"I just don't know what to do with myself..."

I could be OCD until the end of eternity lately. Here is tonights progress on this painting, but I can't decide whether i want his jacket to be a dark navy blue/gray or a light blue/gray. I originally had started laying down and underpainting wash for the lighter jacket, but when I started going dark, I decided I liked it and I would see how it goes:




I also think I need to shrink his finger down, the exaggeration doesn't look correct and I may have excentuated the highlights a little too much. I fixed his eyes also, they were a little crooked looking. Turns out, as somone pointed out, it was the way my eyelids were angled and not the position of the pupils.

I also finished Grace Slick (finally):


This piece looks exciting, and even if it isn't my best piece, I like it just fine. I'll get a good scan of it sometime this week.

On a side note, I am thinking about participating in the Rochester Regional Zine and Craft fair. My friends Jamie and Ben are bringing Schmutzine to the fair and I was considering having a table of caricature prints and knitted things that I have not sold yet on Etsy.

Feedback??

Night Loves, hope you get more sleep than I do.
Sorrento

Friday Night Progress

Didn't get as much done as I would have liked tonight (Thanks to High Noon), but here goes anyway:




Simple coffee cup, but mmmmmmmmmm coffee.

I'll be putting in some cooler colors soon and toning down the stripes in the background. I'm afraid they might be an issue, but with the right color choices I think I can fix this.

"I am a traveler of both time and space..."

The Zepp is getting my blood pumpin'!

I need a new camera.

Either way, noisy progress shots:

Poe!


He needs to look creepier, but hopefully with the inclusion of some elements and his hand I can achieve this. The face got a bit overworked when I tried to tone it down from a more peach color to a greenish-pale sickly color.

Kurt Vonnegut!


This is my initial under-painting, which was more successful than Poe's, and therefor is making things a hell of a lot easier.

And tonight's progress:


I tried to keep in mind the advice of my professor Bob Dorsey and keep parts of the under-painting that I found to be successful. It's coming out really painterly and loose, and I am really liking it.

Finally here is the work on Grace Slick, which I ended up starting over from an unsuccessful and frustrating oil painting:



I'm using gouache and colored pencil here which is working well, the detail is just taking longer than expected.

Good night.

Goodnight.
Love,
Sorrento

"Don't you want somebody to love?!"

It's been far too long since my last post! But that doesn't mean I haven't been a busy bee!

First off, Happy Holidays and New Year to everyone! Hope you all had a safe and happy one, and maybe got to enjoy some delicious cookies (not as good as my Nonnie's though!).


This portrait of Clark Gable was my mom's Christmas present this year. I used a different technique when I gessoed the board to give it a nice texture. I want to give it a nice varnish for her and then maybe a gaudy gold frame! haha


This is a work in progress caricature of Yogi Berra that I am doing for my cousin's tattoo. Should be finally finishing this up and sending it along to him this week.


For my visual essay class I decided to keep going with the roll I am on with portraits and paint some writers, with narrative environments. LARGE.

Edgar Allen Poe:

Lewis Caroll:



I am also sketching a piece on Kurt Vonnegut for this same class.

For my Symbols in editorial class I am creating a portrait of Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane) based off a painting by Gustav Klimt. Here's the sketch (although the likeness is off on this):


Finally, here are my final photographs of my portraits from last quarter:

Clapton:

Plant:


I know I am forgetting things, so I'll be back later.

Love you all.
Sorrento.

"It only goes to show, that though life's pleasures are few...

I have a week off of classes, which is filled with working ridiculous amounts of hours at my part-time job back home, knitting, working on commissions, planning out my next moves, and of course enjoying good ol' Utica with my friends and crazy Italian-American family.

So I figured, hey, lets blog on the only morning I have off from work! haha

This week I plan on knitting a couple new hats to post on RetroSorrento, and finally figure out my website. I'm actually really excited to be attacking Dreamweaver, it's a lot of fun, but I know I can go overboard.

So here are some of the things that finished up my last fall semester at RIT:


This is the final image for my hot sauce label for my illustrative design course. I loved the way it looked on the bottle (image coming soon, as my professor has the bottle), although I'd like to go back in and define some of the illustration a little more for a portfolio piece.



This, also for my Illustrative Design class, is my magazine layout. I really like the way this one turned out, especially printed. It was a real pain to scan the illustration though.

And finally...



These are horrible images, but they are all I have and the only proof I have that I've finished this piece, since I'm 2.5 hours away from it. The bottom background is a bit warmer, a deeper red-blue, but I think you can get the drift. I absolutely love this, and it feels so good to have a piece I'm proud of after struggleing with what I wanted to show for so long.

I guess that's it.

Peace.

Regina Spektor

About 80% finished:

Mountain Hop anyone?

Still some work in progress, but it's coming along nicely: