Saturday, February 14, 2009
Patricia and I went back to the Plastics Club today to see what response they've had on their Small Worlds Exhibition. I wanted to see just what kind of paintings/photos/collages/constructions people actually will pay money to own.
Well, the Curator met us with a long face and talked about the state of the economy and how, as a result, nobody is buying art these days. Of the 182 items in the exhibition, red sales stickers were on THREE - two miniatures (about 2" x 3") listed at $20 and $150, and one larger painting listed at $300. I guess amateur artists just aren't going to get rich on sales of their works this year. Pity.
I have been really struggling with Walt Whitman - or, the Thomas Eakins version of him. But at long last I've had a breakthrough. I knew that I'd painted the background a bit too black, but thought it was "close enough" - see the photo from my last post. But I finally bit the bullet and changed the background to dark brown, and also darkened his jacket to match Eakins' portrait. As Ted Xaras tells us repeatedly: "Make just one change in a painting, and it will change EVERYTHING." So with that background change I suddenly had to pull that background brown into his hair and beard, then because of that I had to reconfigure the highlights in his face. Everything pops now, and it really looks pretty good! FINALLY!!!!
This also confirms Ted's admonition to NEVER go for something that is "good enough." Always go for hitting the ball out of the ballpark, nothing less.
I don't yet have a photo of what Walt looks like now, but will post that soon enough.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
The Plastics Club is running an Exhibition, called "Small World" - the max size of entries is 16" in any dimension. They accepted 180 submissions, and that includes two of mine. Clearly they were not being too selective, but I wanted to see how my work stands up in an exhibition like this. The opening was today so Patricia and I took it in, and I think my work is quite OK in there - nothing I need to apologize for at all.
I'm continuing to work at copying Walt Whitman from the original Thomas Eakins portrait in the PAFA Museum. It has turned out to be quite difficult. Eakins' painting is done expertly but very loosely, and I have been trying to copy it precisely. Trying to precisely copy looseness doesn't work. The last few times I've been there I've been much looser too - out of desperation and frustration - and that has actually helped a great deal. My teacher, Ted Xaras, graciously offered to help me, in the Museum on Thursday. I think after that I will be about ready to call it quits on this painting. As it stands now, comparing my copy to the original:
Meanwhile, I'm developing a painting that began with a sketch I did over a month ago. I was riding a Greyhound bus fron Annapolis at night, and like the view of the guy sleeping in the seat across from me, with everything all dark and gloomy. My idea was to use this sketch to recreate the scene, with the dark blues and shadows of the bus interior at night, and the guy silhouetted against the window. I actually went back to the Greyhound Station in Phila to photograph the inside of a bus to help get things right. Then I had to concoct some kind of background that would be logical to see from the window of a night bus. That part of it is still an ongoing project.
The original sketch, from December 5:
I tried this out in a watercolor study. I think the results are rather interesting, although it is the reverse of what I intend for the oil painting: in the watercolor the outside scene is bright while the bus and the guy a complete silhouettes. In the oil, my intention is for the bus interior to be brighter and sharper than what is outside of the window. I've also been playing with ideas to indicate that the bus is in motion - tough to do in a painting, but stay tuned...
The watercolor study turned out like this:
