Acceptance

Acceptance, M and Her Mom, Oil on Canvas, 24"x 30" Commission

Detail

I rarely do portraits of people. It's too fraught with untold psychological issues. I find working with animals to be much easier. Perhaps it's just a mental hurdle, after all, "people are basically orange" (from my teacher, Jon de Martin of the NYAA) 

However, this double portrait is special to me. It was commissioned by the sitter in violet, I will call her M. M is a trans-woman. She recently made the change. She lives here in Idaho - a brave soul to make such a life/body altering decision. She wanted a painting to show her new self, and we talked over some different ideas - until she showed me the reference photograph that eventually was the source of this painting. 

This was the day she "came out" to her mother. And what I saw was unquestioning love, and it was powerfully beautiful. Her mother passed away not long after. I made a couple changes to the reference image - they were not holding hands, and both the mom's hands were hidden. I had friends help me create a close approximation. It's not perfect, but M was happy, so I shall be too. It was hard to let go of this one.

Moscow ArtWalk 2012 - Drawing Demos

The ArtWalk was amazing! We lucked out, it was a gorgeous, warm sunny day. The sun did not set til after 9pm. The live music was lively and loud.  I did not get a chance to walk around, or take any pictures. I was photographed a couple times, so I might see pictures of me in action soon... I drew 9 portraits. 20 minute increments. 3 year olds, 4 year olds, teen girls, adults and one dog. It was a great experience, and quite a whirlwind. I can only hope I did my subjects justice - and I really learned a lot in the process. I hope to do this again during the regular Saturday Farmers Markets, until October.

All drawings were 9x12 on Strathmore Felt Grey Charcoal paper.

Direct Painting, Sessions 6, 7 & 8

Each painting took approximately 2.5 hours. I'll probably re-visit a couple in the future. What a great class. I recommend anyone who wants to improve their painting (or drawing) to take Barbara Fugate's classes, either at Gage Academy (www.gageacademy.org) in Seattle or in West Seattle. (www.fromlife.blogs.com)

Emotive Color - 24"x24" Oil on canvas

Bright Color - 24"x24" Oil on Canvas

Neutral Color - 24"x 30", Oil on Canvas

Direct Painting - Sessions 4 & 5

Session 4 - Oil on Stretched Canvas - 22"x22"
2 hours

Our goal in Session 4 was the concept of deep space - foreground, middle ground, background. Manipulating paint - thinly in the background, thicker in the foreground. We were encouraged to use a toned canvas in a bright color - I chose an intense, hot pink, allowing it to show through in spots.

Session 4 - Detail

Session 5 - Oil on Stretched Canvas -21"x30"
2 hours

Our Challenge in Session 5 was shallow or flat space. Looking at various artists, we used a toned ground (this time, blue) and tried to maintain similar value throughout the painting. A way to think about it would be - If I took a black and white picture, there would be little to no contrast, mostly greys in a similar range. Another way to flatten space is the use of a consistent pattern.

Session 5 - Detail

Direct Painting #3 - The Gestural Line Painting

Session 3 - Oil on Canvas, 24"x18"
Approx 2 hours

This weeks' challenge was to build up our painting using gestural line/markmaking -"The Painted Gesture" - Gesture is about HOW things are, about movement, energy, life!" Could pick a monochromatic, analogous or complementary palette. I chose a Complementary Palette of Orange/Blue. Artists we looked at: Oskar Kokoshka, Susan Rothenberg, Toulouse Lautrec, Berthe Morisot, Zacher and Auerbach.

Painting Detail

My palette - 18"x 24"piece of 1/4" plexi with a piece of cardboard taped underneath. I also use a dry erase marker to mark the name of the hues. It helps me remember the color mixes.

Direct Painting Class with Barbara Fugate, Session 1 & 2

Session 2 - Oil on Canvas 28"x20"
Approx 2.5 hours

The Challenge in this painting was to work with line/contour line. We initially stained the canvas using paint, dipping our rags in mineral spirits. The focus was to get the big shapes of light & dark, positive and negative down first. We each chose a color scheme - I picked a Secondary Triadic of Green/Orange/Violet. The next step was to use line, of varying weight, color (intensity, value) to emphasize and activate the forms. Barbara showed us artwork by Matisse, Max Beckmann, Gauguin, Oskar Kokoshka, Alice Neel and others.

Session 2, Detail 1

Session 2, Detail 2

Session 1 - Oil on Canvas, 24"x24"
Approx 2h

In our first Direct Painting class we were challenged to simplify the forms we saw into simple, big shapes of light and shadow. We each picked a complementary color scheme - mine was Red/Green. We also had to try to find a Figure-Ground relationship - by adding greens into the figure I incorporated colors from the background into the main figure. We looked at the San Francisco Bay Area Painters (Joan Brown, Terry St. John, Paul Wonner), Leland Bell & Elmer Bishoff.

Session 1, Detail

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.