Sakura – giclee
this is one of the giclees i received over the weekend but just stretched yesterday. the original painting is 6 x 12 inches, but this piece is 8 x 15. i touched up and enhanced it a bit with the skills i’ve learned since the original was created [minor tricks, really, having to do with shadow and light and anatomy ... that i'm still learning]. some things i couldn’t really fix without having to redo the entire thing, so i did what i could and am particularly pleased. the only thing left at this point is the fresh application of gold leaf then a little clean up work round the edges.
i also did a bit more work on “Eva”. i realized that i work better with the white laid out first and then working around it in payne’s gray. so i had to put away the dark and lay down the bones of white instead. the tough part is waiting for paint to dry when you’re ready to jump into something. hopefully it’ll be dry enough to work with tonight.
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in progress : eva
20 x 24 inches
medium: oil, paper, wax, webbing, ink, acrylic, dye, tissue
since leaving LJ, i’ve had a hard time updating with works in progress. it was easier then, i suppose. at any rate, i ran across the work of irina ionesco and fell in love. thing is, i started this background to cover up a painting i had started and was not pleased at the direction it had taken [i know i've said "work with what you have", but sometimes, you paint yourself into a corner and the only option you have is tramp across the wet floor with all your might and say "let's try that again". it's not the first time i've scrapped a painting in this manner.] JIMI was created the very same way. and in the same vein, i used tissue, spray, wax and other assortments to create this very colorful background. the problem was “what to put on top of it.” that is where irina’s controversial work comes in. created in the 1970’s, irina’s work has a very turn of the century feel, it was hard for me to place it at first, it seemed that authentic. the controversy lies in one of her best models …. her very young daughter, who was used in an assortment of tasteful, albeit questionably erotic, photographs. it is evident when seeing eva why the images were so successful. she was very beautiful and a great subject. the photo i chose is not one of the questionable ones, although having her pose with what seems to be a corpse’s veiled face lends a bit of surreality to the piece. all the better, i say. with a bit of a victorian edge to it, the photo is a great addition to what i’m trying to recreate with this wonderful background. i hope i succeed.
in progress:
the canvas
a detail of the paper collage
first markings in ink and titanium white
today
i had the day off today. i started it by putting a tongue in the crockpot with some celery, garlic, carrots, onion, seasalt and a can of mexican rotel. a nice way to start off a day off … putting food to cook for hours while you go do your thing. it just so happens it was the day my commission canvas arrived at my place of business. heh. i arranged to have it delivered there since i didn’t want to miss it delivered at home or having it exposed to the weather. julian and i drove into the city and picked it up. we had lunch at Nippon and then drove around Rice and Rice Village. we headed toward home, dropped off the “canvas”, and headed over to Baybrook Mall where we window shopped. [i was a bit disappointed that the supposed "sale" Macy's was having actually jacked up the prices i saw just two days ago and were offering 10% off in addition to the "sale". and software i was pricing out online was at least ten dollars higher at the apple store. guh.]
we decided to take in a movie so we stopped at the AMC and saw Semi-Pro. funny, but as most of Farrell’s movies are, they don’t know when to stop [sometimes a joke does run too long]. has Woody Harrelson been working out? he looks fantastic.
came home, the house smelled wonderful after having the crockpot cooking all day. the lengua is so tender and falling apart. opened up the “canvas” box [i've been commissioned to paint a guitar!] also took a picture of where i am in the small gessoboard painting.
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Now playing: Boards of Canada – Slow This Bird Down
via FoxyTunes
work in progress : cathleen
5 x 7 ink on gessoboard, to be painted in oil
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Now playing: Paul Simon – Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
via FoxyTunes
