Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Boston Common Fountain & State House

"Summer on the Boston Common" (Oil on Canvas, 24"X18", $750)

This past summer I was so happy to see that the city had finally fixed the main fountain on the Boston Common that I had to make a painting. It had to show the sculptures and the height of the fountain. The sculptures are full of symbolism, telling about the businesses, the trades and the way of life that was prevalent at the time they were made. Lots of elements show farming and sailing/shipping tools, combined with classic Greek figures. I guess it was a way to marry the past with the modern 'present' which has since slipped into the past; no one in Boston's concentrating and farming and sailing anymore.
I like the pattern of the falling water and the way the fountain seems to lean over a little, which adds to the feeling of soaring vertigo as it reaches its apex. I'm sure the workmen were a little surprised to see how the fountain actually functioned when they finally got the plumbing sorted out after being broken for so many decades.
I took the opportunity to combine a giant tree in the background with the giant fountain. I tried to lose bits of the fountain's outline in the tree's shadows and marry the two elements. At the back of the painting, however, I removed a giant tree from the scene that was covering up the State House; I wanted to show the architecture that led up to the golden dome. The State House adds some perspective and scale to the scene, showing that the Common goes all the way back and up to Beacon Hill, the seat of government in Massachusetts.
This scene could be from a hundred years ago, except for the clothes on the various people standing and sitting around, admiring the falling water and relaxing in the morning.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Copp's Hill Cemetery - North End

"Touring the Foot of Copp's Hill Cemetery - North End" (Oil on Canvas, 20"X24" $800)

I did this in the summer of 2010 because I felt that I wanted to express my interest in the passage of time and the fleeting lives we live. I also like the calm and peaceful feelings that come from seeing those who have gone before, lying in their spots for all these years. I always wonder how they lived and what basic circumstances really were like in their time. The dappled light of this scene didn't hurt either.
I did a charcoal line drawing right on the canvas from this spot and then took a photo to capture the colors and lighting effects so that I could put them in taking a little more time than I'd be able to by painting it on site. I like the way that you can follow the spots of light all the way to the back. The white marble monuments and lower gateposts also bring the viewer into the background, lending depth to the picture. The background is also where the tourists visiting the cemetery are crouching, or walking in the shadows.
The main focal point is of course the old tree, probably from the 1700's, along with lots of the graves. To me it symbolizes presence as well as the passage of time. I like the resemblance (from this angle, anyway) of a human hand reaching out of the ground and reaching into the air, palm upward.
I have another of these paintings - of the cemetery - that I'm doing now and will post soon.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Nude Female Oil Sketch

"Oil Sketch of Dayna at the AGC" (Oil on Canvas, 18"X24", $650)

Here's another figurative oil sketch, except that this time it's "only a sketch" because I was only able to put about three hours into the painting. (In the two previous posts I have other reasons for doing sketches instead of more finished works.) I could only put that amount of time into it because it was part of a painting group that I run at the artists' Group of Charlestown (AGC). I hire and pay the models, set up and 'tear down' the room, and generally run the group by timing the models and making sure things run smoothly.
There were two nights (over two weeks) used for the painting of this model, but I had a very hard time at first with getting a good beginning, so I had to keep wiping it out and starting over. Luckily, by the end of that first night I got a good start that I could work with the following week.
The nights are only two hours long, so this whole painting was actually done the second night. I'm very happy with it, but of course I'd like to take more time with a model to get all the little things that much better. I'm especially happy with the hands, the skin colors and the languid expression on her face. I also like the blowing curtain in the background and the suggestion of the white-painted brick walls of the AGC gallery where the group takes place. I have to say that the painting looks even better in person, where the colors are richer and the paint is livelier.
It's not necessarily a bad thing to have time limits on a painting. It forces you to get something on the canvas quickly and to teach yourself how to get good results without overworking a picture, which is easy to do, even with a time limit.
I'll be bringing the "Oil Sketch Thursdays" program back this Autumn, so I'll be posting more paintings of this nature in October and November.

Female Faces Oil Sketch

"Oil Sketch of Two Female Faces" (Oil on Canvas, 11"X22", $450")

I did this as a 'practice exercise' that came out pretty good, so I decided to post it. It's actually from two pages in a large- format glossy magazine, depicting hairstyles in full-page glossy-style. It's not like working with actual models, which I prefer when I can get to do it, but it works pretty well for certain aspects of learning to paint faces with all their complexity and gradual tonal changes.
It wasn't difficult to work this way, but it was a little difficult to take seriously. I suppose that's why I made them oil sketches; I couldn't see myself taking the time to put much finish on copying a pair of magazine photos. I also have the same two pictures, upside down, above these two, but this pair came out better so I cropped the photo and will paint other faces above these two to complete the canvas.
I used one of the devices that painters have used through the ages to add contrast and therefore depth to a painting. I also used it in the self-portrait in the previous post. I used a light background color on the 'shadow' side of the face and a dark background color on the 'lit' side of the face - at least with the blonde. With the brunette, I tried the opposite just to see what would happen if I 'broke the rules'. It turns out that it works pretty well to follow the rules, don't you think?
I had fun doing this exercise and I look forward to trying more faces and posting the results.

Self-Portrait Oil Sketch

"Self-Portrait Oil Sketch, July 2010" (Oil on Canvas, 16"X12", $350)

I did this oil sketch recently and hung it in a coffee house show that I'm doing so that the people there would have an idea of what the painter of all the pictures looks like.
I'm pretty happy with the likeness, as I wanted it to look like I was peering out at the viewer to see what he or she looked like, too. I was also a little pressed for time, as the show was approaching and I knew it would have to dry before I could transport it.
Doing self-portraits is tougher than it seems at first. Even though the model is always available and costs nothing to work with, it doesn't make it any easier to look at the same face so intently for a long period of time. There does come a tipping point, though, where you're no longer looking at yourself and trying to make yourself look good. You start seeing the abstract shapes that make up the planes of your own face and it gets kind of spooky. It's also difficult to keep your posture the same over a long time, so that you see yourself in the mirror from the same angle consistently. The final surprise comes when you realize that by looking at yourself in a mirror, you're actually reversing all the little asymmetries that make you look particularly like yourself. The only way to check it is to turn the painting around and look at the reflection of the picture in the mirror. Unfortunately, you can't look at your face and the painting side-by-side in the mirror because the same asymmetry-reversal principle takes over. Eventually you just say "enough!" and decide to be satisfied with the picture or not. I'm sure I'll try again someday.

Paul Revere in the North End

"Walking around Paul Revere in the Prado - North End" (Oil on Canvas, 24"X18", $750)

This is actually another re-paint, as mentioned in the previous post. It's new to this blog, as I didn't like it enough before to want to put it up. Unlike the previous painting, this isn't only a re-paint of the sky; the whole thing has been touched up to either adjust the colors or the rendering of an object. I like it very much more now, and have obviously decided that it deserves a place on my blog, to be seen by anyone who cares to visit me here.
I have another painting in a much older post that looks at the statue from the other side. This one has more of a domestic and casual feeling; that there's time on a sunny day for a mother and her children out for a walk to spend tracing the edges of this old bronze statue's granite base, basking a little in the reflected light that falls between the trees which create a canopy over the Prado.
I feel that the direction of the mother with her stroller, and the older daughter walking lazily in the opposite direction around the statue creates a circular motion in the painting that makes it more compelling to look at than a simple portrait of the statue itself. I also like the bright sunlight in the right foreground that reflects off the brown-and-peach colored polished granite base, and which reflects the little girl's legs as she walks by.
In a previous post I talked about how there was a horizontal triangle of people in a painting of the prado's fountain that
drew the viewer's eye into the depths of the painting. In this case, the mother and baby is one point of the triangle, the older girl is the second point, and Paul Revere himself is the third point of a vertical triangle, drawing the viewer's eye upward, creating vertical 'depth' for the picture.

Old North Church - North End

"The Corner of Salem and Sheafe - North End" (Oil on Canvas, 16"X20" $650)

This is actually a bit of a re-paint. I did it a few weeks and the only part that I went over was the sky. It originally had a flaming sunset sky that I was never happy with. I finally decided to change it and make the Old North Church the true focal point of the painting. If I get a photo of an appropriate sunset sky for this location, I'll take the time to re-paint in the 'flames'.
I like painting skies, whether they're full of sunny day clouds or sunset clouds, or if they're just plain cloudy. Sometimes I just rough them in with thin paint, intending to thicken and brighten the colors later, only to decide that I like the visible, broken brushstrokes in the air and clouds.
This painting now has more of an Autumn feel, instead of the summery feel of the original version. It feels more appropriate now that the summer is drawing to a close in the Northeast, and the skies don't have the same red-orange clouds that dominate during the summer sunsets. At this point, it's the shadows falling directly on the buildings across the street that tell the viewer that the sun is low in the sky. The window boxes full of waning and leggy purple petunias also tell of the end of the fleeting summer season.
Take a look in the older posts on this blog and see if you can find the original version and let me know which you prefer. That may give me the impetus to do the re-paint mentioned above, or not.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Vermont - Springtime

"The Spring Thaw - Waitsfield, Vermont" (18"X24", Oil on Canvas, $800)

Unlike the last two paintings on this blog, this was from a trip to Vermont that took place in the early Spring, rather than the Fall. This shows Tina, looking into the rushing water as the sun filters through the unseen trees in the upper left, and bathes her in its light. I really like the way this one turned out. It's actually my favorite of the 'Vermont Series' that I've blogged about lately. I think the light came out looking really shiny, and the water has good motion in it. The whole picture is thickly painted, except in the shadows, just like it should be. That's a principle of oil painting that I sometimes forget.
The composition revolves around a diagonal cross formed by the water flow. It runs into the picture from the upper and lower left, as well as the lower right. It runs downstream and out of the painting, towards the upper right. The visual focus is just to the right of the center of the picture, with its bright white foamy water contrasting sharply with Tina's dark jacket.
There's a mood of solitude in the painting that works well for me. I can imagine the viewers of the picture relating to the 'viewer' in the scene, staring into the swirling water; feeling the warmth of the sun while still needing to wear a thin Spring jacket; thinking of nothing. It seems to be almost hypnotic, or at least meditative. Swirling water and sunshine does that to me.
There's little bits of green coming in around the stream. I'm sure that as the summer wears on, the bits of green turn into tall, thick tussocks of grass and weeds. We've never actually made a trip to Vermont in the summer. The summer is for our trips to Maine and Lake Sebago.
I don't know what the set of wooden stairs is for. You can see that they really lead nowhere except down to the water that runs really thin in the winter, and then rushes and swirls like it does here, during the Spring thaw.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Vermont - Farms and Horses

"Autumn Grass - Waitsfield, Vermont" (18"X24", Oil on Canvas, $750)

This is another in the series of paintings done after a trip to Vermont (in the Fall, in this case) and my desire to get back into painting by way of such memorable moments.
This is actually the same horse and field as in the previous post, except that it was taken from a much different and closer angle. Needless to say, the horse didn't have much of an interest in me or the fact that I was interested in him (or her, as the case may be), taking the time to slowly make its way across the field of quickly yellowing and drying grass.
I feel this is a successful painting, in that the focus of interest is squarely on the horse. The background, for all its detail, is thinly painted and somewhat washed out so that the horse, with its thicker and richer color, stands out - almost to the point of looking 3-D. This type of atmospheric effect is fun to do and a bit startling to achieve. I also like the way the slope of the hill in the background peaks right behind the horse, making the eye travel in from the left and right, stopping at the dark mass of the animal.
The grass in the foreground is underlaid with blocks of slightly darker color and then filled in with many strokes to make up the closely cropped surface. The detail in the grass is less and less as the foreground becomes the background, which helps with the illusion of depth.
The main point here is that the quiet and calm of the scene is driven home by the serenity of the horse and the limited color palette which harmonizes the painting. Let me know what you think of this, or any of the other paintings that I've done and written about on this blog.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Vermont - Farms and Horses

"Posted but Not Private - Waitsfield, Vermont" (18"X24", Oil on Canvas, $750)

This was done as part of a series of paintings that were inspired by trips to Vermont in the Spring and Fall that I've taken with Tina. I was kicked back into painting mode following a layoff to do some blog work (as mentioned in an earlier post) by doing a picture that wasn't of any landscape in particular, but was a mish-mash of feelings rising from those trips.
After that, I thought I should continue in that vein, by doing paintings that were based on photos I'd taken on site.
Driving around and looking at the farms and fields that fill the countryside there, we came upon this horse farm alongside the roadway. We stopped so that I could get out and take some shots. As seen in this picture, this was at about sundown so the shadows were long. It's also one of the Fall visits, as seen in the bits of orange foliage and the bare trees in the background. The large blocks of dark contrast sharply with the sunset light, and the overlapping diagonals draw the viewer into the painting, all the way back to the fading line of mountains in the distance.
I like the feeling of quiet and the chilly light that fills the upper half of the scene. The one horse, standing in the fading sun while eating the dried grass of Autumn probably doesn't have much to do at this time of year. In the spring he'll be back at work, either pulling farm equipment around the fields or providing carriage rides to the tourists. Right now, though, he's taking it easy in his "Private" space, waiting for the Vermont winter to come and go.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Vermont - Farmers and Farms

"Rakin' and Rootin' - Waitsfield, Vermont" (12"X16", Oil on Canvas, $450)

I did this painting after a springtime visit to our friends at their B&B in Waitsfield, Vermont. As might be expected, there's a fair amount of rural activity in the area, since Waitsfield isn't on most people's radar, except as the town that serves the ski industry in winter.
I took the reference for this photo just as these two guys were finishing with one chore and heading towards the barn to get the tools for the next one. I saw the tools in their hands but still felt the need to ask them "What have you guys been doing?" as I raised the camera to my eye. It turns out that my question sounded just as inane to them as it now sounds to me. The response I got from the farmer and his son became the title of the painting: "Rakin'" said the father, followed quickly by the son's comment: "Rootin'".
The weather was beautiful that day, with puffy springtime clouds and bright blue sky. Not too hot, so that prepping the field wasn't too sweaty a task. The warm red of the farm buildings contrasted nicely with the blue sky and the cool blue-white of the metal silo. I like the lost edge of the silo against the cloud, merging the two. I also like the curving dirt road that bends into the far building, bringing the viewer's eye back into the painting.
I suppose the farm is a historic building, as seen by the "1903" sign over the near building. I didn't bother to ask about that, for fear of getting the obvious response: "Ayuh".

Friday, May 7, 2010

Maine/Vermont Landscape

"Fishing in an Imaginary Landscape" (16"X20", Oil on Canvas, $550)

I did this a few weeks ago, after a layoff from painting to get this blog (and my flickr site) up and going. I felt like I needed something to inspire me to get back into painting, and so I tried thinking about my favorite places and what it would be like to be there. I also felt that I wanted to try a bit of a landscape, since I had seen some nice ones in an art magazine. I suppose I was a little anxious to get back into painting, since I had neglected it for a while. Now I've been painting and drawing so much that I've neglected the blog and flickr site! It's always something.
I started blocking in the shapes and shadow areas, to get started, and came out with the beginnings of this piece. It's an imaginary landscape that combines my feelings about Maine, where I've spent many wonderful vacations over the years with Tina, and Vermont, since I've also had some great and natural times there. It's not really about the fishing, since I don't really fish. It's more about the relaxing feeling that comes from having the time to fish; to spend the whole day essentially sitting and daydreaming while patiently waiting for something to happen, under a tree by a lake.
Since doing this one, I've done a series of paintings that focus on my times in Vermont, to go along with the series that I've already posted about my times in Maine. I have about five (including this one) that I'll post here as soon as I can, over the next few days.
Most of the Vermont images are connected to Autumn, since Vermont makes me think of Fall, while Maine makes me think of Summer. These are just personal associations. Please feel free to comment on your own associations with either of these vacation paradises.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

North End, Boston - Prince St. Evening

"Autumn Reflections - Prince Street, North End" (18"X14", Oil on Canvas, $550)

This painting is the re-paint that I mentioned in a much earlier post. It was originally 20"X16", and there weren't any reflections of the sunny side of the street in these shady-side windows. I really like the addition of the reflections, as they make the picture really pop.
The reason I was inspired to do it was that I was out for a walk one evening and noticed the bright, warm colors that were showing up in the small glass panes of 58 Prince Street, and suddenly had a brainwave of how to jazz up this smaller version of one of my favorite paintings. I took some reference photos with my ever-present camera and ran home to print them out.
I always love adding light to a painting, and that's one of the great things about oil paints and the principles of oil painting in the first place: you put the light in last, over the shadows (which you block in first) and the mid-tones. It's never too late to add light. It adds dimension and visual interest, as well as usually punching up the focal points of your picture.
Take a look at the older post of the original, larger painting and see if you don't agree that the addition of the reflections, as well as the sunset light on the tiny triangle of bricks, along with the copper, at the top of the scene makes this a whole new and interesting view of the lovely old tenements in the North End.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Oil Portrait of a Girl with a Towel

"The Scent of the Summer Breeze" (36"X24", Oil on Canvas, SOLD)

I did this as a commission for someone who lives nearby the North End, in one of the high-rise apartment towers along the water. He had very specific ideas of what he wanted to see in his painting, so my hands were tied to a certain extent. I don't have any problem with doing what someone else wants in a painting, and especially if there's some figure painting involved. The human form is infinitely interesting to me, so I was happy to do a nude that didn't include any "front stuff", as he called it. I was also happy to include a towel, since I really enjoy painting folds in fabric.
He wanted something "sensual", so I decided to see how many of the senses I could include. I got the scent of the rose, the texture of the towel and the feeling of the breeze by the window, the sound of the rustling curtains, and of course the sight of the pretty girl lost in thought. I couldn't get any flavors into the painting without putting a cup of coffee or some food in there, but I felt that would be too much. I guess the judgement call I made could be construed as a matter of "taste", but that's as far as I'll go.

Seated Nude Woman

"Oil Sketch of Seated Nude, Looking Left" (16"X20", Oil on Canvas, $250)

This was done in the same class that produced most of the other figure paintings on this blog. I like the loose approach to the brushwork and the way the gesture of her pose comes through in the painting. She was a good model, but like so many others, she posed for two sessions and was never seen again. I think most artist's models are students who move on to something more steady and lucrative after a year or two.
You can see that in this painting the lit shoulder is further from the viewer, which makes the process a little more difficult and isn't the standard way of doing things to produce depth in a painting. Luckily, this one-session sketch was left as it is, and I moved along to a second version that zooms back to include more of the figure and chair for the second session. The other one is pretty good, but this one os better.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Standing Nude Woman

"Nude Summer, Standing with Red Portfolios" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $550)

This model was named Summer, as the title of the painting suggests. It was a one session pose, so I was quite pleased to get the results that I did. She was very good as a model, having pretty red hair and a nice figure and posture. She stood against the bin where the drawing students kept their red portfolios, so I added them in as a complement to her red hair and pink skin. Once again I was lucky to have a spot where the lit side was closer to me, and therefore the viewer, to add to the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface.
I like the little abstract shape of light that appears at her elbow and completes the curve of her back. If it weren't there, she'd probably look rather boxy instead of rather serpentine. I also like the loosely expressed hair and her face, which shows her eyes at half mast. She looks a little tired, and I suppose she was, after a long day at work and having to come to a studio to model for the extra cash. If you ever find yourself in a painting situation with a tired model, remember to suggest a standing pose, because otherwise the model will begin to nod off if they're seated or reclining and the time will not have been worthwhile for anybody.

Seated Nude Woman

"Miranda, Sitting on the Model Stand with a Black Shawl" (18"X14", Oil on Canvas, $300)

This was done in Dave Penna's class, which I've mentioned in these pages before as being my favorite place to paint nudes. This set up was a little different from some of the others that we had, in that Dave placed Miranda (the name of this one-time model) in the middle of the room and we all placed our easels around her, rather than having the model against the wall and all the artists in a semi-circle. Maybe Miranda felt a little self-conscious with the arrangement, because she felt compelled to have her black shawl/scarf over her lap. Like I say, she was a one-time model.
It's always a good idea to accommodate the model, if they have a good attitude about posing, since they're the ones taking their clothes off. She was certainly nice enough about it, but a little shy. I think I was able to show a little of her demureness in this painting.
One thing I'd like people to notice is the transition into shadow on her torso. See how the details of the contours of her stomach are lost as they fall away from the viewer? That's intentional, to force the effect of distance and perspective. It's also intentional that I chose a spot where I could have the lit side of the model closer to me so as to force the same principle, as mentioned in an earlier post.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Standing Nude Man

"Posing Like David in Life Painting Class" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $400)

Michelangelo's sculpture of David was the model's inspiration for this pose that he took in Life Painting Class. He held his robe over his shoulder rather than a sling, but his pose is quite recognizable and memorable. This was a two-week pose and I also took it home to work on it further.
I feel I did pretty well with this one, but I'd like to do it again, as with most of my figure painting. Not even so much because I want to do it better, but just because I fond it so inspiring that I want to try. I truly enjoy rendering the human figure and I'd always prefer to start another painting, since I know that it's easy to make a painting look overworked. I'd much rather just start another after working on it for a maximum of two sessions if I'm not completely satisfied.
This model has stayed on the Boston modeling scene since this was painted and he still makes regular appearances at the Museum of Fine Arts for the open drawing group that they have in the galleries. He keeps his pants on at those, that's for darn sure.

Seated Blonde Woman

"Seated Blonde Woman in Life Painting Class" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $300)

This is from the Life Painting Class that I mentioned in previous posts and that I got so much out of. This was a one session pose and I was able to get all the information I wanted to end up with an expressive work. The wall and hanging backdrop shows itself in the upper right corner, as I'm at the same position in the class as I was when I was painting the "Bella Italiana" picture that I put up last time.
I like the bright light coming in from the right, lighting up the near side of the model and making it easier to express the depth. In fact, I think the spotlight was just off to my right, putting her face in shadow and lighting up her shoulder.
At the second session, I did another start, but this one came out better, so I painted over other. Since I know I can only get a certain amount done at these classes I choose to make as many starts as I can because that's where the groundwork is laid. "Well begun is half done", I say.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Reclining Nude Woman

"Reclining Nude - Bella Italiana" (16"X20", Oil on Canvas, $650)

I like this one quite a lot. It's another one-night painting, but the results speak for themselves. I liked the lighting, and the model was quite nice. I also liked that the red backdrop, which when combined with the corner of the wall and the back of the room beyond the corner (here expressed as a dark green void), looked like an Italian flag hanging behind the model. I liked it enough to base the title of the painting on it.
This was painted quickly, wet-in-wet, and I've always liked the way that technique looks. With oil paint, you can use thicker paint, laid down properly, to cover and correct improper aspects of your painting. also, you can use the wet edges of two adjoining colors to combine them in ways that can't happen with wet-over-dry applications.
The instructor of this class was not one of my favorites. He came after my favorite one had already left for Chicago. The instructor at this point apparently liked eating fish for lunch, and then smoking cigarettes to cover the fish-smell, and then chewing gum to cover the cigarettes and fish. None of it worked, except for the fish and cigarettes, which I could always smell.

Seated Woman in Lingerie

"Seated Woman in Life Painting Class" (18"X14", Oil on Canvas, $300)

This painting is the result of more model problems that culminated in the instructor having to call a friend of his to come in and pose. She wasn't a real model (though she was quite pretty), so she wasn't comfortable with posing nude, hence the green lingerie and the blue workshirt, which was the instructor's. She did a good job (I think she had filled in for unreliable models in the past) and I fell like I was able to do a good job with this one-night pose.
I like the way David Penna (my favorite instructor) had her drop the strap of her bra down her shoulder in a tribute to John Singer Sargent's "Madame X" portrait. It's a subtle thing, but it adds to the sensuousness of the pose, rather than making it look like an underwear ad. The lighting, from the lower middle left, also adds to the drama. Dave liked directional lighting, which certainly helps in establishing light-and-shadow-shapes, instead of having bright overhead lighting that actually flattens out the subject and makes rendering it more difficult.
I wish I'd had longer with this model and this pose, but I'm happy with the results.

Reclining Nude Woman

"Reclining Nude under the Window" (Unfinished) (18"X24", Oil on Canvas)

This is a painting done in the BHS Life Painting class mentioned in an earlier post. It's an example of another uncooperative model making the process more difficult than it already is. She was late and then made a big deal of laying this way, not that way, and then not being able to remember which way she was posed prior to the break. I generally don't find that to be much of a problem, since no matter which way the model re-positions themselves, I can always find something new in the pose that I like even better than the original. It all depends on the attitude of the model.
I like this start, and I intend to finish it some day when I get back into figure painting. I suppose it would be a good practice piece, and I wouldn't have to show it to anyone if I didn't want to. I'd like to think that I could post the results on this blog, so I want it to be an improvement. I'll keep you 'posted', how's that?

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Oil Portrait of Seated Bald Man

"Seated Bald Man in Life Class" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $300)

Another early effort from the Life Class offered at Brookline High, but with another instructor instead of my favorite teacher, David Penna. This was done over the course of two classes and as I recall, the model wasn't very cooperative. He had problems with "drift", where he'd take a pose and over the course of twenty minutes or so, he'd end up in a different angle, having drifted from his original pose. He insisted that he couldn't remember where he had been to start with, and so I kept having to make corrections, especially after he'd take a break.
Anyway, his picture came out pretty well, all things considered, including his frowny-face.
The abstract background has a bit of intention to it, since it's lighter on his lit side, but also a bit of an accident, since it's standard practice to have the lit side of a model closer to the viewer. That couldn't happen because of the shape of the room, the number of people in the class, and the fact that the spotlight had to be placed where it wasn't in any of the student's eyes. Just another of the challenges of taking Adult Ed courses.

Oil Portrait of a Seated Man

"Seated Skinny Man in Painting Class" (20"X20" Oil on Canvas, $300)

This was one of my first efforts at painting the figure. I think I did pretty well, but there's lots of things I'd do differently now. I suppose I could change this one, but I prefer to let old paintings be what they are and move on. Otherwise, I'd be forever niggling about with all my paintings and never get anything 'done'.
I did this in an Adult Ed Life Painting course given at the place where I went to high school: Brookline High. I liked the class (I took it many times to get the practice with painting figures) when it was taught by David Penna, but not so much when he moved away and other instructors took over. David had lots of good advice to give and made me really aware of my now-favorite artist: John Singer Sargent.
One of the elements I like most about this picture is the flowing backdrop. I like painting folds in fabric and I think it adds a lot to this composition.

Oil Portrait of Becky

"Becky in Portrait Class" (18"X14", Oil on Canvas, $300)

This was done in two sessions of a portrait class that I took in Boston's Fort Point Channel district. Lots of artists and instructors live there in lofts and give classes. This was in Lisa Knox's life portrait painting class. The class was pretty good, and I learned a few very useful things, but as usual, the course and the classes themselves weren't really long enough.
I did two portraits of Becky (a model I've known for years through other painting courses and the life drawing group at the Museum of Fine Arts) from different angles, but I like this one better. She has a kind of 'Irish' look to her, which is helped by the redness of her hair. I like the looseness of the clothing and the background in this version, and the color harmony throughout. I really like painting faces and figures and I like adding them to my paintings of other things. A picture of a building or a beach can be rather static without some people to give it some life.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Female Oil Portrait Sketch

"Oil Sketch of a Young Blonde Woman" (14"X11", Oil on Canvas, $300)

I did this one as a kind of self-imposed homework from my Adult Education figure painting class that I mentioned in the last post. It was a quick version and I really enjoyed having the practice. I did it by pulling a photo article out of the Improper Bostonian when they had one of their hairdo editions or something. Maybe makeup, I can't remember.
Anyway, the full page photos of the models made for easy interpretation, considering the IB was a large-format glossy. Not the best way to get portrait models, but it worked very well for practice. I did a few of them, but this one came out the best, so I didn't paint over it.
I really miss doing the figure painting classes, but they're hard to get anything out of, unless you're pretty dedicated to doing lots of practice work. Painting people is the most challenging subject and painting their faces is the most challenging aspect of that subject.
Figure painting and portrait painting are definitely the things that give me the most satisfaction since they're so difficult and I want very much to get back to it.

Male Oil Figure Sketch

"Standing Man, Head in Hand" (24"X18, Oil on Canvas, $700)

I did this painting a few years ago by starting it in a figure painting class and then finishing it at home. I like the combination of tightness and looseness in the result and look forward to doing more of the same. This painting has some nice passages in it, but I'd like to have been able to spend more time on it in class, with the model.
That's one of the main drawbacks of Adult Education classes: they don't have long enough sessions to really accomplish anything. That's why I always try to get more done on a pose after taking it home after 2 1/2 to 3 hours, which is nothing. If you've ever painted, you know that time passes really quickly when you're doing art. I think that's the way that you can tell that you're meditating and focusing your mind; when you lose track of time.
The arch on the left and the dim window behind the model seem to be thematic to the pale green 'halo' around his head, and were created at home. Maybe he's a Greek God hanging around the old firmament and contemplating his next Godly move. He has a bit of a Jack Benny vibe about him, like he's saying, hand on hip, "Well, I never".

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Mother and Child Oil Painting

"Seania and her Baby" (10"X7", Egg Tempera on Composition Board, $250)

I did this years ago, after having taken a class in egg tempera-style painting. That means that thin oil color glazes are painted into wet applications of the highlights, done with a mixture of titanium white powdered pigment, varnish, and a whole egg. This highlight-stuff ends up looking like toothpaste, and you keep it in a film vial.
The painting was done from a photo of my cousin Seania revealing one of her baby sons while sitting on a porch glider. I made up the colors in the hair. Seania is pretty hip, but she doesn't multi-color her hair. She was also wearing a white sweatshirt and red stretch pants, so I changed what she was wearing to make the picture more... picturesque. The fact that it's a mother-and-child picture makes it kind of classical in a madonna-and-child way, so it has that working for it.
I did what I could with the talent that I had then, but like in the last post, there are things that I'd do differently now. Overall though, I'm happy with the results that I got while working in this time-consuming and small-format style.

Wedding Picture Oil Painting

"Peter and Maka, Just Married" (11"X14", Oil on Canvas, SOLD)

This was actually a commission from a member of the wedding party who was a good friend of the bride. The client sent me a photo from the event and I started in with the under-painting. I had to put in the hand on the left, since there was a big ball of flowers there that Maka was holding in the original shot. It looked like a third head in the composition. I'm quite proud of how that foreshortened hand came out.
The photo was a good one, taken under natural outdoor light with a backdrop of lovely green plants and dark trees above. The expressions were faithfully recorded with my paints, but I did perform a slight chinoplasty on Peter, since he had quite a lot of extra flesh under his chin. I was glad with how that came out as well.
This painting looks pretty good to me now, seeing it later. There's things that I'd do differently, now that I've learned a little more as an artist, but for where I was then, I'm happy with the results and I look forward to doing more paintings like this.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Watercolor - Christmas Card Designs

"The Angel and the Peace Dove" (8"X10", Watercolor, $50)

"Three Christmas Balls in the Dish" (8"X10", Watercolor, $50)

"Ornaments and Candy Canes" (8"X10", Watercolor, $50)

These three watercolors comprise my Christmas designs to date. I've used them as 1-sided cards in years past and now offer them as 4 1/4"X5 1/2" blank note cards. I've gotten lots of nice comments about them and I've sold them by the dozen at the arts and crafts shows that I've done.
My favorite ones are the Angel one and the Christmas balls in the dish one. The little package in with the Christmas balls looks like a stocking stuffer, but in this case it's clearly a dish stuffer. There's examples of breaking the border in all the pictures, and I feel it works well to bring the viewer into the spirit.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Watercolor - Still Life with Various Textures

"Still Life with Teddy Bear and Silver Service" (11"X4", Watercolor, $100)

The angled tables of the classroom draw the viewer into the picture, which is full of bright colors and high contrast, since we had finally gotten a spotlight for the setups. You may recognize the swan-and-reed terra cotta dish from an earlier watercolor still life post. The fur was the main textural challenge in this picture. I feel the fur aspect came out pretty well. It all reads as fur, so that counts as a success. There's a white mukluk behind the swan dish, and of course a teddy bear on the right. I don't know what the other thing on the left is, but it looks furry. The other textural challenge was the silver sugar bowl and creamer. This stuff looks pretty silvery, so - another success!
The border is broken on all four sides, so this composition is obviously too big for the paper. I enjoyed doing this one and I plan to do more in the future.

Watercolor - Still Life with Teapot and Fruit

"Still Life with Teapot and Fruit" (11"X14", Watercolor, $100)

The colors in this watercolor are quite pleasing, I think. The red of the fabric sets off the blue and green, while complementing and warming the yellow. The compositional elements are interesting for me as well. The fact that the action takes place in the right of the picture adds an off-kilter note of interest while the main focal point, the teapot, reflects the other elements in its bottom half. The overhead light is reflected in the teapot as well in this classroom piece, making it look a little like a baby elephant. I didn't really intend that. It's just a bonus.

Watercolor - Still Life with Strawberries and Asparagus

"Still Life with Strawberries and Asparagus" (11"X14", Watercolor, $100)

Done in class using other people's items, a small study in textures. It worked as far as I'm concerned, since you can tell they're strawberries, not tomatoes, and the asparagus looks like actual spears, rather than some kind of unidentifiable pack of stalks.
The lighting is soft and the colors are accordingly softer. I like the effect it has on the seafoam green pressed paper strawberry box and the red-purple nodules on the asparagus.
In this picture, as in a previous post, the paper bag that breaks the border helps make the table top flatten out more convincingly.

Watercolor - Still Life with Sugar and Lemons

"Still Life with Lemons and Swiss Sugar Shaker" (11"X14", Watercolor, $100)

I like this one because of the color combination of orange, blue, yellow and purple. It was done in watercolor class using objects that one of the students had brought in. I also like the angle of perspective that draws the viewer into the composition.
The main focal point is off-center to the left, and the patterned table runner brings your eye from right to left, and then to the lemons in back as a kind of 'stopper', up to the point of the sugar shaker and then back to the lower right corner along the slope of the table edge. Things like that keep the viewers' eyes moving around the picture long enough to see the colors and decide to like them.

Watercolor - Still Life with Yellows and Blues

"Still Life with Lemon and Leeks" (11"X14", Watercolor, $100)

The diffuse light in this painting says it was done in class. I feel it's a successful picture and the textures are pretty convincing. The fabric is clearly a thin one, like a pillowcase; The pillowcase is clearly sitting on two sheets of black paper; The little pot in the background is clearly a copper and bronze-y item, and the food objects are clearly food. The lemon is dimly reflected in the cobalt blue vial and the reflections in the spoon tell the viewer that it's face down.
The only broken border in this picture in the bottom portion, which enhances the feeling that the black paper is flat, rather than it being a perspective illusion.

Watercolor - Still Life with Silver Goblet

"Watercolor with Goblet, Bowl and Stick" (14"X11", Watercolor, $85)

This was a homework setup which you can kind of tell by the fact that the light is so directional rather than being more diffuse from the overhead in-class lighting. The goblet is just a trinket (not silver) but I wanted to try painting the reflective metallic surface. The same as with painting clear glass, what you don't paint is as important as what you do. The colors of the surrounding objects reflected in the metal make the silver look the way it does (I think that black blot on the front of the goblet is me).
I like the wash-y watercolor technique in this one. The colors change and fade through the effect of the water, and the layered thin washes show through each other, creating different color effects. The broken border appears again in this picture on every side. I only wish I'd taken more time to render the fabric. Maybe next time.

Watercolor - Still Life with Various Textures

"Watercolor Study of Various Textures" (11"X14", Watercolor, $85)

Another watercolor class piece. It's just a study but I think it turned our pretty well. This setup includes a cigar box, a Granny Smith in a ceramic cup, an antique wooden finial (which also appears in the first oil still life posting on this blog) and a replica antique fish-shaped whiskey bottle. I think the glass element came out best; isolated color patches that contain washy mixtures of dark brown and green to contrast with the unpainted white patches that indicate the reflected light on its glossy surface.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Interior Watercolor Still Life

"In the Apartment with Stained Glass and Candles" (14"X11", Watercolor, $85)

This was one of the homework pieces that I talked about earlier. This was done in my living room in the North End while sitting on my couch. Lots of tiny details were left out to simplify the composition, but not too much has changed. New barstools, a little table by the window, and the stained glass has been moved to a window further to the left. That's about it for actual layout changes.
In this picture I tried to express a line of light that makes its way to the window, the picture's light source. I like the looseness of the painting and the broken borders; where the kitchen island light and the antique chair brush the edges. The dim lighting cuts down on the color saturation and the contrast in the picture, both of which would both normally help define shapes and guide the eye through the painting.

Watercolor - Still Life with Bowls and Fruit

"Tabletop with Bowls, fruit and a Pumpkin" (8"X10", Watercolor, $65)

This small piece was done with the tables mentioned in the last post pushed into the circle that they form so well. In the middle, the instructor put a small table with the setup on it. That was so we could all sit around the circle and see different setups from the various angles. Where I was sitting I had a pretty good selection of things to paint.
I like the crowdedness of this composition, the fullness of it, if you like. I also think the crumpled fabric with its fancy pattern makes the overall picture more balanced: large shapes here (grapefruit, tangerine, granny apple, white bowls) and delicate shapes (the fabric and the terra cotta swan-and-reed dish) there. The blue notes go diagonally down from left to right and the green notes go diagonally up from left to right.
I even like the little bits where the objects break out of the border, along the top and on the left side. The ruffled edge of the fabric actually raises the 'border' along the bottom. Altogether a nice little picture.

Watercolor - Still Life with Bottles

"Bottles on the Table - Watercolor Class" (Watercolor, 14"X11", $100)

I took a class in watercolor a couple years ago and I did lots of in-class work and lots of 'homework' pieces, to drill the points of each class deeper into my head. I've learned and then forgotten more information in my art classes than I care to think about. I always try to do as much on my own between classes (these are Adult Ed classes, by the way) so that the lessons don't just evaporate. I should probably also take notes.
In this picture, painting glass was the object; some translucent and some clear, to keep it interesting. I'd always heard that what makes glass look glossy is the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting elements, even if it's just reflections. I've also heard that what you leave out when you paint clear glass is just as important as what you actually render. I tried to do both things in this painting.
You can see the wood-molding chair rail that goes around the room, a leftover from the times when Brookline High School was originally built in the late 1800's. Also, the angles of the formica tables that make it easy to form the tables into a circle - a leftover from the education reforms of the late 1960's.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Still Life with Plaster Bust

"Head of Athena in Black and White" (16"X12", Oil on Canvas, $300)

When I was doing the three plaster bust portraits in color (mentioned in the last post) as homework for my painting class, I was doing this black-and-white study in class. It felt freeing to paint this way, but I was anxious to apply it to color, so I did.
I did pretty well with this painting. Luckily, the bust itself was painted this shade of light gray and was set against a darker gray background on a gray table so as not to be confusing. In that way, this is actually a full-color painting!
I really loved taking painting classes, but the cost was prohibitive. I plan to take more classes as soon as I have more money for such pursuits.
I learned an awful lot in that class, most of which makes itself seen in this picture. It's all subtle stuff, but it adds up to my having learned something important at each session which results in being able to render things more thoughtfully and quickly.

Still Life with Plaster Bust

"Great Grandma's Plaster Bust" (16"X12", Oil on Canvas, $450)

When I did this painting I was in a painting class and was doing this as my self-imposed bit of homework. The plaster bust in question belonged to my father's mother. She lived in Orange, CT, which is right next to New Haven. She had two plaster busts in the house: one of my father as a child and this one here. My father isn't too sure about whether the child's bust is actually of him and he's similarly doubtful about this one's origins. It may just be a store-bought piece, but I guess we'll never know.
It's quite well done and has a languid expression that I did my best to capture. I'll try again when I can get back to painting and I feel I'll be able to do better. The main reason being that I did three portraits of this bust as homework. This is the best one. I'll probably paint over the others, either to do this subject again or to do something else.
You can see the red paisley-patterned throw that I talked about in other posts being used again as a background and I loved painting it. Flowing fabrics are such a joy to paint, with their large shapes and subtle shadows. I also liked the fact that this red background warmed up the cool look of the plaster and added motion to the picture.

Still Life with Pitcher and Wicker Chair

"Stoneware Pitcher and Wooden Bowl on an Wicker Chair" (11"X14", Oil on Canvas, SOLD)

All these things came from my grandmother's house after she passed. The chair and bowl are from the 1840's. In fact, the chair is said to be from Abraham Lincoln's White House. I won't go into the full story here, but suffice to say that I have two Lincoln White House chairs.
The pitcher was a gift from an artist couple that my grandparents knew. My grandfather was an artist, as well as the art editor at a couple New York art magazines. So they knew lots of artists and my grandfather (who I never knew) was a real charmer. Lots of gifts came into their house over the years. This stoneware pitcher was made by M.A. Hadly. I don't know if that's a famous artist now, but that's what's on the bottom of the pitcher. It's really quite nice, with its cobalt-painted horse design.
The bowl is probably more collectible, as it's quite old and carved from a single large block of wood. The bowl and the pitcher both sit on the same red paisley-patterned spread that's seen in other posts. The painting was done in my old apartment on Beacon St in Brookline. It was an old and quite large apartment and a bit of the floor molding peeks up to the right of the bowl. The walls were horsehair plaster-and-lath construction with layers of wallpaper over that, and one of the many cracks in the paper shows itself on the whitewashed wall.

Still Life with Onions and Limes

"Red Onions and Green Limes" (11"X14, Oil on Canvas, SOLD)

Here's another example of my common approach to still life painting. Divide the canvas in to quadrants and do four setups that all ow me to explore the foreground/background dynamics and various overlapping schemes. As in earlier posts, this shows the objects kind of 'floating' on a monochrome background, but with massed shadows tying them to the 'surface', which gives the information needed to see that they're being seen from a slightly higher vantage point.
I like the combination of the colors, especially since I know that red and green are complimentary colors. I also like to think about what I'd like to make with these ingredients. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that chicken would be a good vehicle for garlic and limes. Red onion and limes would be another candidate for a chicken recipe. If you know of one, leave a comment that tells me about it.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

still Life with Carved Horse Head

"Antique Horse Head Objet d'Art" (16"X12", Oil on Canvas, $450)

Another small item from my grandmother's house in Rockport. This was a tabletop object and didn't have a flat side or a pair, so it wasn't half of a set of bookends. It's pretty old, and I'm pretty sure it was just for sitting around. I was always intrigued by it (it was part of a horse collection that my grandmother kept in the den), with it's startled or determined look, and it's close-cropped mane. It must have been modeled on a military or police horse. I also always wondered if the rest of the horse was rearing up and kicking his front legs. Why else would his ears be turned backwards and his chin tucked in like this? I know there's no reins or anything in the sculpture, but I figured the artist left them out as distracting from the horse.
With the stone base, this hardwood-carved object is quite heavy, which adds a little to its air of 'importance'. I like the coloring of the wood and the overall smoothness of the old carving, as well as the purple-grayness of the stone base. Just the shape of this carving of the noble beast's head gives me an understanding of why so many people so passionately love their horses.

Still Life with Dying Lion

"To the Loyalty and Bravery of the Swiss - 1792" (12"X16", Oil on Canvas, $450)

This small carved-wood object is something that always hung in my grandmother's bedroom. She got it on a trip to Switzerland when she was a teenage girl. It's a tiny version of a very large sculpture in Lucerne, which is carved into the granite wall above a large pool of water.
The original is quite old and goes back to the French Revolution. It's a tribute to the Swiss Guard who were sent to France when the Revolution was brewing. Their duty was to protect Marie Antoinette. They fought bravely and loyally when the peasants finally got through to the queen, but in the end they were all killed and Marie Antoinette went to the gilloutine. (If you google the Latin phrase which makes the title of this piece, you can see the actual sculpture.)
I was always fascinated by this little carving and was happy to get it when my grandmother passed. I was also glad to have met two Swiss women who came to my display at an arts show in Boston last year. They recognized the sculpture in the painting and were interested to ask what I knew about it. I told them the history and was surprised to find out that they didn't know the Swiss lion's history! Apparently these carvings were quite popular in my grandmother's time - every house in Switzerland had one on the wall - but I guess the later generations lost track of the significance. I can't say that I know all of American History, either.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Still Lifes with Hammer and Tongs

Ice Hammer and Ice Tongs Under the Sink #1 (11"X14", Oil on Canvas, $325)

Ice Hammer and Ice Tongs by the Sink #2 (14"X11", Oil on Canvas, $325)

"Rusty Hand Hammer by the Sink" (16"X12", Oil on Canvas, $450)

"Ice Hammer and Ice Tongs by the Sink" (16"X12", Oil on Canvas, $400)

This is a suite of paintings much like the four pepper paintings in the earlier post. I like doing series of paintings, since they allow me to take an idea further than I otherwise might. By playing with different compositions I'm able to bring different elements out of the subject matter.
I came across these tools in the back of a building that was being re-habbed in the North End. They were to be thrown out with the rest of the junk, or taken by the scrap-metal man. I knew that I had to have them the moment I saw them. I could feel the history pouring off them.
These tools were used by the ice men that served the North End from the 1800's through the end of World War II. Big horse-drawn wagons would stop at each house and the ice man would hop out, carrying a hand hammer and a pair of ice tongs - this hand hammer and these very ice tongs. After using the hammer with its chisel-like claw to knock, and then rough out a big cube of ice from the slab in back, he would grab it with the tongs, sling it over his shoulder and haul it into the apartments of his customers and load it into their ice-boxes. What stories these tools could tell of life in the North End!
I truly enjoyed capturing the curves and weight of these now-rusty iron implements. I'll use them again in a painting some day, with a strong male figure and a horse, to recall the days of the ice wagon and the hard-working ice man.