Vanitas 23 analysis

Someone asked me about the design of my latest drawing Vanitas 23. So I worked on this analysis to explain how I designed this piece. My idea was to explore circular pattern repetition and 2:3 ratio sub-divisions a la Alphonse Mucha. This type of design sometimes comes as a combination of a happy accident and more intentional adjustment/manipulation. The model's pose was pretty much how it was at the photo shoot. I picked the best image out of many. Then I added most of the bubbles by strategically placing them so that they would collectively form circular patterns along with the lines of her dress. I extended the bottom of the dress in the back and changed the angle of her leg at the bottom right, so that her whole body would form a more dynamic triangle shape. Overall I am very pleased with the result.

 

934 Gallery Show

I had a 2 week run of my solo show "Vanitas" at 934 Gallery. Here are the snapshots I took the night before closing.

Strokes of Genius 11

My drawing "Vanitas 11" was featured in Drawing Magazine special issue "Strokes of Genius 11" competition as  one of the winners (top right corner in this spread). This competition was juried by one of my art heroes Steven Assael and that makes this even more meaningful to me. I am truly honored to be included in this collection of fantastic artists. Seriously, this issues has some INCREDIBLE art works in it.

Vanitas 19

I just finished a new drawing Vanitas 19 today. This was a little tricky to do because this paper had so much roughness to the surface texture which I did not realize until a half way into the drawing. Somehow I managed to keep it under control though. This was a small drawing and took me just a week to complete. Nice change of pace before I move onto my next large piece...

Mansfield Art Center 74th Annual May Show

Recently I received good news that my 4 pastel paintings from Vanitas series were accepted into the 74th Annual May Show at Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield Ohio. And one of the pieces "Vanitas 14" won the best of show. It was totally unexpected and was a really nice surprise!

Update on Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 12:51AM by Hiroshi Hayakawa

Here is an online article of May Show that's going on right now at Mansfield Art Center. It shows the photo of my painting that won the Best of Show award.