Nude, not nekkid

Started adding the figures. Here's the big view.

They are represent the stunt coordinator and a hair and makeup tech. My favorite detail are the pair of gold rimmed spectacles the stunt coordinator is wearing. It's fairly crude, by my standards, but I may not be cleaning them up much more.
All the figures in this series will be stripped down to skin and oblivious to it. Nude but not sexualized, if you know what I mean. That's a challenge right there, to place a naked man and woman in the same scene and not have it be flirtatious. I'm going to try to pull it off. Body language, the way they are focused on the job, is going to help.

Breaking for lunch, then I might take on the grip in the back ground steadying the blue screen frame.

BlueScreen

Worked on BlueScreen, doing the camera, the two bins to the left, the flags and stands, and adding some detail to the umbrella and boom arm.

I love working on these.

Took my Death Takes a Holiday painting over to the gallery for the show that opens May 4. Feeling chipper.

Boomlift, round three

I've been thinking how like a nomadic tribe - or maybe a band of mercenaries - a film crew is. There are many small figures scattered across the canvas that will appear towards the end.
Here's my third round on Boomlift (working title).



This morning I started blocking on the trees with autumn foliage. My intention is to keep them soft but persuasively tree-esque. There are a pair of large trees in the center behind the boomlift that are purely trunks and bare branches. They go to the top of the canvas and take up about a third of the width. They look like cross between lace and calligraphy to me. They won't get added until I'm done with all the layers of sky, which may be quite a while.
This afternoon I added another layer of white to the flyswatter, truck and the houses. Placed the side of the house and the easy-up tent that shades video village, along with various shrubbery and pine straw islands.

I love posting the work accomplished at the end of the day at the start when the changes are so clear.

Bluescreen

Here's the start of Bluescreen (working title).
Tuesday I placed the trees and did the first layer of white on the umbrella.

This morning, I mixed about variations of green for the grassy area beneath the trees. My task was to blend the edges without blurring the shapes. I'll be building on them with grass stems. I added another layer of white to the umbrella.



The afternoon was spent adding the basis for the leafy canopy by blocking in color and blending edges. I'll be dappling in foreground leaves later. I had just enough time to add the blue screen itself. There will be a kind of mist of light around the umbrella. At this point the figures are indicated by the unpainted areas.



I am crazy happy with this one. It reminds me of working on Death Takes a Holiday, it's shaping up exactly the way I'd hoped. This is the image that triggered my interest in the whole series.

Edinburgh knife

Gratitude is varnished and tomorrow will be heading over to Mason Murer, the last painting delivered.
The show runs from Friday, April 13th, until Friday, June 8th. The artist reception is May 18th.


Tomato & Scottish Dirk
Still life of local tomato and grandfather's sgian dubh set up in the garden of the Macpherson's B&B in Edinburgh.

 I can't express how delightful the Macpherson's were. The dirk, freely offered, is a family treasure, and they even helped me scout the markets for big, ruddy tomatoes. The hardest part was finding a five consecutive minutes of good afternoon light in the temperamental weather. Sunshine was fickle and fleeting, but I was lucky, and more than once.




I'm loving putting the images out into the world and reading the responses. You never know who will be struck like a bell at the sight of your work. 

Turning to the next series, which is underway.  I'll start posting about it after Friday's debut.

Hold the presses - Virtual Errata Slip

Turns out wires were crossed and I was misinformed.

The opening of the Friday, April 13th show at Mason Murer Fine Art gallery masonmurer.com  is NOT A RECEPTION.

 It takes place during normal business hours 10-5pm.

There will be a closing reception, May 18th instead.

In a nutshell, the show opens and new work will be up,  but no snacks and the gallery closes at 5.

 Sorry for the confusion.  really.

As I have resent emails, edited the Facebook event page and am even now pasting this on my blog page, I have newfound respect for the Friday the 13th superstition.

A Grateful heart

As close to done as I could get yesterday, though I'll be looking at it long and hard later this morning.

Answered Prayers: Gratitude
oil on canvas, 16x20"

 

As I lit candles and prayed for my family and myself, I didn't know exactly what I was asking for, but it turned out to include a life as an artist, fidelity, and unconditional love.

Painting detail

 

Art show deets

Please join me 7pm, Friday 13th, for the opening of the spring show at Mason Murer Fine Art gallery masonmurer.com Click on the link for directions.
The show runs through May 12.

New series: Answered Prayers
In 2004 I was lighting candles in Italian churches and praying for my family's happiness. I didn't know what I was praying for until later, when I learned what makes each of them - including me - happy.
Harmonium, 18x36", oil on canvas

More Tomatoes & Knives

Sometimes I find the knives, sometimes they find me. I audition tomatoes at the farmers markets.

Home stretch

Rocked out on the last painting, the one that's my answered prayer. Decided to add my dogs - my stand-in for unconditional love - and a jar of brushes. There's a basket on the lower left that actually held candles, but it looks remarkably like a dog bed. That's where I'll place the dogs and next to it the mason jar with brushes.  It will be relatively subtle.
 One of the reasons this image is mine is the shadow that divides the space. Being a Gemini and all, and keenly aware of my dual nature, this speaks to me.
Today I'll be deepening the darks and adding the dog/jar/brushes. Maybe hanging a triangle from a candelabra arm.
No title yet, though I am considering several; among them 'Grateful Heart,' 'Ars Longa, Vita Brevis', 'Divine Intervention.'
I've got four tomato and knife paintings done and four out of five of the Answered Prayers. Showtime is April 13. That's a Friday.  I know, right? Still, lucky for some, as they say.
I have exactly seven days to have this finished, dry, varnished and wired. It's possible. Really.

Adding this from Tuesday

Made darks darker, added a layer to the rug and the stone floor and sharpened the candelabra. One more round of light on the right side wall - not there yet but closer to the value I'm aiming for.

Carefully added Moochie and Maddie - scraped the paint off and did it again on a different scale, with only one dog. Better. Then added the jar and brushes. Worked wet on wet and fast (for me).
Here's a detail of the new elements.