick little pear to end the evening. Painting with my monotone palette reminded of another painting I did in about 1995 in a class setting. It was on masonite and I threw it away, keeping only a (poor) photo of it. Her skin tone may suggest she was cold, but there were at least two space heaters directed towards her. No models were hurt or placed in discomfort for the purpose of this artwork…

Recent Artwork

June 30, 2013September 13, 2015 | ssemchuk

In the spirit of tracing some sort of development of skill, I am adding a few more paintings and a couple of more finished drawings from the last couple of weeks. I am getting very frustrated with my acrylics and debating about switching to oils. I am going to try to hold off though and work through the problems.

Artwork from this past week:

June 11, 2013September 13, 2015 | ssemchuk

I’m still working on creating more finished pieces of artwork – both drawings and paintings. I quite like the bananas in the drawing. Other parts have room for improvement – as does the pepper painting. It’s all part of the process.

Keeping On

June 2, 2013September 13, 2015 | ssemchuk

Having set myself a goal to paint at least once each week I have continued. Soon I need to advance to better lighting and less of this stuff with the dark shadows. But for right now, it’s about establishing a habit. Getting used to being at the easel and developing the focus and perseverance to be able to keep going even when I’m frustrated with the shadows or whatever else is difficult in whatever little still life I’ve set up. I have found that with anything new, the biggest obstacle is just showing up. So as much as I can’t avoid passing judgement on the results, the important thing here is to show up and make an attempt and develop the ability to maintain focus long enough to finish something. I certainly have much higher expectations than this (as I suspect is pretty typical), but it’s a starting point and I kind of have a bit of an issue with setting unrealistic expectations… Here are my oranges -for what they are worth. Completed with the aid of a musical accompaniment by Brand New (played very loudly on my iPhone), The Lumineers, old Shawn Colvin, old Blue Rodeo, even older Leonard Cohen and then reverting back to my 80’s and 90’s favourites. I have no illusions of the quality of this piece and would welcome any constructive criticism…

susanne semchuk

Acrylics