Progress

I need to add a few highlights and touch ups to the keys suitcase and it will be completed then I have a bit more work to do on Lady Baltimore. I plan to have the paintings completed by this coming Monday.  Yesterday I selected a neutral gray as the wall color for my exhibition then I will add white molding to the top. Getting all the final details done is exciting and stressful. I hope I don't forget anything!

19 days!

The show opens in 19 days and everything is to be hung in 15! Its just about much crunch time... exciting! I have to add detail to the keys and a few details on the suitcase of the blue case with the keys then that will be done. I've got a bit more work to do on the Lady Baltimore suitcase but it is progressing nicely. This week I will be planning out the wall color and deciding on moulding to frame my space. I will also build the backing frame for Lewis B. Klicker which is the painting on mdf board and cleaning up the other canvases and preparing them to be hung.

We are getting down to the wire and things are getting exciting. I've planned out the final tasks needed to be completed during each of the next three weeks. I have all of my paintings started and three finished and one is well on its way. I completely rewrote my artist statement and received extremely helpful feed back from some of my professors and am very pleased with were it is heading.

spring break

Over spring break, I made some progress on the blue suitcase with the keys and a more dynamic composition. This composition was chosen to accentuate the keys (which are very roughly rendered). It also gives the feel of movement and the dark colors suggests that the rapid movement is not necessarily a positive change. There is still a ways to go, but the painting is slowly growing on me.  I have also started my fifth painting one of the Lady Baltimore suitcase. I have chosen a light pink from a typical late 1960s early 70s color palette as the background color to give the feel of femininity and innocence.

The possibility of including some of my research in my exhibition has been on my mind the past few days. I think that given where I am in my life as an artist and the initial appearance of simplicity given by my project, it would be interesting and helpful to include the research that I've done concerning my suitcases. The research is also a part of the painting process that I find to be really interesting. What I find about each individual suitcase greatly informs each of my paintings and adds a degree of excitement and interest for me personally. I think viewers might enjoy this knowledge. The issue now is to find a way that shows some of the research without detracting from the simplicity of my exhibition and the viewer's experience. There may be some way to include the intentionality of my artistic choices in my artist statement; however, I may want to include some of the images I used, in which chase, it may be better to include a small pamphlet sitting to the side. Some suggested that I could include supplementary information through our artist statement videos or some other digital means. The video might be a good option since it is something that everyone is doing, but I'm hesitant to use technology to any large extent because my project is more traditional in medium and style.

Things are getting busy as spring break and the show opening approaches. I have a few finishing touches on my Carnegie case then I have to mount it to look similar to the canvas paintings since it is the only painting on mdf board. I have a dynamic composition in the works for the suitcase featuring the lock keys that emphasizes the unique objects. I'm a little uncertain, as the composition is different from the other paintings but I think that if I incorporate a similar style for the Lady Baltimore case and keep the background plain that there will be enough unifying features that there will not be a disconnect in the series.  

One of the next steps I am working on is the naming of each painting. The Carnegie painting, since I know the back story of the suitcase, will be titles "Lewis Beattie Klicker." I might include the year 1936 or the location, Avalon, Pennsylvania but I think that may change depending on what I do with the other paintings' titles. I'm hesitant to give too much information in the title. The Little Blue suitcase will be titled "Walt." I think this one will have a location since the name is so short.

I am also somewhat torn as to the possibility of showing my research and if I chose to do so, in what form. It would be nice to show the intentionality of my decisions but I don't want it to seem inconsistent with my concept.