Happy Friday! Homemade craft gin (my hubby made from scratch!!!) and some delicious small batch mixers from Jack Rudy (thank you, Santa!). All I need is some club soda and ice...and maybe a glass?
Fantastic day today! I applied the last step in completing "The Bathers", which was cleaning up some charcoal dust here and there, applying some shading, then closing the book on this one with fixative to keep the charcoal from smudging (until kingdom come!). Damn if that fixative stuff doesn't smell like cancer in a can!
I worked outside, and here it is on our 12' picnic table out back on the deck. The sunlight really helps get the colors across...
Then I began a new figurative piece to coincide with these bathing beauties, something a little more subdued in subject matter but not in composition.
"Blessed Vessel" (like Bless-ed Vessel) is actually a piece that came to me while sitting at church. Go figure. I can say for certain that happens a lot, particularly if I'm listening intently....Easter is coming, and I am looking forward to completing another modern icon.
I started the Agnes Dei series in about 2005. That series is my successful to date. I still have the first in this series (Agnes Dei#1) but the #2 and #4 (Simeon Sees the Christ) originals sold rather quickly. I had giclee made of the first five pieces completed in the series and still have drawings (#5-#9) downstairs in my portfolio of works that have yet to hit the canvas.
Although these pieces still get attention (and still hang here in the homestead), my style, particularly my figurative style has leaned more realism since 2005. The fact that my freehand sketching has become better (through years of practice) is a factor, but my desire to keep my subjects a little cleaner yet more deliberate, has elevated my art from perhaps someone who just likes color to someone who likes color but can sketch a little too.
There are millions of artists out there who draw better than I do, but I'm shooting for feeling and mood, interesting subjects in addition to anatomically balanced subjects. The Lenten season is certainly a solemn one in our home and "Blessed Vessel" is a reminder to myself.
Here's the initial sketch and fleshing out of the sketch in 30 minute periods:
Very light sketch with pencil over canvas prepped with a color I mixed to match "The Bathers" flesh hue.
The lines are a grid I sketched on the canvas to get the body proportions at least somewhat correct.
Here's where I stopped today. I darkened the photo I took so that the lines would be easier to see when posted. The actual painting has a very soft look to it.
I'm very excited about this piece. I'm going to do some pretty cool stuff to it after I get the background and charcoal down. This piece will be hard to miss at the Melange I show late February at Circle Gallery, Annapolis. Two 36x48 pieces side-by-side will look pretty cool on a huge white wall.
Thank you for stopping by! Hope to have another full day on Monday and some notable progress for you all to see...