Self-portrait in the style of Amedeo Modigliani

大家好！ Hello everyone! Today I am bringing you a self portrait!

The first picture (top left) was a sketch I did in 2003. At this time, I was just doodling and drawing whatever I could.  As I became more involved with graphic and web design, I decided to mess around in Photoshop and make a rough digital version (top right) the following year. At this time I was so into making vectors, and I was still figuring out the ins and outs of Photoshop without a guide or tutorial, so I'm sure this digital rendition could use a bit of work. However, I do like this rough look to it and do not have plans to change it in any way.

The final painting (bottom picture) was the result of an IB art assignment. I was to research an artist of choice and do a piece in the style of that artist. At that time, I was trying to re-sketch this self-portrait from 2003 to make it better, since I was really interested in portraits. Now this was 2007, so a couple years following. I am basing everything on the sketch and digital version that I made (I couldn't find the original photo). Also, I could never draw myself to look like myself, so I was constantly trying to improve on that.

I was going to choose Georgia O'Keeffe because I had taken a bunch of close-up pictures of flowers and felt that her flower pieces were extremely beautiful. But I really wanted to work on portraits, so I chose Amedeo Modigliani. It turned out well because I was able to incorporate a bit of my style with some of Modigliani's style. I had fun with this, and there were two main reasons why I chose Modigliani. The first and main reason is the way he did the eyes, which I found fascinating. The eyes are just one murky color with no real details of what an eye really is. With the thought of the eye being the gate into someone's soul (wow that was corny), the lack of an eye really says something to me. The secondary reason is the backward "S" shape of the subjects. He paints is subjects in a way where you can trace the basic shape of a backward "S". I thought that was interesting too. And when I looked at my sketch, I saw that an "S" shape could be traced, so I thought this would be a good choice as the subject for the assignment.

I hope you enjoyed my self-portrait in the style of Modigliani. This was done in March 2007.

<3 Kara

Winter Landscape

Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by.

Today I am sharing a watercolor painting that I did in 2006. This is my first full watercolor project and was very unfamiliar with the medium. I had complications with stretching the paper so it dried kind of funny. Also, being it was my first time doing watercolor, I learned quickly that I have to start light and build up. Otherwise, I will not be able to erase or cover anything up. Furthermore, I had a hard time making the scratches for the bushes on the bottom left corner. It looks alright at a distance, but up close, I feel that I could have done more intentional strokes.

The scene is based on a photograph I took on a snowy trail behind my parents' house in 2005. I took a ton of pictures that day, and many of them were so peaceful and serene. But this one I chose because it's a sight I saw everyday. When you leave or enter the community, you pass by a huge open field that shows this beautiful scene. So this sight brings back memories of tickling my baby sister in the car, or on my way to and from school every morning, or going to see family and friends.

With that said, here is a collage of my progress from the early stages to the finished product.

Again, thanks for reading, and have a wonderful day/afternoon/night!


<3 Kara

Welcome to Be Lured!

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for visiting.

I am just a normal girl who loves artsy things. I noticed that I love painting and drawing in high school (shout out to IB art!) and started exploring photography in college as a hobby. Although I enjoyed art very much, I didn't have the time and means to pursue it too much until recently (yay for my supportive husband). So beware that I am no professional artist, and I have no academic background in art or photography from an actual art school.

I hope to share with you all my experiments and works from the past as well as current projects so that you can see a bit of my artistic development. I will show primarily drawings, paintings, and photos, but I also love making cards, so you'll be seeing some of those. It's a lot to gather in one place, but it's a reflection of my development. I just like experimenting with different mediums and hopefully I end up creating something that people can enjoy.

Since this is just the beginning, please be patient as I populate this blog with all sorts of wonderful things. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think, or if there is some suggestions you may have.

Also, don't forget to like my page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BeLured
There you will be able to see some works I've put together for easy viewing. I am working to put detailed descriptions of each piece, so if some are blank and you want to know more, check back soon! Furthermore, please say a quick hello if you make it to Be Lured on Facebook and let me know what you think!

With that said, here's something to hold you over until my next post:

 

I've put together a collage of four separate pieces for easy viewing. This was an assignment in IB art, called art movement study where I was to research different styles of movements in art history and pick four that I would like to demonstrate using the same subject. In this case I chose cubism, realism, impressionism, and surrealism as my four styles of art movements and my subject was a baby. The baby was actually a picture I saw in a magazine and I fell in love with it. I drew it in my art journal, and then went to work! Cubism baby is in acrylic paint, realism baby is in conte crayon, impressionism baby is in watercolor, and surrealism baby is in acrylic paint. 

Fun fact: after I finished all four, I realized that I had signed them for reading the wrong way hehe

I hope you've enjoyed Be Lured. Please leave a comment and don't forget to come back soon!

<3 Kara

About Me

Hello everyone! Thanks so much for visiting my little space in cyber-land.

I love artsy and crafty things! I've always liked drawing and painting but never had the opportunity to experiment and actually do anything until high school. My high school has a comprehensive program where students could opt in for what's called an International Baccalaureate diploma. In this program there are certain courses and a number of subjects you must take. I chose IB art as one of my electives, and I loved it so much that I tested for it in advanced category instead of standard.

My time in IB art was such a learning experience to me. There were lots of successes paired with failures, but that's how it goes. I found that I love researching, painting, and experimenting with different mediums and styles. My knowledge, approach and perspective evolved over time, and somewhere towards the end of the program, I found that my subject matter revolved around babies. This is most likely influenced by my beloved baby sister, who was always at my side.I even took her to tennis practice sometimes =D

In college, my focus was all in classes, tennis, organizations on campus and also work. I always wanted to paint, but with everything going on, painting just took too much time. I could squeeze a drawing in here and there, but not really painting. The one time I actually got to painting, I was so rushed and pressed for time that I wasn't fully satisfied with my piece. It was pretty natural that my interests shifted to photography, since I could take pictures way faster than waiting for paint to dry. Literally! So I took a photography class offered an my university, loved it and my aunt gifted me with a fancy DSLR for practice. I have a friend who is very passionate about photography and we actually teamed up to do a photography business proposal competition. That was so much fun that we actually did a couple wedding shoots together, with me as his assistant. But I still wanted to draw and paint! So, during my senior year of college, I took an intro to drawing class. In IB art, the curriculum was what you make of it. We had mandatory projects and pieces to produce, but what we wanted to learn we sought out. So I never had formal guidance on drawing specifically. This drawing class taught me so much and I realized I love art way too much to let it slip away.

Now, I am married to my wonderful and supportive husband, Patrick (aka "Sugar Patty" or "Patty Cakes"). Woohoo! Proud army wife! After our wedding, we've moved to San Antonio and are schedule to move again soon! Needless to say, no one wants to hire someone to train only for them to quit soon. But on a positive note, I have the time and means to pursue my art! Yay! My super supportive husband has definitely invested in my supplies and art space. This is so great and important to me because I have my station set up. I can have breakfast and walk over to my area and start painting if I wanted to because everything is there! In addition to drawing and painting supplies, he's also invested in my supplies for my crafty projects, like card making. Isn't he wonderful? Thanks babe!

With that said, I want to thank you again for investing some of your precious time here! I hope you like what you see, and believe me, I plan on showing lots of fun things!

<3 Kara