Months ago I was laying in bed quietly and in the dark. My mind, as it always does at 1am, started to run, no…sprint, and I was forced to chase it down. Before I could catch it and finally drift into the land of slumber I had a funny idea about my future works of art.

I enjoy most subjects to paint, but I admit that I am most interested in the genre that gives me the most problems – portraits. There are two problems for me when it comes to painting portraits. The first problem is that I want to paint portraits but I realize there isn’t much interest in buying a portrait unless it was commissioned by the buyer or it happens to be someone whom the buyer knows about and loves. The second problem I have is that I’m just not that good at portraits. I confess that I could simply duplicate a portrait to get a likeness but then I am locked into that pose and I want to paint from life – not from a photograph. These problems generate a catch-22 for me. I need to paint more portraits to become a better portrait artist, but I also need to sell a painting or two before my home is flooded with canvases. Perhaps I needed to generate a portrait of well known people in the news, or characters from books or movies. Hmmm……movies. I have some experience there.

So while these thoughts crossed my mind in the middle of the night, I started to think about the movie paintings I have done for my brother these last 6 years. I have covered 5 movies all together but none of them really focused on a person so much as a scene. The scenes were narratives and were trying to pass along the feeling of being a character in the film. Why not take it a step further and try to convey a character’s personality on canvas? But again, a simple portrait is unlikely to generate any interest from potential buyers so how can I create interest in this idea? Wouldn’t it be nice to grab a fantasy world, then grab another fantasy world, then smash them together into a super-duper-hypothetical-and-perhaps-hysterical-world-that-creates-a-strong-response-from-the-viewer (takes a breath)? Ah, now I have something.

So today I announce the beginning of a new genre for my art; I call it “Character Mash-ups.” The idea is to take a well known character and have him or her interact with another well known character from a completely different and unrelated story. Perhaps these are fictitious characters or perhaps they are historical, but the point is that the encounter will be the result of a commonality between them.  I will be looking for a humorous slant for most of these works, but I might invoke a little drama in them too. I have already started on my first project and I think the subject is pretty silly. I hope to get a laugh and a sale out of this. I can hear you screaming now, “Enough! What are you painting?” Ah…well check back next week for a sneak preview.

Hehe….I’m such a joker.

I have been learning art from different sources for years. Early on I was naive and took the first few lessons as the exclusive way to do things. As time as gone on and my personal art education has grown, I have learned that to learn new art techniques you must consult multiple sources to come to a determination about what works for you. At times I feel that an artist is passing on a valuable tip, but at other times I feel the artist is simply telling me that their way is the only way and that simply is never the case.

I have been following a weekend online art course and listening to this landscape artist give tips on using photographs to assist in landscape painting. While I have picked up some interesting ideas, I do find myself sighing in annoyance as I feel the artist is coming down on other methods that do work for other artists. As an example, one student submitted a photo of an old 16th century stone building in the middle of this luscious green landscape and wanted to know how to manipulate the composition to produce an effective landscape painting. The instructor said he “wouldn’t paint this even if he was paid to” because the structure is too straight and straight lines bother the eyes. The problem I have with this answer is the implied denouncing of anything man-made in paintings. With his explanation, he is saying only nature is worth painting. Sorry but that is garbage because how many paintings have we seen that include man made structures that work well for the viewer? I have seen marvelous paintings of the Golden Gate Bridge, New York Skyline, and the Great Wall of China. How can this instructor allow his personal preference to pass as a “lesson?” I also have a problem with how he addressed the question. He essentially stepped on the student’s desire to paint something she loved. Not all paintings have to be done just to make money. This is a hobby before its a business.

So now I have learned to filter out the egos that many artists tend to dish out. I also find it hilarious when artists refer to themselves as “Masters.” I recently responded to an artist in a forum, who claimed he was a master artist, with some harsh but structured words. In essence I said a true master is not labeled as such until generations of artists, collectors, and academics have reviewed the works of the artist and determined the work to be exceptional. The overinflated sense of self this guy has will keep him from ever getting better because he thinks he can do no wrong. We have to identify and learn from mistakes to get better – he never will as I told him. I’ll spare you the rest of the flame war that ensued, but let’s just say I had more supporters that he did in that forum. Please oh please…leggo his ego.

Meanwhile on the easel, the next post should provide you with some information about my newest painting. I will also be talking about my next project and why I chose it.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled painting.

You learn a lot about subjects just by observing them. This is certainly true in painting and it is true about web design. While I was happy to get my website finally online last October, I knew when I put it online that it would require some maintenance and some creativity. With the exception of an annoying Internet Explore bug, don’t view my site in Internet Explorer, the site meets my minimum functional requirements: display the gallery, options to purchase works, and view my blog entries. While I will resolve the Explorer problem soon, I have turned my attention to the aesthetics of my website.

This past Christmas my wife gifted me a Bamboo Pen & Touch system. With this device I can sketch on my computer with a control level near that of a real pencil. I intend on using this pen for digital sketches and maybe even a full digital painting. However, for the moment, I plan on improving the look of my site with this pen. One thing I find when I view other websites is the clever use of color schemes, efficient layout of imagery, and the ease of navigation. I have gathered many ideas while surfing the web (does anyone still use that phrase?) and I’m now in the design stages of the next version of my site.

First, I plan on incorporating many videos into my site and thus I need a well laid out video page. When complete, you will be able to quickly select a video from my site as each video will have a brief description of the contents. I am also debating whether to trim the frame element from my existing video “My Bonny” because I think that as more videos are added to the page the extra graphics could look garish. Second, the image gallery is in need of some work. I have been teaching myself Flash and this gallery represents my first complete project in it. I would like to add a feature where the user can click on a painting and get an expanded or close-up view of that painting – right now the experience is limited to the size of your browser. Because there is no substitute for walking into a gallery and viewing actual paintings up close, the virtual gallery must be more flexible. Finally, the site is drenched in black with a green accent. This will probably change because I want to make the site warm and inviting to my viewers. The new color scheme is a work in progress.

As for the easel, the pirates painting is progressing as expected. I’ve been having some issues with rendering a likeness of a character, but other than that the work is progressing as normal; I‘m targeting completion by mid February. I have already begun planning for the next painting which you will see more of in the coming posts. Until then…..paint on!

It has been a productive week for me – artistically. I have been working hard on my latest project, which is a Pirates of the Caribbean theme, and I really like where it is going. Because this is another gift for someone, I will have to hold off on showing you some progression photos, but I will have those up when the painting is complete. I am also in the process of creating another short movie about creating this painting.

I have spent the last year or two educating myself on the various techniques of still-life and figurative painting. When I finally went back to a landscape painting last year (The Runoff), I was disappointed in the results. I felt that my landscape skills had stalled and I realized I needed to balance my skills better to accommodate the various aspects of my current projects. For example, my current project is a mixture of figurative, landscape, and portraiture work. If two of the elements appear strong, they will still be overwhelmed by a weak third element. As nice a face I might paint, if the tree is a formless blob then the viewers eyes will just focus on that. So I have been working hard on my landscape skills and I hope it shows in this next project.

I guess I figured I had achieved a sense of accomplishment with landscape works or perhaps I just got a little bored with landscapes – or both. I entered the oil painting realm with the desire to paint landscapes, but then I realized that there was so much more I could cover that I got lost in my explorations. I can now say that figurative works are my favorite. I love depicting people in scenes that tell stories, however I still have a great love for landscapes. It’s funny that my feelings on these genres are completely opposite of my favorite oil painter – Thomas Gainsborough.

Gainsborough (1727-1788), was from England and was a tremendous portrait and figure artist. Even if you think you have never heard his name, you are most likely familiar with his most famous work The Blue Boy. Not only could he convincingly render emotions in his faces, but he could bring out the fine details of the clothing his subjects were wearing. In the Blue Boy for example, I don’t think it’s the youthful skin tones he rendered, but the blue satin on the boy that makes this a classic. Light seems to pour off the canvas from his costume even without the bright gallery lighting. I’ve been fortunate enough to see this painting in person (it sits in San Marino at the Huntington Library) and I was in awe of it. The eyes of the boy seem to penetrate his viewers and leave you pondering why he appears so confident. The boy gives off such confidence that you might suspect he has just won something. The background is so understated that you don’t even notice it. It’s a very serene landscape with earth tones to complement the cool blue satin of the costume. The funny thing here is that Gainsborough actually didn’t like doing portraits. He only painted them out of financial necessity. Commissions for portraits came in constantly which gave him a comfortable living. In his early years however, he was trying to sell his real passion – landscapes. They didn’t sell well though, not because people thought they were substandard, but because oil portraits were the rage in those times. So he continued the portraits to make his living and it wasn’t until his later years, after he made his mark on portraiture, that he returned to his first love.

While my first love was landscapes, it has since shifted to rendering people. Since I don’t have to rely on my art sales exclusively; I don’t have to target my works at a particular audience. I certainly appreciate the various genres of oil painting as they have their own inherit challenges. In my mind, a good artist can specialize in one genre, but since many paintings include faces, still objects, animals, and landscape elements (sometimes all of these in one), it is important to be competent in all of these areas. That is my goal now and that is why I am working on my landscape skills.

See you next post.