isaac ahern-swanser!

paint! IG: regular.eyes

[tankhall]

photography by @expiredidealist

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My setup/presentation for assessment next week.

My portrait of my sister lives with her now and the printers hate me so it is not here but I don’t think my finished bits are what was most important to me in this final project

Looking back on the very small amount of work did the first week i realised it very much still impacted my approach to all my work following it. I made languid simple artworks focusing on on the basics

Shape, Colour, Perspective. How they impact and interact with each other to create what we see. How everything can be reduced to these aspects alone or combined with each other.

I explored this further when i colour matched my grandfather from life and in earlier life drawings on my tumblr featuring the models expression reduced to a stick man-esque line-of-action

if that makes any sense.

im incapable of separating ideas because i usually focus on getting them down before i forget, because of this I have Four tiny sketchbooks that are maybe 50% on topic between them

the other 50% is split between shopping lists, reminders, personal ideas, or vague musings. Writing is a very important part of my process and sometimes its just more conceivable than drawing in the moment.

By simplifying everything going into the project i gave myself the room to think thoughts through fully.

yeah

no more to say now

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“Lucy, eternal Eternal, lucy”

acrylic and oil on canvas board

scan & photo

Process

i did the majority of this in college then took it home to add the final touches and present it to my sister.

My older sister lucy has never gotten a good nights sleep. her sleeping habits are actually a mild joke in the family and it’s notoriously difficult for both her to fall asleep and for anyone to wake her up. i was scared when i was making this that when my family saw it they’d find humour in me depicting my sister as she’s characterised. but thankfully that didn’t happen.

i painted this so that in some form she could be getting the sleep she needs.

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final life drawing/painting of the year

did not get much done compared to other times. was having a lot of trouble with the shoulders, how that axis(?) works. as well as the proportions of ankles to calves, foot perspective.

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redid my painting of denny today

my knees don’t like me anymore

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i was really inspired by the special effects in Hellraiser & Hellbound: Hellraiser II

and having recently found out St Bartholomew was skinned alive. the nature of martyrdom and the idolisation of mutilation in certain sectors of christianity is very very interesting to me!!!

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“ FREE BLEEDING / Can you hit me? ”

oil & marker on canvas board (12x14 i think but i don’t know and im not checking)

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painting setup at student accommodation

layer of newsprint, paints sorted into piles according to what ‘section’ of the portrait they’re on. Reference photos are placed in different areas of (very dim) light to ensure i understand the colours and avoid what happens with what i paint sometimes where you can’t see it in the dark.

the problem was not having the overhead light because it is very yellow and also i would be casting a shadow anyway just because of the placement of whatever

so instead i redirected the light on the extractor fan using a mirror

i really wanted to be as complicated as possible about everything, it’s my favourite thing to do

i’m redoing the portrait of my mother, this is from a few days ago but i want to get it finished before i post it. i want to do it right.

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Breda

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colour matching

Denny (my grandfather) was in and out of hospital over the past month ~He’s out now so don’t worry ~ but while he was in there, before i got the chance to visit him apparently he’d been asking about me.

he’s 90 and a small bit away with the fairies half the time nowadays but he knows i’m “drawing pictures up in limerick”

so when i did get to see him i brought my paints so i could colour match all of the different shades in his face. . . . which sounds weird now that i’ve put it into words but it was a fun exercise and denny paid no notice really, i don’t think he really knew what i was doing

i did an unserious portrait aswell on the drive home which was about 35 minutes

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little life drawings from the past two weeks

other ones were little stragglers that didn’t look much like images at all because the person moved before i could finish lol

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You know that thing would eat you if you died, right? *pointing to the false image of you that others perceive*

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bits and pieces

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life drawing from 2 weeks ago!!

abstract painting really helped me understand shape and form in a different way

very happy with how these came out

and this week i did not prepare!!!! which is entirely my own fault but in my defense im writing this post at the bus station while everyone is still drawing back at college

here’s what i got done in the hour

was not locked in at all my groove was completely thrown off i must put more effort into being organized, i also did a tiny monochrome painting on a loose bit of canvas but i might do more to that before i post it

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painting setup at student accommodation

layer of newsprint, paints sorted into piles according to what ‘section’ of the portrait they’re on. Reference photos are placed in different areas of (very dim) light to ensure i understand the colours and avoid what happens with what i paint sometimes where you can’t see it in the dark.

the problem was not having the overhead light because it is very yellow and also i would be casting a shadow anyway just because of the placement of whatever

so instead i redirected the light on the extractor fan using a mirror

i really wanted to be as complicated as possible about everything, it’s my favourite thing to do

i’m redoing the portrait of my mother, this is from a few days ago but i want to get it finished before i post it. i want to do it right.

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first week of paint!

Monday: our starting brief was to bring in large colourful objects. personally this was the most inconvenient thing ever and i didn’t have much to offer. i had a very stressful day and found it incredibly difficult to care enough about the work we were being asked to do to actually engage with it.

Tuesday: i was in the paint room and unsure of where to start so i looked at the vague shapes i drew the previous day and explored them - im not one to do abstract but this was a really good exercise to clean out my brain a little bit and focus on the more basic softer thoughts; shapes and colours

i had a lot of fun just moving the brush and adding colours with the intention of them complimenting and coinciding with eachother in their own plane. the second study was more so based on the previous day when we were doing still life thumbnails and i was desperately bored of it. i understand the benefit of still life and all that blah blah - i just find it SO boring to do, fun to look at yes! but mind numbing activity wise.