Josh Harriman Studio

Tag: shapes

  • Thinking about Space

    Thinking about Space

    Composition is something I have always enjoyed thinking about when developing a new art project. I think of composition as the arrangement of the pieces that make up the picture. I’m thinking back to a series of paintings I was making in 2020. For this series I was working outside from observation. I started each piece with some warm up drawings in my sketchbook.

    I used charcoal for the early sketches since it allows for loose drawing and could be easily smudged and modified. It let me map out how the picture fit on the surface without the complexity of color and paint. After developing a composition I liked I would redraw it on a piece of larger prepared paper.

    For the prepared paper I used a sheet of Stonehenge paper, which I gessoed and toned ahead of time. This is something I like doing because it gives the painting a headstart. By preparing the surface there is already something to work against and add to, as opposed to just a flat white surface. I would do a charcoal drawing on the prepared paper as well.

    While the space was compressed in this composition, there were others in this series that were more open.

    This piece was done on a beach during low tide and captured the bright color of the sand around exposed rock and pilings. What interested me most about this composition was that in between space. Framed by the rocks and pilings, this space allows the viewer to wander through the picture. And that’s a quality that I try to add to most of my work through the use of space.

    In a more traditional landscape you often see this sense of space represented with the sky above the horizon. While there are alot of things filling in the area in the foreground, the sky offers an open place to rest in this picture.

    In this painting by the artist Clyford Still, I’m drawn to the combination of space and energy that is created in the brightly lit sky behind the two figures. There is something really nice about the marks as well as the gradation around the figure on the right. I like this space because I think it makes the subjects in the picture more meaningful.

  • Stencils and Circuits

    Studio view
    Boston Studio in 2014

    In 2013 – 2014 I was really interested in working with shapes found on circuit boards. I liked the designs of the boards and I also liked the idea of building Sci-fi worlds. I made a piece using a couple different stencils, which I printed in layers. This made it easier to create distinct colors in specific areas. I used a different color acrylic for each layer and printed it on a black piece of cardstock. First I did the blue gray layer, then added the white with a second stencil. The overall image is roughly 16″ x 20″.

    The dark background added to the futuristic idea and reminded me of 80s movies like Blade runner and Terminator. Having a couple different stencils meant that I had to think about registration, or how to line up the different stencils so that the different layers sync up.

    Alot of the work I was making at that time was done on paper, printed and painted. I was cutting it, tearing it, collaging it and layering it. While the circuit piece was done using a traditional stencil that I cutout with an Xacto knife, this larger maze-inspired work in progress was made using masking tape. I had taken a sheet of paper that had already been painted blue and taped over it to create the maze of verticals and horizontals. Then I applyed black paint. After peeling off the tape mask the original blue paint layer was still visible underneath.

    I was using mostly straight pieces of tape but here in the middle of this photo above you can see there were a couple pieces of tape that I tore to make irregular strands. Doing this adds an organic quality to the mask and also gets away from the repetitive tape edges.

    Pieces of paper can also be shaped and assembled and then attached over a paint surface to build a mask. Adding pieces of paper (like the ones below) and then taping over them or lightly gluing them to the surface creates more opportunities for unique masking of the art surface.

  • Masking and Working with Stencils (Part 1)

    Stencils are a great introduction to printmaking and can be combined with a wide variety of art mediums. If prepared well a stencil can create a unique print with a lot of character. The simplest stencil can be made with a piece of paper and scissors. Simply cut a shape out from a piece of paper. But I recommend investing in a x-acto knife with a #2 blade. This allows for great detail in creating the stencil.

    First step will be cutting out the shape you want to stencil. Then hold the paper onto your artwork surface, which could be paper, canvas, panel, etc. Then apply paint carefully over the stencil opening with your brush.

    Materials needed: brushes, paint, paper, x-acto knife, cutting board, paint palette, masking tape

    For brushes there a number of options but my favorite is blick’s “mega bristle brush”

    I like this brush for stenciling because it covers alot of area and its sturdy. As far as paint goes I recommend using a value priced artist acrylic. The paint will dry quickly and the consistency of acrylic won’t interfere with the stencil paper.

    As far as paper goes, I recommend using a paper with enough weight to hold up during the paint application. A decent drawing paper works fairly well. Paper from an 11″ x 14″ drawing pad like this one should work well.

    In my next post I’ll talk about the process of cutting out the stencil with an xacto knife!

  • 11/27/25

    Learning to Seek Out Inspirational Artworks

    When I was studying art in school one of the first things I learned was the value in looking at different art. That’s one of the first things I encourage my students to do in my classes. By looking at other artists you get inspiration and ideas for your own work. You learn about what’s been done and how it was done. You can emulate those works that inspire you and you can take your own approach.

    One of the first artists that inspired me deeply was Jean-michel basquiat. I was really impressed at how free the drawing was, how expressive and raw the execution of the works. The fact that he wasn’t trying to make clean polished pieces, but instead pulled from the environment of New York.

    Basquiat untitled painting

    Something that I encourage students in my classes to do is to look for artists that inspire them. By studying the history and the work of that artist they can learn more about who they are as an artist and who they want to become.

    https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2024/jean-michel-basquiat-venus

  • 11/18/25

    Create a Cohesive Set of Shapes to Unlock a New Composition

    1. For this project select a set of objects from around the house. You will use these objects to create shapes that you will build a composition with. Try to select a range of shapes and sizes.
    2. After selecting the objects put the objects down on a sheet of bristol paper. Hold the object with one hand and do a light tracing of the outside of the object. As an alternative you can use the object to mask off the area that it covers, as shown in the example below.

    3. Once you have the shapes in place you can begin to shade in your composition, add texture, or color as desired. You can also add detail to the inside of the shapes.

    The goal of this assignment is to use found objects to create a set of shapes and have them relate to each other. The shapes can be modified, added to, joined, erased, and otherwise changed. But ultimately the goal of the assignment is to create a unified composition and to explore different shapes and how they relate to each other in that composition.