Lois

Lois

24" x 18"
Oil on wood Panel
[click on the image to enlarge]

This painting continues work with a modified Zorn palette.

I planned to do this by substituting Ultramarine Blue for the Ivory black in the palette however I soon realized that the ultramarine had too much warmth or reddish undertone to effectively create the dress.

The dress is Cerulean Blue based.

Lois is 85 years old this week. The painting is based on a photograph taken a few years ago.

You can also see that I'm experimenting with another background. It has some unifying effect because it was made with the blue and Yellow Ochre in several layers.

Happy Birthday, Lois.

Emmy

Emmy

15" x 15"
Oil on mdf panel
[click on the image to enlarge]

Emery is now 9 years old and a precious, wonderful young lady.

Technically this painting is done with what is sometimes called a Zorn palette. I wanted to try a portrait with this limited palette.

Anders Zorn, a Swedish artist, did much of his work in the nineteenth century. He was noted for beautiful skin tones in portraits and nudes. There is some controversy about exactly what his palette was and how often he used it but general agreement about the basic choices.

Overall I am pleased with the lustrous quality of Emery's portrait. I attribute that to the palette and some to a variation of glazing. I chose the mdf for the ultra smooth surface it provides.

Rebecca took the basic photograph that underlies this painting.

Orphans

Orphans

[after Thomas Kennington]

 

28" x 21"

Oil on Sandeply Panel

[click on the image to enlarge]

I decided to try painting another master copy. I struggled with Tennant's landscape but learned a good deal, so I wanted to try a portrait. I wanted to work on the face and skin qualities.

 

Thomas Benjamin Kennington painted Orphans in 1885. It hangs in the Tate in London, perhaps Morgan saw it.

Skin tones are always a challenge and this was doubly so. Both boys, but especially the right hand figure, have a strong yellow ochre hue. I don't know if this was deliberately done and part of their poverty depiction or if the medium or varnish has yellowed. The effect is somewhat lessened by contrast in that the background has yellow chroma and that makes the skin look less yellow

Additionally they are dirty, especially the feet, so one is trying to paint a reasonable skin tone and then make it looked 'dirty'. Well you usually get dirty, dull paint when you try mixing too many colors, so I was constantly checking to see if the skin was looking soiled or just muddy dull pigment.

I enjoyed working on the clothes, the background and ragged blanket.

The little boy looks directly out at us. However he does NOT expect us to be helpful or caring. He doesn't move or show any facial recognition. Truly his hands 'hang down'

I did take a small liberty with the broken dish in front of them, it is slightly altered from Kennington's original.

 The painting has a shifting perspective, or seems to, and the shelf in the upper right has a similar problem. The only viewpoint that makes any sense would be for the observer to be far to the right of the front of this scene [which also works better for the platform] but the rest of the setup doesn't fit that. Or the shelf must not be square but much wider in front than in the back otherwise we would see the face of the left edge - however it does work as an element which points towards the figures.

Similarly all the legs and arms lead one generally towards the small boy's face. And the larger boy's arms circle and touch the little one's face. It provides a great focus point and Kennington painted that face about two levels above my results. Perhaps that is why his is hanging in the Tate and mine is not.

The original is 40" x 30" [mine is 70% that size] so I console myself that Kennington could get more detail because he was working on a larger canvas - at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

I also realized from one of Brad Teare's comments that the only artist's paintings that I want to copy have been painted in a style similar to my own. I admire other great paintings but I don't want to paint them - at least not in a 'foreign' style. I would include in that group the current hyper-realistic or high-definition paintings.

Snowy Ridge

Snowy Ridge

16" x 20"
Oil on Canvas

[click on the image to enlarge]

This high country lake and mountain scene is set in springtime. It is located in Colorado although I have altered it a good deal for this painting.

As I've mentioned before green can be a problem in a landscape and I am pleased with the resolution here.

The water reflections include a couple that are relatively subtle and perhaps don't show enough in this photograph, however I think the eye senses them and it creates a feeling of 'realness'

One simple theme here carries the central mountain hues into other background rocks, and the flowers in the foreground and then nearly unseen it is also present in the rocks on the right front. [and very faintly as a water reflection]. All this creates some unity in the composition.

The dead tree creating a focus point and some tension in this painting was not in the original photograph.

Cheddar Cliffs

Cheddar Cliffs

(after Tennant)

18" x 24"

Oil on Canvas

John F. Tennant painted this scene about 150 years ago in Great Britain.

 

I appreciate the technical aspects and composition of this painting, so I decided to paint a master copy.

 

Artists have traditionally learned by copying great paintings. This is different than painting the same scene as another artist. In this instance one is trying to reproduce the brush work, hues, values, edges  and unity of the original.

It was very difficult however I felt that I learned a great deal. The painting is more complex than I appreciated when first studying it. I painted it essentially the same size as Tennant [40 x 58 cm].

 

The transparent oxide red in the rocks is also repeated in the soil and then very faintly in the clouds. And similarly the grey in the clouds repeats in the rocks in the foreground. I like how he brought the thin clouds right down into the distant hills.

 

I used a phthalo green for intensity in limited areas while he probably used viridian or even verdegris. 

 

Because the painting is quite dark it is very subject to photographic change depending upon the monitor setting and the viewing angle.

There are two very small figures in the center of the painting. The right hand one appears to be sitting on a large rock. What the heck they are doing there and why he is sitting on the rock really puzzle me. I almost decided to paint the right hand figure erect and walking but in the end I just complied to Tennant's decision. Interestingly he put them where only the top of the left individual is positioned to get a portion of full sunlight.

They are 'there' but not as strong as the elements. 

An additional issue is that Tennant painted this scene more than once with varied values. Since I don't have the original the photographs of the 1868 painting that I used as reference also vary in their rendition. The original is also heavily varnished on the upper right side.

 

The name of the painting naturally leads to the question of the origins of cheddar cheese. I learned that it was nearby.

 

'Probably the most consumed cheese in the world, Cheddar orginated from Somerset around the late 12th Century and took its name from the nearby gorge and caves in the town of Cheddar'

After the Storm

After the Storm

21" x 28"
Oil on sandeply panel

[click on the image to enlarge]

There is a peaceful wonderful quality about the calm morning after a night of winter's snow.
The combination of very cold and the clear, bright sunlight is enchanting. The values from almost black to bright 'warm' white in the snow is dramatic. Another contrast is between the sharp edges and the soft snow.

This contrast is also highlighted by the very warm red oxide branches in the center and the cooler greens of the conifers.

There is also a bit of intimacy in the close setting [the observer is very near to the scene] yet it also has an open vista in the background
I worked in a larger size to get more 'volume' and detail into the painting.

It is also a metaphor of life in that we must have opposites to appreciate and enjoy the beauty and wonder of being here on earth.

Autumn Reflections

Autumn Reflections

18" x 24"
Oil paint on Canvas
[click on the image to enlarge]

This painting combines so many wonderful elements of being outside during the autumn season. The weather is cool and you know by the fall leaves and the mature grass and weeds that the growing season is closing, now is the time to enjoy glorious October.

I enjoyed this painting for the extensive water and reflection opportunities. It is full of 'little' elements that hopefully add toward the strong central focus.

Good landscape paintings always have multiple secondary interest centers.

If you are getting tired of seeing water paintings, then you will be pleased to know that the current work on my easel has none. [Don't get too complacent though because I do have another one in the planning stage]