Portrait of David

Recent Portrait: It has been a while since I've had a model to work with for an extended period of time. While I feel like there are some areas on the portrait that could have used a day or two more to resolve, overall I'm happy with it and it was such fun to work from life again! The portrait is 16x20, oil on linen painted over 12 hours.

Catching Up

Well...It's been a while, more than a year in fact, luckily not much happened in the past year.
In my last post I was about to leave for my two person art show in Butler PA, right outside Pittsburgh. The show went great, looked beautiful, got a couple of nice write ups in the papers and over all was a great experience!

The show 

The opening

A couple of my models showed up!

And a nice belly shot

I got home from that trip and had a baby two weeks later. I can't believe that she will be 1 next week!

There she was then..

Here she is now!

And all my little monsters

 The winter was the polar vortex, and I spent the 40 below zero days cuddling the baby and resting. Somewhere in that time I got it in my head that the next step for my career should be a master's degree. I blame the drugs they put me on after the c-section. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea at the time. I filled out forms, wrote essays, and put together my portfolio, and before February was over I was accepted to the the graduate school at Northern Illinois University, with an assistantship to boot.

take my picture here!

The summer saw my work off to two different shows. One at The Wright Museum of Art in Beloit WI, and the other at Women Painting Women at Principle Gallery, Charlseton SC.

"Serenity" Went to Women painting Women at the Principle Gallery

And "Interlude" went to the Wright Museum of Art

And this fall has been the beginning of a new adventure in the academic art world. Balancing the family and school is a challenge, but a worthwhile one. So far, I've only made one painting, but I've read a ton and written about 40 pages for art history classes! I have however gotten to do plenty of figure drawing (see the last post) Hopefully next semester, will see a lot more art being made in art school!

Day of the Dead painting for Graduates first year show

detail

Weekly Figure Sketching

Although I have spent more time this semester writing papers than making art, I have been able to get back into the habit of drawing the figure from life. These are all short poses, most about 30-45 minutes. (There is one in the middle that I got to work longer)

Two Person Show at The Art Center in Butler PA

It's an exciting week, I have my first major show opening on friday, November 1. 42 paintings and drawings framed and ready to hang at The Art Center in Butler PA.  I will be showing with another artist named David Todd and the show runs through November 16. I sent the artwork out at the end of last week and I will be driving out for the opening. If you live in the Pittsburgh area, be sure to stop by and see the show. If you don't, stay tuned to the blog and I'll post lots of pictures!

http://www.aabcartcenter.com/

Flora in Spring

 "Flora in Spring" is the second piece in what will be a 4 painting series of the seasons. In "Flora in Winter" (pictured below) she is mostly in shadow with just a hint of light, in Spring the light is growing, almost emanating from her person. The blooms are larger and more numerous, but the feeling is still meant to be soft and hopeful, it is the very beginning of spring and Flora turns to look at the viewer with just the hint of a smile forming on her lips, with quietness and a still anticipation for the bounty of flowers that summer will bring. The painting is 24x30, oil on linen. I've embraced a classical subject matter and am painting it in a fully classical manner, however within that traditional rubric, I look to challenge the traditional European notions of beauty that have characterized depictions of Flora all through history.

At the Window

14x18 oil on linen "At the Window"

Three day work week

With only three days to work this week, a panel for my new painting in transit, and no current paintings in the easel, I decided to take a week to do some daily paintings, Tuesday I painted cherries, Wednesday I did a master copy of an Ingres portrait, and Thursday decided to torture myself with Hydrangeas ( I suck at painting flowers). Overall it was a good week, nice to do some stress free work, be a little looser with brush work and not worry about finishing.

Hydrangeas 11x14

Bag of Cherries 8x10

Ingres Copy 8x10