Artwork

“No artist tolerates reality.” Friedrich Nietzsche

| ssemchuk

August 15, 2016

Oil painting in progress of two lemons in a glass vase
Two Lemons WIP, Aug 13, 2016, Oil on Canvas, 30″ X 40″

 

This painting slowly inches along while my weekly drawing challenge has become a quest to find a medium that I like using with this TerraSkin sketchpad I’m using. The paper itself is made from stone and can handle pretty much any medium, but they behave differently than on conventional paper. I would be happy if I could find something I could tolerate. Perhaps this week will be better than the last.

August 11
August 12
August 14

“Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take risks.” Mark Rothko and Adolph Gotllieb manifesto

| ssemchuk

August 1, 2016

Oil painting in progress of two lemons in a glass vase.
Two Lemons WIP, July 30, 2016, Oil on Canvas, 30″ X 40″

A little more progress on my latest lemon painting, and the completion of my July 31 Drawing A Day Challenge!

July 26
July 27
July 28
July 29
July 30
July 31
What I learned from my Daily Drawing Challenge:
  1. It’s the commitment that makes the difference – the commitment to post publicly on Instagram and the commitment to each drawing while I’m drawing it. I’ve drawn daily before without publishing and would often start and then scrap the drawing if I didn’t think it was going well. This time I didn’t have the luxury of time for that. Instead I kept going and figured I’d make the best of it. And some of those drawings are my favourites.
  2. I realized awhile ago that if my finished images look nothing like what I was working from, it doesn’t matter because no one else knows what it was SUPPOSED to look like. With this project I decided that even if the drawing clearly doesn’t reflect reality – as in it’s obviously not proportioned correctly, etc – that’s not actually irredeemable. It can still become a sweet little drawing if the character of line is interesting, and a bit of colour is added with care.

So my intention is to continue drawing regularly – but not daily. I am committing to three drawings a week published on Instagram and here with my weekly post. Let’s see what comes of this…

“My art may be conceived during a hedonistic Bohemian love-in with the muse…

| ssemchuk

July 4, 2016

“My art may be conceived during a hedonistic Bohemian love-in with the muse, but it comes into the world, like any birth, with labour. Always.”
Vertical Tulip, Jul 2, 2016, Oil on Canvas, 24″ X 36″
Vertical Tulip, Jul 2, 2016, Oil on Canvas, 24″ X 36″
Finished! I feel like this painting has taken far longer than it should have. It’s been a busy June. July looks like it may include a little more freedom and so I have taken up a daily challenge this month. For each day in July, I will create one small ink drawing and play a little with watercolour. I have almost zero experience with watercolour, but I do have this great little travel set of paints to use. So far, I am finding it … challenging. Perhaps by the end of it I will have gained some sort of proficiency. … or not. Either way, it’s something new. I’m posting the images to Instagram daily and will add them to my weekly posts here as well.

July 1
July 2
July 3
July 4