2nd Place Award

My relocation to The Villages in Florida offers a variety of new art adventures. The Villages is home to what looks like several 100 artists from painters to sculptures, wood makers, fiber and many other media. It's really unbelieveable!

The artist group Villages Art League recently sponsored an exhibition "Inspired by the Masters". As the name indicates, artists research historical paintings created by any of the great master painters of the past and then use one as an inspiration to create their own.

I selected Edward Henry Potthast, an American Impressionist who was known for his beach scenes featuring people at leisure. Several weeks ago my wife and I had visited Daytona Beach and I snapped several photos of people walking the beach and kids playing in the sand. This is the reference photo I used for my inspiration.

I created an oil painting on 18x24 canvas. The piece was awarded 2nd place from the 32 entries.

Sketchbook 1

Over the years, I've filled several sketchbooks. If I was an art student I would fall short: Always be drawing and sketching was what I remember. But alas, now I'm more mature with a fuller schedule, and an art career that is mainly just a hobby. But, I still sketch and love to draw. Here are a couple of my doodles.

Tux, my cat. Charcoal on vellum.

 Some super hero. Pen

Male portrait, pen

Blues musicians. Pencil. While at Bluesfest 2010 Wisconsin

 RIU Palace resort. Riveria Maya, Mexico. pencil. This was paradise.

Poolside at The Venitian, Las Vegas. Pencil. It was 100* that day.

Winston Portrait- Phase 2, Step 4

Step 4: Verdaccio

So this is way out of my league, but worth a try. The Verdaccio technique is underpainting in green. While Ivory Black and yellow is an option (along with many other combinations) I went with Chrome Oxide Green, mixed with Ivory and Lead White. Lead White seems to dry faster than my usual Titanium. Below shows two verdaccio glazes and a first layer background in Burnt Umber.

Winston Portrait- Phase 2

Step 3: Continue lead white glazes, added initial eye color.

The process is slower than I am accustomed to. I'm using a galkyd medium, though I don't know what Gottlieb uses. Everything is shiny vs matte. I can push back the eye colors in a later glaze.