June Evening

22 x 18 inches
oil on canvas

This one has been in the studio for over a year.   The imagined portraits always take the longest time to complete.  

Portraits: Actual and Imagined, in Bladenboro

I installed work today in BVAC Gallery, in nearby Bladenboro, North Carolina.  On display are portraits completed from 2002-2011, of fellow artists and friends from my years in Maine.  If you want to make a quick trip to this charming town, the show will be up through June 7th.  Regular gallery hours are 2-4pm, Saturday and Sunday, and all other times by appointment.  The show is sponsored by the Bladenboro Historical Society, so call ahead for an appointment or directions.

I will be attending an artist reception on Saturday, April 12, from 2-4pm.   Hope to see you there!

In Training: Aimee

 

In my third portrait of the day, I finally choked.   The likeness wasn't coming together by the half hour and I quickly fell behind with corrections.  I didn't even have a chance to get to the hair before the bell!  If this was the real deal competition, I don't think I would have passed elimination with this result.  Above is where I was at at the one hour point.

 

Ah well, I wasn't going to let a little failure from stopping me from making a decent painting today.   This is the result of an extra twenty minutes that I won't have next Saturday.  I will have some serious trouble if my model has long hair and soft features.  

In Training: Aaron

 

When Aaron took the chair, I said I would try to make him look all Game Thrones in honor of his great hair.   Too tall an order without inventing props-- but not too bad a portrait otherwise. The beard was definitely a challenge.   Also, I realized a lot of my models have been strolling in with green shirts....      

In Training: Darlene

Day two of my portrait training went fairly well.   End of the semester and students are getting sick.  I had two cancellations, so one of my coworkers, Darlene, agreed to sit for 45 minutes.   After my good day last Friday, I was arrogant enough to think I could trim off a few minutes... 

I forgot how much easier is for me to paint men rather than women.    My natural manner of working involves a lot of short choppy brush strokes that exaggerates light and dark planes over smooth, careful, rounding of forms.   Most guys don't mind if they end up looking a but older and more rugged; let's just say the effect is less pleasing for women.   Attempting a measure of blending took an extra five minutes.  Also, Darlene obviously takes a lot of care with her hair, and I wanted to do it justice.   Ten more minutes gone.   I wasn't nearly finished as planned, so I conscripted her for the full hour and got this result.

Another annoying thing about portraits-- did I mention people tend to expect a likeness?  Other artists are far more forgiving than the general public--who tend to expect photographic results.   While painting, I imagined that the Farmers and onlookers at ArtFields could be a very rough crowd indeed.  I was more than a little anxious to see how Darlene would react to the process, but she was a very good sport.   I guess all those years around artists had her a better prepared.   I'll post the other two results over the weekend, and I plan on doing a couple of more to stay warmed up before the big day. 

In Training: James

 

By the last hour, I was pretty delirious, the artistic equivalent of hitting the wall.   I have little recollection of making this.  James was a very good sport. Not a bad day all in all.  

I'm taking more student volunteers for next Friday, but four is definitely my limit...

In Training: Epi

Epi sat for the third session.   I was fading at this point, and pretty tired.   Fair likeness, but Epi is far more fabulous in person.

In Training: Willie

 

Willie, my second appointment on Friday.  The likeness is better, but I had trouble working with my red ground color.

In Training: Melvin

 

Today I set up shop in UNCP's painting studio to practice my technique for the upcoming ArtFields contest.   Four of my students each generously donated an hour of their time to sit  and help me train.   First up, Melvin Morris, who is studying Painting as his primary studio area.   I set my watch and carved out the above in an hour.   I have to admit, I was pleased by the result, even though it doesn't really look like Melvin, but more like some heroic, Biblical figure.  He had on a great green shirt, so I was forced to cheat and add in the rest in an additional five minutes:

For the sake of pepping up my ailing blog, I will post the remaining studies over the next three days...

In Training: Art Fields Portrait Competition

How do I get myself into these things?   A week ago I received notice that I have been accepted into  the ArtFields Portrait Contest.  It's a side-event of the larger ArtFields festival in Lake City, SC, and will consist of four rounds where the 24 artists will have an hour to create a portrait.  Each round will be judged and winners who pass elimination proceed to the next round.   When I heard of the contest, it sounded interesting in idea-- art as performance sport.  I briefly entertained the notion of dressing up like the late wrestler Macho Man Randy Savage, complete with gilded cape, and trash talking my opponents as they work.   Maybe if I was actually a performance artist, and if this wasn't in the polite South....

More than that, I'm not really a portrait artist.  What, you might ask?   Sure, I use the historical portrait form in 50% of my work., and I paint illusionistic images of people.   Yet, I rarely paint from perception these days.   I often make my people up completely from imagination.   Of course, this ability comes from years of practice from direct observation, but I am more than a little rusty these days.   And I have never painted a portrait in only an hour.   I more often keep painting over and over an image until it looks right, which may take twenty or a hundred  hours. After all, there are whole schools and societies of professional portraitists who do this for real on a daily basis far better than me.  But I like a challenge, and heard of the bigger ArtFields contest too late, and thought that this would be a good excuse to get into fighting shape and see what this Lake City is all about.   While I hope to make it at least to round two, it's going to be fun either way.   If you are in the area, the event is Saturday, April 27, 2013 from 10 am-4 pm on The Green in Lake City, SC.

Oh yes, and the above drawings were my first warm ups from a life model.   Paintings on the way soon.