Sunday, July 26, 2009
Submissions Are Due Soon
Busy time. I’m still working through the problems in my Luna construction. That’s due mid-August, for Philadelphia’s Art in City Hall exhibition. But for a week in early August I’ll be in Seattle for a Peace Corps reunion and catching up with Ellen. Doesn't leave a whole lot of time.
Today I finished framing three paintings for another juried exhibition, MINIATURES. Submissions also due mid-August, for the Philadelphia Sketch Club. This one is open to any 2-dimensional medium, for images no larger than 5”x7”, framed to 8”x10” and with glass or plexiglass. Seems weird and undesirable to put oil paintings under glass, but if that’s what they want....
On top of that, Gamblin Paints has an interesting annual exhibition/competition going on that I would like to enter. But the deadline, again, is mid-August and I don’t think I can get it together for this time around.
I’ve learned that the quality of the frames is important, so put more care and effort in making the frames this time for the MINIATURES. There is a space of about 1/2” between the mats and the paintings, and this gives an enticing suggestion that there is more to the paintings than is being shown. (Of course that IS the case, in fact.)
The paintings, before and after framing:
Susan and Naomi, orig. 8"x10" - Alla Prima oil on board
Cropping the size helps this painting a great deal, for a change. Gets rid of all that gray background, and seems to heighten the relationship between the two girls. Does good things to the composition, too..
Meanwhile, I am also taking a short course on Color Field Painting from Kassem Amoudi at the Main Line Art Center. Amoudi teaches there and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. I didn’t think I wanted anything to do with abstract art, but the beauty of Elizabeth Osborne’s work changed that. Now this workshop is opening my eyes to how much of even realistic paintings are truly abstract, in ways I hadn’t realized before. This is giving me new ways to think about how to paint. Right now, if I could, I would like to meld the techniques of Matisse (his figurative work), Alice Neel, Elizabeth Osborne, and Tom Wasserman. Wow!
This week’s homework from Amoudi was to choose an abstract painting and copy it. I chose Clyfford Still’s 1957-D#1. I makes me realize the importance of scale. His painting is 9ft x 13ft, and just the power of the size gives it a whole different feel than my 17”x24” copy. And, like my copy of Tomas Eakin’s portrait of Walt Whitman, how impossible it is to meticulously copy something that was done loosely and quickly. The goal has to be to capture the feel of the painting - if you are lucky enough:
I haven’t posted anything from the Capturing Hands and Feet course I just finished, with Neil di Sabito. I did get a lot from it, and feel much more secure dealing with those appendages that most artists seem to prefer to neglect. Here a couple of drawings from late in the course:
All: Pencil on Drawing Paper, 18"x24"
Today I finished framing three paintings for another juried exhibition, MINIATURES. Submissions also due mid-August, for the Philadelphia Sketch Club. This one is open to any 2-dimensional medium, for images no larger than 5”x7”, framed to 8”x10” and with glass or plexiglass. Seems weird and undesirable to put oil paintings under glass, but if that’s what they want....
On top of that, Gamblin Paints has an interesting annual exhibition/competition going on that I would like to enter. But the deadline, again, is mid-August and I don’t think I can get it together for this time around.
I’ve learned that the quality of the frames is important, so put more care and effort in making the frames this time for the MINIATURES. There is a space of about 1/2” between the mats and the paintings, and this gives an enticing suggestion that there is more to the paintings than is being shown. (Of course that IS the case, in fact.)
The paintings, before and after framing:
Coffeehouse #1, orig. 5.5"x8" - Alla Prima oil on foamboard
This was my first painting on-site in a coffeehouse. I was really nervous, so painted someone who had her back to me. There is a nice feel to the painting, though. Unfortunately, cropping for the frame makes her look pinched and closed-in. And you lose the value of that cup beside her on the left. Oh well.
This was my first painting on-site in a coffeehouse. I was really nervous, so painted someone who had her back to me. There is a nice feel to the painting, though. Unfortunately, cropping for the frame makes her look pinched and closed-in. And you lose the value of that cup beside her on the left. Oh well.
Imagined, orig. 5.5"x8" - oil on foamboard
Cropping this picture hurt it. It loses some of that red scallop on the left, and the curve of her neckline is incomplete. Too bad! Note: The color change is caused by shooting the original in daylight and the framed version by tungsten light. You see that in all three framed paintings here.
Cropping this picture hurt it. It loses some of that red scallop on the left, and the curve of her neckline is incomplete. Too bad! Note: The color change is caused by shooting the original in daylight and the framed version by tungsten light. You see that in all three framed paintings here.
Susan and Naomi, orig. 8"x10" - Alla Prima oil on board
Cropping the size helps this painting a great deal, for a change. Gets rid of all that gray background, and seems to heighten the relationship between the two girls. Does good things to the composition, too..
Meanwhile, I am also taking a short course on Color Field Painting from Kassem Amoudi at the Main Line Art Center. Amoudi teaches there and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. I didn’t think I wanted anything to do with abstract art, but the beauty of Elizabeth Osborne’s work changed that. Now this workshop is opening my eyes to how much of even realistic paintings are truly abstract, in ways I hadn’t realized before. This is giving me new ways to think about how to paint. Right now, if I could, I would like to meld the techniques of Matisse (his figurative work), Alice Neel, Elizabeth Osborne, and Tom Wasserman. Wow!
This week’s homework from Amoudi was to choose an abstract painting and copy it. I chose Clyfford Still’s 1957-D#1. I makes me realize the importance of scale. His painting is 9ft x 13ft, and just the power of the size gives it a whole different feel than my 17”x24” copy. And, like my copy of Tomas Eakin’s portrait of Walt Whitman, how impossible it is to meticulously copy something that was done loosely and quickly. The goal has to be to capture the feel of the painting - if you are lucky enough:
1957-D#1 after Clyfford Still (original approx. 9'x13')
Acrylic on canvasboard, 17"x24"
Acrylic on canvasboard, 17"x24"
I haven’t posted anything from the Capturing Hands and Feet course I just finished, with Neil di Sabito. I did get a lot from it, and feel much more secure dealing with those appendages that most artists seem to prefer to neglect. Here a couple of drawings from late in the course:
All: Pencil on Drawing Paper, 18"x24"
