someday fly

Posted on July 8, 2016 by Wess Foreman

Update 8/11/16 ---I replaced the original image of the painting with the new painting (the painting was stretched to a slightly wider size and parts were repainted . . . notably, the edges were fixed and the diagonal leg of the swing set was removed and I added the bright red and yellow squares of color throughout the painting). I like the new look even better.

Thanks for watching---remember to like and comment and share! artist: wess foreman website: wessf.com instagram: instagram.com/wessforeman twitter: @wessf facebook: search, "Wess Foreman, artist" music: "Night Music" by Kevin MacLeod from YouTube music collection

climbing the crepe myrtle

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Wess Foreman

I'm nearly ready to call myself a two medium artist at this point. I've been playing around with water media lately (pen and ink/ink wash/watercolor/gouache/watercolor pencils . . . yes, the wide gamut of water media). I still don't think of myself as an expert, but I must admit a great fondness for it when it works---and it doesn't always work, mind you.

I started playing with watercolor first and found it a bit difficult and didn't like the restriction of using only the white of the paper as white . . . in other words, I prefer to work more sloppily and fix my mistakes later on. So I added a white gouache to my watercolor palette---this improved my enjoyment (and success) tremendously. But moving from watercolor to a full gouache compliment was the moment, for me, of true bliss. I love it. It gives you the watery feel of watercolor but adds the ability to correct mistakes and add opaque details later on rather than having to preserve details throughout the painting process. Not to mention the ability to add dramatic darks and vivid colors quickly without layers and layers of glazes.

Climbing the Crepe Myrtle, 13.5x7.5", $125

So, I will be doing more of these gouache paintings going forward. I may even get around to putting mat board around them and selling them one of these days. We'll see. Thanks for checking in, and if you want to see more of my painting process, check out my Instagram feed!

youth untethered

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Wess Foreman

I composed this painting from a snapshot my mom took---thanks Mom. I weeded down the crowd in the photo to these five figures (though I think I invented the stoic gentleman in the back . . . perhaps it's a younger me?). I believe there was a sudden uptick of wind at the time, which sent this large flock of family and friends out leaping and frolicking about---a summertime reunion of my extended family tends to inject some amount of joy into the group anyway and the wind just sent these individuals into a fit of exuberance, I suppose.

Anyway, I figured the finished painting would have to capture a percentage of that joy, and I think it has done that. I'm happy with it.

superhero

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Wess Foreman

This one falls more on the illustration side of things. I wanted to paint a simple painting of a kid running with zero background detail and was happy with how this turned out . . . then I added a cape to the kid and that made the painting work for me even more, adding a bit of a story to the piece.