Kat Powell Artist

 The Plastination Exhibit rolled through my hometown and i was able to sketch up some of the bodies.  Here is one of a ring tosser/gymnast who's body was dissected to show the ribs, organs, muscles, mammary glands etc. I added flesh to the breasts, opened up the top of the bust, moved the hands down, and added in the tiger moths and caterpillars.  Initial sketch with pencil (took around 3hrs) Background and skin color placement. Trying to decide on appropriate color and lighting. Here I started to go crazy with color and ended up with two light sources. But I decided to get rid of one of them. Developing the light source from within the chest cavity. This way the moths emerging from the top of the breast are more illuminated. Toning things down more and trying to make the inner oval recede back more. Shadows and highlights! Adding in the moths and caterpillars. Goodbye sea green background. Hello more depth and illumination. Here I was adding more shadows w...

 I've always been stronger at illustrating and drawing so i start with a sketch.    Then i try to focus on light source(s) and shadows. Finally i add in color and more shading. This is a very simple walk through, if i do another i will try to save more steps. http://k-el-p.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d38ww6h

Bringing home a baby Bumble Bee.... Concept idea for skeletons in balloons and an airhead. Done on a large piece of paper and then on a large transparency.  On the paper I drew up a couple of bodies that are partially fleshed out so that way their limbs are faded.  On the transparency I etched in the skeletal anatomy of the couple along with several cross-hatched lines and boxes. This was a difficult image to capture with a camera and there is still a lot of detail that was lost. Also the transparency adds some really neat shadows on the paper underneath. Playing around with 3-d and 2-d mix-matching. As you can tell the paper has been cut and bent to create a shallow dip. And onto of the paper there is dried glue that is forming a web. Like a tunnel spider.  Again the camera could not pick up the subtle details of the glue's transparency. :(  Foamboard again with ink and marker drawing.  The image above and below are the same. I found this little cardb...

"Egg Drop Soup: Birth of the World" Oil painting of girl breaking open an egg and the yolk is spilling out an new world. (physics be damned!) And in the window in the canvas is an egg has is sprouting a mini sculpture of gold wire and handmade kozo paper. And yes that is a real egg, don't worry it doesn't smell. ;)  This is an Exquisite Corpse that I did with a very good friend of mine. An Exquisite Corpse is a collaboration between two or more artists. You get your canvas, section off even parts, and you start the painting whatever you want, cover up all but an inch of it and from there another artist can paint from the colors and lines that you've put on it. Basically you are painting blind . :)  Steampunk idea. With a man, a bird, and a clock. "Self-Experimentaion" This was a challenge for myself in the following ways:   5'x6' ft oil painting (second largest painting i've done), translucency, reflection, opacity, focus, glass, edges, an...

 For the bird's background I actually watered down the acrylics and put salt on it. Although the photo doesn't capture it the salt adds a bit of glittery shine. Braces and a wrist watch calculator, what a whale! Painted the little bugger on foamboard and cut him out with x-acto. I had this scrap of woodboard sitting around and I decided to play off of the natural wood grains, which made up the curves in the water and the white highlights. Treasure Island.... in a bottle.  "Never Knows Best" This is actually an oil painting. (oops) After doing so many still life paintings I decided to put a twist to this still life. It consisted of cloth, a basket, and a mask which I morphed into a person who's body is stuck under the table. Toe Painting! Yep, aside from the texture that I fixed to the canvas, I painting the entire image with me toes. I know that is not as impressive as painting with a boob or penis but I'm happy with my work. ;)

Decide to start sharing some of my work from college years. First round has basic projects in oils. Landscape practice with self-portrait, concept of Pareidolia .  Self-portrait, King's birthday suit concept   Photo-realism, practice with detail, translucency, focus, depth, and color matching.

You can also view this on youtube of course I am also trying to make a tutorial that is more of a step-by-step process to help explain each major transitions.