This week I documented my finished piece I am calling "Mosaic" because of its mosaic like textures and colors. Additionally, I chose a picture of a large oak tree covered in Spanish moss for my second project. This project is after the style of Klimt's landscape which combines naturalism and abstraction. I will be painting the trunk and branches of this tree semi-realistically and painting the Spanish moss in a highly patterned way. This week I was able to draw the outline of the tree, start painting the base colors of the tree trunk and experiment with the Spanish moss. 

This week, since I finished my first painting early, I started planning another painting. This time I want to make a painting in the style of Klimt. Meaning that I want to create a landscape painting that combines both naturalism and abstraction. I think this juxtaposition will be something fun to work with. I outlined the characteristics of Klimt's artistic style and some ideas for which landscape to paint. I will probably pick a landscape this weekend and start painting next week. This will definitely be a different experience from last painting as Klimt uses a brush to paint with oils and Riopelle used a palette knife. However, I am excited to learn new techniques!

This week I finished painting the front of the painting and I also painted all of the sides of the canvas. I continued to add more layers of paint onto the surface I had already added paint to. Additionally, I attempted to add lines to the painting, after those of Jean-Paul Riopelle's 1950-1 painting. After making these lines I discovered that I hated them. They were inconsistent and seemed misplaced to me, so I painted over these lines and I think I may be done with this project. I am really happy with it right now and I feel like if I added anything it would subtract from the quality of the painting. 

This week I continued modeling my painting after Jean Paul Riopelle. I added a darker section to the painting, but ran into a road bump as I want to create another section of differently themed colors, but can't do so without making the painting seem like four different squares. I will try to overcome this issue this weekend and next week.

Before I start on my actual project, which will involve abstraction and a larger canvas, I wanted to model a painting after a known Abstract Expressionist to gain a better sense of this art movement. I choose a Canadian painter: Jean-Paul Riopelle, whose art first caught my attention last year at the Hirshhorn Gallery. Riopelle uses oil paint directly from the tube and a palette knife, emphasizing repetition and texture. I began this sort of process this week. Starting by dabbing down one color and just adding layers. I am trying to make sure that the paint sticks out from the surface in the Impasto style, creating an interesting texture.