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"

getting ready for the art market

I've been getting in some last minute paintings lately in preparation for the August North Shore Art Market [all day this Saturday, August  11]. If you're in the Covington, LA area, stop by and look for my booth! More to come...

a quiet pond

A Quiet Pond, 24x36", $350

watching three

two quick sketches

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

Northshore Art Market

Had a great day at the Northshore Art Market in Covington. It was very hot and very humid all day [that wasn't so great], but I got to meet many wonderful people, make a few important contacts, and sold a few paintings in the process. Shown above is a photo of the booth. It was smallish and the paintings were crammed in there. The biggest improvement I could make is to purchase one of those big white canopies [you can see them in the background]; they are taller and allow more light through which brightens the atmosphere [unlike my little cave-like display].

Anyway, I plan to do more of these art markets in the future. I'll let you know when and where. And I'll bring more sunscreen next time, as well.

2 days until art market

Finished four more paintings for the art market. These are all smaller [11x14" and 12x12", respectively] and are all priced at $100. From left to right, they are "Blue Closeup," "Watchful Eye," "Lake Arthur Cypress," and "Lily Elegant".

I'm still not sure how many paintings I will be bringing. The wife bought a popup tent thingy which I will test out today in the backyard. Then I will have a better idea how much space I will need to fill with paintings. Anyway, more to come.

pug mug

I painted this painting once before from a photo I took years ago of our friends' pug. It was such a natural for a portrait that I had to paint it again. (Turned out almost as good as the first one, by the way.) I took a few photos showing some of the process. All told, this painting took a couple of hours.

First step was to do a quick sketch - I wasn't concerned with details, just the placement of the major parts of the portrait. As you can see from these photos, I was using a photo on my computer as reference. This works fine for small paintings, but large paintings just don't fit in my little computer room. Second step was to block in the painting. I usually like to start with dark areas, as in this painting, because I know I will be applying several layers of color, preventing the shadows from becoming dead areas in the painting. And then comes the fun part - step three, if you're keeping score - I quickly block in the rest of the dog, repainting all the lines as I go, so as not to lose them.

And in between the third step and the final painting, I sprinkle a little fairy dust and turn around three times and viola! The finished painting: "Pug Mug," 20x20" $250 - One more painting down on the road to Art Market.

typing

5 days until art market

This coming Saturday is the Northshore Art Market in Covington, LA, where I will be showing my paintings and hoping to sell a few. My brother Tim asked me how my preparation was going, and my only response was to reach through the phone line and strangle him where he stood. Okay, that didn't happen, and I'm not nearly as "on edge" as I probably should be. Here is where I stand: I've got my cousin Robby (thank you, Robby) and the wife to help setup and tear down - Robby's got a line on a tent to fend off the sun or the rain as the case may be - and Tammy's folks will be here to help take care of the little one while this is going on - I have no solid idea how the paintings will be displayed - and I have yet to print off any business cards or bio sheets, both of which I plan to do before the big day. Did I mention it will be this Saturday?

I was planning to paint many many new paintings for this big event but have not really painted anything until yesterday and today [that's okay, I have plenty of backup paintings]. But I managed to complete four decent paintings today. Here they are:

They are, from left to right, "Lone Egret," 20x16"; "Looking Back," 20x16"; "Railroad Landscape," 20x20"; and "Lounging Cat," 16x20". Each are priced at $200.

Well, that's all I can think of - lot's of work left to do. More to come.

notebookism

Here is another website I frequent from time to time. It's centered on the interesting, creative world of [what else] writing in notebooks. Sure it's an odd subject for a blog, and no not every post is very interesting, but every so often I will find a gem, feeding some creative fire within me, urging me to drag out a long forgotten notepad and start doodling or taking notes or whatever.

Okay, so it's not for everyone. But for those of you interested: notebookism.com

June 9th Art Market

Just a quick announcement. On June 9th from 10:00 to 4:00, I will have a booth at the NorthShore Art Market in Covington, LA. I will try to have on hand a broad variety of my paintings on display, and I'm thinking about painting throughout the day [to give the good people's a good show].

So if you're in the area, stop by Lee Lane and introduce yourself!

xkcd.com

I know there are other web comics out there, but I wanted to mention this one because I usually really enjoy it. It's called xkcd, "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language." - some of the cartoons are hokey, some of the cartoons contain semi-lewd material (whatever that means), and most of them would appeal only to the geek-minded among us. Here's a recent one that I snickered at.