LATELY I HAVE BEEN DRAWING AND I AM ENJOYING IT

CROPPED SECTION FROM 14x17 DRAWING  'THE FRIGHTENED SOUL'
graphite on paper  2014  (c) Loren Fidalgo

Hey guys... something to share with you.

 Lately I have been drawing in my sketchbook alot and I have to say that I am really enjoying it so much.  There is something so meditative about sketching with a graphite pencil and kneaded eraser. Currently,  I am taking a class at Fleisher Art Memorial called Observation, Memory and Imagination.  The instructor is John and he is so fascinating to talk to and has an interesting technique to create drawings and paintings from small scribble drawings that grow out of the subconscious. Since I have taken this class before, I never really understood what I was doing in the class until this semester.  I have really found somewhat of my voice in these small scribble drawings.

'COMFORTING EACH OTHER'  4 1/4 x 5 1/2
graphite on paper
2014  (c) Loren Fidalgo 

Most of my sketches usually come out to be a face or head of some kind and they are filled with emotion and expression. I realize that for some reason I keep going back to this subject. Previously, I was creating faces that were mostly women that were happy, sad and also had lots of emotions in between.  Now I am creating more animated faces that are crying out or looking as if they are lost, vacant and scared.  Their eyes and mouths are revealing the distress and despair that they are experiencing.

'GRIEVING WOMAN & LAUGHING FOE'  4 1/4 x 5 1/2
graphite on paper
2014 (c) Loren Fidalgo

  I never really found a lot of passion from drawing in graphite. I found it to take too long to achieve the desired effect I wanted.  I felt overwhelmed by the pencil while I was trying to cover alot of surface area. I wanted to see my direction much more quickly.  But recently, I have fallen 'in love' with these little drawings.

'HOLDING ON'  4 1/4 x 51/2  graphite on paper
2014 (c) Loren Fidalgo

 The original image that is featured up top is titled, 'THE FRIGHTENED SOUL 'and is 14x17. It is inspired from a selection of small sketches.  I love the way it came out with the darks and lights all in shades of greys.  I think I will continue with these drawings and I want to eventually paint them out on canvas.  I am totally unsure what they will look like and if they will capture the graphite and paper feel however I will give it a go.  I am just lovin these drawings, I can't say enough about them and I probably won't in the near future.

'PEERING FROM BEHIND' 41/4x51/2
graphite on paper
2014 (c) Loren Fidalgo

 Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment if you like.  I'd love to hear what others feel about drawing in graphite pencil on paper.

Cheers,

Loren  

NEW 'on my EASEL' PAINTING LOOKED AT UP CLOSE

Hey guys... it's about time for a new 'on my EASEL' painting to be 'looked at up close'. This is where I talk about a specific painting and the thought process I went through to create it.

I am excited to write about this painting because it is an earlier conceptual/fantasy work that I did and it is interesting in texture and subject matter. Let's get to it...

'OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND'    18x24   oil on canvas  by (c) LOREN FIDALGO 2011

The painting I have chosen is titled, 'OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND'.  It is 18x24 oil on canvas.

When I began this painting, I had my concept in mind and I knew I wanted to create a image of a girl pulling her eyes out of her head. "Why" you might ask?  I don't know exactly, but I had this image in my mind for weeks and I had to get it on to the canvas. I knew what I wanted to express however, I didn't know how I was going to do it, so I started by painting the background in a flat bright color of green and yellow.  I drew the outline of the figure and I painted out the girl's face with a palette knife in a textured and layered style.  I liked the contrast between flat blended color and the highs and lows in the texture.  As I was painting her face, the rest of the painting was coming together in my mind and I decided I wanted to create character's faces with vacant eyes missing from her bright red cheeks.  As I painted up to the top of her head, I began to imagine more and more faces with hollow eyes that would be coming out of her ' head', her 'mind' and her 'subconscious'.

I was thinking about how the young girl seemed to look so 'cartoonish' in nature, somewhat surreal/fantasy like. I liked the juxtaposition of this and the reality of the subject matter.  Her face shows her smiling and yet at the same time, she is crying only able to reveal one single tear. Her eyes, as well as the other characters eyes are as if they are on a strand of string which is being pulled from the heads and out of her mouth. One eye after another, then another, are coming out . 
This illustrates the title that she is 'out of sight', i.e.' she and they have lost their eyes and 'out of mind' because she has lost her mind to the characters residing in her head.  All the missing eyes are windows to the soul to this captivating girl and those who live 'upstairs' with her.

The technique of the textured effect was painted in layers beginning with the dark colors first and solely building up to the lightest and brightest areas on top.  I used a palette knife to lift the paint off the palette and lay it down onto the canvas.  I 'pushed and pulled' the paint around the canvas to the desired areas and I carved and sculpted right into the layers of paint below.  This could look random, however, it took some patience and time for the layers of paint to dry to allow for the additional layers of paint to be put on top. The end result is this combination of 'a little bit of paint and a lot of paint' all in one painting.

Well, this is a wrap up for this ' 'on my EASEL' painting.  I hope you enjoyed the new subject matter and the different technique from my other works?  If you have an interpretation of this painting that is different from my own, please by all means, share.  I would love to hear what others think about this piece.  I will be posting another piece with a similar technique some time in the future.

Thanks for checking in to reading about this piece and please feel free to leave a comment if you would like to.  It is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Loren