Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Mark 3000


Now that I've finished the painting for the portrait project on the Different Strokes blog, I can reveal who it is. The subject is fellow artist Mark Bridges. I call it "The Mark 3000" because it seems like the 3000th version that I've painted. This is oil on an 8" x 10" gallery-wrapped canvas. I hope he has a sense of humor. Click here to see his portrait of me.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Work Boots

This is my second entry for Karin Jurick's excellent blog, "Different Strokes from Different Folks." Jurick challenges artists to draw or paint their interpretation of a photo she posts weekly or biweekly. This is from the Dec. 4, 2008 challenge, "Work Boots."

This was painted with acrylic on 8" x 10" canvas.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Buddha Morning


This is my first entry on Karin Jurick's excellent blog, "Different Strokes from Different Folks." Jurick challenges artists to draw or paint their interpretation of a photo she posts weekly. This is from the Nov. 19, 2008 challenge, "Buddha and Hydrangeas."

I initially planned to do a representational version of the image, but then I found others had done it much better than I ever could, so I started playing around with the large shapes in the composition in search of another approach.

This was painted primarily with Winsor & Newton Artist's Watercolor. I created many layers of grey for the solid figures in the image. For the foreground figures I used Winsor Violet and Cadmium Yellow to create a warm grey. In the images near the top of the painting, I used Alizarin Crimson and Viridian to create a cool grey. The hydrangea flowers are painted with Winsor Yellow, New Gamboge, Quinacridone Gold, Alizarin crimson, and Burnt Sienna. The brilliant colors were created with Posh Rainbow acid-free non-toxic ink.