What A Downer

Another piece I did back in college.  I'm thinking it was either my sophomore or junior year, but I'm not sure.  So, that translates to sometime between 1995 and '97.  It's acrylic.  It's also loose.  Well, a lot looser than I paint nowadays.  I don't remember the assignment, so I'm afraid there's not much to go on.

I got nothing on this one.

One of the few things I can tell you about my college work overall, which is also true of this piece, is that it was large.  The vast majority of my professional work is somewhere between 9 inches by 12 inches and 16 inches by 20 inches.  My college work tended to be at least 18 x 24, often going as large as 2 x 3 feet.

So, what about this piece in particular?  Well, like a lot of my college work, it's got some real problems.  The value structure bothers me (it goes dark awful fast in shadows), and the dark creases between the fingers is distracting.  The lighting is inconsistent between the hand/head and the rest of the body.  There's no real flow, nor composition to speak of.  It's just a guy with a thumbs-down for a head.

Even so, there's something about the piece I like.  Perhaps it's the color.  Perhaps the mood.  Perhaps it's the confidence in the paint handling.  I honestly don't know.  One thing is for sure, though: it gives you a pretty good idea of what I was like in college!