Friday, January 9, 2015

News from the Studio, 1/9/15

I'm a little late with this, but Happy New Year everyone!

We're only on Day 9 of 2015, and I've already been quite busy.  Holidays always slow me down a bit (as does sickness), but I'm definitely back in the swing of things now.  I've already finished a couple of pieces, and I'm currently working on #3 for '15.  Like I said, pretty busy.

Be Still
oil on canvas
11x14 inches
2015
Available, Please contact to purchase.
ryandelgadoart@gmail.com

The Beast
oil on canvas
20x16 inches
2015
Available, Please contact to purchase.
ryandelgadoart@gmail.com
I recently mentioned that 2015 will be a time for me to work a little more with nature and still life subjects.  As you can see, so far it has.  I spent the last part of December cleaning and re-organizing the studio so that I could get a still life set-up in place.  It's an old shelf that goes with a desk (also old, and with that art studio "character").  Anyway, it works perfectly for small still life set ups.  Now it's just a matter of accumulating more still life objects to paint.  Here's a little shot of my last painting of 2014:


I don't do very many still life paintings, and when I do, they've almost always been from photo references.  That's what I'm hoping to get away from this year.  Portraits and figures may be the exception.  I still have every intention of doing them, but they most likely won't all be from life.  But they will be with every chance I get.  Sadly, getting models to sit for free is a tough thing to do.  But oh well.  The third piece that I mentioned before that I'm working on currently is a larger portrait.  It's been a while since I did a large painting, and I have some large canvases just sitting here collecting dust that need to be painted.  So here is a little glimpse of the in-progress work on it:


I haven't yet come up with a title, but I'm really hoping this will turn out to be a good one.  As I was doing the studies for this piece, I noticed how the lighting seemed very familiar... like something I had painted before.  And immediately my mind went to Velázquez, and the Infanta Margarita in Las Meninas.  Yes!  That was it!  The eyes, nose, mouth, and even that form shadow and the reflected light dancing around on her proper right cheek are almost exactly the same as the Infanta.



So that made me pretty excited, because I knew exactly how I wanted to approach the painting at that point.  I did a master copy of the Infanta a few years ago, and hopefully it will serve as a good guide to go by with the execution of this portrait.  The design of the girl's dress is also pretty interesting.  You can't tell from my in-progress picture, but it's a purple dress with a white lace design.  It'll definitely be a challenge to paint, but I'm praying I can pull it off.  She's also holding a bouquet of flowers... very abstract-looking flowers.  So there's my still life.  Except as of today, I've tried the flower still life thing 3 times in a matter of a few months, and it's been really hard each time.  And with these being as abstract as they are, this is my biggest worry of the entire painting.  Again, we'll see how it goes.

Well, the last thing I wanted to share is that I finally have some show announcements to make!  The first is coming up in a few weeks at Got Art Gallery in Lee's Summit, Missouri.  This is the 5th annual Celebrate Summit Art show, and it runs from January 26th to February 23rd.  I'll have 2 pieces in that show, and will be joined by a number of other fellow Summit Art members.  The second one is going to be my first Kansas City Crossroads Art District show at the David Jones Gallery at 17th and Walnut in Downtown Kansas City.  This one will be a First Friday show opening May 1st.  Hoping it will be a great experience, and hoping to see you there!

Okay that's it for now... more to come soon!