Jan
18
Robert Lange is one of my favorite artists….his paintings are always fresh and original. For his latest show he’s created twenty round paintings. Yep, 8″ round paintings.
They look as though you’d taken a photograph in a mirror using a fish-eye camera lens. Can’t believe the bold colors and all of that detail he managed to paint into just a small 8″ round canvas. You can see more of this series he’s titled The Observer on his website www.robertlangestudios.com. And if you’re ever in Charleston, South Carolina be sure to visit his gallery in the French Quarter.
This is still one of my favorites.
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Posted in Art Shows, Inspiration, Painting
Jan
17
Finally decided on a good name for my most recent painting……Painting Is My Passion. Definitely fits into the theme of Red for the art competition being held by Pop Revolution Gallery in Mason. Took some reference photos of paint cans and brushes that will be used in the painting.
It’s been a week since I used a palette knife to paint in the background…and the thick paint is still not totally dry.
Decided that the top right hand side of the painting wasn’t quite right…..the swirls of paint lead your eye out of the painting too much.
Kept painting and re-painting the upper right hand portion……I was trying to create a swirl where the lighter colors swirled into a darker one. However, instead of a circle I had an oblong, decided that didn’t look right….and eventually ended up painting a dark red circle around her head. This is one of those cases where I could have completely screwed up the painting….and it looks like I did. It’s rather difficult to correct a palette knife painted abstract…..it’s better if you get it all right the first time.
After supper I went back into my studio and tried to very carefully remove the dark red paint circling her head. …still managed to smear it on her face…..again. Using a palette knife can be very tricky. What do you think about the brush she’s holding? I wanted it to be large….but it looks awfully large. Guess if I had to ask the question…then I already knew the answer.
If I ever do a painting like this again……I think I’ll do the palette knife portion with acrylic paint. It will dry faster and I won’t have to worry about smearing it…or about it peeling off if it doesn’t dry correctly.
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Posted in Inspiration, Painting, Tools of the Trade
Jan
11
Wow, who knew painting could be this much fun??? Spent the morning working on the realistic portions of the painting…and the afternoon using a palette knife…..
What’s funny is that I really felt like I’d been BOLD when I painted the figure, floor, and paint cans……but it’s definitely TIMID looking next to the abstract painting in the background. What can I say? Working with a palette knife is fun….and fast. The only problem I had was when I tried to paint close to the figure….I ended up getting green paint all over the face. Now I just have to hope that the background dries quickly enough that I’ll have time to work on the rest of the painting before the competition deadline.
Thought: Maybe I should be an abstract palette knife painter. It feels much more like play when I use one.
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Posted in Inspiration, Painting, The Business of Art, Tools of the Trade
Jan
10
Pop Revolution Gallery in Mason, Ohio is having an art competition for their February show. It’s a juried exhibition open to artists in all mediums. The theme for this exhibit is the color RED. You can find the prospectus at www.poprevolutiongallery.com . Since one of my goals for 2012 is to start exhibiting at professional galleries……I decided to do a painting that would fit into my Cincinnati Art Museum series which would also encompass the theme of Red. And how did I get started?
Well….I got started by first putting a drawing on canvas that ended up not having been drawn in the correct proportions. So, I decided to cover the drawing and tone it by painting the canvas with Green. The opposite of Red on the color wheel is Green, so I figured if a little bit of Green peeked through the painting….that it would add a little excitement.
This is one of my very favorite parts of painting….when the figure starts to materialize out of a blank canvas. I love it when the figure starts looking 3-D. This painting is going to be 24×30″…so I’m finding it much easier to paint realistically. Trying to paint figures on 16×20″ canvas is very difficult for me.
I only have two weeks to finish this painting…..hope I can paint under such a tight deadline. Why do I do this to myself?
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Posted in Art Shows, Painting
Jan
09
Received a Nook for Christmas….Yeah. Didn’t know that I couldn’t live without one until I started using it. Over the weekend I was reading The Knight written by Steven James and when part of the plot twist involved a painting titled Isabella and The Pot of Basil……well, I just had to look up the painting online.
Loved how dramatic looking the painting is….however, the story behind it is kinda gross. Isabella’s father killed her lover, then she cut off her dead lover’s head, put it in a flower pot, and planted basil on top of it. Weird, right? The artist John White Alexander (1856-1915) was an American portrait painter who got the idea of Isabella and the Pot of Basil from a poem by John Keats who borrowed the story line from Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) , Italian author and poet who wrote The Decameron. Apparently The Decameron has been a source of inspiration for lots of writers and painters.
Absolutely love the dramatic sweeping lines in John White Alexander’s paintings……it makes them seem full of movement.
Tom says that I’m a font of useless information……however, I’m glad that I did a little research online. I really like John White Alexander’s paintings…..and I never would have known about them them if I hadn’t been curious. Thank God for the Internet. Plus, I find it comforting to know that other artists get their inspiration from people who have gone before….it’s sorta like Isabella and The Pot of Basil Redux.
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Posted in Art History, Inspiration
Jan
05
Had to laugh when I looked around my studio yesterday afternoon…..even though I paint with oils on canvas….my artwork is still very heavily reliant on electronics…..and I don’t even create my artwork in Photoshop.
First off….I paint in a basement studio under florescent light fixtures fitted with “natural daylight” colored light bulbs.
This is what I’m painting on….I used a digital camera to photograph the painting at the Art Museum and also the male model.
I used my computer to combine the two photos, size them to 16×20, and print out a hard copy.
I also found a high resolution photo of the painting which I’d photographed at the art museum. I set my laptop up next to my easel….so I could enlarge the photo to see closer detail. All while listening to music on a cd player.
What ever happened to having a live model sit next to a window (so you can use natural light) and painting them from life? Personally, I don’t know anyone who does that anymore!
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Posted in Inspiration, Painting, Tools of the Trade
Jan
03
Hi Ho Hi Ho, it’s off to paint we go……with an “OMG” and a“What Was I Thinking?” and a very loud “I’ve forgotten how to paint!!!!” Did the Seven Dwarfs have this much trouble going back to work after the holidays? Since Christmas and News Years Day I only spent two days painting full time….and boy, do I regret it. Seriously, I painted all day yesterday…and it was like I’d forgotten how to apply paint to canvas.
This is my wanna-be version of Frank Duveneck’s painting The Whistler. I painted it with a greenish tone because that’s what my photo looked like….after I’d used Auto Color in Photoshop. However, today I decided to repaint it with a more blueish-black tone which matches the photos I’ve found online.
Now, don’t get excited….I didn’t perform a miracle in my studio….this is what the internet version of the painting looks like….I’m assuming it’s the official photo used by The Cincinnati Art Museum.
I’m not used to painting this small (16×20″)…it’s really easy to smear the paint! And definitely can’t blend with my fingers…..it’s going to take a lot of practice to get good at this. New Year’s Resolution…..learn how to paint small……..and I’m already ready to break it! That certainly didn’t take long.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Dec
24
Gave myself an early Christmas gift yesterday….I started on the 3rd painting in my Cincinnati Art Museum series.This is what it looks like after the initial blocking in of colors.
Yep, this is soooo Cincinnati…..that’s a Channel 12 News tagline……just in case you’re not soooo Cincinnati. The subject is wearing a #14 football jersey. Andy Dalton #14 is the new quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. I like the contrast between the blue jeans + football jersey on the museum patron versus what the subject in the painting is wearing. I’d like to titled it What the heck is that guy wearing? but will probably call it Fashions of the Time instead.
This is a portrait of Richard Peers Symons, M.p. (Later Baronet) painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, an 18th century English painter. Found an interesting quote of his….I would rather be an apothecary than an ordinary painter, but if I could be bound to an imminent master, I would choose the later.
This painting must be 10-12 feet tall….I’ve always thought of it as The Grey Man. It must have been done using a very limited palette of muted colors. I used Ivory Black, Titanium White, Prussian Blue, Alizarin Crimson, and Yellow Ochre….and my paint mixtures were still too colorful. It will be interesting trying to recreate this portrait…….the contrast between the muted tones and the colorful football jersey.
Enjoy the Christmas holidays……..
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Posted in Uncategorized
Dec
16
Well, I’ve really set myself up for failure this time……er, what I mean is……I’ve really challenged myself this time. Yes, that’s it – positive thinking.
I started a new painting yesterday…yes, I know that I presently have four unfinished ones in my studio. Quit bugging me…..This is the 2nd in my Cincinnati Art Museum series. It features Frank Duveneck’s painting titled The Whistler. The girl is reacting as if the painting has whistled at her…cute, eh? Well….I like the idea. This painting has already presented me with three problems: 1) What am I going to do with all of that blank wall and floor space under the painting? 2) Duveneck painted this in a very abstract manner – except for the face and 3) The painting is really really dark…..but when I photographed it with a flash the background showed up greenish versus black.
This is my photo…see all of the brush strokes that show up? Completely not my style of painting….I’m The Queen of Blending.
This is the painting as it shows up on www.FrankDuveneck.org and this is what I’ve always thought the painting really looked like….or maybe it’s because it’s always displayed in a dark room.
This painting is so dark that I can’t tell if what I’ve circled is a hand…..or not. Tom says No and I say Yes. This should be really interesting to paint….it will be like getting a painting lesson in Abstraction-ism from an expert. Is that even a word?
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Posted in Inspiration, Painting
Dec
15
I had to laugh the other day when I got onto Karin Jurick’s blog ….she has been working on a 16×16″ painting and the LARGE size has seemed daunting to her. Meanwhile I’ve been working on a 16×20″ painting and it’s SMALL size has seemed daunting to me. It’s all a matter of your perspective…Karin has painted as small as 6×6 inches while I’ve painted on several 6 foot x 4 foot canvases….quite a difference in scale.
Yesterday I worked on my imitation Karin Jurick painting and I seemed to deal with the SMALLNESS factor a little better. I’m used to building paintings up in layers……whereas Karin Jurick is used to finishing a painting in a single day. My way of painting takes longer…because you have to wait for the paint to dry between layers.
Re-sized the painting of Lexi….I had her arms too long and her body too wide. Knew that it looked funny before, but it took me a while before I figured out what was wrong.
Painted on the idealized version of myself…it’s actually starting to look more realistic. Guess I shouldn’t be too hard on myself…this is the first small painting I’ve done. With a little bit of practice ….my people should start to look humanoid.
And this is Karin Jurick’s 16×16″ painting titled New York Office. I think it’s absolutely fabulous and it only took her four days to do this painting…..I’ve got a lot of learning yet to do. I’m dying of painter’s envy here…..
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Posted in Inspiration, Painting