Impressionist portraits

These are a series of portraits I have done predominately of people I know and am familiar with. When the markets and economy as whole plunged in 2008, I faced a diminishing market, to be polite. Portraits have always been a specific work driven form at best in the 2000s’ Should I adapt - how? should i become campy and trendy? Just not my way.


I simply started painting smaller - 8 x 10 in (20.32 x 25.4 cm) for my own state of mind practice and to keep working. No expectations, just friends and acquaintances I would take pictures with my iPhoto and if they were of interest I would paint them in a rather expressionist method. This for me is several steps away from a “formal” portrait where the colors a muted, the transitions are subtle and the focus is specific to that portrait. I have come to enjoy these greatly - example of the portrait dating back to the Venus of Willendorf forward includes many exaggerations of the human body that have enticed and has esthetically pleased people from the beginning of time. It would not be true to say that I don’t treasure the realism achieved by master artists because I seek them out as mentors of what is.

These are some of my pieces which may have saved my life.

-Gil

Ian

Ian insisted in taking his hair down from the more ‘business-like’ ponytail and this is how I painted his portrait. Whether it is coding, origami or music, Ian excels. He has simply a fascinating and broad curiosity and intelligence which could be quite intimidating. What comes through for me is his humor, skill and love of family. My honor to be able to be allowed paint him.

synchronization

It's neat to successfully capture the recognizable image of another person - or animal for that matter. This is a portrait of another kind, it still a portrait - just a little different. We all know the standard measurements to a face, adult, child, male, female. As you look into a glass a broken glass or type carnival mirror there is still a face, a portrait. We have at times seen contorted and grill'in and perplexed , happy, sad delirious faces. All I think portraits that are worthy of capturing, maybe more-so.
So... watch the birdie ... smile!

What good are old phonebooks?

For me they are a resource, no please don’t send me your phonebooks, let me explain.

When painting in oil, I will often use two brushes of the same basic tone/color, such as a flesh or facial color. One is for the lighter mix and the other is for the darker mix. From these two I can use the same brush to paint a range using light without having to clean my brush constantly. What’s the phonebook for - call a shrink? Calm down - I’m getting to the point here.

The phonebook is for wiping off paint from my brush prior to selecting or mixing a slight variation to my “light” mix. Works very well for me and I just flip the page for another clean page - excellent! When I feel that the brush might be getting “muddy” I then wash it in solvent, walnut oil or some such, then use the phonebook again to take most of the pigment and solvent off and away I go. A time saver, I like that.

Stevie

I'm continuing to do portraits of people at work; with students - and just about anyone else I can capture on the iPhone and then paint them in a 8 x 10 format.


It just keeps me busy between other paintings that I have going, and I think that they will make an interesting collage when I put them together. Portraiture is always about the individual, I want to make these works about the shared attributes.


I'm assured that her name is based on Stevie Nicks just to put that question to rest. 
Stevie is a person that I work with at Florida Tech.
If you send me a picture I might paint you too. Please send digital pictures to my e-mail : gec@mac.com

Brush Recovery

This doesn't happen very often. However sometimes I am really eager to clean up after a painting session. There i am - I've left my brushes in a container and inevitably at the bottom the bristles are distorted into various shapes that they were never intended. Total loss?

Not hardly. In order to recover this brush what I use a brush aid called Brush Shaper by Mona Lisa. I have no connection with Mona Lisa whatsoever.

From here I clean the brush as I normally would, dip the brush in the brush shaper and then reshape the brush as best I can. I just want all of the hairs together, if the general shape is still twisted - that's ok - the next step deals with  that.

To correct ant twisting or bending I then put it into my paper clamp and in this case use the unprinted side of a business card in order to reshape the brush back to useable. This procedure seems to work out extremely well for me. Save that brush - it wasn't the brushes' fault!

Revisiting the Portrait

Dana Messier
Portraiture is a staple of people for as long as there has been history. There are formal, mood, sexy, work, family - the list goes on. These are character renderings at a basic level.

How do I Paint?

Sounds like a setup for a joke - and sometimes it is. However, I am asked by other artists and I answer this way…
I am a curious person and like the challenge of something new. I enjoy painting alla prima - all in one session.  Wet-in-wet, three hours max, as in a studio session. Summer is a slow - read pretty much non-existent time for group studios. I also paint, think about it, let it dry, go on to another painting or what ever; come back and paint more. In this case, I have been brushing on walnut oil so that the surface is wet and I can work my pigments back in that way. Seems to work well, so I don’t often use retouch varnish or a mixture. Bonus; walnut oil is eatable! It also does a decent job of cleaning brushes - I just don’t eat it after I do. The pure walnut oil that is strained I can purchase from the art store, or I can get a nice large container from the nearby health food store. Like I said - its eatable.

'Beauty and the Beast' 14x18" oil/canvas

I still have some minor changes that I want to make - however, I am basically pleased with this piece, and I am ready to move on to the next. The name: 'Beauty and the Beast' and the figure pose I wanted to invoke (lead) the topic to - well for me a 'King Kong' type pose along with the theme of that story. Not exactly new, but it works for me. What maybe you expected symbols such as horses or apples or ...? Maybe I could name or sub-title this 'extraordinary lengths to acquire perceived beauty'. I think I will leave it as is.