Artist to Note

I looked at my blog today and thought, for heaven’s sakes, enough about me.

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Take a look at Matt’s paintings on Matt Sterbenz Fine Art. He and I were fellow painting students at ASU a year ago. See for yourself what a fantastic painter he is, and how well he explains the makeup of each painting.

He is presently trying to fulfill a challenge to paint 100 tiny (5″x7″) landscapes. I just might take on such a challenge, but with my own twist — such as setting a goal slightly less than 100 :). Stay tuned ~

Of Sketches

I am this close to finishing my next commissioned painting. Until then, enjoy the next installment of my interim topic, sketches. I’ve mentioned before how Creation is beautiful and new every day. So are people. I picked a few people out of my sketchbook this time. Two are taken from life, one is a Vermeer study, one is an Edward Burne-Jones study, and of course what sketchbook would be complete without a little gnome doodle or two? :-P

Recycled Paintings 1.2 – Video

Recycled ASU painting #2 is complete, this time with some time-lapse movie magic.

It’s roughly 36×36, oil on canvas. Please watch!

Explanation: In the spring of 2010, I built a frame out of planks from Home Depot, stretched the canvas, and painted a rather lifeless seashell. As of December 2011, I painted over it with a more dramatic, more dynamic seashell.. hopefully :-P. I filmed the process, minus the boring parts of course. I know it will be useful in a professional sense to have video records of one or two paintings. This is my first attempt, so my apologies for the poor visibility (due partly to my person being in the way) and ever-changing lighting. Here’s a photo of the end result:

Comments welcome!

Merry Christmas!

With love,

from Sydni.

One of the epic scenes from the Christmas story, from the imagination of Rembrandt van Rijn, centuries ago, the ‘Angel Appearing to the Shepherds’:

“…there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people…” –Luke 2:8-10

Freehand Famous Faces 1.1

I love graphite portraits. I like alliteration. I love movies, such as Lord of the Rings. Hence, the start of my Freehand Famous Faces series.

I’ve never been comfortable posting the photos from which my portrait paintings and drawings are taken. So, I decided to draw a few recognizable faces. It started with a suggestion from a friend that I do a sketch of John Rhys-Davies, then it spread to other members of the LOTR movie cast. Each is drawn freehand, without the use of projectors or grids. It’s true that I never measure. I know, shame on me. Measuring just takes all the fun out of drawing ;-).

Hopefully, these are close likenesses…and hopefully, they might get me some business :-P. Well, I think that’s enough self-promotion for one day. On this post (and always), I cordially invite your comments and criticisms on whether or not these portraits look like their originals.

Portraiture Update

Another portrait commissioned and sold. This is the daughter of a friend of mine, whom I see weekly at Starbucks. She gave me a photograph that she wanted turned into a painting.

To dispel curiosity, I’ve worked from photos for all of my portraits, though I’ve decided now that it’s best to take the photos myself instead of working from snapshots — if possible, that is.

The painting is 12″x16″, oil on cradled masonite. I probably re-painted this a total of 3 times. She was just too cute for me ;) .

Recycled Paintings 1.1

Time to recycle some old canvas.

Initially, this was a class-assigned painting from 2008—a study in complementary colors blue and orange. It was done on a nice, sturdy stretched canvas that I constructed myself. The other day, I finished painting over it with yet another study in blue and orange. Same canvas; same color palette. But the new study is a loose portrait of the magnificent mountain in whose shadow I have lived for years. What do you think? Worthwhile project?

BEFORE:

IN PROGRESS:

AFTER:

Commission Painting

Before I was commissioned to do this painting, I don’t think I’d ever attempted the likeness of a cowboy hat, or chaps, or a saddle, or a horse for that matter. Always thought it best to leave those things to the experts, like Remington. But this was fun to try, especially with the desert landscape and wildflowers. Arizona is my home, after all :).

This painting was finished and sent off last week. It’s oil on canvas, 18″x24″. I’m showing here the preliminary watercolor sketch as well…….

 

 

Still on the Subject Of Sketches

Recently, I decided to only sketch with a pen because it forces me to make the best of every mark. So saying, every mark rarely comes out looking at its best :p.

I would say the subject of sketches is inexhaustible. Sketching is just like note-taking, brain-storming, theorizing, writing rough drafts—-the kinds of things that every line of work requires in abundance. Sketches are also something, I’ve realized, that I’ll always have on hand to post when I can’t think of anything profoundly eloquent to say on my blog, which is often. It’s been a while. Creation is beautiful and new every day. Here are some sketches.

Occasionally I try to sketch from the imagination. Here’s an imagined tree ~

As another extension of the previous post, here are a couple of copies of another artist’s work. I am 89.9% sure that I scrawled these while reading a book on J.M.W. Turner. I’m pretty sure that’s the guy, but I could be wrong. They are sketches of his sketches, line for line. It helps me a lot to try and re-create the skilled marks of other artists. As for the risk of plagiarism…both of us are copying God’s designs anyway, so I feel safe. I feel that we’re equal, like partners in crime.

Of Sketches

Is it okay to copy another artist’s work? If it is for the sake of learning, yes :). The lessons learned from studying one painter’s masterpiece will only add to the next painter’s masterpiece. I admire the painting style of Adolf Menzel, considered to be one of the most important German painters of the 1800s. I can’t help but want to copy paintings like his,—not to claim credit for them, but to gain more skill by learning from them.  Take these, a couple sketches I stole from two Menzel paintings while sitting in a bookstore. They’re pretty much worthless in themselves. But for me they were the best and most worthwhile practice :).