Painting II

Payton Hughes "Beautiful Day"

10x8, Acrylic paint, 2021

I got the idea because I usually like painting landscapes. My first idea was to make the painting look scary but when I painted the sky, I changed my idea. The first thing I did was paint the majority of the canvas blue and then painted the grass on the bottom of the canvas with a fan brush and a little round brush. After painting the grass, I then painted the cabin. I painted the trees afterwards with a round brush and painted leaves on with a wide flat brush. When I was painting the leaves and grass, I wanted to make sure I was using different types of green. I put more detail on the cabin by painting the windows black and yellow. I then added clouds over and in between branches with a flat brush. When people look at my painting, I want them to think about a nice summer day. When I was working on my painting it was difficult for me to paint the trees because I wasn’t adding enough branches to the trees. I also was not painting the branches long enough, so the trees looked small. I overcame this struggle by having Mrs. Dunlavey help me. One thing I would change about my painting would be the cabin. The reason why is because it doesn’t look as detailed as the other things in my painting. The things I like about this painting are the trees and the sky because they look more realistic than the grass and cabin. The style of my painting would be realism.

Payton Hughes "Ballroom"

12x12, Acrylic paint, magazines, and sharpie, 2021

I got the idea from language arts. At the time, we were reading the novel “The Great Gatsby.” So, I chose to paint a 1920s style ballroom. My idea was to give off a similar setting they had in the novel. The first thing I did was paint the wall a yellow tan-ish color with a wide brush. Then, I used a ruler and started sketching the door, window, and the floor. I painted the floor black and white with a small wide brush and then I painted the door frame a dark brown color with a small thin brush. After that, I painted the sky through the window and then used masking tape to paint little frames to section out the windows. Then Mrs. Dunlavey helped me trace the chandelier and then I colored it in with a gray, white, and black sharpie. I wanted this project to be mixed media, so I cut out a table and chair with an exacto knife from a magazine and then glued it on the canvas with modge podge. I also cut out an old picture frame and painting from a magazine and glued it onto the right side of the door. After that, I decided to cover the window and door with a cut-out of a picture of a landscape. Then I painted the little frames on the window back on. When I first got the idea of the painting, I never meant to have a meaning behind it but I want my audience to think about a nice summer day in the 1920s. Something that was difficult for me to do when I was working on my painting is the chandelier. When I was outlining, the black sharpie kept on getting dry and ink wouldn’t go in the canvas. I overcame this by having Mrs. Dunlavey help me. If I had the chance to start over I would have put the chair in a different spot. The reason why is because after I glued on the chair, I had Mrs. Dunlavey glue on the landscape picture behind the chair since I glued it in front of the window. You could see gaps between the chair and the landscape picture so Mrs. Dunlavey suggested that I color it in with black sharpie and it helped make it look less obvious. My painting style for this artwork is realism. One thing I like about my painting is the floor because it took me the longest to finish.

Payton Hughes "Pollution"

9x8, Watercolor, 2021

I got my idea from a speech I did first semester that was about plastic pollution. I then changed my idea and wanted to make a painting on factory pollution instead of plastic pollution. The first thing I did was the background. I used a round brush and painted on a little bit of water on the paper. I started painting yellow and orange on the middle of the canvas. Then, I moved towards the top of the canvas and painted on blue. I flipped the canvas over and did the same thing to the other side to show a reflection. I used the same brush and painted the factories with black. After that, I made shadows on the ocean from the building with a thin brush and white paint. I added waves by using a white gel pen and painted a darker shade of the sunset colors behind the waves. When my audience looks at my artwork, I want them to think about how much pollution has done us wrong and that we need to make a change. Working on this project was the most difficult for me because I haven’t painted with watercolor in a long time, so I don’t know what to do and what not to do while painting with watercolor. I overcame these struggles by watching videos on how to paint with watercolor. When I drew on the waves, they didn’t turn out how I wanted them to so if I started over I would have done the waves differently. Another thing is the sunset because I wasn’t letting the watercolor dry enough and used too much water. This style of art is surrealism. I like how it turned out altogether because I didn’t know what I was doing when I was painting. One thing that I like about my painting is the clouds on the top half of the painting and how the factories look.