Fortune Cookie and Onions

Fortune Cookie 17" x 11"

The above is from an assignment for my Collage and Mixed Media class where we were told to get a fortune cookie from a Chinese restaurant and then visually interpret it on an 11"x17" piece of illustration board. When I read mine I instantly thought of magical source powers in jars. I used cardboard and illustration board painted with acrylic paint to look like a wood cabinet of potions. I etched the words, "You have remarkable powers, which you are not using" into the board with an exacto knife. I wanted it to feel like graffiti or writing on the stalls of high school bathroom. The words are there, the writing on the wall, but we may not actually see it and read it. The images represent powers one may have forgotten to use. While I was going to label them, I chose not to, to allow the viewer to interpret the jars themselves instead of imposing my own views on them. What do the jars mean to you? Do you have powers you're not using?

Two Onions 11" x 14"

Yesterday, I made this oil painting in my Art Center class. We focused on adding color to shadows and highlights. For example, not just dabbing a lump of white paint on the highlight of the onion, but instead using yellow if it's a warm shadow or green/blues if it's a cool one. Reserving hot white highlights for shinny metals and the like. I really like how this one turned out and received nice commentary on it in class for its colors, shadows and the wine bottle's transparency.