Expressive Figure Painting - 1st "Long" Painting

I am taking a class at Gage with Barbara Fugate - (again) - Expressive Figure Painting. It's nice to have a class because it's more in depth than the workshop. I feel that I have learned a lot about color, and that there is still much more to learn! Thankfully we have another 5 sessions left in the class. Enough time for one more large painting and some quick studies. Yay!

This painting took four (three hour) sessions - though we spent some of the time in lecture and demos. 30x36 inches, oil paints on stretched cotton canvas.

The goals of this painting were: Use a unified color harmony - I chose a Secondary Triadic color scheme - orange, violet, green - with Oranges as my dominant color. I also chose to neutralize my colors as my primary "mixer", though I also tinted (added white) and shaded (added black). And finally, compositionally - I used multiple diagonals to lead the eye, cropped the figure on at least 2 edges of the canvas - and also used elements of the negative space surrounding the figure to engage the viewer and support the figure/subject.

Sweet Tooth

12x16 Oils on canvas. Again, a mask painting. I just love my masks. I can paint them over and over again. This time I put a Javanese Batik in the background. In retrospect, it was more of a challenge than I expected. But the overall result is alright. I still have to work over the mask and the fortune cookies.
This piece now has me thinking that I would like to do eleven more - same format - and publish a calendar. Now all I have to do is paint, paint, paint.

Whitney - Gamblin Torrit Grey Competition

This is my entry for the Gamblin Torrit Grey Competition. Gamblin creates the Torrit Grey Pigment from waste pigments throughout the year. The rules are you are only allowed to use White, Black and Torrit Grey. The Torrit Grey pigment shifts every year, and it is not sold in stores, but given complimentary when you purchase Gamblin paints or mediums. I got my tube at the art store at the Lyme Academy in Connecticut.

This painting is a portrait of Whitney - I just loved her unique hairstyle - 12x16 oil on panel.

Gamblin Torrit Grey Competition

This is my entry for the Gamblin Torrit Grey Competition. Gamblin creates the Torrit Grey Pigment from waste pigments throughout the year. The rules are you are only allowed to use White, Black and Torrit Grey. The Torrit Grey pigment shifts every year, and it is not sold in stores, but given complimentary when you purchase Gamblin paints or mediums. I got my tube at the art store at the Lyme Academy in Connecticut.

This painting is a portrait of Whitney - I just loved her unique hairstyle - 12x16 oil on panel.

Five Words - Five Visual Interpretations - Art House Coop Canvas Project

Top to Bottom: Order, Density, Snowman, TopStar, Reverence.
My five interpretations to the words - Acrylic on 3"x3" canvas. Art House Co-Op Canvas Project - they sure do have fun projects. It was more of a challenge than I anticipated, the canvases are really small compared to what I was working on this past weekend, when the smallest size was 16"x20"!

Painting Workshop at Gage Academy

This is the final painting of a weekend painting workshop, taught by artist Barbara Fugate, I took at Gage Academy. The piece is 24"x36", oils on stretched canvas. It took approximately 7 hours. This painting is done in a Orange/Blue color scheme, shallow spatial depth, with strong diagonals and underlying ellipses that help unify the composition. It was a lot of space to cover. It would have been nice to have another day or two to work on it - but I am happy with what I did. Great class.

Tres Amigos -1st Pass

This painting is approximately 6"x 8" on MDF panel. The subject are three animal vases I found in Bali, Indonesia. I really wanted to do a grouping of them together! It was a challenging subject because the greens are very close in color, and not an easy color to re-create! It feels a little unfinished up close, so a second (or even third) pass is still an option.

Portrait Commissions - Gone to the Dogs!

Here are two paintings I made for my friend Curtis. Both paintings are on 8x10 wood panel, in oil paints. One more to come! The subject is his adorable little girl - Brandi - a minpin.