Pastels are Great for Quick Portraits

I think pastels are ideal for quick portraits when you have 3 hours or less with the model. This guy posed for two hours at Common Space in Toledo, where I sometimes paint on Saturdays. He was an interesting guy; a little odd, but then aren't we all, when it really comes down to it? Everyone has their own little quirks and mannerisms and some can quietly drive another person crazy -- if we allow it. I tend to overlook a lot when it comes to people. Quirky can be good. It's almost never boring. He seemed to have a gentle soul and he was able to hold the pose very well, so the guy was a great model IMO.

I finished his jacket and the background at home and for some reason I wanted to name the piece Gypsy Joe. Gypsy Joe, in a black beret, waits quietly with his sketchbook.

19" x 24" pastel on gray Canson paper

The Chief's Daughter

I managed to finally finish this piece over the weekend. I am not sure if I have enough detail in the jewelry yet. On one hand I think the jewelry adds a lot to these almost monochromatic paintings that are created from black and white photos and my imagination. On the other hand, the focus should be on the girl's face and the photo is too fuzzy to really make out what is going on with the jewelry. I love Curtis' photography. Somehow he was able to make the lens capture his subject in almost the same way the human eye does. We can only truly focus on one thing at a time, making everything else around that center of vision just a bit out of focus. I tend to paint with this in mind too, so a lot of my paintings are impressionistic around the edges and sharpen into a bit of detail where I want it to.

The background was taken from a photograph I took in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona last year. The pink clouds were amazing and of course that light really helped me make decisions about what color I needed to have mixed with her skin tones.

I like her as she is but I'll hang her in a frame on the wall of my studio and wait awhile to see if anything jumps out at me.

I pulled out some of my American Indian Reference books today because I needed to look up an image for a painting commission. Most of the photographs in these books were taken by Edward S. Curtis, who left a priceless legacy when he traveled all over the West and photographed as many native Americans as he could. These black and white photographs provide a record of what members from each tribe looked like and what they wore. He recorded their names as well as their faces. The images are out of copyright so anyone can use them as references and I decided to paint another series similar to the one I did five years ago.

I intend to use photographs I've taken in the West and Southwest to add more interesting backgrounds and some of these pieces will be a bit larger than the first series, which consisted mostly of 11" x 14" and 12" x 16" canvases. When this series is painted I will reissue the prints for the older series as well. I have experimented with having some of my prints reproduced on metallic paper and the paper really enhances the look of the print, and adds 80-100 years to the life of the print as the process involves printing on metallic coated paper.

This is the initial coat of paint for "Chieftain's Daughter", 12" x 16" oil on linen.

Value in Painting

I'm going to discuss values in this post. Not the value you get when you purchase or sell a pianting, but the values that need to be present in the painting itself in order for it to read correctly. I've had enough workshop instructors tell me that VALUE is the most important thing in a painting that I believe it. Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a tone. Using lighter values in the background can add depth to a painting, whether it's a landscape or a still life. Just knowing that objects that are farther away will benefit from being painted a shade or two lighter will immediately allow you to improve your paintings if you try it.

Here is a painting I finished earlier in the week. You can see if I desaturate the color and turn it into a black and white image that the areas in the background are much lighter. We know they are distant because we have the impression of atmosphere being present between the girl and the background. This one is a bit exaggerated to make a point but paying close attention to the lightness or darkness of the subjects in your painting can add interest and variety. If everything was painted equally dark in value the painting would have less impact and the viewer might feel compelled to look more deeply into the background. It's a portrait so the focus should be on the person and this is one way to achieve that.

Here is a painting one of my students did a few years ago. There is a big value change between the sky and the objects on the ground but he could have made the trees in the background lighter and he could have used lighter tones on the barn that is further away to add more depth to the painting. I'm not sure what the white thing in front of the weeds is (maybe a guardrail?), but it provides a perfect example of how the VALUE of a subject can really draw the eye. Even when you don't want that to happen.  I suggested he change that part but he was kind of a stubborn guy. The nice color scheme in the painting helps to overcome the lack of values, but it could have been even better.

Here's a better view of Shanda, the girl with lovely eyes

Leap into Winter

I hear people complain about the short days and long nights of old man winter. I can't really understand it. I relish the opportunity to isolate myself and concentrate on the making of art. February is a slow month for me, both in terms of sales and in terms of getting out of the house. I hate the cold and I don't participate in any winter sports so I tend to go from the house to the car to the store, to work and back to the house without experiencing much activity. In the studio, it's a different story. I have an excuse to spend more time painting and what I like to do in the dark days of winter is paint still life. To me, still life is an unending source of inspiration. I have pots and I have dolls. I have fruit and vegetables. The variety of textures and colors and forms is interesting enough to keep me busy for at least 29 days. It's a leap year this year so we get that extra day, folks!

TOOLS OF THE TRADE 2010

6" X 8" oil on panel $125