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Shea Denahy : Baseline piece.
9x12, watercolor paint, 2022
Shea Denahy “spotlight”
9x12, acrylic paint, 2022
This is a painting of a picture frame that I was given by my grandma. In one of my paintings, I wanted to portray something involving dance. I was given this when I really started to love dance and I love it so much. In this painting I wanted to gold to really shine and stick out, I had trouble finding the shade I liked but after lots of mixings of different golds, I was able to find the right shade. For me his painting symbolizes my love for dance, the imperfections are placed almost intentionally because that's how I view dance, nothing is ever perfect and you have to learn to still enjoy the imperfections and find beauty in them. The thing that was the most difficult for me was the tutu, it was hard getting the texture to look like tool. I used a thin paint pen to draw lines and give that texture. I love this painting because it is an object that has a lot of meaning to me, but also that I was able to portray what I wanted to.
Shea Denahy "Sisters"
16x20, Acrylic paint, 2022
My inspiration for this painting is from a photo, it is a picture of my sister and me. I didn’t exactly like the photo so I took what I didn’t like and turned it into something different, such as the background which was originally mental picnic tables and a building and I felt like it distracted from the actual people so I changed it. I first painted the cabin in the background and I had to use a lot of shading with it, I then moved on to the skin which I think took me the longest. After I moved on to the other details until it all came together. This painting required a lot of shading which is very difficult for me. I want this picture to show the bond between siblings, not just me and my sister but for anyone and their sibling. I wanted people to see the bond and the main picture at hand and that is why I took away the distracting elements. For me the hardest thing was the shading of the skin, I wanted you to see the contrast that the sun made. It was very difficult to add shading and still make it look like skin. I spent a lot of time working on it until I liked it. If I started over I think the main thing I would change is the size of the heads because I feel like they almost look unproportionate. This painting is a realistic painting. I love this painting not only because it is a special moment to me but also because I am proud of how it turned out. I tend to do a lot of realistic artworks because I enjoy it but this painting really pushed me more than others normally do. I really pushed myself with this painting and I think it paid off.
Shea Denahy "Jellyfish"
10x10, Oil pastels, and watercolor, 2022
I wanted to paint a jellyfish but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do it. I wanted to use oil pastels and I decided to do it on cardboard to give it an older look. I also used watercolor for the water making this painting mixed media.
After I finished the oil pastels it didn’t satisfy me. I decided to use watercolor to paint the water, the oil pastels resisted the water so it formed around it and soaked into the paper to make it look faded.
I want the audience to see and think about the beauty of nature, I made this based on a picture of a jellyfish that I took and I saw the beauty of it and helped it evolve.
I struggled to figure out how to paint this jellyfish, I continued how to add to it and my ideas continued to evolve. If I started over I wouldn’t draw the coral because I felt like they looked oddly placed and I didn’t like how they look.
This painting is more non-objective. This painting was very different from what I normally do, I hve only used oil pastels a few times before so it was very different for me. I really like the blending I used on it and the faded look of the watercolor.
Shea Denahy"Chicago"
9x12, Watercolor, 2022
(IDEA) My idea was to paint this picture that I took. I decided to add more trees and almost highlight the path leading to all of the buildings so there were fewer distracting factors.
(PROCESS) I did the sky first, then the buildings, and then the trees. I did it this way so that it was almost stacking it. I would do it apart and wait for it to dry and then go over it again a little differently to give it some texture.
(SYMBOLISM & ICONOGRAPHY) I want the audience to see the sky and the path leading to the building. I don’t think there is anything symbolic just a painting highlighting the city of Chicago.
(ARTISTIC GROWTH) The most difficult part for me was the trees and making them look real. In order to make them look more real, I had to do the further back trees first and then work my way forward. If I started over I would redo the light poles.
(VISUAL VOICE) This piece is not objective. It makes it unique to me because I don’t really know how to paint landscapes and more specifically city landscapes.
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