I tend to love the Neo-Classic stuff; always have since a teenager. I also love the ceramic Jesus, which was not a real great piece in itself, but photographed beautifully, even with a crappy cell phone. An image which may be painted in the future.
I could not get over how realistic the tiger fur was; you could almost reach out and touch it. I don't think it was an Alma-Tadema like the one at the bottom but within that genre. The Alma-Tadema was mindblowing.

I have more images, but for some reason, Blogger will not let me post them...:(
The image at the top must have been painted with a single hair brush in the final details. Beautiful clarity in painting execution; every detail in sharp focus. The middle painting was of course a Sargent, but not a great Sargent example. I thought the most interesting part was the hand. Then there was a sumptious cat which was very buttery; the portrait of the woman itself was not as fresh nor inspired.

I went to the Getty Center yesterday with a friend. I apologize about the quality of the photos; I took them with my phone camera. I am looking for a few things: Real paintings with real paint strokes. Particularly interested in how painters dealt with several figures in a picture to tell a story and having the story still read clearly. I have been painting several figures in a background (digitally) for a client and am learning how to simplify the story in terms of light, or warm and cool colors. I am also looking at the paintings as abstract colors.

WORKING ON this angel during my lunchbreaks.

No freelance, no costume to work on; a small gap in time to do some painting this weekend. I think my super powers come alive in the fall and during rainstorms. This is a real sweet little piece. Approaching a buttery quality that I seek; not seen in this scan.

WORKING ON

Roughly 5 inch by 5 inch, Acrylic on canvas paper at home during the rain storm.

I used to have many warm colors on my palette. Of late, I've been really having fun with the cool colors. Now as I look at the colors I've laid out, I have many more cool colors than the warm earth colors.

The indian with torso came out just okay. I love the colors I used but the face looks retarded. So I did a quick color sketch (small portrait) and wouldn't you know, that one looks better. I overworked the face on the first one and probably ruined the surface so it was harder; it was just too small; or I just need more practice. These are small; the Indian face maybe 2 x 3in; the other a little bigger than photo size.

These were done during my lunch break.

Acrylic, small. I did this during my lunch at work. This is from one of my favorite movies, New World. I love that it was shot with natural light, that there was very little dialogue, that it gave you a sense of how miserable it was the first winter in Jamestown. Most of all, I love Quorianka Kilcher's heartbreaking performance as the doomed Pocahantas and Colin Farrell's John Smith, who was cagey and full of lies. Yes, I know it was a very slow film but I loved that it took it's time. These color sketches are just that; abstract moods of color done quickly. I am practicing brush stroke and playing with color combos. More to follow.

I've been doing these small painting studies during my lunch break at work. Acrylic, roughly 6in by 4 1/2 in.

Placerita Canyon

Better shadow shapes. Tree trunk has a repeating pattern (bad). Sharon suggested I block shadow shapes in with purple, so I did. Next time I will try magenta.

Check out fellow painter, Sharon Weaver's blog! (See links to the right)