"Glass Sparrow" - Inspiration & Progression

My recent painting, "The Glass Sparrow", was inspired by a piece I saw at the Meadows Museum of Art at SMU. It was part of the special Diego Velazquez exhibit that I was fortunate enough to attend just before it closed. The piece that really grabbed me was called "Female Figure (Sibyl with Tabula Rasa)". It wasn't the subject matter that attracted me, but rather, the abstract value pattern. An abstract value pattern is what the image would look like if it were broken down into its simplest shapes and values, so essentially, what you would see if you were squinting at it from far away. A successful AVP will draw you in from across the room and make you want to look closer - and that is exactly what this painting did for me. I loved the square composition, the perfect diagonal 50/50 division of light and dark, and the fact that the figure's face was slightly obscured by shadow.

"Female Figure (Sibyl with Tabula Rasa)" c. 1648, by Diego Velazquez

I did a very quick thumbnail sketch of the painting while I was at the museum, and went home with an idea for my own take on that exciting composition.

After two 3-hour sessions with a live model, I finished "The Glass Sparrow." Below are some shots of the progression of this painting.

Though there are many "formulas" that I draw from for starting a painting, I look at each new piece as an experiment, approaching it differently from the last. This is partly because of the uniqueness of the subject matter and lighting, but also because I simply love to try new things. The last thing I want is for all of my paintings to look identical!

With this painting, I started by lightly blocking in the main overall shape that I wanted, making sure that both the model's head and hands would fit on the 16 x 15" canvas. Then I dove in with color, taking an alla prima approach to it, and trying my best to get accurate colors and values from the very start. After that, I began pushing the paint around and "chiselling" out the features - going back and forth between background and subject - until the likeness emerged.

Eventually, I had to decide whether or not I wanted to make the background uniform or more contrasty (as in the Velazquez piece). I decided that for this painting, more uniformity was required, but still with interesting brushwork that helps direct the eye and give the piece a feeling of motion.

Here it is, finished. Besides the interesting composition, there is some symbolism in this piece. The bird and the nudity are both symbols of vulnerability (a theme I have been exploring a lot lately with my figure paintings). I drew from this particular model's experience for the development of the painting. Like all of us, she has had some challenges in her life, and the painting represents a turning point where she is ready to be open and vulnerable again.

"The Glass Sparrow" - 16x15" - oil on linen panel - Available

By the way, I just found out that this piece has been accepted into the Greenhouse Gallery of Fine Art's 12th Annual Salon International! It will be on display from April 13-May 3, 2013 in San Antonio, TX. Click here for more information.

Figurative Painting, Ballet, and... Photoshop

Thanks to a client who is interested in ballet, I have several new paintings of classical ballerinas in the works! This is especially exciting for me, since I have been wanting to expand my figurative portfolio and study the human form more carefully. Recently, I was humbled when another artist pointed out that one of my pieces had some anatomical errors. I realized that the human figure is truly the most challenging, yet exciting, thing to paint, and that I need to study it diligently in order to avoid such errors in future paintings. If I am going to do it justice, I must know how each body part moves, connects, and relates to the rest of the whole.

I began some "research" a couple of weeks ago when my sister and I went to see a ballet, and I realized I hadn't been to one since college. Back then, I don't think I had the appreciation for the human body that I have now. It is incredible how many ways the body can twist and turn and move in space, and it is also incredible to see what kinds of things the body is actually capable of! I was blown away by the grace and beauty these dancers were able to convey while doing moves that required a great deal of physical strength, agility, flexibility, and endurance.

Then, by a wonderful twist of fate, my weekly painting group lined up the perfect model to pose in a formal tutu and pointe shoes! She held a tough standing pose for us, and I was able to begin two paintings from it, both of which have great promise. The first is a full-length, 3/4-view composition, and the second is from the back and closer-up, detailing the model's beautiful shoulders and arms. The first painting is still in the works, but I just finished the second one, which you see below:

"Ballerina with Venetian Mask" - 18x12 - oil on linen

I should probably mention something about the mask... she wasn't originally holding anything when I began this painting from life. When I took the painting home after the session, I was pretty happy with it, but I felt like it needed something more. So I dug through a bunch of my photos from Europe, and happened to find this:



As you can see, I circled the mask I ended up using in the painting. It took a couple of tries in Photoshop to find one that would be perfect as far as lighting and positioning of the "face." Which reminds me... I am still working on an instructional book on Photoshop for visual artists. I can teach you this technique. Photoshop really comes in handy for situations just like this! I got the best of both worlds: a quality experience with a live model (gaining more accurate values, colors, anatomy and excitement about the pose), AND a chance to add some aesthetic changes, thanks to my enormous catalog of photo references and some help from Photoshop.

In my next post, I will blog about painting from life, and why it's so important for preventing the kinds of mistakes I made in my [aforementioned] piece. :-) 

New Painting: "A Venetian Spectator"

Today I finally finished one of my paintings from this summer's trip to Italy. I enjoyed working on this one from start to finish, and found myself continually imagining up stories about this old woman's life, and what she might have to say if I were to sit down and have a conversation with her. Her expression could read any number of ways, from sour and grumpy (i.e., "Those damned tourists!") to thoughtful and lonely or simply enjoying the fresh air. Either way, I purposefully juxtaposed the old woman with a very cheerful scene at her window: brightly blooming flower pots, topped off with a rainbow-colored pinwheel. Of course, flowers, green shutters and pinwheels are familiar sights in Venice and other Italian cities, but I felt that this image had something special about it that was worth capturing in a painting.

"A Venetian Spectator" - 30"x24" - oil on linen

Originally, the old woman was looking out from a very boring window. I decided to take her and put her in the scene that I created in the painting. Here is one of the original shots (a slightly different pose in this one but it gives you an idea of the original setting):

 I looked all over for the perfect reference photos (Steve had taken at least a thousand pictures of windows!). Here are a few of the images I considered, but none of them ended up working out.

I did at last find an image of a window that I could use. Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to piece my reference materials together, making sure that the lighting matched. I was able to place the pinwheel and flowers exactly where I wanted them. I am very happy with how this painting turned out and look forward to sharing more of my works in progress soon. :-)

Weekend Distractions

My birthday is on Saturday (yes, wish me a happy birthday ;-)... so, I may not get around to finishing my discussion on nudity in art until the beginning of next week. I hope, by then, to also have a finished painting to share with you! I've been posting progress pictures of it on Facebook, but I'll be very excited to finally get it up on my website, after three months of hard work. I'll have pictures, and a detailed explanation.

In case you were wondering what artful things I might be doing for my birthday... Steve is taking me to the symphony to hear one of my favorite piano concertos of all time, Brahms' 2nd! I wanted to learn one of the movements back in college, just for fun, and my piano teacher told me, "Don't even bother." Not the most constructive thing to say, but his point was, "That piece is way too hard for most everyone." Ha!

Well, have a delightful, creative weekend!