R.I.P.

Yes, my previously posted light bulb was naive and cute , but take a look at this one. His name is Lester ( yes,light bulbs can have names!). He's been around the block and turned off and on more times than one can count. Here's the low down: he started out his illuminating life aboard the South American registered tramp steamer Jose Hernandez. Twenty four seven duty in one of the crew heads located below deck at the stern. From marine work, he moved on to even more grueling twenty four seven duty on the ceiling of a six foot square lock down cell at Pelican Bay State Penitentiary on the dreary and foggy coast of Northern Calif. Alas, Lester's career (and life) came to a tragic and shattering end while the owner and proprietor of the seedy and well known Bates Motel in Arizona tried to screw him into a bathroom electrical socket and accidently dropped him into the infamous shower tub. He will be forever remembered as spirited, tough, and able to take on any voltage thrown at him. R.I.P. Lester Light Bulb.

Eggs and light bulbs drive me nuts!!!!!

Ever free hand draw an egg or a light bulb? NOT EASY!...well...at least not for me not easy. They always start out ever so slightly lopsided. I spend a lot of time tweeking the outside contour. And how about the subtle blending of surface values for krist sake!!! NOT EASY!...and...NOT EASY!!! Yeah, I'm 63 years of age, but I'm fixin to become an Olympian snow boarder or Super G down hill racer. It's a lot easier than rendering eggs and light bulbs. Any one disagreeing with this is itchin for a fight!!

The Ruhstaller Building on 9th and J Streets

This is an 8"X48" acrylic painting on stretched canvas that is one of eighteen of my acrylic paintings that is part of a two man show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery here in Sacramento. The artist's reception is this Saturday, Feb. 13 from 6-9PM. I expect all my blog visitors to be there...no excuses.

"And that's the way it was."

If you are a baby boomer, and I am in spades, you remember Walter Cronkite, the world renowned TV news anchor man. I conducted an acrylic portraiture workshop last Sunday, and "Uncle Walter" was our subject. By the way, I LOVE the smell of pipe tobacco. If I was rich, I would hire a pipe smoker lackey smoke in my studio while I'm painting.

Husband and wife portrait commission.

This acrylic was painted on a failed landscape painted on an 11"X14" stretched canvas that I gessoed over. Waste not, want not...and...I got a little texture from the previous landscape! After the white gesso was dry, I painted a warm, brown background. The first easel photo shows my white contour line sketch and the first lay in of skin tone. The second easel shot shows some hair, mouth, skin tone/color, clothing action. The third photo shows more refined skin tone/color action. The final easel shot shows my final refined/completed acrylic painting. I made some major changes on my skin colors as you can easily see...and... over night while I was out of my studio and not watching, the husband straightened out his bow tie!

San Francisco Cable Car Round Two

After having painted a study (see previous post), I became more confident, and I think in this second iteration that it shows. Until the painting was about 85% complete, there was little clue as to what it was going to look like. My study #1 told me it was going to look just fine but that I needed to paint with more authority and that I wanted to punch up the vibrancy of color. Even though the populated cable car has a lot going on in it, I needed to keep the colors somewhat bright for every tiny, little detail. I was able stay focused and relaxed at this endeavor, because I knew that if I kept my value pattern the same (as in the first study), the painting was going to look just fine. Whenever you paint from life or a photo reference, you really do not want to paint in too many details. Good paintings for me are all about editing and inventing to maximize visual excitement. Notice on the front roof of the cable car, I have left out some shadow. That is a good example of how an artist veers away from reality in order to maximize visual punch. You can also see how I treated the tree differently from the first study. Notice the snap in the way the people were painted. That's the confidence I gained from doing numero uno study. In other words, I had developed a painting road map. Is this the ultimate? Could I do better? Hell yes! But for now, I will not throw it in the nearest dumpster but will put it aside to go on to other projects.

San Francisco Cable Car Study

This is a water color study I painted on 140lb cold press Canson water color paper. It measures 10 1/2"X 14". I pulled the reference photo off of YouTube. Unlike opaque mediums, you have hardly any room for corrections with water color ( at least with the way I like it!). My good buddy Mike Bailey would reject this claim, but I believe that if you want that traditional, loose, wet, runny h2o look, your effort has to be painted right the first time out the gate. If not, hang your head down in shame and angrily toss your painting into the nearest dumpster, late at night and in the seedy part of town. Thus I do studies. I make mistakes and learn what I want and do not want to do. I present this study in hopes of posting a final SF cable car water color that I can hold high with pride as I prance around a meadow filled with fragrant spring, dew kissed blossoms. PS: I used some acrylic in this study. My final will be bereft of this element (I hope!).