For years I have been intimidated by the human face and figure so as i began work looking for a new topic to paint--what the heck--i decided to go after my biggest fear. And i am having fun with the challenges of technique and composition. i am using my friends from the local watering hole--Prima Bistro--in Langley WA as resource material and guinea pigs. And i certainly apologize for making them fatter, ugly and generally not themselves. i am relying a lot on three painters for guidance: Charles Reid (of course), Mel Stabin and Ted Nuttal; mostly Reid and Stabin for their expressiveness--Reid for his deliberate yet impressionist style and for Stabin for his faster painting energy. Their impressionist approach fascinates me and inspires my work as i seek to be less tight and more fluid as i learn the techniques of painting the human form. the challenges of subtle lighting on the faces etc. is a real learning process for me and i now know will impact all of my painting no matter what the subject.
I have a show coming up at the Prima in Langley for April, May and June 2015 that hopefully will be exciting and fun with seven to nine large works. Stop by on First Saturday and have a glass of wine.
i have included a couple here and will add more as i progress over the next two weeks. The first painting is "Too Spicy?" of Red and Lucas at the Prima. the Second painting is "A Ferry Sunny Day", actually a selfie with Wendy Freitag on board the Alaska ferry the Matanuska in the Inside Passage some years back. i wanted to focus on the light and brightness of the day so i spent most of the energy on shadow shapes in mid-value range with a simple blue/orange color complement. Hope you like it.
