The world around me is my inspiration. If I see a good composition, a glimpse of beauty, or certain energy in a scene or object, I make a note to paint it. Ever since I picked up a paint brush, I’ve loved it and am compelled to create with this media. My primary media is oil painting. Oil Painting and the process came natural for me; I had a “Nat” for painting. In many of my portrait pieces I attempt to capture the essence of the person. Often In most of my paintings, whether it is a cityscape or a portrait, they are reflecting me and the world around me.
The images that I create on canvas usually began as someone or something that I saw or experienced in person. Often I capture what a want to paint in a photo graph, and then transfer it into how I see it. When I work in my studio space I usually begin with a detailed under sketch of the image. I continue with a thin layer of Burnt Sienna and turpentine or blue, depending on the colors in the painting. Then I continue by painting the piece inch by inch.
When I attempt to create works that reflect how I view them, I usually break the images down in my mind into different planes, forms and colors, and then it is reconstructed on canvas. This is evident in some of my piece that shows a play between abstraction and realism.
Courtland Blade
2008
Education:
B.F.A 2008 Studio Painting Indiana State University
A.S 2006 General Studies Vincennes University
B.F.A Studio Painting University of Indianapolis
Awards/Honors:
2006 Best Painting Award in student art show, U of Indy
2007 Heady-Sundown juried art competition Artist’ Choice Award
2008 Received the Permanent Art Collection Purchase Award, ISU
2008 Member of The National Scholars honor Society
Exhibition Record:
2006 student art show, University of Indianapolis
2006 Wheeler Art Community Tour, Indianapolis IN
2006 Open campus art show of, University of Indianapolis.
2007 Show at Coffee Ground, Terre Haute IN
2007 2nd Annual Halcyon Group Show, Terre Haute IN
2007 Showed Pieces in Arts Illiana Summer Collection
2007 Showed pieces in Arts Illiana fall collection
2007 Showed pieces in Arts Illiana winter collection
2008 Indiana State Juried student Exhibition
2008 Showed Works at Coffee Ground, Terre Haute IN
2008 64th Annual Wabash Valley Juried Art Exhibition, Terre Haute IN
2008 The 5th Annual National View from Grandview National Exhibition, at the Atlanta Artist Center at Atlanta Georgia.
2008 Viewpoint 40th Annual National Juried Art Competition, Cincinnati OH.
2008 61st Juried Art Exhibition Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City Iowa.
Bibliography:
"The Reflector" University of Indianapolis Volume 84, Issue 11.
“Terre Haute Tribune Star”, Artist Courtland Blade Unveils New exhibition at Coffee Grounds, May 2, 2008. [
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