Go Figure Contemporary colorful paintings of fun and figures.
This was a Daily Painters Challenge to paint this image upside-down. It was a lot of fun and is really, very much a right brain exercise and fits in with my Fun In the Sun series. Go to:
The idea was to do these small portraits of my family from photos where they aren't smiling...problem is that Alistair is always smiling!
This is post 300 and it seems like it has taken forever for me to reach it. This painting has a long title, but can't you just hear him saying it. They are two and are learning how to "play" together. I was on the go today so grabbed some acrylics and did this during my breaks. I like how it turned out.
2011 has been a crazy year so far. I broke my leg in March and am finally off crutches, after falling in NYC a couple weeks ago while attending a Karin Jurik workshop. I have had a lot of company the last month, which has been so much fun, but I have neglected my painting through it all. I am ready to get back into the swing of things with a series of "Fun In the Sun" paintings.
My son gave me this can of spinach because he thought it would be interesting to put it in a still life. Last week the Daily Painters challenge was to paint your favorite veggie. Being a vegetarian, there are many veggies I really like so it was hard to choose...but you just can't beat spinach-strawberry salad and tomato, spinach,feta cheese anything. Plus, Popeye had a big impact on my life. Maybe that is why I am a vegetarian!
This is my brother. I am struggling with these family portraits because there is so much family history and not just what each person looks like, but how our relationship is. I have a lot of respect for my brother and I think I emphasized my father's gene contribution in this portrait, although he really looks like my mom. I can see why other artists (Karin Jurick for example) chose to do mug shots!
This is my daughter who is very beautiful and as much fun as you can have when she is in touch with her inner child, but even as an infant she had a really serious side and had the ability to freeze a grown man in his steps when she gave her deeply brown-eyed stare.
Adam, my eldest, is a father, a man of many skills, an intellectual and one of the best storytellers who ever lived.
My sister is very animated. This was a rare non-animated moment, so it looks like her, but it doesn't.
My grandson with his baby sling holding his monkey...he is the good father.
I wanted to practice doing glass and I liked the abstracted qualities of this composition.
This another interpretation of a photo I took at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. I wanted to try different colors. It was an interesting experiment. I also revised yesterday's painting a little so I am posting that.
Back to painting finally! I haven't been able to sit comfortably in a position in which I could paint for the last couple of weeks as I try to regain my life after my skiing accident, surgery and learning to get around on crutches. In the meantime, I have really come to appreciate my life and what I am able to accomplish on a daily basis. Good health and all the other blessings in my life are not to be taken for granted. My heart goes out to all those people who have to learn how to be ambulatory after an accident which forever changes them. I do not have a handicapped accessible studio, or rather my studio is, but getting there from the house is not. Trying to explain to someone where everything I need is, has also been a challenge, but today I modified my methods and materials and finished this piece. I am glad that it isn't terrible because being discouraged is not easy for me right now. On the other hand, I had to photograph it without getting up, so the lighting is terrible and it distorts the colors and values. You will have to take my word for it, but it is much better in person!
