Finally got the nerve to beard the man…….

Actually, I painted the beard on the man…..but since I did it boldly…..then I guess I also bearded the man. Too much ridiculous wordplay for you? Me? I can never get enough of that stuff……

The Jackman was the inspiration for my Man….but I’m trying not to paint him exactly alike. Inspired by….but not duplicated. However, if you could replicate Hugh Jackman…..well, I’d certainly order one.

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And yes….I do have a lot of my artwork hanging in my house. My studio is in my home (or vice versa) ….so there’s nowhere else to put it. I got tired of paintings leaning up against a wall in the extra bedroom…so one day I just went crazy and started hanging them everywhere.

My guest bathroom alone has four of my Cincinnati paintings in it and two prints by other local artists. I love living with artwork hanging everywhere……but I’m running out of wall space…..so maybe you could help me out and buy a few pieces!!! ha

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Mainly it’s the frame around The Whistler painting done by Frank Duveneck which was giving me fits…..Funny….it doesn’t look so bad in this photo….but close-up it was dreadful…..especially the scalloped edges.

So I laid it on the floor….put a book under the canvas….and very carefully took a razor blade to it. No, I didn’t cut it to shreds….instead I carefully shaved off the layers of paint where I’d tried to build up the shape of the outer edge of the frame. I could have used sandpaper…but thought a razor would be more precise…..and less messy.

Next I measured once measured twice…..and very carefully laid down strips of blue painters tape. Notice how crooked the outer edge of the frame was painted…..and I measured a lot more than twice while I was painting. Makes me think I should use painter’s taper more often….at least when I want a straight line.

The I propped an empty picture frame up next to my easel and proceeded to try to duplicate it on canvas.

The new frame definitely looks more realistic. What I hadn’t realized is that I painted the details in the frame in the painting the exact same size as the one I was using as a reference. Oh well….frames in art museums tend to be very large. After doing this it dawned on me this would have been the perfect time to do an under-painting in values of Burnt Umber+White. Then I could have just glazed over it with Gold paint. Oh well…..maybe next time…..

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The problem with this painting is that….everything turned out to be either blue or orange…and the figures (especially the mother) don’t stand out enough from the painting in the background. Now typically….you could change the background slightly so that the figure stands out from it…..but you can’t really do that with well know masterpieces….

If I wanted to paint someone standing in front of the Mona Lisa……and I decided to reverse the painting to make it fit my composition better…..well, you’d probably notice that I’d reversed Michelangelo’s greatest masterpiece……you did notice that…..didn’t you???

I decided to re-paint the girl’s dress using a light Turquoise….just to shift the color slightly away from Blue. And I also glazed the yellow polka dots with Lemon Yellow.

Then….I felt like the yellow polka dots were too medium in tone….so I lightened them with Lemon Yellow and White. Yeah, it’s just one change after another…..

Then….once again I lightened the dress adding more White to the Turquoise. I had also tried glazing Lemon Yellow onto her hair to make it brighter….but it just looked too brassy. Repainted it using Naples Yellow+ White+Yellow Ocher. I also completely repainted the girl’s skin tones…..they didn’t look soft enough for a little girl. This time I mixed up values of Naples Yellow+Alizarin Crimson+White which makes a very soft rosy skin tone.

At this point I’ve glazed the mother’s hair with Lemon Yellow (for some reason it didn’t look so brassy on her) and changed the jacket color to Turquoise…want it to match the young girl’s dress. What all of this has made me realize is……I can’t paint very well small. Couldn’t paint 16×20″ canvases….and can’t paint 24×30″ canvases either. After I touch up the three paintings I’m currently working on……I’m returning to painting Life sized figures.

Was multi-tasking the other night….laying on the couch while Tom massaged my feet (yes, I’m spoiled)….watching tv…and leafing through a Vogue magazine to find an outfit inspiration…no, not for me…for the woman in my painting. Love these large collared jackets……would love to own one…but at least I can paint one….

Changed the look into a vest because I wanted to have white sleeves. Decided on RED to liven things up….but now I have to make sure there is red elsewhere in the painting to balance it out.

Okay, went with red & black shoes…but still need to bring red into the man’s outfit somehow. This photo is supposed to show how splotchy the floor ended up….because I was using too small of a paint brush. I know that you should always use the largest brush possible (or so I’ve been told) until the final detail touches. …but I keep using small ones.

Painted the entire floor with a #8 Flat…it’s probably 3/8 inch wide. The middle brush is about 1″ wide….but it was too flexible…couldn’t get the right stroke. Ended up using …what to me….is a HUGE brush about 1.75″ wide…it was nice and stiff and really moved the paint around.

The floor definitely looks better for having used the larger brush…there are definite stoke lines now….however…..

I definitely have Floor Envy…this is Karin Jurick’s painting titled Trainspotting. Look at that floor! Her application of paint is amazing…I definitely blend too much. I love painting faces…but hate painting floors.

And this is the painting at the end of today’s session…see what I mean about needing to add the color red elsewhere on the canvas? I’ve noticed that most of my Museum Series paintings are ending up mostly Burnt Sienna/Raw Sienna and Blue……want to add brighter colors…but how? Maybe I should just paint the museum walls RED….hmmm….not a bad idea. Play with reality.

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Then I started wondering….how did someone who lives in New York City and writes a Chilean magazine happen to find my painting online? Well……it turns out that if you type the words “Blind Date” into Google search engine and click on images……my painting is the first image that comes up. Funny, huh? It didn’t come up at all when I typed “Blind Date” into MSN image search…or if it did come up then it was pages and pages after I stopped looking.

And so that’s how my painting ended up gracing the pages of an online magazine about Chile and Chileans….and apparently Blind Dates between Chileans. Small world, eh?

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Worked on the frame and the floor. Usually I paint the floor all at once…and things seem to blend together. This time I painted the darker bottom section on one day….let it dry and painted in the Lighter section on Sunday. Hoping that I can sorta glaze medium all over it and tie it together.

This is what the frame is supposed to look like….even though I took a close-up shot and had a 300 dpi shot to use as an example….it’s still difficult to figure out the intricate detail of the ornate swirly things (wish I had better vocabulary words….but I’m tired and swirly things is the best I could come up with!). Couldn’t find any photos online that included the frame.

I’ve tried working on the ornate swirly things at three different painting sessions….drove myself nuts. Decided to do a repeating pattern instead….I think if I paint wet-into-wet and don’t make the edges of the pattern so sharp….maybe it will turn out okay. Hopefully it will turn out okay…..

How does the rest of the world balance this work+ exercise+ family+ creative time ??????? I guess I’ve been spoiled by not having a job….and truthfully not exercising much the last many years. All I’ve had to worry about for a long time is painting and spending time with family. Didn’t realize how luck I was before……

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So far this week I’ve struggled through learning lots of new computer programs….with no one to teach me the basics. Their website and blog use a program called Joomla…which none of my computer guru friends have even heard of. It’s a program that people use to actually build websites from scratch….it has all the bells and whistles….and I can’t get any of them to work yet.

This is me….after only three days. The position is only supposed to be 20 hours/week….we’ll see. I haven’t had time to pick up a paint brush all this week. Hopefully I can get everything learned and organized and still find time to be a part-time Executive Director and a full-time artist. Twenty hours as E.D. and 40 hours as an artist is manageable….right? RIGHT?????

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Okay…it looks dreadful at the moment….but I started painting and then decided to completely change the faces. Can’t remember which famous artist said this….but it goes something like this….You’re not really an artist until you know exactly what you’re going to paint before you get started. Guess I’m not a real artist then…because I have an idea…then it changes once I start putting it on canvas.

This is the third face which I painted on the female figure…..the first two photo references just didn’t look right….so I went to one of my favorite sources…..Vogue magazine…and started looking for faces.

Found this ad featuring actress Emma Stone in Vogue…so I reversed it and changed the hairstyle….I think it works better. Found this fabulous photo of Hugh Jackman (aka Wolverine) online….I’m going to use this as a reference for the man’s face…but I’ll have to change the direction the eyes are looking in….and of course, the hair. Really now….who but Hugh Jackman has that fabulous hair? Wonder how long it takes his stylist to do it?

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This is the second painting I did in my Art Museum Series…….it’s 16×20″ and after doing three paintings that size….I realized that I just can’t paint very well that small. Yes, I’m admitting that I’m not perfect……ha! Like you didn’t already know that……

I thought that the basic idea of having the painting whistle at a good looking woman….well, I thought that idea was good enough to deserve some rethinking. The actual painting titled The Whistler was painted by our very own local boy…..Frank Duveneck (1848-1910). He was born in Covington, Kentucky and did not become really famous in Cincinnati until he first because famous in Europe. Hey – that’s a good idea….maybe I should move to Europe and then Cincinnatians would start buying my paintings! Paris….here I come…..

The male figure I found on www.123rf.com which is a stock photo website which allows you to download jpegs for free….with their watermark on them. I like the pose and think I can change it significantly that I won’t be accused of plagiarism…or whatever it’s called when you use a photo for reference. The female figure I saw in a newspaper ad….I can’t seem to get models to pose right when they’re walking….or perhaps I’m just not that good of a photographer.

Went looking for photos of faces to use as reference….found a great one of actress Amanda Seyfried (born 1985 and starred in Red Riding Hood.) Her face is actually too beautiful…those eyes are so large….actually I have a niece with eyes that large…would probably look fake if I tried to paint them. I’ve been saving this photo I took of Valerie Abati…that’s such a great look on her face that I want to make sure I use it in the right painting. I’ve already used Yukio Nara in several of my paintings…..so don’t know if I should use this photo of him.

When I do a photo shoot with someone….I end up taking 100′s of photos….so I could probably use the same model’s faces for the rest of my life….I could just tell everyone that I have favorite models I like to work with. Do you think anyone would ever notice that their faces never age? Now I just need to find someone with beautiful hands…when I use mine as a reference they tend to look too old…..

And tomorrow I start painting…..

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