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!

My Best Friend

I have known Stewart my entire life and I am old. We grew up in the same neighborhood of Bethesda Maryland when Washington D.C. was a 'small' town - hard to believe now. People knew each other and regardless of political party our parents had sincere discussions and partied together always and had great respect and intermingled without issue. How times have changed, they would not recognize the situation. Regardless Stewart and I have remained friends throughout the years and have grown together regardless of the changes. This is a salute to my BEST friend - Stewart. I cannot properly express my dependance nor love that I owe this human being.

Mahatma Gandhi

This is a continuing series of people that I am interested in. Gandhi, like Lincoln and all others was very human with issues that they dealt with in their own ways. For me, the sum of their achievements far surpasses the failings that scrutiny can uncover. So, Gandhi is another person that gives me hope for the future of human kind. His influence continues through the generations and that is why I have tried to capture some of the mystery, the man that was Gandhi...


A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
~Gandhi

Ruth Bell

Well I'm continuing to paint people. This one is my mother-in-law, Ruth. I'll add to this post later.

Joan

I have the extreme pleasure of working with some of the most talented and intelligent people. One them is Joan, as sensitive bright, soft-spoken a women as I have ever known.

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.

Grill’n

I find little use for painting if I don’t occasionally add what I refer to as content to my work. More specifically, some current observations and experimenting with new symbols. For example, I use the skyscraper - well, not so new - the first was built in 1885 and was 10 stories high. Technology - phones, ipods, music players, cars, appliances seem to change; and do; on a monthly basis. Now there's some room for me to add contemporary and interesting objects for me to explore.

So, this rant brings me around to Grill’n, a way of posing for pictures, usually in groups of 2 or more. It’s an anti-portrait, totally apposed to the recognizable snapshot most of us expect. I like this painting - it is capturing an essence of modern life that I think will continue, a dissatisfaction with the status quo. Ah, the youth - the new - a rejection of me, the old - it's simply too natural. These girls - no women - no men/boys - age group - don't even see me; I am invisible to them. Out with the old; in with the new!
Grilli'n.


As this is a ‘portrait’, it creates a lot of problems for the painter; (that would be me), it needs to resemble the person(s) portrayed - but boy, does it tell a story!

"Three Daughters of Widows"

This is another of the current series of content paintings. I do not consider this a ‘dark’ painting at all, but rather a ‘true’ painting. As Thomas Jefferson wrote; “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants alike”. As a warrior I can understand the words. As a son, friend, husband, as one who left behind family and friends to pursue duty - regardless of how you view duty to country there is still the emptiness, as someone left waiting, the constant concern toward someone in a danger zone. This painting is dedicated to those left waiting; those left with memories; and the following generations affected. These women's father each served the full measure for their families, community and country.

This painting is based on a photo I took of my wife, Cathy Bell, her sister Barbie (Bell) Burnett, and Hazel Bagwell, at Arlington Cemetery, Virginia.