VIRTUAL OPEN STUDIOS WINTER 2021: Art 20J - Introduction to Drawing and Painting
Instructor - Melissa Gwyn
Amanda Koepp
Amanda Koepp
“Charcoal Still Life”
Charcoal on paper
This still life focuses on values.
Amanda Koepp
“Flower”
Acrylic on paper
I used only black acrylic, contrasting the white paper.
Amanda Koepp
“Cat mug still life”
Acrylic on paper
This still life has the cat mug as the central character.
Amanda Koepp
“Medusa”
Acrylic on paper
This piece references a bust of Medusa. I was interested in Medusa’s sad story and wished to evoke emotion through the colors used.
Amaya Pelayo
Amaya Pelayo
Still Life
Acrylic on Canvas
I am heavily influenced by everyday scenes and enhancing their overlooked qualities. We get so
used to our environment that we ignore the beauty of its simplicity. I learned so much about the
balance of refining while being expressive in my work through this piece.
Amaya Pelayo
San Francisco
Acrylic on Canvas
There are so many details when painting a city landscape. This work pushed me to highlight the
main focuses while bringing the essence of the city.
Amaya Pelayo
Emulation of Robert Henri’s “Cafferty”
Acrylic on Canvas
I am so inspired by Robert Henri’s pieces and his ability to balance expressive strokes without
them being distracting. This piece really allowed me to explore this while letting me bring my
own character into it.
Amaya Pelayo
Emulation of a piece by Michael Chamberlain
Acrylic on Canvas
I really love working with an illuminated, blue-toned palette. This emulation allowed me to
incorporate everything I have learned from the course while exploring this style.
Arisa Zeng
Arisa Zeng
“Emulation：Old Varsity Men Break in and Give Advice ”
Charcoal Drawing
Description: Emulation Drawing of George Bellows‘s Old Varsity Men Break in and Give Advice
Arisa Zeng
“The Bathroom Conner”
Acrylic on Canvas
Description: Still life painting of my stuff in the bathroom
Arisa Zeng
“Daily Use”
Charcoal Drawing
Description: Still life drawing using the subtractive method.
Arisa Zeng
“Emulation:Bedroom in Arles”
Acrylic on Canvas
Description: Emulation Drawing of Vincent van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles
Chenguang Wang
Chenguang Wang
“Painting of Roy DeCarava’s Dancers, 1956”
Acrylic on Canvas
My photography professor introduced photographer Roy Decarava to me, whose works she thinks might be used as inspiration for my photographs. I was quite impressed by his use of black and white, giving the whole image a rather film noir style. Through painting this photograph I was able to learn how brushstroke works with black and white.
Chenguang Wang
“Painting of Saul Leiter’s Collar”
Acrylic on Canvas
I’m always obsessed with photographer Saul Leiter’s use of color, his photographs look timeless to me. In this painting there’s no great contrast of color, red is the dominant color. I needed to find that little difference between several different red colors in order to create space for each object in the painting.
Chenguang Wang
“Still Life: Key, Cup, Spoon, Glass, and a photo album”
Acrylic on Canvas
Chenguang Wang
“Emulation of Sanford Gifford’s ‘Leander’s Tower on the Bosporus’”
Acrylic on Canvas
Huy Tran
Art is a form of self expression for me. I usually don’t have much to say about my work. I want my art to speak for itself while also leaving room for spectators to interpret my work subjectively.
Huy Tran
“Trasher”
Charcoal on paper
This drawing focuses on value and texture.
Huy Tran
“Still life”
Acrylic on Canvas
I wanted my still life to have some sort of a story behind it, so I added the element of blood into the mix to give it a bit of a dramatic effect.
Huy Tran
“Thomas”
Acrylic on Canvas
The subject of this painting is my housemate, Thomas. This painting focuses on value and texture.
Huy Tran
“Fiend”
Acrylic on Canvas
My intention for this painting was to make something surreal. Something that makes people wonder what is going on.
Ian Budesa
Ian Budesa
“Nepenthes”
Acrylics
I created this piece with the intention of combining my two areas of focus Art and Plant Biology. I currently hold a position as an assistant greenhouse worker up on Thimann Labs on Science Hill and chose this nepenthes to focus on.
Ian Budesa
“Still Life from a Merrill Apartment”
Acrylics
This painting is of a still life of various things from my apartment.
Ian Budesa
“A study of Edouard Manet’s Vase”
Acrylics
Though this is an emulation of one of Edouard Manet’s many flower vases, I truly enjoyed creating this painting. I didn’t make it exact, but I feel like it taught me a lot in the end.
Ian Budesa
“A statue in Munich”
B&W Acrylics
I got inspiration for this piece from a German exchange trip I took to Munich in 2017. I loved how stoic this statue was and enjoyed all the details.
Karina Molina
“Night Ride”
Acrylic on canvas
This piece was done referencing a photograph of a subway at night, but instead of evoking a lonely tone, I wanted to emphasize the liveliness that the subway could have
“Items”
Acrylic on canvas
This piece is of some non-descript items gathered together
“Pleased to Meet Mew”
Acrylic on canvas
This piece is of my favorite mug and the warm palette is meant to evoke warm feelings of comfort
“Fruits”
Charcoal on paper
This piece is of several different kinds of fruits grouped together
Lilian Guo
Lilian Guo
“Portrait”
Charcoal
I created this piece with a picture of my friend that I took. I focused on the values for this drawing, and the eye part is especially detailed. She’s holding a glass with cherry and water in it.
Lilian Guo
“Self Portrait”
Charcoal
This portrait is based on a picture of myself listening to music.
Lilian Guo
“Elephants”
Acrylic Painting
I created this piece with a picture of elephants walking around sunrise or sunset.
Lilian Guo
“Evening on the River master copy”
Charcoal
This painting is a master copy of the Evening on the River by Caspar David Friedrich, who was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter.
Maya Corona
Maya Corona
“Still Life”
Acrylic on canvas
This painting depicts an assembly of objects I keep in my room, including a tiny elephant candle I received from a friend, a green agate stone, and a dolphin lamp that my great-grandmother owned and passed down to my grandmother.
Robin Liu
Robin Liu
Verdant Avian
Acrylic on Canvas
Based on a photograph I captured last year at UCSC, I painted the likeness of a Western Scrub-Jay. It was a great opportunity to reflect on a part of the beauty of UCSC campus, the wildlife.
Robin Liu
Saturday Afternoon
Acrylic on Canvas
The combination of everyday objects and bright colors emphasizes the uniques of the objects potrayed. This piece allowed myself to perceive life in things otherwise lifeless.
Robin Liu
Emulation of Caspar David Friedrich’s “Chalk Cliffs on Rügen”
Acrylic on Canvas
I am so inspired by Caspar David Friedrich’s’s pieces and his ability to recreate landscape painting. His work pushed me into creating an emulation of “Chalk Cliffs on Rügen”
Robin Liu
Seoul Winter 2019
Acrylic on Canvas
Based on a photo from my grandfather’s apartment in Seoul, I strived to recreate the view from his balcony. It was a way to immerse myself on his situation and create a form of connection. The process of painting this photo was also a process of reflecting on the time we spent together.
Sandra Cook
Title: “Sneakers”
Medium: Acrylic paint
Description: The use of black and white paint is meant to express somber emotions, but also aid in the contrast between light and dark.
Title: “Yellow Guitar”
Medium: Acrylic paint
Description: This still life painting seeks to convey nostalgic feelings, as I have depicted a guitar that is a family heirloom. The dissonant color scheme shows that nostalgic does not necessarily mean harmonious.
Title: “Edith”
Medium: Acrylic paint
Description: With the use of a victorian gothic color palette, this acrylic portrait seeks to convey an air of mystery, as the subject is a young writer who has witnessed incidents of the supernatural.
Title: “Rotary Dial”
Medium: Acrylic paint
Description: This is an analogous acrylic painting, after an image from Robert Mapplethorpe’s ‘Polaroids’, which I used as a reference. In his self-portrait, it seems as if Mapplethorpe is taking a call with a pensive look on his face.
Shannon Lee
“Wedding”
Acrylic on Canvas paper
I use washes of black acrylic paint to depict a scene from my grandparents’ wedding in post World War II Korea.
“Still Life with Delicious Tomatoes”
Acrylic on Canvas
This still life portrays delicious, rich, rotting sliced tomatoes.
“Emulation”
Acrylic on Canvas
This is an interpretation of a 1629 self portrait by Rembrandt.
“Recliner”
Acrylic on Canvas
This painting of a reclining figure depicts the stillness of being, exploring themes of familiarity and anonymity.
Sohinee Tiffany Saha
Sohinee Tiffany Saha
Charcoal on Sketch Paper
This charcoal work is a still-life creation of objects that may consider one to be sophisticated. The black and white hues represent the power of these objects without the need of color.
Sohinee Tiffany Saha
Acrylic on Canvas
This acrylic painting only uses analogous colors. Even though only three different paints were used, the painting shows the number of shades that can be recreated. Additionally, the colors of the painting are a sharp contrast to the warm colors general associated with roses.
Sohinee Tiffany Saha
Acrylic on Canvas
This acrylic painting focuses on how light can affect the dimension of objects. The natural light present when this painting was made shows how different the highlights and shadows of the same object could be, in addition, to how it can intensify the inherent colors of objects.
Sohinee Tiffany Saha
Acrylic on Canvas
This acrylic painting focuses on the idea of love. Two hands of individuals who are about to touch each other are depicted shades of gray. Meanwhile the completely white background conveys a theme of emptiness about each individual. However, the electricity created between the hands show how each adds color to the other’s life, with one giving off warm colors and the other giving off cool colors that meld together in various colors in the section between the hands.
Tamara Muradyan
Artist Statement:
The purpose of these works were to exercise the artist’s understanding of how color and value collaborate with each other. Some pieces are from life, inspired by life, or emulated.
Tamara Muradyan
“Beside Me”
Acrylic on Canvas
This mix between fantasy and genre painting is based on the combined memories of a childhood apartment and the familiar feeling a person may notice when binge watching a TV show with someone you love.
Tamara Muradyan
“Matryoshka”
Acrylic on Canvas
A still life featuring an unlit lamp, maranta stems, a cow skull model, and the innards of an authentic matryoshka doll. Important pieces necessary for any childhood bedroom.
Tamara Muradyan
“Emulation: Panos Terlemezian’s ‘Musicologist Komitas’”
Acrylic on Canvas
This emulation painting is meant to explore the use of color and light, studying the tragic lives of artist Panos Terlemezian and the subject, Komitas, the founder of Armenian classical music.”
Tamara Muradyan
“Her Light”
Acrylic on Canvas
This is a piece that examines a high-contrast light source located behind the subject. The challenge was to use a limited palette consisting of yellow, white, and red.
Taylor Wedaa
Taylor Wedaa
“Pretty Lady”
Charcoal
The unfinished nature of the work likely conveys something about human nature.
Taylor Wedaa
“Things in my house”
Acrylic on canvas
Calum’s plant, my Kai’s half finished wine bottle, my plant mister and salt lamp and my x-housemates empty cup. This probably says something about our relationships.
Taylor Wedaa
“My Backyard”
Acrylic on Canvas
My landlord picked all our weeds and I kind of miss them.
Taylor Wedaa
“Monet Emulation”
Acrylic on Canvas
The impressionist style reminds me of those really really hot sunny days at the pier where you have you
squint to see anything.
Wanqi Yan
Wanqi Yan
“bottle”
Acrylic on paper
This painting includes a bottle with water in it, I used black, white and a little bit yellow to get that reflection on light.
Wanqi Yan
“A rich man”
Acrylic on Canvas
This painting shows a man with a happy face and holding lots of cash in his hand. Which represents my desire to earn money from stock in this new year. I used white, black, yellow and red.
Wanqi Yan
“Walking with my dog”
Acrylic on canvas
This is a place I usually walk my dog, it is my first abstract painting and I love it, I used black and white just to create a black and white abstract painting.
Wanqi Yan
“Georgia O’Keeffe’s In the Patio VIII”
Acrylic on paper
This painting is an emulation of Georgia O’Keeffe’s “ In the Patio VIII”. I used blue, white, yellow and red to paint.
Zoë Linstrom
Zoë Linstrom
“Carrizo Crucifiction”
Acrylic on Canvas
This painting was inspired by a day trip I took last year with an old friend. The landscape we travelled through is a fascinating display of geologic movement and upset from the San Andreas Fault, littered with old salt-mining and farming machinery. One feels incredibly exposed yet uninhibited while running around salt flats and watching seas of grasses ripple for miles- the plain still holds a tender place in my heart. I chose a crucifixion pose because it felt appropriate to the landscape- the religious theme wasn’t a present thought compared to the ease of dehydration, financial hardships, and martyrical tendencies encapsulated in this land.
Zoë Linstrom
“Still Life with Sexy Frog”
Acrylic on Canvas
I learned a lot while painting this chromatic gray still-life and through it gained an affinity for the vast array of colors known as “grays”. The items are from my personal collection that blurs the line between tchotchkes and rubbish, and it felt very sweet to immortalize objects of varied significance.
Zoë Linstrom
“Emulation of Daumiers’, ‘Destruction of Sodom’”
Charcoal on Paper
This emulation felt like a religious experience. I learned a lot in terms of composition and linework, and my boundary of control over a piece such as this. It remains one of my favorite works.
Zoë Linstrom
“Gray Array”
Acrylic on Canvas