LMacfarlane

anchored

I’ve been dwelling a lot lately on the idea of being anchored, along with what it means to “belong to yourself” like Brene Brown talks about in her book, Braving the Wilderness. When this image first came into my mind, the woman was holding something in her hands. As it developed, though, I realized allContinue reading “anchored”

exploring Adobe Illustrator

I wanted to get to know this software a little bit so I signed up for a free trial and spent some time exploring.

shining a little light

This piece was inspired by a colorful little desk lamp that I have. For three months last fall I was staying in a friend’s spare bedroom while I waited to get into a place of my own. It was wonderful to have a place to stay, but the feeling that it wasn’t really my homeContinue reading “shining a little light”

young woman on fire

For this painting I made use of ideas in Gabriele Munter’s painting, Young Woman in Black, like the heavy black eyes and the yellowish complexion. The orange hair against the yellow face was an experiment, and I ended up loving the fiery glow it created, which brought to mind this great song by Alicia Keys.

humans p.7

I’ve started drawing from Brandon Stanton’s book Humans. I loved the grouping of this family, and I was especially drawn to the mother. The inspiration for the angular drawing style came from an old idea sketch of mine that I came across.

looking to the future

On an impulse last night I grabbed a charcoal pencil (2B) and a pad of paper to work on this drawing. It had been a good while since I’d done any drawing practice, and I’m really glad I followed that impulse. My art practice has done wonders for my ability to listen to myself, butContinue reading “looking to the future”

copy of Woman in Black

This is my copy of Gabriele Munter’s painting, Woman in Black. Something that drew me to this piece was how there seemed to be a softness in the eyes, even though they’re kind of just blobs of black paint. I wanted to learn how Munter could capture something as refined as a soft look inContinue reading “copy of Woman in Black”

geometric play

This piece grew out of an idea to create a geometric design using the same color scheme I used for my Potted Plant piece. I like how the three-dimensional shapes play around with perspective, as though they’re being viewed from different vantage points. I also used a combination of gray and black marks for theContinue reading “geometric play”

small potted plant

This piece was inspired by a small potted plant I keep in my art room. I love the pronounced lean to the left. Many of the livelier elements here weren’t part of my original plan, but developed as I painted. I love it when paintings grow that way. Oil on panel, 5×7 inches.

no room to work

My latest piece was inspired by my own desk at home, which didn’t take long to evolve from a work surface to a storage surface. There’s never enough room.