Still-Life With a Tea Pot (June 30, 2011)

"Separated" (In progress, detail), Oil on Canvas, 2011

I've finally settled on a title for this painting. The concept was in place from the beginning but I was searching for a title that would be the most explanatory without being too obvious. Don't mind the lighting, the tea pot is not painted as light in person. Things are moving along and I'm about halfway finished. The hardest parts are the metal container and just turning those edges on the tea pot, which I haven't done yet. The only object that's basically done is the metal lid, everything else needs more layers and revision. So far so good though...

OAA Annual Juried Art Show (Thursday, June 16th, 2011)

"Laura Horseman" (2011) and "Ruins" (2011, Honourable Mention)

I've participated in this annual juried show for a few years and it's gotten better and better. The work was truly exceptional and I was lucky to be apart of it. I really wouldn't want to judge that collection of work! My recent still life drawing received an Honourable Mention, which is always nice. There are still a couple of competitions I want to enter this year so I better get cracking!

I just became a member of the Portrait Society of Canada, and I'm planning a portrait painting to enter into their annual competition later this year.

Still-Life With a Tea Pot

Here's the first layer of paint for my latest still-life (detail). You can see the dead colour layer as well. I feel myself making a lot of progress with technique, and that's really making this much more enjoyable than previous paintings.

"Ruins" (Final Photo)

Ruins

Charcoal, Graphite and White Chalk on Tinted Paper

11"x7" (2011)

Still-Life Drawing: Finished! (April 14, 2011)

(click to enlarge for better quality)

It's done! I am getting this photographed tomorrow so hopefully that goes well. I prefer taking photos in daylight so maybe tomorrow morning I'll post a better picture. As you can see I'm preparing my board for travel and there better not be any smudges when I take the board out tomorrow, lol, or I'm going to cry!

Still-Life Drawing: Stage 2 (April 6, 2011)

I'm racing to get this done by the end of the month and being new to using white chalk so extensively in a drawing, I'm a little worried. But I'm actually having lots of fun! There's nothing like creating light with white chalk on tinted paper. It's feeling very intuitive right now, which is great. No wonder so many artists love this process!

Still-Life Drawing: Stage 1 (April 2, 2011)

I just started this today but I've been planning it for awhile. I broke a beautiful container a couple years ago that I was previously thinking about using in a painting. The funny thing is I was more inspired to use it after I accidentally broke it. It looked much more intriguing and I had a great opportunity to do something conceptual with it.

Once I set up the broken pieces, they reminded me of ancient ruins and they have a beauty that didn't exist when the container was intact. So that's what I'll call this drawing; "Ruins".

It will be on tinted paper but I want to incorporate white chalk, which is why I didn't start straight on the "good paper". I'll be using white chalk a little more than I'm used to and I don't know how it'll turn out. That's why its good for me to have a cartoon or blueprint (if you will) so if anything goes terribly wrong, I don't have to start from scratch.

I'm still a little unsure about the composition. I'll take another look at it tomorrow but I might just end up moving one of those little broken pieces around...

Drawing In Progress: Finished!

Laura Horseman, Graphite on Tinted Paper, 9.5"x12", 2011

She's finally finished and I'm so glad! I've also decided to add my new signature, which is the monogram I already use for my stationery. I think it's much better than my old signature, it's much more polished. Thanks for following and sorry about the graphite glare.

Inspiring Imagery from the Entertainment Industry

Just last year I was enjoying the music one of my favourite bands, Sade, when I noticed how incredibly beautiful their album cover was. The album is Soldier Of Love (2010) and on the cover is the lead singer Helen Folasade Adu and I could have swore this was a painting. I was immediately trying to think of who could have painted it and thinking I wish I did it myself! To me it’s clearly influenced by painting but it turns out it’s a photograph/Photoshop as usual. I think it’s interesting that it’s not the usual photograph with the band’s name on it and there is an attempt to evoke a very sophisticated painterly quality. There are numerous other artistic album covers but this one grabbed me because it looks to me like a contemporary realist painting.

Then yesterday I came across this movie poster for The Other Woman (2010) starring Natalie Portman and there she is but, again, not in the usual way. Are illustrators making a comeback in the movie poster business? It could have been the usual photo collage with the title on it but this appears to be a hybrid of a hand drawing with digital elements with the intent to appear mostly as a drawing. I think it’s really well done and it got me thinking that these types of images in entertainment could be helping contemporary realism right now. Granted it’s not painting but it’s a shift from just photos and text back to art. And again, there were always the occasional artsy posters but this one is clearly influenced by contemporary realist art.

I'm not sure this is a trend but I hope it is.