Saturday, March 30, 2013

Young African Woman - Video

This is a bit overdue, but here is the video for my painting Young African Woman.  This painting just sold this week, and I couldn't be happier!  Hope you enjoy...


Friday, March 29, 2013

Images 9th Annual Juried Exhibition

I am happy to announce that I've been accepted into the Images Art Gallery 9th Annual Juried Exhibition coming up next month.  I will have 3 paintings showing, and I'm looking forward to some good competition at this show.  For those out there in the Kansas City area, I hope you will come and check it out!  More to come later...



Sunday, March 24, 2013

The work must go on...

Snow days don't apply to artists.  The work must go on, and so it did today.  By the way, I hate snow.  It has officially crossed the line.  March 24th.. 3 days after spring supposedly begins, and it snows in Kansas City.  Wrong.  Just wrong.  Anyway, here is how my snow day went:

Snow Women
graphite and white chalk on toned paper
2013



Friday, March 22, 2013

Conceptual stuff

Okay.. so yesterday and today I worked on another figure study.  It's a bit of a follow-up to a previous study I posted recently.  This is a concept for what might become a larger painting, but I don't know yet.  It's inspired from a Rob Liberace figure study, and for me personally, basically this was an exercise in experimenting, thinking up new things, trying new things, and all-around just playing with paint and medium.  Like I said, I have an idea here for something, but all I can say beyond that is that I'm not sure yet if or when it will happen.  But for now, check this out, and I hope it's somewhat interesting.


Unshackled (concept) study
oil on canvas
18x24 inches
2013

Friday, March 15, 2013

New stuff

Hey, so it's time for some updates.  So the Blue Springs show was last weekend, and long story short I thought it was a miss.  Well, it was.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciated the honorable mention for my portrait, SeƱorita, but it was still a step back from where I know I could have gone.  I was actually afraid it would happen.  But what can I say, I probably needed a show like this one to keep me humbled, and to motivate my determination to become better. 
Whether we like it or not, art is a relentlessly competitive sport (and yeah, I kinda like it).  And we are hopeless perfectionists (those of us that take it seriously).  So I'm stepping up my game and trying some new things at this point.  Still in the realm of portraiture and figurative work, but trying new things with it.  This week, I've been doing a few figure studies, and playing with color and a little something called pentimenti. 
Pentimento is an Italian word literally meaning "repentance."  It's something you can often see in paintings when you go to the museum and really look at the work.  However, the average time spent by the average spectator at any given work of art at a museum or art show is about 8 seconds.  The average time for me is around 3-5 minutes.  Yeah, seriously.  Anyway, so pentimenti (plural) in painting refers to the unwanted or sketchy lines or shapes that were originally part of the painting or underpainting, and the artist has corrected them by painting over them.  But like I said, If you really look closely at a painting, sometimes you can see them on the finished piece, appearing as sort of "ghost" lines or shapes.  Pentimenti is very evident in drawings.. as the initial sketchy lines that are made in the early stages of the drawing.  Sometimes the artist will keep those lines in the finished drawing.  This is a technique I've learned from Rob Liberace, who will often use pentimento as part of the finished work, and will even use those lines and shapes to create the illusion of movement, which is what I'm playing with in some of my drawings and paintings.  Here is a new painting I did en brunaille to demonstrate:

Matador
oil on canvas
20x16 inches
2013
So in this instance, the pentimenti is actually intentional, and used for an effect, much like in Liberace's work.  Although, he's way better at it.  It's still kinda new to me.  Here's an example of his:


I've also been playing around with other colors as part of my underpainting.  I've always done my underpainting with either burnt umber or raw umber, or some other brown color.  So the other day I tried using some blues, greens, and purples.  It was kind of interesting.  Here's that study:

 
 

The red you see is alizarin crimson, which is one of my favorite colors, so I'll probably try this again and use a lot more of it to make it something of a red/burgandy/purply ground color.  Finally, here is another study I did last week sometime I think.  Just another study on a burnt umber ground:


And some more stuff is coming soon.  I sent in a registration for the 9th annual Juried Show at Images Gallery this week too.  I've never been to this one, so hopefully they will take me in.  I'm hoping to have 3 pieces at that show, and it is coming up sometime in April I think.  I am also in the process of finalizing my 15 Alla Prima portraits, getting them varnished and framed.  I am really hoping to get a solo exhibition, or possibly a couple solo shows for those as soon as I can once they are ready.  Stay tuned for that, and for the Images show.  And as always, more work to come soon.  Happy weekend, everyone!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Self

Alright... I whizzed right through this one over the past two days because I am entering it into a show, and the deadline for said show is this week.  So here is a new self-portrait, and I'm thinking I am done with those for a while.  I am a hard face to paint.  Anyway, I am also in the process of getting all the alla primas ready for showing.  It'll be a while, but as soon as I can because I can't wait to show them.  More to come..

Self
oil on canvas
30x24 inches
2013

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Young African Woman

Here is a new project that I just finished today.  I am hoping the video for this one turns out okay.. This one was done over a couple of days.  I already know I rushed through it, but I hope it works as a show piece.  The Blue Springs show is this weekend, and the two for it are ready to go.  There is another show coming up soon that I'm planning on entering, and I think I'll see how this one does with it.  Maybe.  There's still about a week or so to enter it, and you never know what I might finish in this next week.

Young African Woman
oil on canvas
20x16 inches
2013
 

Alla Prima #14 Video

Took a while, but here is the video for Alla Prima #14 - Val.  I have another on the way for #15 as well.  And a new painting is in the works, and will hopefully be done today.  Anyway, hope you enjoy this.. more to come.


 
 

Monday, March 4, 2013

Alla Prima #15 - Paige

Here is the final alla prima portrait of the series.. I figured 15 was a good round number to end it with.  There will be a video for #14 and this one coming soon.  So, time to move on to a couple of other projects, which I'm excited about.  For now, hope you enjoy this, and have enjoyed this alla prima series of portraits.  There will hopefully be a show featuring all 15 at some point.

Alla Prima #15 - Paige
oil on canvas
14x11 inches
2013
 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Alla Prima #14 - Val

Well, we're just about done with this series.  I'm going to do at least one more, possibly two alla prima portraits, and then I think that'll be it.  After that I am hoping to put them all together and dress them up with some frames (geez.. that'll be a lot of frames to buy!) and find a place to exhibit them.  Here is #14, called "Val."  Hope you like, and as always be on the lookout for more coming soon.

Alla Prima #14 - Val
oil on canvas
14x11 inches
2013
 

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Alla Prima #13 - R.M.

From the easel today, here is alla prima portrait #13.  Just a few more of these to go, and I think I'm done.

Alla Prima #13 - R.M.
oil on canvas
14x11 inches
2013