Luke Roth "Self Portrait?"

Acrylic, 18in x 24in , 2020

Honestly the idea came to me after I did a geometric rendition of a gesture sketch from a while ago. I haven't painted too much, so I thought a geometric, clean piece would be easy enough to do. In terms of inspiration from life experiences, the painting is pretty unrelated to anything I've experienced personally. I started with a graphite sketch on just a regular canvas board. From here, I figured out where I wanted certain values, and mapped it out on the canvas. I then began to fill it in with different shades between black and white. After I finished the neck, I didn’t really like it. For whatever reason it just looked too simple and plain. This kinda pissed me off so I started sketching with paint in order to complete the rest of the face. Although this method of filling in the drawing completely contradicted the initial geometric approach I took, it still turned out looking alright. While I was actually painting the piece, I was simply painting for the sake of painting. There wasn't any complex symbolism behind the piece at all. However, near the end I was told it kinda looked like me. I then realized that I had filled my own features into the piece, which I found to be extremely interesting. Apart from the resemblance to myself, there aren't any other real examples of symbolic imagery within this piece. For me, I hated this painting. Although the process is growing on me, I still am extremely partial to drawing as opposed to painting. I find the medium to be weird and inconsistent. That being said, I struggled with shading proportions and making things as accurate as my sketch was. After I finished this painting, I began to work with paint related mediums that allow me to be more precise. Consequently, if I were to start over I’d ditch the geometric attempt and sketch the whole thing with thick brush strokes as I did on the latter portion of the painting. It's a mixture of abstract and realism. Obviously, if you look at the painting it's clear that I was trying to paint a male face. This accounts for the object's portions of realism. However, the shading and sketching done towards the end was all extremely impulsive and seemingly abstracted. I wouldn't define the painting as abstract, but there are definitely components of it that are.

Luke Roth "Euphory"

11in x 11in, Watercolor, 2020

After my first piece, I wanted to make something a little more sketchy and simplistic. I wasn’t happy with the way my first acrylic piece came out, so I turned to this painting as a way to fix my perception on painting. The idea itself came from a sketch I did that week for the weekly sketchbook assignment. Aside that however, there wasn't much symbolism behind the piece. The first thing I did was make a grid on my sketchbook paper and transfer it over to a larger sheet of watercolor board. From here, I used a light pencil to transfer the sketch onto the piece of final paper. Once satisfied with the sketch, I started to paint. I added large, light washes of different greys in order to differentiate where different values should go. From there, I continued to add smaller, more defined patches of watercolor to show exactly where my sharpie lines were gonna go. After all this, I added a thin outline of sharpie to the piece to make it look a little sharper & more defined. The word “Euphory” defined means, “a feeling of great (usually exaggerated) elation. euphoria. high spirits, lightness, elation - a feeling of joy and pride”. This title relates to my painting because the subject is currently experiencing a sensation of euphory. He is at peace and is just kinda chillin on some sort of elevated surface. That being said, when people look at this painting I want them to think about what balances them out and makes them feel at peace. The hardest part of this painting was simply using paint. Prior to this piece and one before it, I had never really experimented with acrylic or watercolors. Naturally speaking, watercolors are extremely washy and soluble. Personally, I’m used to media like charcoal, graphite, etc. These are all very defined and sharp. The change in media then challenged me because I was forced to paint in a much more gestural, overlapping manner. In order to make this process a little easier, I used sharpie to make some sharp lines outlining the piece. This made the actual painting aspect much easier as a whole. I would say that this is realistic. In terms of what makes it unique, there are a couple talking points. To start, I used three different types of media. I used watercolor paints, pencil, as well as sharpie. This made the piece look almost like a cross between a painting and a drawing. On the whole, it’s reflective of my art style because of this. It is a painting, but has obvious features of a drawing. This is what sets it apart from other works.

Luke Roth “Chicago”

18in x 21in, Watercolor, 2020

The initial idea came to me when I was searching for a reference for my next project. I stumbled about a picture I had taken about a year or so prior in Chicago. Although I liked the image, it was extremely complex. I ended up finding a more simplistic image depicting the Chicago skyline. Once I found this, I proceeded to gesturally paint in the buildings of Chicago. I started with an extremely vague pencil outline. I did this in order to make sure that I had a decent idea of where each building would go. After this, I went in with extremely light washes of orange, blue, gray, etc. I did this in order to bring my drawing to more of a painting, as well as to get an idea of where each color would go. After this, I used watercolor pencils in order to make the edges of the building crisper and more defined. After this, I just did basic touch ups and decided that I was done. Although there isn't really any direct iconography I was going for, the piece is important to me because I grew up in Chicago and only recently moved here. When people look at this piece, I’d like them to think about how a place like Chicago drastically differs from a small town such as Dewitt. In my opinion, it is extremely important to understand how day to day life differs based on location. This is important because having moved from a larger city, a lot of people assumed different things about me based on their negligent perception of where I was from. The hardest part of this painting was making it truly “done”. Even now, I still feel as if I could have added more in order to complete it in a more satisfactory manner. Also, the usage of watercolor challenged me a ton because they were extremely washy and inaccurate on paper. This posed as a challenge for me because I am used to creating art with either acrylics or graphite. Apart from that, this painting was not too difficult for me to do, but it definitely was a little bit out of my comfort zone. It's kinda a mix because realism and abstract art. When you look at it, it is extremely obvious that I was trying to paint some sort of cityscape. This fact contributes to the pieces' aspects of realism. On the other hand however, the piece is not an accurate representation of Chicago, and a number of the buildings are abstracted or drawn over-simplistically. On the whole, this piece reflects my personal style because it is kinda washy and gestural, as opposed to a realistic rendering of Chicago. For that reason, I actually kinda like this painting.

"Euphory"