Bill B.

 

Bill B.   oil/canvas   14 x 11

This is an oil portrait of Bill B. done as a demonstration for the Hudson Society of Artists.

Painting done as a demonstration for a group comes with its inherent issues:  no preparation; poor lighting; the inevitable turning of the body during the pose; and, most importantly, for me, is my nervousness.  It is difficult to paint and talk at the same time.  Keeping the interest level high with several breaks weights heavily.

This is the result.  

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.

Jane

Jane   oil   30 x 24

This past month I had the privilege of painting Jane, a woman whose beauty (inner and outer) and strength will put her in my personal trove of women to admire and to model myself after.  She is witty...a coiner-of-words as she herself describes it, personable and enthusiastic.  She has flown planes and piloted boats. She is a photographer who understands composition and visual lingo. She is well-traveled.  As I painted her, I pictured her as a modern-day Amelia Earhart.  Her life has been spent in several parts of the country but is recently transplanted and blooming in northeast Ohio.

Painting a portrait only works out well for me when I am able to feel an emotional connection to the model.  For that to happen, the sitter must be open to the silent visual conversation and intimacy that must take place.  For me, all of the pieces fell into place.

And her name?  Jane is simple, direct and feminine.  Thank you, Jane, for a wonderful experience!

Ben

Ben   vine charcoal and conte crayon on paper   20.5 x 12

Bassham is an Emeritus Professor of Art History at Kent State University and one of my colleagues at Group Ten Gallery in Kent.  A few Saturdays ago, during our drawing exhibition, Ben agreed to sit for me while on duty.  My drawing, done in vine charcoal, was fairly complete after a couple of hours.  Actually, it might have been finished at that point...everything was in the right place.  I wished, however, to take the drawing to more completion, which is always risky, as too many details tend to detract from, and take power away from, the spirit of the work.  On the other hand, it can also lead to a more creative work, as contemplation allows for more push and pull, as I make decisions about which information is more significant.  (there is an absolute flood of information in the human face).  I also wanted to try my hand at suggesting his horn-rimmed glasses and his tiny-checked wool sportcoat.  Conte crayon was used for those passages.  A charcoal pencil, which allows for more concentrated dark marks, was used here and there for punctuation. A photo reference was used for this final session at home. I am pleased with this work.  Thank you, Ben!

Free Time

Sheri   conte crayon and pastel on paper   18 x 14

One of the responsibilities in a cooperative gallery is, of course, gallery sitting.  My shift is usually a 5-hour period on Saturday afternoons.  While I have never in my life suffered from want of things to do....it seems that each day I have more to do than is humanly possible....and I realize, more than ever, that this is my choice.  Mostly I read, I sketch, I organize during this time slot.  A few weeks ago, I asked artists in my classes if they would mind sitting for a few hours at the gallery so that I could practice my portrait skills.  While I am mostly a figurative artist, where facial features defer to an overall gesture, it never hurts to hone these skills.  Likewise with painting flowers.  Sherri was a willing participant.  This portrait was rendered in conte crayon on a heavy watercolor paper.  After the session at the gallery, I used a photograph to work on the piece at home.  I liked the original very much at the end of the life session.  During the studio session at home, the work was fine-tuned.  A pastel block was added for color.  Always for me, the life work seems more honest, more energetic.  Fine tuning later enhances the likeness but, in doing so, renders the work more staid, more static, with the addition of more pigment.  Which do I prefer?  I really don't know......maybe a work somewhere in the middle would please me more.  Sherri was pleased.  What more can I ask for?