Aniyah and Reyah

The artist and her little sister Reyah were on my studio floor one afternoon with Aniyah doing some drawings of a few of my paintings.  These young ladies are so bright and beautiful, with three year old Reyah right off the cuteness chart.  

I've been studying some DVDs by Quang Ho that I bought months ago, and am trying to incorporate as much as I can of what he teaches.  He emphasizes the need for accuracy in the drawing to have any chance of creating a solid painting.  His instruction is articulate and insightful as he finishes a couple of paintings in real time.  I was able to take away some valuable information and ideas, and just watching him mix colour and apply paint is worth the price of admission.  Check out his outstanding work.

oil on board  

10" x 8"  

NFS

The Morning Rush

I was watching TV one evening and a documentary dealing with city something is on, and I feel drawn to the images rushing by.  So I hit pause on the PVR (best invention having to do with TV so far), run down grab my camera, hit rewind, then start, and begin snapping pics.  After sifting through about twenty photos, which were somewhat blurry, I crop this and think bingo.  It kind of forced me to be looser,  nowhere near what I was hoping for, but a reasonably good start and a mindset to build on.  Is it okay to paint from photos taken from movies/TV I wonder?  I get so much inspiration from video and would like to do more.

oil on board  

12" x 9" 

 NFS

Ken

Here is a portrait of my good friend Ken as he looks on one of those milestone birthdays.  He is a much more jovial person than he appears here, but it is one of those smelly birthdays that nobody looks forward to.   He can now visit the zoo very reasonably...same ticket price as the pre-schoolers.   Happy Birthday son...hope you enjoy the painting.

oil on board 

11 1/2" x 9 1/2"  

NFS

Bus Stop Rome

This is from a photo I took late one afternoon in Rome.  I loved the shadows and the interesting group waiting for the next bus to come along.  The orange/red headed woman was not too impressed with me snapping a photo, but I'm glad I caught her with that beautiful coloured hair.  I wasn't focusing on her at the time, but she definitely became the figure of interest as I cropped the image.

oil on board 

12" x 9"   

NFS

Jessie

A portrait of my youngest (by 10 minutes) daughter Jessica done in ACEO size.  I was inspired by some neat shadows on her face as she sat in front of a large window last weekend.  Because of it's very small size, I tried painting entirely with a #2 round brush which I had only very recently used on another piece.  I've only used flats in the past, and this seemed to work fine.

oil on masonite  

3 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Sittin' On The Rock Of The Bay

For friends Dave and Karen who love pelicans.

This was a welcome breather from a large canvas (72" x 48") that I've been working on for the last few weeks.  Hopefully I'll finish and post it soon.  Sometimes it is good to just step back and work on something else for awhile, so that fresh eyes can appraise and decide changes to help make a piece work.  

oil on board  

7" x 10"  

NFS

Double Parked

Painted from a photo I took in Rome, this is one of those love/hate challenges in that there is SO much information, that initially you want to simplify, but get caught up in all the delicious little details.  I really enjoyed fiddling with this, in spite of the fact that I had an entirely different vision at the start of the piece.  I just felt it needed details to end up with something that I would be happy with. It definitely was a lot of work, with a couple of lessons learned. 

oil on board

12" x 9"

$395.