Weight...

Weight   oil on canvas   48 x 36 x 1.5

the feeling of weight...is a fairly common human experience, I would think.  For the most part, I declare myself to be an optimist, but my days are full-up and sometimes it takes only one more tiny request to set my day into a tail-spin.  While more of us than not have overcome huge obstacles to get to where we want to be, it is, for me, a matter of perpetual shifting, sifting and sorting to keep my priorities in order. 

My current read is Supernormal by Meg Jay.  As it turns out, the most accurate predictor of those with grit, with determination and resilience, is LOVE... loving relationship(s) is what truly turns the tide...gets us over the hump.  My own personal hero is LeBron James, also an Akron-ite. 

This painting was 90% complete in the winter of 2016-17.  It was then propped against the wall and approached again this winter.  After years of trying to get portrait-perfect faces, I have been experimenting, for several years now,  with subduing the faces, in order to defer to the figure, or figures, in their gestural entities, for the purpose of more accurate story-telling.

Winter is Long in Canada

Winter is Long in Canada   oil   20 x 16 x 1.5

is a work half-completed from a live session with a model.  For years and years I faithfully attended the Friday model sessions provided by my local art group Akron Society of Artists.  Gradually I became tired of the static seated poses that resulted in order to keep the model from becoming too weary...that, I understand.  Creating more lively poses from photos was more exciting to me.  But there is much to be learned from painting from life.  Recently, I had a free Friday morning and decided to return to the model.  This was to be a two-week session.  As I was not free the following week, I scurried to get correct shapes and values, as well as a sense of movement.  The painting was fine-tuned at home using photos I took during the session.

Our Canadian model was apt and professional.  I thoroughly enjoyed making this work "my own".  I am hoping to find more time for live work this coming year.