In addition to, this painting is also featured in Volume 33 of Studio Visit Magazine; I just received my copy last week. Since this is my first printed publication, I geeked out a bit and framed my page.
I discovered on Friday that the results of the 72st Wabash Valley Juried Exhibition was posted to Facebook. I wasn't able to attend it this year, so I was looking for the forward to seeing how my "WWII Rations" painting did in the competition. To my surprise, the painting won the "Grand Prize in Painting" award! I was shocked to win the same award 2 years in a row. Last year my cap gun painting took home the award and now the rations piece - how exciting! "WWII Rations" was very challenging to paint, I'm glad the hard work paid off.
In addition to, this painting is also featured in Volume 33 of Studio Visit Magazine; I just received my copy last week. Since this is my first printed publication, I geeked out a bit and framed my page.
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My latest completion is titled "Sharper Straighter Cleaner". The height dimension varies from 12" to 9.5" and the width is 7.5". Oil on panel as usual. The piece is meant to show a different perspective of the painting, sort of a glimpse of the process. The subject matter is painted as though you are looking at it from an angle and the panel shape replicates the perspective. I constructed the frame to appear as though it is being viewed from an angle as well. This painting shows a bit of insight into how I painted one of my earlier successful paintings from 2012. The first Hershey miniature piece won two awards and helped me get representation through McCormick Gallery in Chicago... so I decided to revisit the subject. The post-it note repeats the words that constantly run through my mind as I'm painting - Sharper, Straighter, Cleaner. It also has a hidden signature, see if you can find it. Finally completed this poor, neglected painting I started last fall. I received two commissions that delayed the completion of this piece. Today I finished it and got some photos of it. The painting is titled "Sounds of Earth Single" and features a Chuck Berry 78 rpm record. It's 16" x 16" and oil on panel. An interesting fact about Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" was that is was so influential and such a pop culture icon, NASA included it in the Golden Record which was carried by the Voyager Spacecraft for the space missions in 1977. The purpose of this mission was to capture images of the solar system, but also an attempt to reach out to contact any other intelligent life once the spacecraft traveled into deep space. The Golden Record on Voyager contains music and other noises to show what human life sounds like. This means out beyond our solar system there is a copy of "Johnny B. Goode" traveling and waiting for other intelligent life to discover. On the Golden Record there is a cover with diagrams demonstrating on how to play the record and how it works. The other symbols show the location of our sun and technical information about the recording such as wave forms, binary code, and the hydrogen atom. I decided to invent my own paper sleeve for the "Johnny B. Goode" record using the diagrams from the Golden Record. My goal for this painting was to combine this record along with this NASA space mission. I hope viewers find the juxtaposition as interesting as I do. With all the commission work completed, I've started working on some new paintings. The piece below is meant to show a different perspective of the painting, sort of a glimpse of the process. The subject matter is painted as though you are looking at it from an angle and the panel shape replicates the perspective. I constructed the frame to appear as though it is being viewed from an angle as well (I'll have pictures later). This painting shows a bit of insight into how I painted one of my earlier successful paintings from 2012. The first Hershey miniature piece won two awards and helped me get representation through McCormick Gallery in Chicago... so I decided to revisit the subject. The post-it note will repeat the words that constantly run through my mind as I'm painting - Sharper, Straighter, Cleaner. The other painting I have going on is a small round painting of a Coca-Cola bottle cap from the 40's. The frame is round too. For extra difficulty, I'm going to paint water droplets over the entire painting. I've wanting been want to try to paint beads of water for a while and I think it will add a bit of interest and beauty to this Coke cap. You can see in the images below I have my photo references of what I hope the finished painting will look like. I feel the water is going to be time consuming. For now I've got just the first layer on the painting. Finally an acceptance into a show. If you have ever wondered if my work is rejected from competitions, I can assure you, yes! Rejection is part of the process, you must work through it and shrug it off. I've been declined 2 times already this year. The 2 paintings which were dismissed from these exhibits oddly enough will be featured in magazines this summer. That makes it pretty clear to me that you can never accurately anticipate what the juror has in mind regarding the selection process for the exhibit. Some pieces are rejected in some places while praised and awarded in others. Anyway, I'm excited to be a part of the 72nd Annual Wabash Valley Exhibition. This show will be downtown Terre Haute, IN at the Swope Art Museum; it will be my first juried exhibition of 2016. It will also be the first time my rations painting will be displayed in a show. Here is a link to the museum's website - https://www.swope.org/. Since last December I've been working on a commissioned painting for a client's wife. His wife is a bird enthusiast and he thought a painting of some of her birding items would make a great present. All this time he has kept the painting a secret from her so this would be a surprise. Last week I finally completed the piece and shipped it out to them, just in time for Mother's Day. I can't imagine how exciting this Mother's Day was for her! Here is the painting, and as always, all items are painted their actual size. It's 12" x 20" and oil on panel. There are some interesting textures in this one. Many of them are familiar, but the book and feather were new challenges for me. There was a lot scrapping to achieve the book texture, also some glazing in the ceramic bird - something I don't normally do. This painting was a great learning experience and I'm glad it came out as well as it did. I've always found it fascinating where my paintings are displayed once they are sold. My recently completed commission appears to have found a good home with other similar items. Due to be released this summer, here is my one page spread that will be in the next issue of Studio Visit Magazine.
I completed the Faithful Nichols #2 commission last week. As I mentioned in a previous post, a client missed out on the first one, so he commissioned me to paint another. It was interesting to see how I have progressed as a painter since I painted the first one 2 years ago. Here is the new one. I have some new photos of the work in progress on "Faithful Nichols II". The graphics are nearly complete and I'm working on the metal on the gun. I like to paint the highlights very thick; I tried to get an image of that. There is still some work to do, but it is getting close. I have the frame built, but I need the weather to warm up a bit before I can paint it in my spray booth, aka the backyard shed! The last photo is of me using butterfly binoculars to view the detail in the still life. They focus as close as 18" away from the subject, and from that distance you can see magnified dust! They are very cool to bring to art museums too! |
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