All right. So while perusing the web in desperate search of an artist, I came across a web page for Robert Beal's surrealist artwork.
http://www.beal-surrealiste.com/introductorygallery.htm
Okay. Hopefully that link works, because I can't get blogspot to let me paste anything in here.
I loved his use of colors. They tend to be very bright and analogous, and create a sort of unanticipated contrast and depth... or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, which is also distinctly possible. My favorite piece in here is probably The Fool's Cap, but it is quite hard to choose, as all of his art is intriguing and in its own right, uniquely beautiful. I do think that the person in the Fool's Cap has a very interesting face, and reminds a bit of the distorted faces I used to draw. Except his are way better.
The Wheel Barrow is also fascinating, not only because it's a traditionally weird surrealist piece, but also because it's done in oil, but so smooth and controlled that it looks digital. Having oil painted before, I think it's a sign of huge talent that he can get everything so accurate and beautful, rather than gloppy and textured like most oil paintings are.
I also like his concepts--The Inventions of Culture and Stocks, Pilleries, and Cultures of good Intentions in particular stand out to me. The blue mannequins are my favorite part of the paintings. Another painting that caught my attention was 'The Great Imperial Fantastical Kingdom of Diddley-D0-Dum" because it's both creepy and funny in its depiction of childhood and toys (I think. I'm sure there's a much deeper meaning that I missed.). Anyway. I like his art. End of story.

Concentration 1

Yay! It's the self-portrait in progress!

Mmkay. So I did this with black and white acrylic paint, some nifty new fine point paint brushes, and a lousy photo reference. So that said, I think I'm doing okay, considering how time deprived I am. Thankfully, the painting is coming along better than it was at the time this photo was taken. I fixed the disproportionate arm, added some more value, tried to fix up the background, etc. There's a little more detail on the face, but since it's such a small painting I had difficulty with that. Anyway...

So... while I was browsing the internet yesterday looking for photos of foreign architecture (I don't remember why), I stumbled across the blog of an artist called John Lovett.
http://splashingpaintblog.com
Anyway, I'd never heard of him before, but as I scrolled through his blog searching for the particular photo that had appeared on Google, I was completely taken with some of his art. The rock arrangements inspired by the color wheel were definitely different, but I preferred his many paintings instead. While the artist referred to several of them as sketches (and some of them certainly are simplistic, but that's where the charm lies, too), they had a certain combination of detail followed by immediate vagueness. Parts were done in watercolor, sketched over in pencil, in some cases very rough and sketchy, but I still liked the look.
For some reason, the less professional something looks, the better I tend to like it. Sketchy is preferable to perfectly fleshed out. For me anyway. Most of the time.

Alright. After much thought on the subject, I have at last come up with a more final concentration idea. I've noticed that I have a tendency to just randomly draw faces--usually without a subject present, hence the randomness.
Between that, and a slight penchant for drawing things in an intentionally warped way that I have, I've thought that maybe I could do some sort of surrealist/facial portrait thing. I don't know.
I'm just trying to think of something I could maybe stand to do for an entire semester. So yeah, that's what I've got thus far.
Ideas are always subject to change. :)

Concentration!

After very much thinking and a minor headache, I've finally found an idea that will probably change in a matter of minutes (my brain works like this, just trust me). Since I have a certain fascnation with dreams, I thought that maybe that would be a fun concept to work with. Probably not surrealism, necessarily. Just, you know, dreams. Nightmares maybe. I never have nightmares, so I'd have to ask other people for theirs. (And when I do have nightmares, no one understands how on Earth I think they're scary... *sigh*)
Anyway, that was sort of my thought. Sadly, my own dreams aren't very odd in setting or anything (situation, yes), so there probably wouldn't be anything actually interesting going on.
Um... Other than that, I'm short on ideas. So yeah.

Exaggerated Self Portrait

Wow. I'm behind on these things. Anyway, I'm just going to be boring and comment on what I read.
I liked a lot of the images in here--especially Enrique Chagoya's "Uprising of the Spirit." Toba Khedoori's "Rooms" was absolutely fascinating to me. It's so empty and creepy, a perfect example of negative space. It brings forth memories of Mesa Verde. Jim Nutt's "Not So Fast" was interesting to look at. I really like drawing warped, "freaky" people with giant noses, and though this is much cartoonier than my style usually is, it sort of reminds me of the odd little doodles that seem to end up all over my notes. I have no idea what Frank Kline's "Untitled" was supposed to be of, but I like the stark contrast and again, the use of space. I really wish I could just draw my weird little doodles again and not sit around trying to draw so technically. (Sorry, I'm really rambling here.) I prefer ideas over details. Maybe that's why I decided that I liked all of these pieces best.
I liked the idea behind Oscar Dominguez's piece (I enjoy all the weird little ideas floating around in this book), but when I turned the page to see what the article was talking about, I was less than impressed. On second glance, it was a bit more interesting--a lot of texture and a weird, cartoonish style were definitely present, and made for a slightly more intriguing viewing. I would like it better if it weren't so simplified, though.
Negative space is a nice enough concept, but I don't really have a lot to say about it. I thought it was incredibly odd that Martin Ramirez drew with his paper rolled up, and also that he glued together everything he could find to get his papers the right sizes. Did no one at the institution care about his creative endeavors, or what?
Hmmm.... Upon reading pages 84 and 85, I've realized that my painting's spatial use is less than stellar. I want to kill that painting, really. Could I make it a mixed media and attack with it duct tape and sand and stuff or something? That wouldn't help with the space, but it would make me feel better.
I have no idea how to fix that thing, honestly. Spacing is not really my strong point, it seems.

Still Life/Breadth 4

I'm not totally sure if this is what I'm supposed to be doing, but I'm just going to comment on what I read. I found the idea of guiding drawings and whatnot with either geometric shapes or grids particularly interesting. Indeed, I never pay enough attention to have noticed any of this before, and I doubt any such idea has made it through into my own art work. But the idea struck me as oddly simplistic, and yet very clever, and it came as no surprise that such methods were commonly used and probably created in the time of renaissance. I don't quite get how a viewfinder is supposed to help, but whatever. I'd be willing to try it.
So, anyway, I guess this time the focus is mostly on positioning, or composition, or whatever it's called. Pity. I'd rather it be on, "learn how to use a colored pencil." Colored pencil techniques are as evasive to me as those for watercolor (did that make sense?), and so I am rather worried about this project right now. Colored pencils and I have never really gotten along.
Anyway, end of the tangent. I need to get back to work.