Liquid Therapy

"Liquid Therapy"

By Megan Simpson

I have always thought that wine looked aesthetically pleasing. Between when my mom would be drinking sips while watching TV in our living room or at our Christmas parties we have every year at my aunt’s house, I have always loved the colors of it. Therefore, I decided to take on the colors myself to create this image of red wine called “Liquid Therapy.” In this painting, I was careful to make sure the reflections on the wine glass were untouched to help make it seem more realistic. One challenge that I ran into while drawing the image was making it symmetrical. After many tries, I eventually resulted to tracing paper paired with a light board to make the glass truly straight up and down to create symmetry. When painting the actual contents of the wine, I was careful when layering the paint to not lose any values to avoid making the image seem less flat.

Koi Fish

"Koi Fish"

By Megan Simpson

As a kid, my grandma and I would work at the Downtown Farmer’s Market in Roanoke, Virginia together. When we would take breaks to go eat or walk around, we would always go up to the roof garden they have in the middle of downtown. To this day it is one of my favorite places to go. In the garden, it not only has succulents hanging from the walls and flowers growing all around, it also has a little area where koi fish swim around. I have always been fascinated by how intricate and colorful they looked, which lead me to paint a watercolor image of them. In this painting called “Koi Fish,” I expected great challenges in using watercolor to be completely honest; however, I have found that this is my favorite form of media I have used so far. I used various bright colors of orange and red in the designs on the koi fish to truly emphasize their stunning features. To create “bubbles” in the water, I splattered darker blue paint strategically around the fish. In this painting, I also made a point to create the shadows of the fish to make it seem more realistic and more three-dimensional. I also chose to make them forming a circular shape instead of a scattered position to form symmetry and movement throughout the piece.

Thursday Lunch

"Thursday Lunch"

By Megan Simpson

Over this past summer, my friends and I would get together every Thursday to go out and do something, whether that was roller skating, going to watch a movie, or simply going out to eat. One of my favorite things we did one time was have a picnic at a friend’s house and played Cards Against Humanity. This summer tradition between my friends inspired this painting. I used various techniques to pull this painting together. I used traditional painting techniques to create the various details in the bowls and the food in the painting. However, I used a pallet knife to create texture on the dips to emphasize them. To create the needed depth in the dips, I used burnt umber mixed with linseed oil to create a thin substance to get into the crevasse of the texture formed from the pallet knife. I used various yellow tones throughout the painting to help tie it together to create unity. 

Spring on Buffalo Mountain

"Spring on Buffalo Mountain"

By Megan Simpson

Buffalo Mountain is a very beloved attraction in Floyd, Virginia. This summit holds many fond memories for me which created the inspiration for this painting. In “Spring on Buffalo Mountain,” I used various techniques to bring this painting to life while also going out of my comfort zone, creating a dream-like feel rather than a more realistic one. However, I used a traditional painting style to create the mountains in the distance using atmospheric perspective techniques to create depth, and I also used a pallet knife on the rocks to emphasize them and also to  create texture. The blues and greens in the rocks help to bring the painting together to create unity, while also using repetitive properties for the mountains in the distance to create harmony.