In Progress

Here's a sneak peak of a new one I'm working on. The main reference is David's painting of Napoleon:

The composition is still on it's way....

Somehow Francis Bacon worked his way into my painting... Just a rough draft now, more to come.

Lighting a Fire

For those of you who've been following this blog, you know that early this year, I came off the road to domesticate yet again and get started on my portfolio for grad school application. The first few months I was home I didn't touch a paintbrush. A mix between being busy getting settled into my new place and laziness coupled with the thought that I had almost a year to complete 20 paintings resulted in me wasting a lot of time. Well now, my friends, I am feeling stressed. 6 paintings started. 1 completely done. 20 by winter. Yikes, indeed. I've started giving myself deadlines and disappointing friends by being antisocial. This week has been productive. And something that I have completely lost the feeling of, inspiration by a fellow artist, has come back into my life. Lighting a fire, so to speak.

I first heard of contemporary oil painter Luke Hillestad through a friend from high school. I looked at his work and was amazed by the way he evoked the classic masters of the medium but with a new, fresh dramatic light. I reached out to him (via Facebook) and he responded that day which really shocked me. A talented successful artist being open and willing to communicate with others?!?! No way! He mentioned a talk he was giving at the Vine Art Center about his time spent in Norway studying under Odd Nerdrum. I got to go, and boy was I happy I did. His paintings are beautiful online. But in person....they are much more emotional and lifelike. Much like my reaction when seeing my first Vermeer in person. I had always thought of Vermeer as incredibly talented, but a rough painter. However, in person, you literally are waiting for the subject to move off the canvas. Being so close to these masterful works was so inspiring. Please check out Luke's webpage and if you have the chance to see his work in person, I would highly suggest it. Such a local talent is hard to find!

Exit Through the Gift Shop

I recently caught a film at The Uptown Lagoon Theatre called Exit Through the Gift Shop. I had heard little about this film, only that it involved a very well known (and liked - by me) street artist known as Banksy. The film started out promising, showing a somewhat goofy and likable man, Theirry Guetta, who enjoyed nothing more in his life but filming. I won't give away the pace or events of the movie, but this love transforms into somewhat of an obsession. Through connections he gets to observe some of the most notorious street artists in the world.

If you're not familiar with the works of Shephard Fairey, as I was not, remember this image?

This is by far Fairey's most universally famous print. However, he's quite well known for his images of Andre the Giant and others plastered on buildings. Fairey, as well as most street artists, has taken a page out of the pop art book and made repetitious marks on the cities as trademarks and political statements. None have done so much "damage" as Banksy. His identity remains unknown to the authorities, which for him is quite a good thing. He appears quite a bit in the film, presenting hilarious commentary, however, you never do get to see his face. Banksy's art has always inspired and bothered people in his native UK because he's really not afraid to expose his opinion. Case and point:

This film was not only interesting because it showed the process of the street art - in some cases involving Disneyland security - but because it opened the discussion for what defines "art" quite poignantly. *See previous post on Jeff Koons for more opinions* As Banksy points out in the film, Andy Warhol repeated images to make them meaningless, when someone else copies Andy Warhol now....what would that mean? If nothing at all? Overall, it exposes the art world as being pretentious sheep who would never stop and ask themselves these questions. Does the viewing public even care at all?

Go see it : )

FINISHED - for now...

The Depot Tavern

I woke up this morning with the dream of watching excellent futbol with a Guinness in one hand and a fork in the other shoveling a Cornish pasty into my mouth. Unfortunately, more than just I had this dream. So when we came bounding expectingly at the door of Brit's Pub we were met by more than 100 people just lined up around the side of the building waiting to get in. Not wanting to wait in the rain for a very packed bar, we checked out the Local...then Newsroom...then Keirans. All were packed full to the brim with fans and non fans alike. We were hungry......SO hungry. Looking across the street, we noticed that the Depot Tavern, attached to First Ave, was finally open! The giant garage door was open, providing a rain-free, empty tabled haven to us weary travelers.

The service was quick, food was great, and viewing was fantastic. Because they'd only been open a couple days, the owner was giving out some samples so we got to try the delicious cheese curds....and oh my. Oh my. Cheese curds.... They have an afternoon deal, which I got, for a Leine's, burger or hot dog and fries for $9.95. The burger was big and delicious, fries were great, and a Leine's is always good. Then, free pints for every US goal! (Unfortunately we only got the 1 goal...) Other than the specials and free cheese curds, they do have quite the beer selection and everything on the menu looked fantastic. Case and point, Lindsay and her Diamond Dog. I'm pretty sure this was a hot dog wrapped in bacon inside a pretzel roll...

The game was great - as was the venue - overall a wonderful afternoon. Check out The Depot Tavern the next time you're in Downtown Minneapolis!

Paintings take a long time to finish...

I didn't realize how long I've been working on this piece until I saw the date on the last post. Yikes. At least I'm closer to done now:

This picture was taken 2 weeks ago, and although I have worked on it since then, it doesn't look that much different. The finished product will not have any more additions or subtractions, I've made all the decisions I need to make, now it's just perfection time.

The discussion of pricing art is always an awkward one. Do you want to price it what you think its worth? Based on how many hours it took to complete? How contemporary paintings are priced? Well if I wanted to make a certain dollar amount per hour...it would have to be in the hundreds of thousands...which would be pretty ridiculous (albeit wonderful) to realistically sell at. Maybe once I'm dead and gone? In all seriousness, I don't do it for the money (honestly) so the hundred or so hours I put into a painting is all about educating myself and perfecting something I love to do and want to see.

This piece is the first in the series that will *hopefully* get me into graduate school. 1 (almost) done, 19 to go :)

In Progress

This post is introducing a new integral part of my blog of works in progress. The process of making the art is almost more important to me than the finished product. In fact, after I've completed a piece, it's common for me to hate it for quite some time. I don't always have a plan for the exact look/composition of the piece, major decisions are made along the way. One of the major decisions is color choice. We see flesh color and think...hmm...some kind of tan with pink should work for a flesh color. But think about it. The color of blood is red/blue/purple. Then layers of skin which is not an intense pigment itself, but layers and layers of translucent material. When creating flesh on a painting, in order to achieve the depth and appropriate color/shading, I must use layers. With anything, clothing, sky, trees, etc, there has to be depth of color. For me, using color out of the tube is never appropriate. Black is never just black, there is another tint to it.

The above image is a painting I just started. The concept might be a little too heavy, but I'll do a separate post about that : ) This is just to show the process of layering. I mix a "flesh" color and place it on the canvas where I think the body will go. Then I create the undertone, because that first color I mix will not be deep enough to pass off as skin, and go over the area of skin. For this painting I decided to go predominately violet for the shadows of skin, so that's where I start. Then I add white mixed with turpentine so that it's almost like layers of translucent skin on top. Also, notice that the dress is black, but there are other colors in it too, right? A little green, a little violet. This doesn't let the object get too flat and cartoon-like. More to come as this layer dries and I add another : )