Eye Tracker Technology

Here is one of the pieces of tracked artwork from the eye tracker study I did this spring.  The red dots show where the eye fixates on a particular spot.  The top number displays the time spent on an area and the bottom number represents the order it was viewed.  This week I will be tracking paintings and photographs at the ECU Visual Motor Lab to see where the eye goes as the viewer looks at both a painting and a photograph of the same scene.  

 To learn more about Eye Tracker studies at ECU go to: 

 http://www.ecu.edu/cs-hhp/exss/VML.cfm 

Commissions

Here are two paintings I have been working on this spring.

I will deliver both of them today!

Mural Competition

Beaufort Sister Cities Mural Competition

"Caribbean Connections"

Here I am with the finished mural - after 8 hours of painting!
The Beaufort Sister Cities Mural Competition was held on Saturday, May 8, 2010 from 8am to 4pm. Artists were given 8 hours to complete a mural on a 4 foot by 4 foot board. It was a fun and exhausting day! The theme this year was "Caribbean Connections."

We started with a blank canvas that we could cover with one color. My friend Jessica Ofalt painted beside me. Check out her website at: http://www.jessicafayeofalt.com/

Just getting started!

Here is my painting after an hour or two of painting!

Here is my finished painting.

To check out more of the murals go to: http://beaufortsistercities.blogspot.com/

Seaside Studios Summer Art Camp

Summer Art Camp 2010

Art Camp this year will be held at the One Harbor Church Gas Station

on Atlantic Beach at 112 West Fort Macon Road.

Session 1 - June 15-June18 - Tues-Fri

Session 2 - June 21-June 24 - Mon-Thurs

Session 3 - June 28-July 1 - Mon-Thurs

For an application or more information about camp,

please email me at catherine.olander@yahoo.com

Summer School is Out!

Lately I have been doing more homework than painting. These are two projects I did in Photoshop for one of my summer school classes. I could not remember when I used Photoshop the last time, it's been so long! The first image is of a photograph I took inside a covered bridge while the car was moving - don't worry, I wasn't driving! I cloned some of the blurry horizontal lines. And the image below was from the ceiling of the SR Guggenheim Museum. My assignment had to do with lines. So now I've got about 20 days until both the Fall semester begins and I go back for teacher work days, so hopefully I will get to use my new studio that was completed this winter or even get outside and capture the light!!

Before and After

"Calico Creek" 8"x10"

This is the first painting of the day from my workshop with Mike Rooney. For this painting we all worked on getting our values and correct colors blocked in - in 30 minutes. Then we worked on the details.

"BEFORE the Workshop"

"Morehead City Port View" 7-22-08

This is a painting I did in July and below you will see a similar scene, but with a totally different technique that I tried today. Let me know what you think about the difference!

"AFTER the Workshop"

"Morehead City Port View" 11-2-08

This is my second painting of today. I tried a technique that I haven't really done before. I put all of the color temperatures and values in first and then painted in the colors closer to the local color. I was a little hesitant about it, but after looking at the painting I did this summer of the similar scene - I am pretty much convinced that I need to work more with this technique! It really brings a sparkle and life to the painting. Even with the painting today being the first time trying this technique and rushing a little at the end - I think it has potential. I included the a picture of the under painting so that you can see what this painting from today looks like underneath.

This is the under painting from the painting today. I think it looks like it could be it's own unique abstract painting all by itself. It was a great workshop. It was challenging and I'm pretty much exhausted and ready to keep learning more!!

Workshop Works

"Morehead City Waterfront" 8"x10"

"Waiting for Wind" 6"x9"

Today I went to one of Mike Rooney's workshops in Morehead City. We worked on blocking in 5 values to begin with (in magenta), then painting in the colors, in the correct values. The big first step was to just block in everything and then, work on the details. I like the phrase he uses to remind us about not starting on the details too soon, "Don't put the candles on until you've baked the cake!"