Mark (in progress)

I had just finished painting the bottom three rows of skin tones when I realized that somehow I had lost a row. My image I was working from had 17 rows but my painting only has 16. This would not have been a big issue if I hadn't been using the top and bottom as reference points to locate the correct squares. Fortunately there wasn't an issue with composition so I was able to just crop a row off the bottom of my image, but it did make me panic for a while. I had to repaint a few squares to make the adjustment, but now I have the same dimensions as my reference image. Other than that relatively foolish mishap, I am excited about the progress of this painting. I only have three more rows of the bottom layer, then on to round 2- when the shapes really begin to come out.

Mark (In progress)

I apologize for the picture appearing warped. The canvas is not stretched and so you are actually seeing the curves and warps of the surface. These should go away when I do stretch it.
I am really excited as the shapes are beginning to emerge.

Mark (in progress)

I am working on a portrait of Mark after the style of Chuck Close. I did a self-portrait patterned after his work a few years ago and really liked it. I've had a few failures in my attempts since then. This attempt I am actually trying in oil paints instead of paper or acrylics. So far the drying time has been a noticeable difference. But I feel more comfortable with the colors and techniques using oil. So hopefully this one works better than the other attempts.
I will need to be really patient. My self-portrait took 4 months. I rushed my other attempts and that was a real detriment to their success. So I am going to try to not rush this one.

Fountain II (In Progress)

Untitled - Houston Temple (in progress)

I spent most of today changing the colors so it may not seem like much was added. I am still not totally satisfied, so expect the sky to keep changing.

Untitled - Houston Temple (in progress)

I started this paper collage a couple of days ago. Paper projects tend to go really slowly, but I enjoy them. With this collage of the Houston Temple, I am experimenting with a different style than my last paper project attempts. So far I have only had one successful paper collage. This time I am taking a very selective color approach. Although, now that I have spent 3 days working on the sky, I am thinking that I want to replace some of the colors- almost all of the darker blues actually. They aren't working well together and they are too green. So my next task is to find the right colors of paper.
The other debate that I am having with the collage is how far I am going to push the detail. Right now it doesn't have a lot of detail and is developing with a cartoon feel. Fortunately, detail is much easier to put on then take away. So I think I am going to keep going with the simplified shapes and keep adding detail until I am happy with it.

Fountain II (In Progress)