Mar 08

Reese 1.2

Trying to copy someone else’s painting can be difficult….unless you’re standing right in front of the original. Lighting, different cameras, and using Photoshop can all result in changing the colors and hues in a photograph of a painting.

This is my photo of Yasuo Kuniyoshi’s painting titled Daily News. I remember it as having distinctly warm tones. But this is a photo I found online…

That’s quite a difference in color…isn’t it? I think the shift to blue is a result of using Auto Levels or Auto Color in Photoshop…because that’s what happened when I tried it. Now I have to go back to the museum to double check.

Finished blocking in the shapes and colors.

Painting Daily News is going to be difficult for me….it’s done in a completely different style than my normal one. Plus the woman’s skin tones seem to have greenish shadows in them. I did notice that my perception of the correct skin tone changed when I started painting in the blueish green background. And that’s what painting is all about….what one color looks like next to another.

Worked on Reese’s skin tones…it will be hard to get them exactly right until I get the floor and wall colors established a little better. Notice how the folds in her dress are more pronounced….glazed Prussian Blue+Permanent Blue Violet into the areas that I wanted to be in shadow. When I repaint the dress I’ll mix 3-4 different values of the Blue, Purple, and Green colors so that I can make the folds come forward and fold back into shadow correctly.

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Mar 07

Reese 1.1

Yeah, got to spend all of yesterday painting. Worked on blocking in the figures.

Because Reese is such a young child…I mixed up very delicate skin tones using Naples Yellow and Alizarin Crimson….added Permanent Blue Violet and Raw Umber into the shadow areas.

Don’t have the expression on her face anywhere near correct….but….it’s only the first day of painting. Paid special attention to the shapes of the circles in her dress so that I get the folds and wrinkles just right. It’s really fun to paint when you have the perfect reference photo.

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Mar 06

Reese 1.0

I met Reese about a year ago….she’s the daughter of a friend of a friend. She was in an ornery mood….and so was I….so I chased her around trying to photograph her. I think it was a game….I tried to photograph her and she tried to keep me from doing it. No Mommy! Don’t let that lady take pictures of me! Hmmmm….I don’t think I was really torturing her…….

But really now….look at that face…look at that hair….look at that dress……it all begged to be photographed. And now a year later….I’m going to use that photo in one of my Cincinnati Art Museum series of paintings.

This is a painting titled Daily News. It was painted by Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1893-1953) who was born in Okayama, Japan. He immigrated to the United States and became a painter, photographer, and print-maker. I’ve always wondered who this lady was looking at….and I finally decided that it must be Reese…….

It may be a long title….but when this painting is finished I think I’ll call it Why is that Little Girl Ignoring me? or maybe Why Isn’t That Little Girl Looking at Me? I’ll be starting on the painting tomorrow and will be working on it in the front window of the Sharonville Fine Arts Center this Saturday March 10th. If you can’t stop by for a chat…..at last wave as you drive by…..

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Mar 05

Love Those Red Dots

As any artist knows….red dots are a good thing….they mean that a painting has sold…..

My solo show at the Sharonville Fine Arts Center was Saturday night…and the painting titled Daughters of Revolution sold. Seems I now have another collector……I painted Elana Rosen’s portrait two years ago……

Elana is also a painter…so I did a double portrait of her. And now she has two of my paintings hanging in her home……hmmmmm, that makes her a serious collector.

Hung the paintings on the wall double and triple stacked….I thought they really filled up the space well. That’s my step-daughter Amy setting up the goodies before the show started.

This is a really nice gallery space. Nice large walls and lots of light.

I got so excited talking to people…that I forgot to take any more photos. That’s my mother on the left wearing a hand dyed and hand woven jacket that I made for her years ago. She showed up with a few friends from her retirement home. She’s always happy to brag abut me…….

And tomorrow I go back into my studio to start painting again.

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Posted in Art Shows, Painting, The Business of Art

Mar 01

Hanging The Show

It took 3 trips with the van, 5 hours of hammering + cussing, and innumerable trips up and down the 10 foot ladder……but my art show is finally hung at the Sharonville Fine Arts Center.

And yes, Tom is now taking a well deserved nap. Who knew that art could be so exhausting??? You know that you’re tired when you’re standing there asking where’s the tape measure only to realize that you’re already holding it in your hand . Have to admit that it’s kinda cool to see a room filled entirely with your own art….makes me want to grab a paint brush and start making subtle (and not so subtle) changes. Hmmmm….let me see if I can make that better…..

Opening Reception is Saturday March 3rd from 3-5pm. Held at the Sharonville Fine Arts Center, 11165 Reading Road, Sharonville, Ohio.

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Feb 29

Wish I’d Painted That

Was checking out the new paintings on the website of Robert Lange Studios when I saw this Tromp e-l’oeil painting and had to download the free wallpaper…

I love Tromp e-l-oeil paintings…even if I don’t know how to pronounce it properly…or even spell it correctly without using Spellcheck…..It’s a French word for deceive the eye. It’s an art technique using extremely realistic images to create the optical illusion that a 2-dimensional painting is really 3-dimensional. And that’s without even using special 3-d movie glasses!

Tromp e-l-oeil paintings have been around for a long time…this one called Escaping Criticism was painted by Pere Borrell de Caso in 1874.  He was a Spanish painter 1835-1910. I’ve been told that my paintings are close to Tromp e-l’oeil…so maybe someday I’ll try painting one….I always have paint brushes, forks, and knives laying around…..

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Posted in Inspiration, Painting

Feb 28

Mirror Image

I’ve been working on my painting titled Modern Art.

Notice that I dry brushed White on top of the Red painting in the background….hopefully, when I thinly glaze Red over it….it will glow. Thought the painting was going well….until….

Accidentally caught a glimpse of it in the mirror….and thought….Whoa! Something doesn’t look right….

The face on the left looks pretty good to me, but when I reversed it….you can definitely tell that there is something wrong with the eye on the far side of the face. One of your eyes is always stronger than the other…if you’re right handed, then I think it’s usually the right eye. Because one of your eyes is stronger…it screws around with the way you see things. That’s why the face on the left doesn’t look too bad….but you can definitely tell something is wrong when I reversed the photo.

Look at a painting in the mirror to see if there’s something wrong with the drawing. Turn it upside down to see if there’s something wrong with the composition.well….I guess it’s back to my studio to make some changes…..

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Posted in Painting, Tools of the Trade

Feb 27

Internet Versus Real Life

Okay, I admit it…I’m an internet junkie. I could probably spend my entire life just searching the web and feel like I’d actually lived my life. But something has happened….admittedly a very small something….which has changed my mind.  Remember the RED exhibit that I entered a painting in? Well, they posted all of the entries online…and they just doesn’t look the same….you can see them here.

The picture on the left is the jpeg that I sent them to post – it was a scan of the painting. The picture on the right is the one that they posted online…..the coat doesn’t even look red….

This was my favorite painting in the entire show…it’s called La Rouse (The Red Head) by Donna Talerico. It’s a very bold and colorful painting…not so much online. Really, I was surprised when I saw the photo of this one.

People are always telling me that the pictures on my website don’t do my paintings justice…and I really try hard to make sure the scans match the paintings. Well, the photos online of the Red Exhibit don’t do the entries justice either…..so, what I’m saying is go to art galleries and museums and see the paintings for yourself...it will be a more fulfilling experience.

I’d probably weep with joy if I ever saw a Casey Baugh painting in person….because they’re beautiful even on the web.

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Posted in Art Shows, Tools of the Trade

Feb 23

Leather

Haven’t been too thrilled with the way I painted the  leather jacket in Daughters of Revolution.…this is the BEFORE photo:

Originally I had painted it black, dry brushed over it with white and Cerulean Blue, let it dry, then glazed over it again with Black and Permanent Blue Violet. I’d done all the right things….but it just didn’t look right. Especially the folds – they just didn’t look natural.

Who says I don’t paint from life? I got out my old black leather jacket, put it on a dressmaker’s form, and stood it right next to my easel. That gave me a better idea of what black leather actually looks like.

This time I dry brushed Black onto the jacket and then dry brushed White right into it. Also changed the way the leather folded….painting folds in clothing is very difficult if you aren’t actually painting from life – I always tend to over exaggerate them if I’m just making them up. Notice that the gloves are now Red….they just got lost in the leather jacket when they were both painted Black. Also added Red hair thingies (what are those elastic things called?) and painted some Red on the guitar. I like the way it co-ordinates her outfit and adds a bright spot of color down the length of the painting.

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Posted in Painting, Tools of the Trade

Feb 21

Oops, I Really Screwed Up……

Yesterday I sent out 500 e/mails announcing the Opening Reception of my solo show at the Sharonville Art Center on March 3rd from 3-5pm. It was my very first time doing a mass e/mail campaign and my very first time using MailChimp.com to design and send an e/mail campaign. Mailchimp allows you to send up to 2000 e/mails for free each month…so it’s perfect for small businesses and non-profits (I qualify for both!! hehe) .

Unfortunately…the e/mail that I sent out to 500 people had the wrong date for the Opening Reception. Yep, I screwed up big time…..it seems like no matter how often I proof-read something…there are still typos on it. And to make matters worse…there were so many bounced e/mails that Mailchimp temporarily suspended my account so I couldn’t send out a corrected invitation. Eventually things got straightened out….

Here’s a tip for anyone who’s thinking of starting to send out newsletters, announcements, etc:

Even though people manually sign up to be on your e/mail list…for example: people sign up in my booth at art shows……you still have to double check by sending them an e/mail. That gives them a chance to opt out…and it gives you a chance to make sure the e/mail address is correct. People change their internet servers and e/mail addresses all the time. Once they have verified that they want to be on your mailing list…then you can put their e/mail address into a list on a company like Mailchimp. You should never have a bounced rate of more than 5%….mine was almost 20%. Heck, I could barely read most of the people’s handwriting..so it’s no wonder I typed them in wrong.

This is the corrected invite to my art opening……and once again the date is March 3rd.

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Posted in Tools of the Trade

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