newest paintings

I have been painting and sketching and, in general, arting around ever since my annual Christmas slump, but being unmotivated in regards to updating my website, I find myself with a lot of catching up to do. Anyway, here are a few of my most recent paintings for your viewing pleasure. More to follow....

1. Mason With Stick, 14x11", not for sale


2. City Sketch, 12x12", $100


3. City Sketch, Night, 18x24", $250


4. Saint #1, 29.5x9", $150


5. Saint #2, 34x10.5", $250


6. Saint #3, 34x10.5", $250


7. Saint #4, 54x16.5", $500

new portraits

Just a quick note: I added a few new portraits to my portrait page.

Painting A Day Series

We'll see how this Painting-a-Day series goes. I will attempt to post a new painting every weekday (and possibly on the weekends - we'll see) for most of February, beginning Monday Sunday, February 3rd. This is starting to sound more and more like a stunt, isn't it? Like I said we'll see how it goes.

All paintings will be available for purchase. They will be painted on 4x6" Masonite panels, signed, unframed, and priced at $35 a piece (I will cover shipping costs). Make sure to come back often and leave comments when you do! Also accepting reference photos from which to paint (keep in mind these are small paintings and therefore detail-dependent photos might not work as well). So, please email me any photos I could use (wess at wess foreman dot com). Thanks!

need help naming this painting

"Unnamed so far" 40x30", acrylic and charcoal. One of my current favorites, but I can't quite come up with a name for this one. Help please!

"Moonlit" and "Fleur de Lis"

"Moonlit," 40x30", $800

"Fleur de Lis," 40x30", $700

"New Frontier" Series

I painted these three compositions one after the other using the same process with each. I first drew a few hasty lines with charcoal. I then blocked in the painting, trying my best to stay within the lines. Using a ruler, I re-established the vertical and horizontal lines. Finally, after a few layers of wash, adjusting the color and tone of each shape within the painting, I finished with charcoal and a few stripes of white paint.

"New Frontier #1, #2, & #3", 30x24", $400 each ($1,000 for all three)

horse portrait

I have done a few paintings with horses in them before, but never an official horse portrait. This horse is named Zar, and was a commissioned portrait.

magnolia

Magnolia, 44.5x47", $1,500

Min-Pin commission

This painting was done as a commission and turned out quite well. The reference photo was great, catching these two relaxing together on their pillow - the only downside was that there was not much detail in the black dog's face. Anyway, the painting went quick and the client was happy with the result.

And also, happy birthday to my brother Joshua.

Captive Audience 1 & 2

"Captive Audience #1," 20x20", $400

"Captive Audience #2," 12x12", $100

Hero #2

"Hero #2," 20x20", $250

New Beginnings

"New Beginnings," 42.5x42.5", $1700

This is a large painting, completed mainly with pallet knife in hand. It started as many of my paintings tend to do, as an aimless layering of paint on canvas - at one point, I was considering going with a giant clown's head - but the final idea came together fairly quickly. And the subject turned out to be quite the opposite of a giant clown's head.

Handprints

"Handprints," 20x16", $150

This was a spontaneous idea. After covering the canvas with a watery slurry of blue, I had the uncontrollable urge to stick my hands in it. Turned out pretty well, I think. And the hand model was great to work with.

4 "City Blocks"

top: "City Block #1" and "City Block #2" - 22x28", $350

bottom "City Block #3" and "City Block #4" - 20x20", $250"

a quiet pond

A Quiet Pond, 24x36", $350

watching three

marathon portrait

This commissioned portrait turned into a marathon painting for me, and I'm still not sure why. It started off simple enough: I marked the position of the figure with a few brush strokes, then went about the business of blocking in the color. No problem there.

Next, I roughed in the bench and gave the figure a face. This may have been the genesis of the problem that arose later on, putting in details too early in the process. More on that later.

The third image just shows more clarification of the bench and the background. From the beginning, the client wasn't sure if she wanted the bench to have the tulip design in the finished painting nor if she wanted the bench to remain white. Since she wasn't sure and since it wasn't much work just to paint in the bench, that's what I proceeded to do. It was additionally decided that the hairdo would be different than in the reference photo, but until I got a new reference photo for the hair, I went ahead with the short, pulled-up hair.

In the fourth picture, I have completed the white tulip bench, and it was decided that the bench would distract a little too much from the figure.

After the decision was made that the white tulip design was too much, I went ahead with a bench from my own imagination, hoping this design would be visually thinner and maybe less cluttered-looking. Ultimately, it was still a little too much.

In the sixth picture I have changed the bench to black, which definitely allowed the figure to stand out more; additionally, I had to lighten the background so the darker bench could be seen. I have also changed the hair to a basic hair-down hair style [though lacking any style at this point, not to mention the artificial-looking color, as I had no reference photo to go by yet].

And it was somewhere between the previous stage and the final product that this painting turned into a marathon for me. Part of it was that several things came up in the meantime - a scheduled family trip, my first Northshore Art Market, not to mention other paintings I needed to complete along the way - but mainly it was just the elusiveness of capturing the likeness of a person's face. I worked and reworked the face so many times I was seeing double. And maybe it was something about this particular face: I completed two other, smaller, portraits just fine while struggling with this one. I haven't done too many portraits in my career as an artist and I'm far from a portrait artist, so I don't mind saying that this has been a good learning experience for me, and I've picked up many valuable lessons along the way. If nothing else, I know now not to promise a client a certain date of completion.

Plato

Plato, 36x36", $800

Painted this one a few weeks back, just never got around to posting it here. So now I am. I used a generic photo of a dog from who-knows-where online, painted it in a happy-go-lucky abstract style, and named the dog Plato. Measuring in at three feet square, this canvas is presently hanging in our living room.

Calico #2

Calico #2, 42.5x42.5", $1,200

I like big canvases. Though it doesn't look it, this painting [Calico #2] is painted on just such a canvas [three and a half foot square]. I've got another canvas the same size as this one, primed and ready to go. So, what do you think I should paint? I need subject matter ideas. Let me know!

3 tree, big

"3 tree, big" acrylic, 20x16", $200