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NEWSLETTER 1 Finding Serenity Art And Mindfulness As Your Tools For A Better Life

August 6th, 2023

NEWSLETTER 1 Finding Serenity Art And Mindfulness As Your Tools For A Better Life

Welcome to Art & Mindfulness for Business Groups. Virtual Program for Creativity and Well-being!.
NEWSLETTER 1: Finding Serenity: Art And Mindfulness As Your Tools For A Better Life.

I’m Veronica Huacuja, M. Ed., M.S.R. (Master of Education, Master of Social Responsibility) (pronounced wu-a-koo-ha), a professional plastic artist and a seasoned art educator. I am the creator of this program.

I invite you to choose the following link to know more about my academic training and professional experience: https://veronica.mx/resume-ENG.pdf

My teaching encourages participants to a journey that provides them with tools that enrich their lives improving their intra and interpersonal life through artistic enjoyment and mindfulness meditation. Likewise, the program promotes a learning environment of mutual support among the group.

Before we delve into this journey, let’s get to know its content and needs:
PART 1. OUR MINDFULNESS MEDITATION.
-5 minutes of our time.

PART 2. OUR ART EXERCISE.
USING LITERATURE AS AN ART INSPIRATION SOURCE.
Learning how to use high contrast focused on the female figure.

Material we will use in the art exercise.
-Acrylic paints. Vermilion Red, Cobalt Blue, Titanium White, Egg Yolk Yellow, Ivory Black. With just these paints, we can achieve the full range of the color wheel.
-Bristol paper (270 g/m2), size: 25 x 25 cm. Bristol paper is a thick paper (a semi cardboard) that can withstand the moisture of acrylic paints without warping.
-2 small rectangular brushes half an inch wide. I recommend using rectangular brushes instead of round ones, as they provide more control over paint handling.
-1 paint palette with 8 to 10 with compartments or well to mix and blend different colors of paint.
-1 small sized water container to rinse our brushes.
-1 small pocket notebook.

PART 1. OUR MINDFULNESS MEDITATION
Foreword. As we may know, we find the origin of mindfulness in ancient Buddhist practices. In the West, since 1970, mindfulness has been adopted as a therapeutic practice—free from mysticism, religious, or philosophical aspects—that achieves its benefits of meditation periodical exercises. This is the approach that ART AND MINDFULNESS embrace.

Mindfulness consciousness involves paying full attention to the present moment, resulting in enriching intra and interpersonal experiences. Practicing mindfulness with curiosity, openness, love, self-generosity, self-acceptance and daily is essential.

OUR PRACTICE.
Our breathing. Breathing is a very important tool to meditate. It helps us focus on our meditation, as you’ll find out in this practice. Let’s always keep this in mind.

The breathing method. Allow your breath to be natural and unforced. Don't try to control or manipulate it. Simply observe your breath as it naturally flows in and out.

BEFORE OUR PRACTICE.
Here are a few key considerations to bear in mind before starting our practice.

-Begin this session by selecting a quiet room at home or wherever you are at now. Ensure that no one will disturb you.

-Turn down the income signals of your cell phones.

-Use a comfortable garment for the practice.

-Pose your body in a comfortable, ennoble posture, whether sitting on a chair or lying on a mat. Either way, keep your back straight, without straining it, and drop your shoulders. Separate your feet from one another to feel your body balanced. If you are sitting, keep the soles of your feet on the floor, avoiding any pressure on the back of your thighs.

-Keep your hands beside your body if you are lying or rest them on your thighs if you are sitting. Position the palms of your hands facing upwards.

MAKING OUR PRACTICE.
-Applying no pressure to our eyelids, close your eyes, or semi close them if that suits you better.

-Breathe in slowly, gently, as I cited. And while doing so, let’s feel the fresh air coming into our body, swiveling from our nostrils into our lungs, belly, abdomen, thighs, calves, the soles of our feet, and toes.

-Every time we breathe out let’s pay full attention to feel the air swiveling out from our inner body, making its way out from each of our toes, passing from the soles of feet, to our round calves, going through our thighs all up its way passing through our abdomen, belly, chest, reaching our nostrils and leaving our body.

-While we continue breathing in and breathing out, our mind might distract us, making us remember pending duties, memories, preoccupations of the future, fears, etc. Notice these happenings, release them from your mind and gently come back to pay full attention to your breath in and out. Meditation is a practice, and it's normal for the mind to wander. Simply observe without judgment and come back to your breath. That’s our anchor in meditation. Our breath is a powerful device to keep us focussed on ourselves, leaving the world of the “must do’s” to fully paying attention to our inner world. It’s our natural breath that helps us re-concentrate on ourselves, giving us this meditation time in a generous and loving way, nurturing ourselves.

-Breathe for the next 5 minutes.

Our time is over. Slowly, begin moving your fingers and toes, one at a time. Now, let’s move our arms and legs compassionately to recover their flexibility. Ease your head with care from one shoulder to the other, and from front to back. Open your eyes.

AFTER OUR PRACTICE.
Let’s feel a sense of gratitude towards ourselves for giving us a nourishing time, for comprehending the importance of being in the present moment, not “doing” anything else, just “being” with ourselves. Now, in this peaceful and balanced state, we’re prepared to unfold our Art exercise, and after it the rest of the day.

Important homework. Do this exercise every day for the next 15 days. You can plan to increase your meditation time. For example: 5 minutes every day during the first week. In the second week, you can extend to a 10 minute meditation, for example.
It’s essential to remember that mindfulness meditation is a skill that we have to develop over time with practice. You'll begin to notice its benefits from day one, and they will increase within the next weeks. Like any habit, consistent daily practice is key to experiencing its inner personal benefits.

By incorporating mindfulness into our daily routine, we can create a more mindful and meaningful life, fostering a deeper connection with ourselves and the world around us.

Thank you for accompanying me in this practice.

PART 2: OUR ART EXERCISE.
I’m sharing with you the results of a group virtual painting session in a business environment. I’m also inviting you to make your own version of the work: Do it yourself with my guidance!

Foreword. In this peaceful and balanced state after our mindfulness meditation, we’re prepared to unfold our Art exercise, as I mentioned. Let’s experience the benefits of meditation in this art session, and for now, let’s feel the paints, see the colors, feel the forms, acknowledge our hands and their power of art creating. Let’s enjoy our art session!

The artistic journey that we’re about to undertake provides us with an avenue for self-expression and self-exploration. Artistic creation on an intrapersonal level can evoke a wide range of emotions, provoke introspection, and spark contemplation, leading to personal growth and a deeper understanding of oneself.

Likewise, in a group exercise, art transcends the boundaries of the individual and extends into the realm of interpersonal connection. By integrating art into a group setting it becomes a powerful tool for fostering social bonds and encouraging meaningful conversations.

OUR ART EXERCISE.
USING LITERATURE AS AN ART INSPIRATION SOURCE.
Learning how to use high contrast painting focused on the female figure.

BEFORE OUR ART EXERCISE.
One activity I encourage my students to engage in—alongside artistic creation and mindfulness practice—is reading literature (short novels, stories we find on the internet for free, sometimes). I recommend this because it broadens our artistic themes and enriches our lives.

This time we focused on Leonora Carrington (1917-2011, United Kingdom-Mexico), a surrealistic multidisciplinary artist—painter, author, sculptor—. Her work of art is fascinating, not to mention her interesting biography. (2)

For this project, we read one of Carrington’s short stories, As They Rode Along the Edge, and selected a passage that inspired us to create the artwork:

“Virginia (…) made a gesture with her strange hands to let the animals know the hunt was over; she opened her mouth and a blind nightingale flew into it. She swallowed it and sang in a nightingale’s voice.”

MAKING OUR ARTWORK.
Some art concepts before our practice. High contrast painting refers to an image in which black predominates, while the other colors used stand out. This technique created an artistic movement called "Tenebrism" (derived from the Italian word “tenebroso”, which means dark). In it, the background of the artwork is black, making the figures out stand with great strength.

The following image is an example of one of the great masters of painting of all time that used this technique, which was Caravaggio (1571-1610, Spanish Empire). (3)

Now, let's use this technique and paint our background using the Black Ivory acrylic paint. We can paint all the surface or, as I did, I left an irregular margin on each side without painting it (https://veronica.mx/background.jpg). The smudge orange color we appreciate on the bottom right side is from another painting I did on the same cardboard, which I didn’t like its results. So, in my case, I recycled the cardboard, leaving some of the old painting as an interesting detail that might enrich this new painting.

One more thing, I always paint first the background and then the figures on it. Painting the background first and then the figures on it will make it easier to create a cohesive painting. Just imagine the amount of work painting the background on the surrounding limits or edges of the foreground elements in case we painted them first!

On the other hand, to create the female figure, we used a clay model I made for this purpose. I posed it and illuminated it in different ways, showing it to the students, using one webcam dedicated to study the sculpture. We took diverse snapshots. We all agreed in the final posture that we chose to work in.

These are the links of the images:
-https://veronica.mx/imagemodel1.jpg
I focussed on giving the sculpture a gesture attending to the passage in Leonora Carrington's story.

-https://veronica.mx/imagemodel2.jpg
One of the characteristics of the personage in Carrington's story were her strange hands.

-https://veronica.mx/imagemodel3.jpg
The face expression in the sculpture helps to add drama to the piece.

-https://veronica.mx/imagemodel4.jpg
Gesture is an essential element in figurative art, as it communicates emotions, narratives, and the essence of the subject.

Then, while choosing and blending our acrylic colors in the paint palette, one thing I recommend to my students is to feel the materials with which we are working on and use them freely to satisfy our personal art expression. The goal is not to feel limited by trying to create a realistic copy of the model, but to interpret it using our feelings, sight, the paints, and our gentle or vigorous painting strokes on the paper.

Each member of the group developed their own version. As they did so, I provided them with both group and individual guidance according to their needs. Likewise, I developed my version of the exercise (whose progress I showed on the screen to the participants).

I present my work:

Title: Leonora 1. An Homage to Leonora Carrington (This is the link for the image: https://veronica.mx/leonora1.jpg)
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 25 x 25 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: Women

AFTER OUR PRACTICE.

Encouraging my students to present their artwork to the group is something I do to reflect upon his or her art experience. I also ask what our meditation provided to our art process and encourage the group to take part, to build up together holistic conclusions of our both activities: meditation and art creation.

Many students like to share his or her experience with their families (spouses, children). This contributes to their well-being in their family environment.

We close the session by thanking ourselves for giving us this nurturing time. We also thank ourselves within the group for sharing our time and experiences together.

Important homework. I recommend using the pocket notebook to draw on it with a pen or a pencil daily. Take off some minutes of your duties and give yourself this pleasure. These are some ideas you can draw: your hand, foot, the face of a beloved one, a glass of water, the plant on your desk. Keep the notebook in a drawer on the side bureau in your bedroom or at your office. This routine can have numerous inner personal benefits that positively impact our lives, such as:

-Stress reduction and relaxation. Creating art, whether through sketching, doodling, or journaling, can be a form of mindfulness and meditation. It helps us focus on the present moment, promoting relaxation and reducing stress and anxiety.

-Self-expression. Art provides a safe and expressive outlet for our emotions, thoughts, and feelings. It allows us to communicate and process complex emotions that may be challenging to put into words.

-Boosting creativity. Engaging in daily art exercises nurtures and enhances our creative thinking abilities. Over time, this creativity extend to other aspects of our lives, leading to innovative problem-solving and fresh perspectives.

-Improved memory and observation. Art exercises often involve keen observation of our surroundings, encouraging us to pay attention to details. This can improve our memory and enhance our ability to notice subtleties in everyday life.

I hope this newsletter is meaningful to you. Thank you for reading it and for participating in the dynamic of the session.


To know the characteristics of ART & MINDFULNESS for Business Groups. Virtual Program for Creativity and Well-being, head over to: https://veronica.mx/artprogram

If you have comments, questions, feedback that you want to share with me, please use my LinkedIn account https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-huacuja-59860322b/ or my email: art@veronica.mx

I invite you to subscribe to my Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/art-mindfulness-7087213844661448704/

Thank you for reading.


1. To know my academic training and professional experience, please head over to https://veronica.mx/resume-ENG.pdf

2. Wikipedia. (n.d.). Leonora Carrington. Retrieved July 14, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Carrington

3. Caravaggio, Saint John the Baptist, c. 1604, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Fragment of the masterpiece. Retrieved on 07-17-2023 from https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/caravaggio-saint-john-the-baptist/


Bibliography

Carrington, Leonora (n.d.). As they Rode Along the Edge. The Seventh Horse and other Tales. Virago, Virago Modern Classics, 1989.

Jon Kabat-Zinn. (1990). Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. Publisher: Random House.

UMass Memorial Health. https://www.ummhealth.org/center-mindfulness

3 Ways To Know A Great Painter While Drawing The Human Body

December 10th, 2022

3 Ways To Know A Great Painter While Drawing The Human Body

Hello, my name is Veronica Huacuja and I am a plastic artist and an online art teacher. I have created this content for a group class and I hope you enjoy it.

PREVIOUS COMMENT.
As artists or art practitioners, we must use all the resources we have at our disposal. Following these criteria, this time we explored the work of the painter Lucian Freud (1922-2011, Germany) (1), one of the most important portraitists of the 20th century, who painted his model, Leigh Bowery (1961-1994, Australia) (2), on multiple occasions.

THE EXERCISE.
I developed a plasticine model based on one of Freud’s portraits of Bowery, “Nude with Leg Up (Leigh Bowery)”. (3) In this way, we had endless poses of the model, to which I applied different lights. We worked with the ones we found the most interesting, and drew them with crayon on paper.

LEARNING GOALS.
- We had to achieve the gesture of the human figure, considering the volume delineated by the lights applied to the plasticine figure. Gesture, as we may know, is a “movement” of the body that expresses a feeling, a sensation.

- We experienced the powerful use of a black, thick crayon on paper.

- For those who didn’t know the painter’s work, got to know it, and also we got to know some facts about Freud’s biography, such as the relationship established with his model. When I introduce a new artist to my students, I always refer to the man (in a comprehensive sense, referring to men or women) and his work. I believe that’s the most complete way of approaching an artist and his work.

THE DYNAMIC OF THE SESSION.
Everyone, including me as a teacher, made the exercise. As we did so, I gave guidance, according to the needs of the participants. And, meanwhile, we worked, I displayed and commented on my progress on the screen.

To know the plasticine model and some other sketches of the work, please visit https://www.patreon.com/posts/67831359

MATERIAL.
· A thick black crayon.

· Sketch paper. Size and type: 29.7 x 42 cm, 95 g / m2 (it’s a thin paper).

EXERCISE DURATION.
2 sessions of 60 mins.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 Grandson of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis.

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh_Bowery

3 “Nude with leg Up (Leigh Bowery)”, 1992. Retrieved on June 15, 2022 from https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/08/freu-a02.html

Clay Sculpting Our Painting Models

November 28th, 2022

My name is Veronica Huacuja. I’m a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process. Hope you find them interesting.

PREVIOUS COMMENTS. Have you ever had the experience of not having access to a physical model to practice your drawing skills with? Well, this is an easy need to be solved. I do the latter by sculpting clay models, pose them and draw them on paper. But to do so, I need at least two photos of a character to work with: a frontal and profile view. I usually find these two photos in official mug shots where the offenders are photographed by law enforcement. A good thing is that these images are in the public domain. This is one of those cases.

MY INITIAL SOURCES. Having the latter in mind, I searched on the Internet, and I found the two mug shots I required, and a very interesting story: the true chronicle of Bob Addison (1913-unknown, U.S.), inmate No. 35074, from the Virginia Penitentiary archives. So, I made up the clay bust and sketched the following artwork:

Title: Inmate #35074
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Ink on paper
Size: 10.1 x 20.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: The Relentless

BOB ADDISON’S TURBULENT STORY. This man began his criminal career at a very young age: 19 years old. In 1932, he “was convicted in Tazewell County of assault with a knife and sentenced to four years in the Virginia Penitentiary. He served 2 1/2 years and was released.” (1)

After, he got into trouble again. This time in Russell County, where he, too, badly cut a man with a knife, and prior to his trial, he escaped, never to be found until thirty years after. In between, he used another identity, Elbert Roy Clark, got married, and had six children.

This time, when caught–now being an elderly man–, he did not serve his time because “after an outpouring of letters recommending clemency, including one from the Governor of West Virginia, Virginia Governor, Mills E. Godwin, Jr. pardoned Addison on 27 January 1967.” (1)

MAKING THE ARTWORK. There are several advantages by making up our models with clay:
- We exert our artistic skills by perceiving and representing the volume of the figure (wide, tall, and depth). This doesn’t happen when we practice with a 2D model, such as using a photograph or a screen shot from a video. Our brain, sight and hands work altogether when we use a real-life model.

- We can pose the model in different positions: foreshortening, profile, frontal view, bird's-eye view, low angle view, etc., and add diverse sources of light to it. Doing the latter we can practice the chiaroscuro, high contrast, among other light treatments.

- We can make up a silicone mold out of the plasticine bust and begin our sculptor's trade!

TECHNICAL PROCEDURES. I used the frontal view and a profile image to make up the plasticine cast. It’d have been great if I could have found both sides of the character’s head (left and right). (2) This is because our facial features aren’t symmetrical, as we may know. But, nevertheless, I managed to make up the clay model avoiding symmetries. Then, I developed several sketches in ink. In this article, I included the one that I think reflects the once fierce personality of Bob Addison.

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. As artists, we can use of our creativity to solve whatever needs we might have to accomplish our work.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

IMAGES OF THE TECHNICAL PROCESS: https://www.patreon.com/posts/60758691

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2011/10/24/mug-shot-monday-bob-addison-no-35074/

2 Alfonse Bertillon (1853-1914, France) was a police officer and biometrics researcher who created and applied an anthropological technique to law enforcement. He invented an ID system based on physical measurements and the use of mug shots to classify the offenders. Some of these mug shots had 3 views: frontal, and both sides of the head.

#VirginiaPenitentiaryArchives, #uncommonwealthvirginia, #bobaddison, #inmate, #claysculpting, #prints, #artprints, #drawingwithink, #inksketching, #art; #printmaking; #colors; #figurativeart; #charactercreation;; #learningart; #howtodraw; #howtopaint; #artist; #artistic; #paint; #painting; #paintings; #howtosketch; #sketching; #patreon, #fineartamerica, #FAA

Should We Include Social Issues To Our Artwork?

November 22nd, 2022

Should We Include Social Issues To Our Artwork?

You’re welcome to another Art Blog. I’m Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good and practical tips for your painting process. Hope you find them helpful.

REGARDING THE TITLE OF THIS BLOG. Should we incorporate to our artwork social problems we watch and read about in our everyday lives? I think it’d be a natural thing to do for some artists, but I’d like to add that this inclusion has to be subordinated to art itself, not to any other topic or field. That is, if our work is a piece of art, it has to be free of any usage (e.g. political topics, marketing, etc.).

So, that been said, I made up a collection I entitled "The Relentless", where I picture historical characters that suffer social malfunctions and disorders that drive them to commit crime. The tragedy of their lives and their cross paths in the lives of others are elements that impulse me to create this collection.

In this series, I dedicate my work to the victims of the perpetrators I work on, and to the multidisciplinary law enforcement team that pursues these offenders.

This is the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:

Title: Robert Stroud, The Birdman of Alcatraz
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Digital Art
Size: 6,614 x 10,422 px, 300 dpi
Year: 2021
Collection: The Relentless

As we may know, Robert Franklin Stroud (1890-1963, U.S.) was a convicted criminal with significant contrasts in his lifetime. These contradictions prompted me to create his portrait, in which I tried to capture the tumultuous events of his tragic life.

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. One more thing that triggered in me the creation of this work is that I’ve visited the public museum of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary during my lifetime on several occasions. I’ve read about the everyday routines that the inmates had to perform, the established relationships among them (their hierarchies, their groups), the roles of the guards, etc. I’ve seen the small cells in which these dangerous men lived for years.

SOME OTHER THOUGHTS. Regarding this last topic, I’d like to mention the differences that some European prisons have compared to other countries, where the inmates have better conditions for redemption. This last, if it’s the case. I believe, besides a matter of finances, overpopulation, etc. the concept of man is different in diverse countries. Some of them use their resources to reintegrate the offenders into society–when they’re sure these men won’t relapse–, and others to punish them. I believe Alcatraz was one of the latter prisons where most inmates were meant to be broken. This statement has to be seen as a historical phenomenon.

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. I believe the answer to the question of this blog’s title is, for some artists, a categorical yes. Do you agree?

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

IMAGES OF THE TECHNICAL PROCESS OF THIS ARTWORK: https://www.patreon.com/posts/47404518

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

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Reuse Your Canvas And Achieve Good Results

November 22nd, 2022

Reuse Your Canvas And Achieve Good Results

Welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja (wu-a-koo-ha). I'm a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I’ve some good practical tips for your painting process.

LET’S TALK ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT REGARDING OUR ART MATERIAL. Don’t throw away the artwork you consider at the moment unsatisfactory, because there’s still a good use for it. Let’s not throw away the paper or canvas on which the results were not what we expected. Let’s keep them and use them for a better achievement…, but this new use must be a strategic one. My recommendation for the new work is to leave some elements of the original work. This means, not cover with paint the whole original failed artwork, but to integrate it into the new one. This will improve the expression on our second try.

To exemplify the above, I add the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:

Title: Woman 10
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 61 x 48.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: Women

Visit any time my patron's feed where you'll find images that describe the process of "Woman 10" using a failed painting on paper I made some time ago: https://www.patreon.com/posts/61243765

A SECONDARY TOPIC. I’d like to talk about the relevant use of physical models in our artwork. If, on the contrary, we use a photograph as an initial resource, we’d be working on the interpretation of another artist, in this case, the photographer (copying the gesture or other elements he already solved). And I add something relevant, we’d be working on a two dimensionality (height and width), not on a three dimensionality (height, width and depth). So, the recommendation is to use a physical model and to make our own interpretation out of it.

By doing the latter, we improve the coordination of our sight, brain activity and physical capacities (the hand skills). This training will help us achieve rhythm, dynamism, and gesture in our work.

MATERIAL.
- An unsatisfactory work on paper or canvas.
- Acrylics paintings.
- 3 brushes. The size of the paper or canvas determines the size of the brushes. When we paint on a small surface, the brushes must be small and vice versa. For this work, I used rectangular brushes less than an inch thick.
- Water.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

PHOTOS OF THE PROCEDURES of this artwork: https://www.patreon.com/posts/61243765

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for visiting.

Is Our Art Production Autobiographical?

November 22nd, 2022

Is Our Art Production Autobiographical?

You’re welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja, a painter and an online art teacher for individuals and groups. I have some tips for your art process. Hope you find them helpful.

LET’S TALK ABOUT… Our art interests and understanding that almost everything we create has to do with our own life, our environment.

A PREVIOUS COMMENT. One of my passions, besides producing art, is reading literature (novel, poetry, essays, etc.). I do this activity because it provides me with new experiences, ideas and topics to produce my artwork, besides enriching my life. 

So, whenever we choose an art topic to develop, we must agree that almost everything we create has to do with our biography. That is, the choices we make to produce any artwork is determined by our life history (beliefs, experiences, memories, education, culture, etc.).

To exemplify the above, I add the following work. This is its data sheet:

Title: Study of a Portrait 26
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Ink on paper
Size: 32 x 24 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2005
Collection: Women

MY EXPERIENCE MAKING UP THIS ARTWORK. Taking the previous reflection into consideration, I made research on the photographer, Edward Weston (1886-1958, U.S.), and I found one of his beautiful artworks which displays a woman reciting a poem. The name of the woman is Tina Modotti (1896-1942, Italy)–a photographer, too–, who was photographed by Weston, her lover at the time. The title’s photograph is “Tina Reciting”. (1)

Weston took this photo in Mexico in the 1920s, which is a period of great artistic creativity that is known as the Mexican Renaissance. 

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. Maybe that’s the mysterious way our brain works when we decide to paint whatever topic we’re interested in. So, the answer to the above question in the title is affirmative: Yes, we produce art that is part of our lives. Do you agree?

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Lastly, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com).

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING COURSE for groups and individuals: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

VIDEOS & POSTS: https://patreon.com/veronicahuacuja

1 https://www.kimweston.com/news/blog/exhibits-and-lectures/4-generations-weston-april-8-9-viewpoint-gallery

#tinamodotti,#tinisima,#edwardweston,#patreon,#artcoach,#artcoaching,#learningart,#howtodraw,#howtopaint,#art,#ink,#artist,#artistic,#paint,#painting,#paintings,#howtosketch,#sketching,#drawing,#portrait,#acrylic,#acryliconpaper,#acrylicpaint,#acrylicpainting,#acrylicpainter,#patreon, #fineartamerica, #FAA, #veronicahuacuja

Uncommon Initial Resources For A Painting

November 22nd, 2022

Uncommon Initial Resources For A Painting

Welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja. I'm a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process. Hope you find them useful.

PREVIOUS COMMENT. This portrait is an homage to the women that lost their lives in the hands of Jack the Ripper a couple of centuries ago. Their names, as we may know, are Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.

Since I began the work, I wanted to portray the troubled life and tragic deaths of these unknown (at the time) women. I created this artwork with deep respect towards them.

This is the data sheet of the piece:

Title: A Whitechapel’s Woman
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Oil on paper
Size: 33 x 28 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2017
Collection: Women

MY EXPERIENCE MAKING UP THE WORK. As I’ve mentioned on other occasions, I like to use innovative and various techniques in my workflow.

A PREVIOUS ACTIVITY. In this work, I made just like the grand master of painting Leonardo da Vinci, used to do when he searched in the homeless and impoverished people of his time models to paint their troubled faces. In my case, I did a similar task, but using the powerful tool that is the Internet. That's how I gathered information about the mentioned five canonical victims of Jack The Ripper.

On the other hand, I watched the American series, “The Killing” (1) and found out an incredible scene performed by the actress Mireille Enos (2), that I thought was just the exact initial source I needed at the time to make up the work. I made up various snapshots out of the cited scene, and selected one of them to work on it in a digital environment. In Photoshop, I deformed it, and changed the original source of light on the character's face based on the chiaroscuro masterpiece of Caravaggio (1571- 1610, Italy), “David with the Head of Goliath” (1607). (3) To see some photos of-the-art process, head over to https://www.patreon.com/posts/uncommon-initial-31081663

After being satisfied with the result, I used the image as an initial resource for the work done with oil on paper, in a physical environment.

MATERIAL.
- The cited snapshot of Mireille Enos in "The Killing"
- A reproduction of Caravaggio‘s painting, “David with the Head of Goliath”.
- Adobe Photoshop
- Oil paintings
- Oil paper

MAKING A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. The historical research, artworks of the grand masters of painting of all times, and our personal and professional experiences provide us with enough information to make up an interesting artwork. Do you agree?

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Lastly, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Hope you enjoyed the work and thank you for reading.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_(American_TV_series)
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mireille_Enos
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_with_the_Head_of_Goliath_(Caravaggio,_Vienna)

#caononicalfive, #jacktheripper, #whitechapel, #MaryAnnNichols, #AnnieChapman, #ElizabethStride, #CatherineEddowes, #MaryJaneKelly, #adobephotoshop, #chiaroscuro; #artwebsites; #artwebsite; #stippling; #principlesofart; #charactercreation; #onlineartgalleries; #artsaleonline; #artspace; #portrait; #oilonpaper; #painting, #MireilleEnos, #caravaggio, #davidwiththeheadofgoliath, #deformity, #strangeness, #eccentricity, #greenandredmake, #leonardodavinci, #fineartamerica, #faa, #veronicahuacuja

Lets Mix Techniques In Our Painting Workflow

November 12th, 2022

Lets Mix Techniques In Our Painting Workflow

My name is Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I’ve some practical tips for your painting process. Hope you find them helpful.

A DIGITAL SOLUTION MIXED WITH TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES OR THE WAY AROUND. As I’ve mentioned in some other blogs, I discovered Blender–a free and open-source 3D computer graphic software–on the Internet. I learned its basics in many free tutorials hosted on YouTube. There’re plenty enough for any learning need you might have of this software.

One incredible thing is that because of this software’s popularity, there are lots of developers, 3D artists, etc. that free share their work and you can download it. That’s what happened in this work of mine: I used a rigged human figure made up on this software. “What a rig does is define the way the various parts of a model will move in relation to its other parts.” (1)

To exemplify the aforementioned, I add the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:
Title: Body Study 65
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Media: Oil on paper
Size: 20.8 x 21 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2019
Collection: Human Body

THE PROCESS. One important thing to achieve in drawing or painting the human body (or an animal's body) is the dynamism (2) that the figure must have, no matter if it is at rest or in movement.

SOME GOOD DETAILS TO KEEP IN MIND. To get acquainted with the latter, let’s have a look at the body of art of the great masters of dynamic photography, that are Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904, British and U.S.) (3), and Étienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904, France). (4) By the way, they both born in the same year and they died at the same age! And, they got to know each other and each other’s work, but they didn’t establish a close relationship. Let’s not forget the boat made the transcontinental geographical distances in those years. This is because Muybridge lived and work in U.S. and Marey in France.

MY EXPERIENCE DOING THE ARTWORK. Why I used a 3D model when I could buy a nude artistic photo from commercial stocks or use others freely as an initial resource? The reason is that it's hard to find natural and dynamic poses in these galleries. So, having that in mind, I downloaded a free 3D Blender rigged human shaped model. Because it was a rigged, I could pose it in any position. I also defined the sources of light (casting the shadows). When I was satisfied with the results, I made a snapshot out of it.

PAINTING AND RECORDING THE PROCESS. The next step was to use, as an initial source, the cited snapshot. So, I sketched the figure on paper using a black crayon and painted it with an oil painting. You can appreciate the process in an 8 min video at https://www.patreon.com/posts/70780632

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. Have you ever mixed these two techniques: digital and traditional? If so, your creative process and initial resources expand.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate an interesting dialogue.

Lastly, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 https://www.google.com/search?q=what+does+rigged+measn+in+blender&oq=what+does+rigged+measn+in+blender&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i13i30j0i390l5.8512j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_drawing

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge

4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne-Jules_Marey

Using Literature For A Painting

November 9th, 2022

Using Literature For A Painting

You're welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja, a painter and an online art teacher for individuals and groups. I have some tips for your art process. Hope you find them interesting.

Literature is an incessant source of inspiration for our artistic work. To explain this, I will refer to a professional experience. Some weeks ago, I got the invitation to take part in a collective exhibition regarding Leonora Carrington (1917-2011, United Kingdom) (1), who, as we may know, was an extraordinary, surrealist, multidisciplinary artist–painter, author, sculptor–. Her work is mesmerizing, not to mention the interesting life she had.

So, I reread her biography, the interesting relationships she established with so many celebrities of her time, such as Max Ernst (one of her dearest lovers at the time), Peggy Guggenheim, André Breton, Edward James (her early benefactor), and many other surrealist artists. Let’s not forget she lived the horror of the World War II in Europe, which is an important factor–besides knowing the Mexican, Renato Leduc (her first husband)–why she ended living in Mexico and adopting the English-born Mexican citizenship. 

Her story, “As they Rode Along the Edge”, inspired me to make up this piece. The data sheet of the latter is:

Title: Leonora 1. Homage to Leonora Carrington
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 25 x 25 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: Women

The excerpt of the cited story that inspired me making up the artwork was the powerful description of her protagonist:

“Her name was Virginia Fur. She had a mane of hair yards long and enormous hands with dirty nails.” (2)

A COMMENT ON THE SIDE. As an artist, I rarely explain my version of my work. I try hard to make art that points in a direction without defining a destiny. I believe that journey has to be made by the observer.

There’s a book written by the philosopher, Umberto Eco (1932-20116, Italy), “The Open Work”, where he propounds the interpretation of an observer to a piece of art depending on his biography, beliefs, education, social environment, and many other personal factors. So, the main point of an artwork is to achieve polysemy (3), which are different meanings.

MATERIAL.

· Acrylic paints: Vermilion red, Cobalt blue, Titanium white and yellow. With only these paints, we can achieve the full range of the color wheel.

· Bristol paper (270 g / m2). It is a thick paper that withstands the humidity of the acrylic paintings without deforming.

· Rectangular brushes of various thicknesses, only about 1 inch thick or so. I use rectangular brushes and not round, as I can produce stronger strokes with them.

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. Would literature enrich our lives and our artwork? Yes, I believe so. Literature is a splendid and generous source for our art inspiration.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Lastly, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for visiting.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Carrington

2 Carrington, Leonora. “As they Rode Along the Edge”. The Seventh Horse and other Tales. Virago, Virago Modern Classics, 1989.

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysemy

Never Erase Mistakes In Your Work. Trust In Serendipity

October 8th, 2022

Never Erase Mistakes In Your Work. Trust In Serendipity

Welcome to another art blog! My name is Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process.

I’m explaining the backstages of the creative production of this artwork. Hope you enjoy it.

The data sheet of the artwork is:

Title: Woman’s Body 25
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Digital Art
Size: 5,251 x 7,000 px, 300 dpi
Year: 2018
Collection: Human Body

LET’S TALK ABOUT... An excellent technique: never erase the “mistakes” we make in the process of an artwork, because they might add interesting elements to it. As we may know, this fortunate happening is called “serendipity”, good luck or a fortunate accident. (1)


MATERIAL.
· Digital tablet. I use and recommend one with a hand pressure sensitivity stylus.
· Photoshop (almost any late version of this software).

PREVIOUS THOUGHTS. One thing that we have to keep in mind every time we use the digital medium in our work is that we can do similar procedures in traditional techniques (oil and/or acrylic, etc.).

ART PROCEDURES. I chose a mid-tone (2) for the background, a greenish one (not bright, not dark). This decision helped me to build up the work, because the background color, as we may know, has an important role in the final art solution. This is a technique I use and recommend using: set your background color first. It works just fine!

Sketching with freedom allows us to find interesting solutions. This includes the “mistakes” we do in the way.

With a certain concept of a nude female’s body, I began sketching using the black color and its mid-tones. At first, I didn’t know what the results might be. Little by little, after making various “mistakes”, the body took shape. I uploaded some photos of the creative process that you can find at https://www.patreon.com/posts/never-erase-in-29637463

Then, I added a new color: orange. One way to guarantee that I was using the correct color was to pat it on the surface and see how it matched. After being convinced of the right use of this third color, I applied it on strategic regions, letting the greenish background color still be part of the solution (see the belly, shoulders, legs).

Last, I applied the source of light (that reflects on the figure), and for this purpose I used the white color, which I employed in two ways:

-Lightly on the body just to create the volume.

-Heavily on the background to stand out the body from it, and to create a dramatic contrast with the usage of the black color.

MAKING A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE: Let’s trust in serendipity while making up our work, and let’s keep our eraser in a closed drawer.

PLEASE WRITE YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

If you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM for business groups and individuals: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Hope you enjoyed the work and thank you for reading!

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity

2 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/sep/20/guide-to-painting-mid-tones#:~:text=Mid%2Dtoned%20colours%20are%20in,it%20on%20to%20the%20canvas.


#serendipity, #mistakesinart, #digitalart; #digitalpainting, #art; #patreon; #printmaking, #art, #artist, #artpal, #paint, #artcollector, #oilonpaper. #paiting, #painter, #artcoach, #artcoaching, #learningart, #howtodraw,#howtopaint, #artistic, #paint, #paintings, #howtosketch, #sketching, #drawing #instaartist, #finertamerica #faa, #veronicahuacuja

Lets Make Up A Portrait From A Video Still

October 4th, 2022

Lets Make Up A Portrait From A Video Still

Welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja. I’m a plastic artist and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process. Hope you find them useful.

THIS IS A VERY TRUE PRINCIPLE. As artists, we must use all the resources we have at hand to produce our work. This is one of these cases where we can make a portrait out of video stills (snapshots) captured from an online true documentary. Have you ever made up a portrait of a video still? I had and want to share this art experience. 

To exemplify this, I add the following work:

Title: The Interview 5
 
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
 
Media: Acrylic on paper

Size: 95 x 68 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2019
Collection: Human Body  

PREVIOUS THOUGHTS. Some of my art interests are scenes related to people being interviewed. So, should we take video stills from a true documentary instead of a fictional film to work with? As a creator, I’m interested in portraying the realistic conditions of a human phenomenon or circumstance. 

I find the realism of true documentaries astonishing versus a fiction recreation from another creator (filmmaker, etc.). In this way, we artists decipher and transpose a human phenomenon to the field of art. It’s searching, understanding, and recreating or reinterpreting reality. Here, the fearsome illness known as schizophrenia. (1) I made up an 8 min video regarding the process of this artwork. You'll find it at https://www.patreon.com/posts/42155099

LET'S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. Research pays off when you find a source, such as the cited video. These criteria are from a creator’s point of view, and I add, a profound respect for the persons implicated in the referred situation.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed the blog.

1 National Film Board of Canada for the Department of National Health and Welfare (no date). “Catatonic Schizophrenia”. Retrieved on May 10, 2020 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYwGmWWxY48&lc=Ugz_PFGNm9kyLfvK8Gl4AaABAg 

#interview, #schizophrenia, #patreon, #chiaroscuro, #howtopaintwithacrylics, #facedrawing, #catatonicpatients, #psychomotorsymptom, #waxyflexibility, #artwork, #art, #artistic, #artist, #artpal, #acrylic, #acrylicpainting, #acrylicpaint, #acryliconpaper, #paint, #painting, #painter, #portrait, #portraiture, #artcoach, #artcoaching, #learningart, #learningtodraw, #learningtopaint, #blackpainting; #digitalartist; #patreon, #fineartamerica, #FAA, #veronicahuacuja

Using Diptychs Is A Good Choice For Our Work

August 4th, 2022

Using Diptychs Is A Good Choice For Our Work

Welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process. Hope you find them interesting.

PREVIOUS THOUGHTS. As literature has its own tools, one very impressive tool that we painters have is the use of diptychs, triptychs or polyptychs. A diptych, as we know, is an “artwork comprising two pieces or panels, that together create a singular art piece that can be attached together or presented adjoining each other”. (1) So, triptychs–3 art pieces–or polyptychs–over five art pieces conceived in a unit–are elements of the same tool, and they’re used by those painters whose creative process needs the narrative, sequential or other temporal speech. For these creators, these tools are just perfect!

GOOD ADVICE. As artists, we can try new things. Try this technique if you haven’t used before!

JUST A TASTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART. Contemporary great painters that used diptychs, triptychs or polyptychs are Francis Bacon (the artist) (2) in his powerful artwork, “Crucifixion”. (3) The other creator is Andy Warhol (4) in his work, “Marilyn Monroe”. (5)

In my case, to exemplify the latter, I add the following piece:

Title: Leonora 2. Homage to Leonora Carrington (6)
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 25 x 25 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: Women

I ensembled this painting–in a diptych–with “Leonora 1. Homage to Leonora Carrington”. (7) Visit any time the link to see an image of both works on a wall. (8)

MY EXPERIENCE DOING THE ARTWORK. I wanted to paint both pieces in a dramatic unit making up a special setup. That is “whatever might happen” in both pieces had to be simultaneous. I believe that’s something we can’t achieve as painters in a single piece.

MAKING A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. Let’s permit ourselves the astonishment caused by the work of prominent artists of all times. After this first moment, we might want to study their body of art and include their techniques in our artistic process.

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM for company groups or individuals at https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diptych
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon_(artist)
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_(1933)
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol
5 https://www.moma.org/collection/works/61240
6 https://fineartamerica.com/featured/leonora-2-homage-to-leonora-carrington-veronica-huacuja.html
7 https://fineartamerica.com/featured/leonora-1-homage-to-leonora-carrington-veronica-huacuja.html
8 : https://veronica.mx//On-wall-238.jpg


#diptych, #francisbacon, #andywarhol, #triptych, # polyptych, #paint; #painting; #portrait; #art; #printmaking; #prints; #artist; #portraitpainting; #painter; #artistic; #gesture; #mood; #palette; #artwork; #learningart, #howtodraw, #howtopaint, #paintings, #howtopaint, #howtodraw, #patreon, #fineartamerica, #FAA, #veronicahuacuja

The Influence Of Artists Upon Other Artists

July 30th, 2022

The Influence Of Artists Upon Other Artists

Welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja. I’m a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I’ve some good tips for your painting process.

LET’S PORTRAY A CHARACTER THAT “SPEAKS” TO THE OBSERVER. To do so, let’s learn from one of the maximum exponents of the Spanish Baroque. (1) I’m talking about the impressive portraitist, Diego Velázquez (1599-1660, Spain) (2), and one of his masterpieces, “Juan de Pareja”, (3) in which Velázquez portrayed his model in a lofty attitude, almost “making him speak”.

SOME INTERESTING HISTORICAL DETAILS. Velázquez made up this piece while travelling to Rome, Italy to paint his historical model, Pope Innocent X, one of the most powerful man in Europe. This artist did this trip in company with his art assistant and slave, Juan de Pareja, who was a very talented painter himself. The painter made up the piece “Juan de Pareja” to practice beforehand making the masterpiece, “Portrait of Pope Innocent X”. (4) This is because he hadn’t touched the brushes since some months before.

One important detail of the relationship between Velázquez and Juan de Pareja: in 1654, Velázquez liberated him from bondage. He must have recognized de Pareja’s artistic talent, and, for sure, besides their established relationship, they must have been friends.

A TECHNICAL COMMENT. In “Juan de Pareja” we find the following elements: composition, gesture, pose, and dramatic lighting (chiaroscuro). These elements help to get to the core of whatever story any artist wants to communicate to the viewer.

I used these elements in the following artwork:

Title: Head Study 3
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Oil on paper
Size: 24 x 32 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2017
Collection: Portraits

MY EXPERIENCE DOING THIS ARTWORK. I applied the aforementioned elements to the piece, hoping my character "speaks" to the observer:

• Composition. Is the way we dispose the elements on the surface of a painting. This element introduces the observer into the painting itself, and across the entire surface.

• Pose. Is the particular attitude or stance that the model assumes by itself or by the artist’s guidance.

• Gesture. Is an emotional state that is expressed by the character.

• The lighting in chiaroscuro. “Is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition”. (5)

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. After the astonishment we might experience getting to know the artwork of prominent artists of all times, we can analyze their work and use their concepts, techniques, etc. in our own work.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM for company groups or individuals at https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Baroque_painting

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez

3 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437869

4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Innocent_X

5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro

#diegovelazquez, #juandepareja, #spanishbaroque, #paint; #painting; #portrait; #art; #printmaking; #prints; #artist; #portraitpainting; #painter; #artistic; #gesture; #mood; #palette; #artwork; #learningart, #howtodraw, #howtopaint, #paintings, #howtopaint, #howtodraw, #patreon, #fineartamerica, #FAA, #veronicahuacuja

Never Again Use A Model For Your Artwork

July 20th, 2022

Never Again Use A Model For Your Artwork

My name is Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I’ve some practical tips for your painting process. Hope you find them useful.

PREVIOUS COMMENT. Sometimes, as figurative artists, the agenda of a physical model doesn’t match with ours. Nor a friend or relative has the time to pose for us. So, it’s time to use other resources we may have at our disposal.

A SOLUTION. I discovered Blender–a free and open-source 3D computer graphic software–on the Internet. I learned its basics in many free tutorials hosted in YouTube and began sculpting my 3D models. It’s amazing. You can manage everything, all the variables: the physical features of the model, the poses, views, lights, colours. After accomplishing the model, you take what you consider the best snapshots. Then, in the physical world, you sketch and paint your artwork with traditional techniques (using the snapshots displayed on Photoshop or some other graphic software)!

I add the following artwork in which I used these procedures. This its data sheet:

Title: Head Study 75
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Oil and crayon on paper
Size: 108 x 91 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2019
Collection: Portraits

TECHNICAL COMMENTS. Some technical choices helped me to provide a powerful presence to the character:

- The medium format. Almost using 1 m2.
- The closeness of the character’s face displayed in a close-up. This treatment looks forward to provoke an emotional response in the observer.
- The strong black strokes I used to depict the features of the personage.
- The yellowish palette creating an atmosphere, which provides a sense of depth by representing three-dimensional spaces on the flat surface.

MATERIAL.

DIGITAL MATERIAL.

- Blender (any late version of this free software you find on the Internet).
- Digital tablet (I use and recommend one with hand pressure sensitivity. I use a Wacom tablet.)
- Photoshop (any late version of the software).

TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUE MATERIAL.

- Painting paper. A large Bond paper will do the job quite fine. This brand of paper is lightweight: 13 or 20 pounds.
- Brushes. Thick brushes of 1.5 inch.
- Thick black wax crayon. I use the Crayola crayons brand. With this black crayon, you can make forceful sketches.
- Oil paints. I use and recommend the brand Winsor & Newton. It’s an expensive one, but you won’t have problems with the color sinking process some other cheap brands have.
- Turpentine. Use this material to dissolve the oil paint on the paper and the strokes made by the crayon. It won’t deform the paper. Use a mask to prevent inhaling turpentine fumes.

ONE LAST RECOMMENDATION: After I paint a piece, I always turn it around to see its different views. Sometimes, I even use a mirror to see its reflection. This helps me to decide which view is the best for the work.

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. By including new processes in our art techniques we’ll discover new resources that’ll make our artwork unique. This besides having fun while doing so.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

MY PATRON FEED to see some photos of the process: https://www.patreon.com/posts/38517959

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

Clay Sculpting Our Painting Models

July 20th, 2022

Clay Sculpting Our Painting Models

My name is Veronica Huacuja. I’m a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process. Hope you find them interesting.

PREVIOUS COMMENTS. Have you ever had the experience of not having access to a physical model to practice your drawing skills with? Well, this is an easy need to be solved. I do the latter by sculpting clay models, pose them and draw them on paper. But to do so, I need at least two photos of a character to work with: a frontal and profile view. I usually find these two photos in official mug shots where the offenders are photographed by law enforcement. A good thing is that these images are in the public domain. This is one of those cases.

MY INITIAL SOURCES. Having the latter in mind, I searched on the Internet, and I found the two mug shots I required, and a very interesting story: the true chronicle of Bob Addison (1913-unknown, U.S.), inmate No. 35074, from the Virginia Penitentiary archives. So, I made up the clay bust and sketched the following artwork:

Title: Inmate #35074
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Ink on paper
Size: 10.1 x 20.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: The Relentless

BOB ADDISON’S TURBULENT STORY. This man began his criminal career at a very young age: 19 years old. In 1932, he “was convicted in Tazewell County of assault with a knife and sentenced to four years in the Virginia Penitentiary. He served 2 1/2 years and was released.” (1)

Sometime after, he got in trouble again. This time in Russell County, where he, too, badly cut a man with a knife, and prior to his trial, he escaped, never to be found until thirty years after. In between, he used another identity, Elbert Roy Clark, got married, and had six children.

This time, when caught–now being an elderly man–, he did not serve his time because “after an outpouring of letters recommending clemency, including one from the Governor of West Virginia, Virginia Governor, Mills E. Godwin, Jr. pardoned Addison on 27 January 1967.” (1)

MAKING THE ARTWORK. There are several advantages by making up our models with clay:
- We exert our artistic skills by perceiving and representing the volume of the figure (wide, tall, and depth). This doesn’t happen when we practice with a 2D model, such as using a photograph or a screen shot from a video. Our brain, sight and hands work altogether when we use a real-life model.

- We can pose the model in different positions: foreshortening, profile, frontal view, bird's-eye view, low angle view, etc., and add diverse sources of light to it. Doing the latter we can practice the chiaroscuro, high contrast, among other light treatments.

- We can make up a silicone mold out of the plasticine bust, and begin our sculptor's trade!

TECHNICAL PROCEDURES. As I said before, I used the frontal view and a profile image to make up the plasticine cast. It’d have been great if I could have found both sides of the character’s head (left and right). (2) This is because our facial features aren’t symmetrical, as we may know. But, nevertheless, I managed to make up the clay model avoiding symmetries. Then, I developed several sketches in ink. In this article, I included the one that I think reflects the once fierce personality of Bob Addison.

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. As artists, we can use of our creativity to solve whatever needs we might have to accomplish our work.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

IMAGES OF THE TECHNICAL PROCESS: https://www.patreon.com/posts/60758691

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 https://uncommonwealth.virginiamemory.com/blog/2011/10/24/mug-shot-monday-bob-addison-no-35074/

2 Alfonse Bertillon (1853-1914, France) was a police officer and biometrics researcher who created and applied an anthropological technique to law enforcement. He invented an ID system based on physical measurements, and the use of mug shots to classify the offenders. Some of these mug shots had 3 views: frontal, and both sides of the head.

#VirginiaPenitentiaryArchives, #uncommonwealthvirginia, #bobaddison, #inmate, #claysculpting, #prints, #artprints, #drawingwithink, #inksketching, #art; #printmaking; #colors; #figurativeart; #charactercreation;; #learningart; #howtodraw; #howtopaint; #artist; #artistic; #paint; #painting; #paintings; #howtosketch; #sketching; #patreon, #fineartamerica, #FAA

Using Chiaoscuro In A Painting

July 12th, 2022

Using Chiaoscuro In A Painting

You're welcome to another Art Blog. I'm Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process.

SOME CONCEPTS. Chiaroscuro is an Italian word that refers to the lighting and shadows in painting. Who used this interesting technique were the great painters of all times, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Velázquez, among others.

This technique emphasizes light and dark, making out stand the most important figures in an artwork. “It was originally used while drawing on colored paper though it is now used in paintings and even cinema. It is very commonly seen in religious art, especially with the light emanating from the holy figure being painted. This process is used because it naturally draws the eye toward the focus point which the artist intends in a very natural way.” (1)

CHIAROSCURO AND TENEBRISM. I’d like to approach an interesting difference between these both techniques. Tenebrism comes from the Italian word “tenebroso”, which means dark. In this technique, shadow undergoes to black, there’s no intermediation between light and shadow. One of the great exponents of tenebrism is the Italian painter, Caravaggio (1571-1603, Milan, Duchy of Milan, Spanish Empire). On the contrary, chiaroscuro uses light and shadow to create depth behind the figures.

SOME COMMENTS REGARDING THE WORK I'M PRESENTING. As an artist, I’m concerned with abnormality and its effects on human life. To create this work, I read and watched testimonials of persons that have had the experience of an epiphany, which as we may know, is “an experience of a sudden and striking realization” (2), that can be mystical, religious, philosophical, etc.

In the work, I tried to embody this strange human experience using the chiaroscuro technique to add drama and three dimensionality to the piece. The data sheet of the work is:

Title: Epiphany 5
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Digital Art
Size: 9,448 x 8,740 px, 300 dpi
Year: 2020
Collection: Portraits

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. We can study the body of art of the great masters, learn their techniques and use them in our work, in whatever genre we manage.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

1 https://artsandculture.google.com/usergallery/the-use-of-chiaroscuro/1AJCCI6Py2rgLA

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(feeling)

3 Reasons To Split Our Artwork Into Series

July 11th, 2022

3 Reasons To Split Our Artwork Into Series

Welcome to another Art Blog! I’m Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher for company groups and individuals. I have some good tips for artists or art practitioners. Hope you enjoy the work.

Have you ever wondered how to comprehend in a better way your own art production, and helping others–your collectors, for example–to understand it as well?

To carry out the above in my work and show its usefulness, I present the following piece. This is its data sheet:

Title: Head Study 45
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Oil and acrylic on paper
Size: 40 x 35 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2018
Collection: Women

PREVIOUS THOUGHTS. As you may appreciate, I created the artwork a couple of years ago. Since then, and without even noticing, I’ve accomplished other artworks regarding women's biographies. For this reason, I began cataloging these pieces. Because of this “insight”, I made up this collection: Women. The latter helps me understand my work in a better way. And hopefully, it also helps the observer to understand it, to invite or produce in him a state of mind that assists him in penetrating the work’s creation circle.

THE WORK AND ITS INSPIRATION. “Head Study 45” results after reading about Eva Perón’s (1919-1952, Argentina) afterlife, the First Lady of Argentina (1946-1952). As we may know, when she died, the physician, Dr. Pedro Ara (1898-1973, Spain), embalmed her body with magnificent success. Since then, she resembles the protagonist of the children’s story, “Sleeping Beauty”, immersed in a profound, peaceful dream in a forever youthful body.

Her embalmed corpse has a lengthy story. In one of its back and forth transcontinental trips from America to Europe, her coffin fell down and her nose broke. This detail inspired me to create the artwork of an anonymous woman with a broken nose, and to insert it in the cited collection. Nowadays, I'm thinking of developing a series of women with a broken nose.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please LIKE it and FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

My PATREON FEED: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43769638

Thank you for reading.

How About Making An Art Homage To Historical Women?

July 11th, 2022

How About Making An Art Homage To Historical Women?

Welcome to this Art Post! Hi. I’m Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process.

As an artist, have you ever wondered about the life of women that lived a couple of centuries ago? Some of them weren’t as lucky in life, as is the case of Mary Jane Kelly, Jack The Ripper’s last victim. But let’s start from the beginning.

I’m adding my artwork to exemplify the way I conceived this artwork, which might help your own art process. Its data sheet is:

Title: When Jack Had Time. Tribute To Mary Jane Kelly
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Media: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 80 x 60 x 2.5 cm
Year: 2021
Collection: Women

OUR ART INTERESTS. One thing that, as artists, we have to have clear is our art interests... and I add, to be loyal to them. So, that being said, as a painter, I’m interested in abnormality and drama. And because of these interests, I made this tribute to Mary Jane Kelly (1863-1888, Ireland) (1), which, as we may know, was one of the five canonical victims of Jack The Ripper (2) or Leather Apron in London, England, in 1888.

SOME PREVIOUS THOUGHTS. I paint what human life unhide at certain moments and permits me to feel it. Sometimes, when this happens, it is the extraordinary that unfolds, plentiful with deformity and drama. I seek to capture this deranged beauty with polysemous (different) meanings. Within these results, I always search too... to cause a visual impact, a blow, a strike upon the soul of the observer.

MARY JANE’S LAST MOMENTS. One early morning, the woman went into her small dwelling accompanied by this dangerous man, who was a stranger to her, but before entering she told a female neighbour, she was going to "sing a song", and began singing to herself–for the last time–“A Violet from Mother’s Grave”. (3)

As an artist, what amazed me, among so many other things, is the tireless fury of her perpetrator. On this occasion, this man had time in his hands.

IMAGES OF THE PROCESS. I’m adding some images that describe the creative process. You'll find them at https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-about-making-65815525

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for visiting.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jane_Kelly

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_the_Ripper

3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry2AL_HtHRk

Let's Get Inspired By Great Artists For Free

July 11th, 2022

Let

Welcome to another Art Post! My name is Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process.

As an artist or art practitioner, have you ever start your day not knowing what your next project might be? It occurs to most of us, and while this circumstance happens, we can turn to study the work of prominent artists, and practice with their work.

SOME PREVIOUS QUESTIONS.
- Do you explore the work of other artists from different genres (photographers, sculptors, filmmakers, etc.)?
- Do you find useful for your own work to do this research?
- Do other artists’ artwork influence your own work?

I do these activities, and I recommend you to practice them. It enriches our work.

A PERSONAL ART EXPERIENCE. This time the oeuvre of the photographer John Coplans (1920-2003, United Kingdom) amazed me. I based the following artwork on his photograph, “Self Portrait: Torso With Large Upper Arm II”, 1985. (1)

To exemplify the above, I add the following data from the piece I'm presenting:
Title: Body Study 62
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Media: Oil on paper
Size: 28 x 21.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2019
Collection: Human Body

ACTIVITIES.
- Let’s explore and learn from the eminent artists of all times, and permit their influence on our work.
- Self-practice the art procedures I accomplished in "Body Study 62", which I describe in a video (1:42 min.) you can find at https://www.patreon.com/posts/practicing-our-30744058

MATERIAL.
-An oil paper will do the job just fine. I recommend the brand Fabriano, an Italian paper of at least 300 g/m2, which is a thick paper prepared for oil painting, or else a canvas. Always use material of excellent quality for your work. The size I recommend is the same as I utilized in this artwork: 28 x 21.3 x 0.1 cm.
-Thin, circular and rectangular brushes (half an inch wide, at the most).
-Turpentine
-Oil paints

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. Would searching and studying the prominent artists’ body of art be a worthwhile experience whenever the ephemeral “goddess of inspiration” is not around? Oh, yes, these great masters can teach us so much!

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please LIKE it and FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE for individuals and company groups: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for visiting.

1 http://www.artnet.com/artists/john-coplans/self-portrait-torso-with-large-upper-arm-ii-Hgh0bnxRaKg6OtcUzX0acQ2

2 Versions Of A Same Artwork

July 11th, 2022

2 Versions Of A Same Artwork

Hi! I’m Veronica Huacuja, a painter and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your art process. Hope you find them meaningful.

SOME PREVIOUS THOUGHTS. We can make up two or more versions of a same artwork. We can explore the same topic for as long as we need, and understanding we’re not repeating ourselves, we’re doing a thorough exploration that requires our efforts, insights and capacities as artists. And the key point is to observe the interesting results we get out of this method. I add one important and a practical good matter: each piece we create in this process will be a different artwork in our portfolio.

A SIDE COMMENT. Francis Bacon (1909-1992, Ireland), one of the great masters of paint of the 20th century, painted for years the same topic, which was “Crucifixion”. So, if he did so, we can afford to make less the same thing. Can’t we?

To exemplify this approach in our process, I present this piece and its data:

Title: Woman in Brown, Study 7
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Digital Art
Size: 10,000 x 6,000, 300 dpi
Year: 2021
Collection: Human Body

A TECHNICAL COMMENT. As a traditional and digital painter, I make up explorations in both mediums on the same topic. So, in this case, one point we’ve to have in mind is that it’s never the same thing to make up the work on our desktop, using a digital technique, than to approach a 100 by 80 cm surface (or so) with oil or acrylics. To tell the truth, the latter version requires more from us than the digital version because in order to accomplish the work, we need to master the technique and the graphic space. So, if you first solve with success (1) an artwork, in whatever technique you chose, whenever you approach the same topic in another technique, you will know how to solve the work, and create within it “… beauty, skill, inherent meaning, uniqueness, and fulfilled intent.” (2)

To exemplify and compare the results of both works, I'm adding the data of the piece I created in traditional techniques, and its link:

Title: Woman in Brown, Study 8 (3)
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 80 x 60 x 2.5 cm
Year: 2021
Collection: Human Body

MATERIAL (of the digital artwork).
- Photoshop. Almost any late version of this software.
- Digital tablet with a pressure-sensitive brush.

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. As artists, making different versions of a same artwork, helps us to understand in a better way our work. On the other side, these diverse explorations might drive us to new and unexplored results within our work.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

If you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for dropping by.

1 Success in this context refers to the satisfaction we gain after finishing an artwork we consider with quality.

2 https://emptyeasel.com/2006/11/18/how-to-judge-art-five-qualities-you-can-critique/

3 https://i1.wp.com/veronica.mx/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/1-MODELO-HORIZONTAL.jpg?ssl=1

Painting A Portrait Using Machine Learning Mistakes

July 11th, 2022

Painting A Portrait Using Machine Learning Mistakes

I’m Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good practical tips for your painting process. Hope you find them interesting.

Have you ever heard of the term Machine Learning?: "Is defined as a discipline of artificial intelligence that provides machines the ability to automatically learn from data and past experiences to identify patterns and make predictions with minimal human intervention." (1)

Machine Learning (ML) is applied to different fields, such as "medicine, email filtering, speech recognition, computer vision" (2), and I add, forensics (for facial reconstruction of the deceased, to identify offenders, among other uses).

A SIDE COMMENT. In this last field, there’s an ethical public discussion about the rights that could be trespassed if a governmental (or other official institution) uses ML to make up the profile of any individual (not an offender) in society, e.g. using the driver license frontal photo.

MAKING UP THE WORK. I achieved this artwork using very interesting initial resources, such as the official frontal mug shot of a young and anonymous offender (3), and the work of the artist Adam Chin, who is experimenting on the ID reconstruction of U.S. offenders with his ML computer program. The title of his project is "Front and Profile". (4)

This is the data sheet of the digital portrait I created using the cited sources, which I'm presenting:

Title: Inmate #12
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Media: Digital Art
Size: 12,024 x 9,622 px, 300 dpi
Year: 2021
Collection: The Relentless

ARTISTIC PROCESS. The Adam Chin’s LM profile "portrait" presents many mistakes and inconsistencies because Chin's computer program is still in its initial phase. These “mistakes“, from a creator point of view, are the interesting part. In the artwork, I reproduced the computer's mistakes.

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION OF THE ABOVE. As artists, would it be worthwhile to explore other fields and to include them in our artistic process?

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you.

Visit any time:

A VIDEO OF THE PAINTING PROCESS (1:52 min): https://www.patreon.com/posts/61001210

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

1 https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/articles/what-is-ml/#:~:text=Machine%20learning%20(ML)%20is%20defined,predictions%20with%20minimal%20human%20intervention.

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_learning

3 I tried to identify the young offender (state governmental public source, name, bio, etc.), but my efforts were unsuccessful.

4 https://sfcamerawork.org/front-and-profile

The Palette In A Painting Matters

July 11th, 2022

The Palette In A Painting Matters

Hi there! I'm Veronica Huacuja, a painter and an online art teacher. I have some interesting tips for your art process. Hope you enjoy the post.

PREVIOUS COMMENT. I attend to painting workshops with physical models where other artists gather, too. I made up this painting in one of those sessions, and while working on the piece, I wondered and tried to decipher what was the emotional state of the woman that posed to us that day.

That’s one side of the story. The other side is what we, as artists, have in mind at the moment of the creation process. So, the model’s pose, and her attitude, as well as our emotional mindset, are the diverse elements that combine to make up an artwork. Isn’t it?

The data sheet of the artwork is:

Title: Woman 6
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 61 x 48.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2021
Collection: Women

THE PALETTE. Now, let's attend to the post’s title, “The Palette in a Painting Matters”, and the reasons for this statement.

As we may know, a palette is the set of colours we use in a painting. This selection involves understanding how does color work in a painting to portray light, depth, perspective and mood.

So, that being said, I’d like to emphasize the variety and intensity of the paints I used in the foreground in this piece. Understanding the foreground of the work as the colours used from the mid-waist to the feet of the figure. My intention for this colour treatment was to give a powerful presence to the character. This set of colours also worked to dramatize the scene.

I handled the colour from the waist up to the head in a less saturated way. I made this choice in order to achieve depth, and the different planes in the work or perspective.

And now, let’s talk about the mood, which, as we may know, is the atmosphere or feeling expressed in a work. In this piece, the mood is dark and disturbing. I decided not to paint the features of the model’s face. That gave anonymity to the character. Why? Life makes us have strange associations. Days before I watched the film “You Were Never Really Here”, created by the so talented female film director, Lynne Ramsay (1969, Scotland), where her main character–interpreted by Joaquin Phoenix (1974, U.S.)–, covered his face with a plastic bag (the “exit bag”), in private sessions (inside a closet, on his bed, etc.), this to create suicidal environments. These scenes are very strong, they impressed me very much.

Maybe that’s the same dramatic motivation for this character. Or the way around, somebody grabbed her head with a plastic bag.

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. As artists, would it be worthwhile, besides, managing the technicals aspects of our art, to be attentive to our daily interior experiences that provide us with new and interesting topics for our work? Julio Cortázar (1914-1984, Argentina)–novelist, short story author, essayist, and translator–carried out this daily experience. He called it the “interstice of reality”, where the extraordinary displays.

MATERIAL.

- Acrylic paints.

- Paper. The paper's brand I used in this work is Bristol, 270 g/m2. It's a thick paper that withstands the humidity of the acrylic painting.

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for reading.

How About Turning Our Art Interests To Other Fields?

July 11th, 2022

How About Turning Our Art Interests To Other Fields?

Hi there! I'm Veronica Huacuja, an artist and an online art teacher. I have some good practical tips for your art process.

WOULD IT BE INTERESTING TO APPROACH DIFFERENT TOPICS IN OUR ART? I carried out this new approach to my work, and what I discovered is intriguing, mysterious, absorbing. The artwork I'm presenting results from one of those cases where art and sickness (a medical condition) gather. This is its data sheet:

Title: The Deaf Man 7
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper and digital painting
Size: 10,000 x 10,000 px, 300 dpi
Year: 2021
Collection: Human Body

SICKNESS IN ART. As I've said in some other posts, I’m an artist interested in abnormality, deformity and its effects on human life. The persons that lose one of their five senses or were born missing one of them call my interest. I explore and investigate their lives. This initial information helps me to develop my work. I created this piece with deep respect and empathy for these people.

So, following these criteria, deafness is a fearsome sickness that isolates the people that suffer it because it affects their spoken language comprehension and communication with others. Hearing loss disables a person to understand speech, reality, which cause on them–in some countries and environments–, social isolation, loneliness and stigma. (1)

"In a medical context, deafness is defined as a degree of hearing difference such that a person is unable to understand speech, even in the presence of amplification.[...] In profound deafness, even the highest intensity sounds produced by an audiometer (an instrument used to measure hearing by producing pure tone sounds through a range of frequencies) may not be detected. In total deafness, no sounds at all, regardless of amplification or method of production, can be heard." (1)

The initial challenge in this work, as a figurative artist, was to express the latter. That is to embody in a character this drama.

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. Definitely, blending information from different fields stimulates our imagination and creativity, which reflects in the original results we might accomplish.

IMAGES OF THE TECHNICAL PROCESS OF THE ARTWORK. I’m adding some images that describe the creative process using traditional and digital techniques. You'll find them at https://www.patreon.com/posts/47080432

Please write your opinions in the comment section. It will generate a very interesting dialogue.

Last, if you find this work interesting and helpful, please FOLLOW my FAA feed (https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com). Thank you!

Visit any time:

My ART SHOP: https://veronica-huacuja.pixels.com

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

My ONLINE PAINTING COURSE in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Thank you for visiting.

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deafness