Recent Works 2012

Two of my paintings were selected for Recent Works, a competition for Lake County artists.  "Reflection" received the Award of Excellence.

Recent Works Juried Exhibit at CLC gallery Sept. 28 - Lake County News-Sun 

Reflection, 2012, oil on panel, 20" x 25"

Time for a change

I'm experimenting with a new look for my blog.  Thinking of going to a more dynamic view someday.  In the meantime, this is nice and simple.  Here is the most recent progress on my still life painting...

Sydney

My neighbor Sydney is a 7th grader and her art is featured in an exhibition at Lakes Community High School.  Congratulations Sydney!

Sydney and her Pop Art cupcake!

A new painting in progress

I started a painting on panel in January.  Here are various stages of the underdrawing, and below, the imprimatura with the addition of some whites.  The imprimatura is the initial color put over the underdrawing (in this case, red ochre with transparent red oxide).  It serves to unify the painting and will express itself even in the final painting.  The whites are applied by mixing dry white pigment in an emulsion.  After the whites are fully painted, I will work on the darks.  After this underpainting stage is complete, I will begin the process of adding color.

February 10

February 12

February 19

March 1

The whites are built up using dry pigment - a mix of zinc and titanium white - in an emulsion medium. Once the whites are built up, the darks are worked in.

Working in the darks: This is a transition from the drawing to the painting stage.  I continue to use emulsion as the medium with dry pigment.  This keeps the underpainting very "lean" and is in keeping with the "fat over lean" addage.  The underpainting is considered lean because there is very little oil in the emulsion and none at all in the dry pigments. 

March 22

March 27

March 28

April 5

April 6

detail from April 13

April 15

April 20

April 22

April 29

June 2

September

ArtSpace/Lima, Lima, Ohio

Still Life Now: Nine Contemporary Artists in ArtSpace/Lima, Lima, OH opened on November 4, 2011 and continues through December 17. I was invited to show 3 paintings and 4 graphite drawings.
Still Life Now: Nine Contemporary Artists at Art/Space Lima 
To listen to the interview: video interview

Recent Works, 31st Annual Juried Art Competition for Lake County Artists.  October/November 2011

I am overtired of the great harvest I myself desired, 2011, oil on linen 

Transformed: Granacci's "Portrait of a Man in Armour"

I promised Hunter that we would paint him as Granacci's Portrait of a Man in Armour (National Gallery, London).  I've finished the under-painting and it is ready for Hunter to start glazing.  Happy 11th birthday, Hunter!

 

The Gathering

I just completed this painting for Sarah (my niece) and Paul's wedding.  

Sarah and Paul Bennett, married June 25, 2011 

The Gathering, 2011, oil on panel, 22" x 22"

 

The birds symbolize the friends that come into our lives to teach and encourage.  There are two Chinese characters in the painting.  Along the right side near the top is the word for double happiness, which is traditional for weddings.  Below it is the character for love.  The painting is a blend of a few different classifications: part Chinese scroll, part folk painting, and part symbolic realism. 

Details:

Hunter's Still Life

Today's art lesson in Hunter's words:
This still life has lots of details that I put in and got help from Aunt Jane.  We used blue and orange, red and green.  That makes a tetrad.  We worked on this for over an hour.  We put in a limoncello bottle, a candle and candle holder and an old feed sack stencil that belonged to G. L. Locke.  He is Aunt Jane's great grandpa.

This is me in front of my still life.

 

A young emerging artist

Hunter is ten years old and has been painting since last summer.  He comes to my house and we explore the basement, talk about BB guns, rummage through the drawers in my studio, and then we paint for awhile.  

He likes Jackson Pollack, so he did his own version of a "Jack the Dripper" painting.  One afternoon we went through a Richard Diebenkorn book.  Another day he brought a huge coffee table tome on Van Gogh, and he wanted to show me Starry Night on the Rhone.  He thought he'd like to paint that.  And we did.  It's hanging in his bedroom now.  He and I had made a cradled panel a few months ago.  He gessoed it himself.  It sat for awhile waiting for an idea.  I've rekindled an interest in birds recently and am trying to get him hooked as well, so I did an under drawing of a Rainbow Bird and sealed it.  He put a red ochre imprimatura on it and during the week I developed the under painting in whites and umbers.  During the last ten days this ten-year-old has done a remarkable job patiently laying in color.  I tighten up the detail between sessions, but the color glazing is Hunter's work.    

Hunter, Rainbow Bird, 2011, oil on panel, 6" x 6"

Next we want to do a master study of a painting attributed to Granacci, Portrait of a Man in Armour, c. 1505 (National Gallery, London).  Our version will feature Hunter as the man in armour.

A new still life

I began a new still life series in February.  This is the first to reach the finish line.

This is the underpainting

Technique mixte on linen panel, 7" x 7"

 And this one, which has been on the easel far too long, is finally complete!

Technique mixte on panel, 10" x 10"