Dog Series : No. 2 "Yorkie"

Here's a really simple ink drawing, No. 2 of my doggie series, "Yorkie." We had one of these when I was little named Charlie. For some reason, my five-year-old memory only recalls his soft hair and bad breath.

Dog Series: No. 1 "Pug"

I've enjoyed abstract expressionism, classical portraiture, and contemporary satire. So it's about time I did doggie paintings. Here's my first finished piece (but 6th or so attempt):

This was a very simple ink drawing with a wash of watercolor on Eames Vellum cover paper. I really like the simplicity and silliness of this sweet dog. The original doggie is really a million times cuter with its sad little eyes, but here's my attempt to recreate the cute.

The original piece is here on ebay.

Why Portraits

It seems the most common question for any working artist is "How do you find inspiration/what inspires your work?" or any variant question on the theme of pulling of some grounded idea from the vast fabric of every day life.

Well, I personally find "inspiration" a fleeting feeling. Maybe I can feel some superiority by adhering to Chuck Close's advice that "Inspiration is for amateurs," but either way, it's not easy. Frankly, finding the drive or creative spark to start a project is sort of like experiencing the same frustration you would have teaching a toddler a foreign language.

 

But why I personally find creating portraits to be good times? Like any other piece of art, the possibilities and solutions for determining the given space for a portrait work are limitless. But with portraits, there is the one particular goal of making a single facet of the piece relatively objective: the face.

 

The portrait artist must innately capture the facial features of a subject, there is only success or failure in this aspect. I have spent years and years (most of my life, actually) struggling with my perfectionism, and eventually yielding to its necessity in this field.

 

I think it's very important to realize and come to terms with the fact that even in these times of lightning-quick turnover and unbelievably short deadlines, great work (and artwork) cannot be rushed. For anything in this world to have longevity, there must be thought put into every aspect of its construction.

 

 I believe that portraits, free from the limitations of photography technology, can truly capture a human essence that would be lost with time and age. It is almost a spiritual practice to give life to something through manual recreation; it cannot be duplicated with a machine. Perhaps the age of flat and soulless photographs ala Terry Richardson are what we are living through now, but that work does not adequately capture life as a person of depth knows it. So sticking to my guns with traditionally hand-created portraiture, satisfies my need for something authentic in a world saturated with assembly line iPads and drunken Facebook photos. Call me old-fashioned.

 

 

 

The Story of Dyannie

I'm a huge sucker for kiddie movies and musicals, so when I finally watched Annie [for the first time a year ago] my mind was pretty much blown. Like, I got goosebumps during "Hard Knock Life" even after the 38th time of rewinding it. I know, it's ridiculous, 1982 is calling me and wants its pop culture reference back, Aileen Quinn is on Medicare by now, etc. I don't care!

Now, when I was 21-23, I had a huge obsession with Bob Dylan. The poetry from his first several albums appropriately struck me at the time in an incredibly significant way. To me, there was a great deal of comfort in knowing that abstracted language and themes of youthful restlessness and cynicism could be so timeless. I was so grateful for the gift of Dylan in the way his work was an elegant homage to the silliness of pretension.

So, what do you think the first thing I thought of was when I saw this screen shot:

Um, that's what I thought. So I created this portrait as a result:

  

 
Does anyone else see the resemblance? Maybe I'm the only one who's watched Annie in 25 years anyhow, but it still kills me every time I watch it. Look, I know the movie is based on the classic comic then Broadway play. But I like to think that Bob Dylan stole the "moth-eaten thrift store sweater and teased curly fro" look and the costume department just had to throw their hands up and roll with it.

Pin Up Academy

I've been working on this request for a piece, a pin up girl in WWII garb against a spade background. It occurred to me that the colloquial term "cheesecake" for a piece of of pin up art has the connotation of being light, airy and undisciplined.

But besides the obvious one-note subject matter, pin up art is some of the most consistently academic portraiture of the 20th century. And truly, how one-note can an image be when the sex appeal is neither vulgar nor exaggerated, but the work of a subtle blend of the ethereal lines of feminine beauty?

Take a look at this image I use for reference:

I mean, such a stunning painting. Certainly, executed quickly for a fast turnover, but the effortlessness and ease of the style of this piece is so telling of the mastery of the artist. The figure is lush and intangibly attractive, but she is grounded in the reality of imperfection and rendered with a rather loose command of the brush. The lighting is not truly realistic either; it's simply been used as a reference guide to flatter the most classical shapes of the female form.

But every element of these pieces are tied to the traditional techniques of academic painting. Just because the subject is a woman in a (perhaps) provocative pose, can we really afford to cast these artworks off as mindless fluff? If we can get past the (admittedly threateningly) gorgeous image of a woman being sensually alluring, we can see pin up art as an incredibly disciplined vehicle for expression that we can all react to with feeling.

Connor

Many months ago, the TeamConnor foundation came and spoke at my dad's work. He was so moved by their presentation, he asked me to do a portrait of the little boy that inspired their work. He loved baseball, so I created a portrait of him as an old well-loved baseball card.

I have to say, knowing some of this child's story made this difficult to work on. But I do hope it it does just a little to honor his memory.

Shading Tutorial

I have a new video tutorial! It's a very basic lesson on shading, using the rose drawing from the previous tutorial I made. Hope you like it!