Peter Russell

-PAINTING-

2010-05-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

After a year of asking and buying the supplies, i finally finished this painting for my roommate. I had the chance to paint whatever i felt like, and the painting ended up being somewhat of a memento mori.
As for documentation, It was extremely difficult to get photos of this piece, since it's mostly subtleties in the whites. I put thick layers of gesso in order to build up borders, which sectioned off different parts of the canvas. The lower portion has text, which was painted over a few times to push the value way down. Unfortunately, you can barely see the text in the image, if at all.

This is just to compare different lighting. The large blob dripping down the center is melted wax, which blurs the drawing underneath.

Here's a close up to show texture, and that the drawing itself is blurry due to the wax.

This is a sketch i did in preparation for the painting above. As usual, i think i might like the sketch more than the final piece. The sketchbook i used for this has nice cream color paper, causing the colors in the sketch to be richer than the final painting. I was originally planning to put stripes of color across the painting, but just tried it out digitally to get an idea of what it would look like.

Sketchbook page

Holga Diana F+ >>> Photo

2010-05-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

I got a Holga camera(Diana F+) way back in December. I have gone through a few rolls of film, and finally starting to get the hang of it. Most of the images so far are throw aways, mainly because of blurs and overexposures. Anyway, here are a few of the ones that made the cut.

Photos from my trip to Germany...

Photos from my trip to NY...

Photos from Athens...

-Digital photo-
Here's my chair all set up back at my place...

It's not nearly as clean looking, but it was interesting to see my books in this arrangement. It definitely reveals something about the person who has to fill it.

Study Of An Incomplete Chair

2010-05-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

A chair I designed in which the structural integrity is dependent on the books placed within it.

Here are the initial sketches, final documentation, and an animation...

Study Of An Incomplete Chair from Peter Russell on Vimeo.

Oh, and this for fun...

Athens Street Show

2010-05-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

My Professional Practices Seminar class, with Didi Dunphy , was the recipient of one of this years' Athens Arts Unleashed (ACC-Leisure Services) grants. With the grant we put on the Athens Street Show 2010, a curated exhibition of artworks appearing in downtown Athens retailer windows. The show was up from April 2th through May 2nd, with a special curator-led 'Art Walk' on April 25th.

Athens Street Show took place in eight retailer windows, with nine artists participation. My curatorial group consisted of Britt Gantner and myself, in which we curated the work of Ashely Buchanan. Please visit Ashley's blog if you have a chance, she really is an amazing jewelry artist.

You can find out more about the event on the website.
A big thanks to Craig Hawkins for putting the website together,
And Cass Olson for the card design...

Here is the video i put together for 'Art Walk'

CENTRIC

2010-03-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

The first project for my Video II class was to make a surrealist inspired video. I had not realized how much i enjoyed making surrealist imagery until i was working on this video. So, when i get a chance i will film some more, possibly over the summer. I don't believe the images require much explanation, since they are fairly transparent compared to other surrealist videos.

Centric from Peter Russell on Vimeo.

Mobile Projection

2010-01-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

Mobile Projection is a project I worked on during the Fall'09 semester. It is a good example of my more recent work since I have entered the Art X program. Many topics had been swirling around my head, such as the context of art in the gallery and the spectators place in that space. I wanted to exercise the flexibility of that space, by placing myself and the surrounding area in a different context. Not only did I want the spectator to view and place me(the performer) into another space, but also to see the space in a different light. The performance took place November, 17 2009, at The Lamar Dodd School of Art(UGA) during the Juried Student Show. Thankfully, I had the help of Paige Mostowy(computer) and Dara Porter(documentation), otherwise I couldn't have pulled off the performance.

Mobile Projection from Peter Russell on Vimeo.

Art Star Party Part II Aftermath

2009-12-14T14:48:00.001-08:00

The art show went great! Thanks to my brother(Erik Russell) this thing got started and up smoothly. The turn out was great all night long, from anonymous people to good friends. It was great to see everyone back in Augusta for a minute, its been nearly a year since I have been in downtown Augusta. I didn't have my camera, but my brother snapped some pictures on his iphone.

Here are my final paintings. Fortunately, I got these done in time, with all my classes and work I really had to squeeze these into my schedule. The first one is quill and ink on paper, and was raffled off at the end of the night. The second one is a mixed media painting on paper, measuring about 3'x2'. The final one is acrylic and gesso on canvas, and is about eight feet tall.

I was commissioned to do a charcoal portrait(11”x14”) by a co-worker. I had not done a portrait in so long, i had forgotten how hard it was. It took quite a few attempts to get back into the swing of it, but i think it is a good likeness (your going to have to go with my word on that, haha).

Preview

2009-11-27T23:14:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the art show! I only had a chance to finish three pieces in time. So, hopefully they will be worth it. All of my pieces are starkly different in styles, with an acrylic on canvas, mixed media on paper, and an ink drawing. Here are some close-ups of my works...

I will have photos of the show and pictures of my work up soon. I finally had a chance to check out the space where the show is earlier tonight. The location is great, and it has tons of space.

Art Star Party Part II 11-28-09

2009-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

I am going to be in an art show on November 28th in Augusta, GA. Everyone should come and check it out! It is a group show with a ton of other Augusta artists including...
Rachel chambers
Jay jacobs
Brandon moss
Leela hoehn
Raoul pacheco
Grady sizemore
Chelsea senecal
Erik Russell
Weylin traugott

The show will be at...
Grady's house
804 Ellis street.
Augusta, GA 30901
-Saturday, November 28

The show is starting at 10:00pm with a free raffle at 1:00am, a piece by each artist will be raffled off. Stay till 2:00am to see DJ Joycette!!

Every artist was encouraged to design their own flyer. I will post some of the others as soon as i get the files, but here's mine.
Art Star Party Part II Flyer

Here is a hi-res version of the flyer if you feel inclined to print out some copies and spread the word-

Figure Combination

2009-08-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Figure Combination is a simple animation experiment. The technique has been on my mind for a long time now. I cut out images from a live action video, printed them out, pasted the images together, painted over the frames, scanned them back into the computer, and strung them back together in Premiere. It is a type of rotoscoping. I hope to make a larger more complex animation using this technique.

Figure Combination from Peter Russell on Vimeo.

Edit- I have no idea why that white strip is appearing above the video, the image does not extend past the black border.

DVD COVER

2009-08-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine(Morgan Mcneal) asked me to design a dvd cover/cd label for his short film Better You.

Traditional + Digital x2 | Traditional

2009-08-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things i have done lately that i think are worthy of noting .
I have been experimenting with editing my work in photoshop lately, and this is what i've come up with. I'm trying to wrap my head around the possibilities of digital work.
-Traditional+Digital-

Pulled out my good old friend gouache for this one. After working with acrylic for so long i forgot how easy gouache is to manipulate after laying down paint.
-Traditional-

Video Uploaded

2009-07-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

I finally uploaded my video to Vimeo!
This was a self assigned project for my Art and Technology class last semester. It was an exploration of the comparison of light and the human figure. The idea that light and the body are both comprised of vibrations, and their similar dispersion over time and distance. I don't know if any of the concepts come across, but i learned a lot about timing and editing. It was created completely from still images i took with my digital camera, edited in Photoshop and animated in Final Cut Pro. The music was created independently by a good friend of mine, which i thought fit the imagery perfectly.

Figure|Light from Peter Russell on Vimeo.

I had troubles with the saturation of the video when uploading it, due to compression and file types. You can tell the difference when comparing the still images posted previously to the video. I tried to work around it the best i could, but it is innate to the file compression with certain file types.

PR.

COLOR

2009-06-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some portrait/color studies i have been working on lately.

SUMMER

2009-05-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

I can finally work on a lot of personal projects i have been putting on hold. Hopefully by the end of the summer i will have an interactive piece, a video, and more paintings to show for my extra time.

Update on my video- I went ahead and continued making my video, and received a great critique in class. I was too frustrated with it to finish though, and started making a website. So, all i have to work on now is the sound, and i should have it up on Vimeo soon! here is a preview of my website, which should be up and running soon as well...

I haven't done a real creature design in a long time, and it was a lot of fun to play around with it again. I will try to do it more often to get some creativity flowing!

I'll be updating ASAP
Peter

School school school...

2009-02-11T17:10:00.000-08:00

... And work work work.

Here are a couple images i am working on, for my art and tech class. In time it will be a short film concerning the comparison of the body to light, and its dispersion/fading in time/space. Unfortunately, i have been having a lot of problems with it, and I'm considering putting it on hold for another project. Anyway, here they are...

And..

2009-01-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

I finished this last night, it is in the same vein as many other sketches i have been doing lately. Playing with color=learning color interaction.

I struggled alot with the implementation of gray, while still trying to keep the image vibrant. I ended up not getting enough gray at all.

2008-12-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

Thanks for stopping by my blog. To get started, here is a sketchbook page from one of my many sketchbooks.

I will be updating as regularly as possible.
Peter Russell.