Rachel

Rachel   oil/canvas   16 x 12 x .5

is a budding artist in my evening oil class.  Our challenge was to pose for the camera in winter gear....the point was "to look cold".  At that point in February,  we really didn't have to try that hard, I might add.  I printed the photos (in gray scale) at home, laid them face-down on the table, where each artist selected another's portrait to paint. 

I have taken a liking to toning my canvas well ahead of time in a color that complements and supplements the overall palette.  My toned canvas was a turquoise-y blue.  This cool tone was selected in order to counter the warmer flesh tones which would lie on top.  This blue can be seen on the hat, on the face, in the hair and on the shoulder areas.  For me, it adds a bit of excitement, a bit of chaos, to what might become a too-tightly-rendered portrait.  It seems that we all have a more difficult time with "looseness" in a portrait situation, especially when likeness is a goal. 

I hope that Rachel is pleased.....because I am!

Mary Jo

Mary Jo   oil on canvas   20 x 16 x 1.5

is a portrait done as a demonstration at Cuyahoga Valley Art Center.  Mary Jo is a vibrant and enlightened artist from our watercolor class.  I would guess that 90% of the work on this was done that evening...the strokes were accurate (!  always happy when that happens)  Some fine tuning, smoothing, and detail work was added later.

I am pleased with the degree of rendering and completeness as well as the color palette.  I feel that it is a good likeness.  This image was sent to her upon completion and she replied that it had the look of a watercolor.

I am also very very pleased when a work has the feel of both of these disparate mediums....as I feel that each one informs the other.  I am thrilled by the possibilities of each.

Medium

Medium   oil on canvas   30 x 24 z .5

was painted from life.  The subject:  my friend Mo.  We ran into each other last week for the first time in months...we are both busy, busy artists.  This is a prime example of commitment, I think...when your love for the subject reveals itself in your strokes.  I have always loved this work...the symmetry of the pose supports the theme, I think.  Only the hands break the concentration, with the right pinkie finger lifted revealing a sense of motion, of life. 

Quite frankly, I am surprised by this work, its patterns, its feel.  The muse must have been on my shoulder during this one.

Thank you, Mo.

Nurse Jackie and Anna Deavere Smith and Uncertainty

Kevin   oil on canvas   14 x 11 x 1.5

Synchonicity...it hits like a bolt of lightning! My current read is Letters to a Young Artist by Anna Deavere Smith, which is a spin-off of Letters to a Young Poet by Rilke, a profound work with creatives in mind.  Smith's work is more geared toward  actors, musicians and visual artists of all kinds.  Smith states that while confidence and certainty are the preferred states-of-being for most careers, questions and uncertainty are the stuff of artists.  I have recently been floundering.  Realism becomes stagnant, boring.  My alterations are sometimes scary and always risky.  Being reminded of the value of uncertainty, I felt completed renewed and at one with my work. Standing alone is difficult at times.

AND THEN..........imagine my surprise to see Anna Deavere Smith appearing at hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus on Nurse Jackie!
All coming together.

As far as Nurse Jackie.....she is definitely in a profession that values confidence and certainty.  She is tenuous on both counts.....lots of gray area.....lots of flaws....perhaps that is why she is so very interesting.

Kevin represents a new spin on "portrait"....a interesting turn of events.  For me.

Progress...

Brimfield Post   oil/canvas   20 x 16 x 1.5

The notion of progress is a sticky wick. Sometimes we humans resist change as the simple inertia of the process challenges our comfort zones which I compare to "the body at rest". Last night before falling asleep, we watched an art show where the art was designed on a computer....after that, teams of colorists came in to correctly mix and match colors which were then put into tubes and numbered. Other teams of painters worked for weeks to fill in the huge painting surface which had been greatly magnified....just like a giant paint-by-number. Wow....talk about a mental shift. The notion of solitary artists morphs into a creative team to create giant paintings where the end product becomes all. I am not sure how I feel about all of this....will need a while to think on these things. Paint-by-numbers starting within the realm of craft, for the not-as-creative, and morphing into the highly desirable. Such is change. Our Brimfield post office will be going out of business in November. This small business was a combination sheet metal/gift and card shop/post office for as long as I can remember. Each patron was greeted with a smile and a story. It was personal. It was a feel-good experience. The owner Cheryl Rexrode is an energetic woman with energy to spare and an admirable world view. Talking with her is a pleasure. I regret that I have never drawn or painted her. Sometimes she hires Mark part-time to fill in. He bleaches his long beard at Christmas-time to play Santa and slips outside to puff on his ever-present cigars. This whole scene is how "post office" is defined for me in my brain. That is about to change. I picture a long line of postal patrons anxiously awaiting to hear the word "next". Progress is sometimes hard to swallow.