Three Lucky Pennies at JRB Art Gallery 2010.11.05
Self Portrait: Three Lucky Pennies, acrylic on canvas, 8 x 8 x 1.5 inches, 2010
Three Lucky Pennies will be in the annual Small Works show at JRB Art Gallery at the Elms in Oklahoma City (map link) for the month of November 2010. The opening reception is Friday, November 5th, 6-10 pm.
The Small Works show at JRB will feature 100 8x8-inch canvases by 100 artists, each piece priced at $180.00. Artists Skip Hill, Nick Wu, Carlos Tello and Sohail Sheheda will be featured in the gallery's other spaces.
Here's a look at how I created this piece.
The idea for this self portrait popped into my head a couple of weeks ago. I imagined a ratty, thrift-store leopard-print coat, but that item seems to be missing from my closet. I took reference photos of myself wearing this wonderful purple kimono that my Mom has had for years. I settled on the two best shots, and spliced them together in PhotoShop.
I always enjoy painting the edges of a canvas. Luckily, the canvases this gallery provides for the Small Works show have lovely 1.5" edges. Using Adobe InDesign, I created a grid and placed my reference photo under it. This is a useful tool when working from a single reference.
This is an unofficial companion to my painting for 2009's Small Works show. I like to see what I can squeeze onto the edge.
I had to turn this painting around in just a couple of days, so I knew that a good underdrawing would be key. I couldn't afford to take time working all the shadows out in paint alone. I often do underdrawings in graphite, and I prefer not to use spray fixative because it's water-resistant and stinky. Here I've blended the shadows using my finger, from which a small amount of skin oil helps the graphite adhere to the canvas. When I put the first wash down, I do it gently, so as not to smear the drawing. One acrylic wash seals it.
Usually I put down a burnt sienna or pepto-bismol-pink wash for figure painting, but I pictured this piece with yellow undertones. The wash here is a mixture of Naples yellow and a cadmium-based pale pink.
When painting patterns, I prefer a loose interpretation to a slavish reproduction. I drew the pattern on the canvas in pencil, mostly not looking at what I was drawing. (I love drawing blind.) I went over the lines using Payne's gray and a #1 liner brush.
I put in the big shadows with Payne's gray (how I love thee), and began blocking in the skin tones with quinacradone violet, napthol red, titanium white, Indian yellow, Naples yellow, Pyrrole red, light umber, and burnt sienna. These days I'm using a lot of Golden Fluid Acrylics, recommended to me by professor Bob Dorsey for their high pigment concentration and versatility. He also recommends Windsor Newton Series 7 brushes, which are indeed "worth every penny."
Here I've added washes of quinacradone violet and more Payne's gray to the robe. Continuing to block in the skin tones. The background is tinanium white with just a drop of Payne's gray to cool it off, and contrast with the warmth of the figure. I laid it on thick, allowing hints of the yellow underpainting to show through.
To finish, I overglazed the skin with more titanium white, napthol red tint, and Naples yellow, using some Golden glazing medium in yellow ochre and iridescent red. More glazes of quinacradone violet were added to the robe.
Custom Longboards Show @ DnA Galleries, OKC 2010.10.22
Join us for the second annual Custom Longboards show at DnA Galleries, in OKC's fabulous Plaza District, and help Dylan and Amanda celebrate their gallery's second anniversary!
Portraits of Ryder & Atti, Christmas 2009
Ryder, acrylic on canvas, 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.
These portraits were commissioned as a Christmas present to the subjects' Dad.
Atti, acrylic on canvas, 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.
Would you like to have a portrait made of yourself or a loved one? Download my pricing sheet here.
Illustration Friday: Blur
Whatcher Yennough, Patron Saint of First Impressions, acrylic and collage on found plywood, 2009. (Detail view.) Click image to view source.
He's, I don't know, maybe medium-sized, you know, average height, with short brown hair. I think he wears glasses. Eyes? Maybe bluish-brownish. Kinda dark, but, you know, not like dark dark. He was kinda funny-lookin'.
Whatcher is available at aka gallery in Oklahoma City. Detail views here and here.
Paseo First Friday 2009.11.06
Ennis Quadrangle, Patron Saint of Honne and Tatemae*, acrylic and collage on stonehenge, 2009. Click image to view source.
Lots of good stuff happening on the Paseo tonight.
aka gallery is featuring Fear Not The Needle, hand-sewn photographs by romy owens. I have new work in aka's back space, including the one pictured above.
Josh Heilaman's lush, fantastical paintings are on display at Art of Yoga. Treat yourself.
JRB Art at the Elms is showing the work of Jim Keffer and John Wolfe, along with their annual Small Works exhibit. Each 8x8" piece in this show is priced at a mere $180! Get 'em while they're hot. Here's my piece, a little piece o' me.
Don't forget the Girlie Show! (As if you could.) Hit the Paseo at 6:00, see the Girlie Show after 8:00, or go back to either on Saturday afternoon. You can do it all!
* I first heard the terms honne and tatemae in this NPR story about translating the untranslatable. Author Christopher J. Moore, in his 2004 book In Other Words, describes these concepts this-a-way:
Tatemae: A term often translated as "form," but it also has the specific cultural meaning of "the reality that everyone professes to be true, even though they may not privately believe it." For privately held views, the Japanese have a different term, honne, meaning, "the reality that you hold inwardly to be true, even though you would never admit it publicly." The British civil servant muttering the reproach "bad form, old boy" over a drink in the club, may be expressing something very close to the quality of tatamae.