Painting flesh
Artists find painting people and portraits difficult. Even artists who can paint complicated landscapes without too much difficulty stumble when they attempt people. Why? Part of the answer is the…
Study: Making ‘The Call’ Part 4
OK, so where are we now? The under-painting is done and the finishing work is started. To recap, my process is divided into several stages: Design/Drawing: I draw the deign…
Thumbs-up: Neel, Thumbs-up (also): Pearlstein
By happenstance or cunning plan, The Cleveland Museum of Art has two large paintings hanging next to each other by artists of whom I am fond– Alice Neel and Philip…
Study: Making ‘The Call’ Part 2
This is the first update for the study about making the painting titled The Call. In the first post, the drawing was finalized and a neutral ground applied to the…
Woodshop by the lake
I use my small backyard shed as my woodshop. I would rather do my carpentry in that cramped space than have the sawdust from my table saw in the studio.…
Studio mess
As this photograph demonstrates, I need more studio space. Not shown are the larger–5′ x 6′– paintings that are precariously stacked on one another. My separate storage area is overflowing…
Dark clouds gather in Ukraine
Since I wrote about my fears of a US-encouraged war between Russia and Ukraine, the news has gotten darker, Russia sent troops to the Russian-Ukraine border. Many are now echoing…
Titanium white
In the past, I trolled titanium white users–zinc white users too. These whites, inferior as they are, provide the only competition for the champion of oil-paint white, lead white. Actually,…