Images from the past

I came across a bunch of digital images from art that I've sold or given away over the years.

 Big Bend Plein Air- SOLD

 Red Sky at Night- SOLD

 Fall on the River- Oil

 Nala- RIP. A commission for my Uncle Tom

 Mid Summer- Pastel

 15 Minutes to Sundown- Oil (all palette knife)

 Bridge at Kettle Moraine Park- Oil

Winner- Downer Avenue Plein Air Event, 2007- Oil

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.

Murals, portraits, and more

I've been busy working up comps for the large church mural paintings I've been asked to do. No deposit yet, but its' God's work, so I'm confident in getting a deposit before I get too far. This has been very challenging coming up with inspirational concepts around things like; service, praise, hear God, taste God (communion), etc.

I've also backed myself into a corner with a portrait commission that's due the same week as my church commission. Shouldn't have put it off for 2 months!!

New Art during the Art Crawl

Last weekend I took the chance to paint while I did my time at our 60th Art Crawl for downtown Waukesha. I took down several paintings that I was showing and taped up a piece of paper to create some new art. Pastel dust flew, and viola, three hours later this is what we got.

Portraiture Art- Adrianne Drawing

This is the beginning stage of my new portrait painting of my daughter, Adrianne. Many hours are spent drawing and refining the head. The painting part is fairly straight forward if the drawing is accurate. Drawing is done in charcoal in preparation for the oil work to follow.

Portraiture and other artwork

I've been working on a new portrait of my daughter. This is the biggest portrait painting I've tackled to date; 40x30 in oil. I've also been contacted by a local animal cruelty prevention group asking me to donate time for a pet portraiture during an upcoming event. Sounds like fun and I said yes. Even offered to paint the portrait on site during the event. Also have a chance to put some artwork up in the local public TV Channel 10/36 auction. They have a separate fine artwork area where locals can actually view paintings, portraits, etc. Hope to hear more on this event soon.

Just finished a new abstract acrylic, with hopes of doing two more before the next Art Crawl, March 3rd.

Opportunity

Yesterday presented two new opportunities for me and my artwork. I met with the pastor of a large local church. He apparently had received a grant or donation of $3k to have some original art produced for the church. The project looks interesting and can offer a chance at some PR for me. The space is about 10x7 and will get plenty of eyeballs as you have to go past this wall to enter the worship area. Praise be to God.

I also had someone contact me regarding support for a local animal cruelty prevention gathering. I love animals and have done a couple pet/animal portraits, so this could be another great opportunity to get in front of other pet lovers for possible future commission work. Stay tuned on both these new projects.

New Year. New Art Goals

So here we go again. Last year turned out to be a good year for me and my artwork. I was the highest gross sales exhibiting artist at the gallery I'm in. That was for original work off the wall sold. Another guy who sells portraits exclusively by commission, I know did better.

That's one of my goals this year: do more commissioned portraits. Kids and pets have to be the ticket. So I'm starting a big piece of my daughter and will be hitting some vet clinics to see if I can hang examples. Another friend of mine sells organic pet foods at the big chains and said he'd hand out flyers. So I've got to get some marketing going or it's going to be another pipe dream.

Have to finish my eBook on teaching kids via after-school program I've been running. That could really be a good revenue stream...but again, I'll never know unless I get it done and put in online for sale.

Sold more artwork last year than any other year in my life. Would like to increase that amount by 500%....which would put me in the 10k range. Surely not enough to live on, but helps supplement my other habits; like fishing and boating.

Christmas 2009- Nubbie portrait

Worked on a portrait of a dog for a friend of mine this weekend. Nubbie was tragically killed by a car a couple of weeks ago. He raced out of the house on a snowy morning only to see another dog across the street. At 5 pounds, he had a bone to pick with anyone that dared come close to his domain. His wife witnessed the whole thing. I offered my services in memory of this little guy. Hope to post final work tomorrow...it's due!

Good news

Good news: I got a commission for a portrait from a patron of Almont Gallery. I also finished the Introduction to Oil Painting class I was teaching for adults. And lastly, I bought a boatload of inventory from the art supply store that was going out of business in Waukesha. Great price and motivation to start producing more art!

SOLD

Got a call from gallery today to let me know I sold another painting! Hurray, I can pay the rent for 4 more months. Now how do I live off my art? How about paint more and focus. Sorry....didn't even take a photo off this piece. Shame on me!

Lots of Wet Paint

Got to put down a lot of paint today on a portrait that I should have done weeks ago. Never did a horse before so it was a bit daunting. Sketched it all up and put in the background in one session. A friend of mine commissioned this to give to a friend of hers, who owns this horse and is the rider.