Along with 3-D Design, I took a painting class my second year at SCSU. Once I got used to some brush techniques, I was able to paint easily. Though most of the paintings here were from that class, the first three were from Color & 2-D Design.

	Irish Cottage [March 2002 / Watercolor, 11.5"x 8.5"] From a photo on my calendar. This was my first watercolor painting in years.
	Textures [March 2002 / Watercolor, 8"x 6"] This was a texture study. I scraped the paper with a pin to get the striations on the piece of wood. The textures are a basket, Lego baseplates, a hunk of coral, a small log, and a CD.
	Cherry Trees in Bloom [Spring 2002 / Acrylic on paper, 7.5"x 10"] My first acrylic painting. I was not comfortable with acrylics at all. I only had experience in watercolors at this time.
	Still Life I [September 2002 / Oil on canvas paper, 24"x 18"] My first painting with oils. I didn't know how to manipulate the brush, I barely knew about blending to get smooth gradients. Edges of objects are ragged, but what can I say? It was my first painting.
	Still Life IV [Fall 2002 / Oil on canvas, 18"x 24"] After the above black and white painting, my professor moved the class on to limited-color-palette paintings: only red, blue, yellow, and white. Sadly, I lost those two images. This was my first full color palette: any color paint I wanted
	Portrait of a Young Woman [November 2002 / Acrylic on canvas paper , 16"x 20"] I was to use five shades from black to white in this painting, but I think I cheated a little. It was interesting to see how using pure black and pure white make the image really "pop"; the contrast is attractive.
	Self Portrait with Parakeet [November 2002 / Acrylic on canvas paper , 16"x 20"] Same instructions as above, but a self portrait. I really distorted my face, though—you can see the nose is too long for any person! The parakeet, Pico was on my shoulder when I drew the picture, though not when I painted it.
	Drapery [Fall 2002 / Oil on canvas, 18"x 24"] The dark gray stripes were painted over the red. This was somewhat difficult, but very satisfying to paint.
	Self Portrait [Fall 2002 / Oil on canvas, 18"x 24"] My first (and only) color self portrait, drawn at my house, underpainting done at my grandmother's house, and final painting done again at my house! Getting the lighting the same in each place was tricky.
	De Monet: L'hotel des Rôches Noires a Trouville [Decmber 2002 / Oil on canvas, 22"x 32"] This is a copy I made of a lesser-known painting by Claude Monet. Click here to see the original.
	A Mighty Fortress [Decmber 2002 / 18"x 24"] This was my final project in my painting class, meant to combine all of what I learned during the semester. I drew the composition from a photograph I took of the subject, then painted most of it from life. I gave it as a wedding gift to my aunt who was married in November 2002.