Atelier Narasca

Earlier in August I came back from a four week apprenticeship under Patrick Devonas and Dorian Iten at Atelier Narasca (in beautiful Surava, Switzerland)... it was an amazing experience. Not only did I gain a bunch of art wisdom - I also had the best time just being there with those guys (and Esther Gnädinger, yet another artist in the house)! They are incredible artists, great teachers and simply awesome people, so spending time there was certainly a treat.

During my stay there I mostly focused on The Big Painting. It took vast majority of my time and attention. However I still did some drawing/painting sketches (and even a quick clay maquette at the end of my stay)... so here are some of my works!

Not all who wander are lost (mostly known as The Big Painting), oil on canvas, 80x40cm

View from the shore of almost unrealistically beautiful Lai Palpuogna. 

Painting sketch, oil on panel, around 25x30cm
On one a bit lazier (and rainier) day I just sat in the garden and painted a wooden fence surrounding Atelier Narasca. That is, I did until rain forced me out (or should I say, in).

Painting sketch, oil on panel, ~20x20cm
First sketch I painted when I got to Surava was from Lai Palpuogna, just like The Big Painting.
I am still dazzled by that place's beauty!

Surava, painting sketch, oil on panel, ~20x35cm
Mountain view juuust outside Surava.
I didn't plan on it, but I think I'll still touch it up a little.

I have one more painting sketch I was just retouching today, so I'll upload it some other time. :)
See ya!

Three hour works

It's been a while!
I've been working quite a bit though. Some works are in progress, some are abandoned (since I'm always hesitant to use the word "finished").

I was thinking about applying to Warsaw's Fine Arts Academy painting program but I kinda dropped the idea for now. I still made a few works that I would have put in the portfolio.
As far as I understand, their requirements are a bit strange. They require huge works. As in, 100x70 cm (or at least 50x70cm) in size. And it's my understanding that they kinda require them to be done within 3 hours time frame, because that's how long their practical exam takes.
Having studied at the FAA, it seems abstract and absurd and simply crazy!
Still, I tried and surprisingly enough... I had fun with it!

50x70cm, charcoal. This took me a bit longer than 3 hours - more like 6 or something...
The paper I used was awfully rough!

50x70cm, acrylics.
It was a second still life I  painted, I started it and then  my friend and I realized we had no paints to mix greens from, really - just yellow ochre and ultramarine that gave a dark, kinda muddy sea green. (I didn't paint with acrylics before, just oils, that's why the shortage of paints). Luckily the next day I stocked us up with what was missing and we managed before the flowers died completely!

50x70cm, acrylics

50x70cm, acrylics
The mask is actually a plaster cast of my face, so one might say this work is kind of a self portrait. But I didn't really strive to achieve the likeness - I mean, come on, it was a 3 hour work. :)

around 30x40cm?, acrylics
Not a portfolio piece - just messing around with paints, creating a very, err, painter-esque self portrait.

I still can't believe how fast acrylics dry up. Compared to oils it's freaking unreal! It definitely helped to keep the work fast and more loose - which I found was surprisingly fine with me. It's definitely easier to paint without unrealistically high expectations about the work I'm about to create -- which is something I'm definitely struggling with. I just need to be careful not to get too lazy now :)