Image dump

Lately I've been looking through some images of my work, past and present. I found files of photography, graphic design, illustration, studies, and portrait work. Some things I'd like to revisit, explore a little further. As an artist, it is so gratifying to look through all of the work that you've done and realize the volume of it, especially when you haven't been producing much recently. I guess that's why we've got to keep some of our best work and look at it daily to remind ourselves of what we can achieve. Sometimes we forget.

Here is some of what I found:This piece is one sampling from an Alice and Wonderland workup that I did a few years ago. I've got the whole dummy book laid out. I'm still really excited about the other pieces in the story. One day I'll finish the whole thing for my girls.

I guess I've made it no secret that I have an interest in religious work. Here is one I did several years ago in gouache, an illustration of Lehi dreaming. At one point, his blanket had an old tree of life pattern woven through it. I still like the idea. Maybe I'll revisit that too.

Here is another book. This one I'd actually like to finish and pitch to a literary agent one day. It's "Winken, Blinken, and Nod". I have some of the dummy book worked out, and looking through the sketches gets me so excited!
This is another story I worked on, a neighbor's version of the "Sleeping Beauty" fairytale. In his version, this is the villain. Here's the prelim drawing and the final painting. I did one other character piece for the story, but I can't find it anywhere!
And here is the rest of the image dump, no explanations. Enjoy!

It's probably about time...

It's probably about time that I posted some photos of this Lehi project that has consumed much of my art life for the last few years, especially the last summer. I said that it was finished, but I have since changed my mind. I will be taking some weeks of "vacation" over next summer to make some necessary changes to the painting before it will really be finished, before I will really be satisfied with it. BUT...here are some photos of it as it hung at the art show. It is so big that I had to piece a number of photos together, so forgive the skewed parts, the foggy parts, and the spotty parts. It's so hard to represent it in miniature!Here's the official disclaimer:
"Lehi’s Exodus/Into the Wilderness 48”x96”, oil/canvas
"And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness. 1 NEPHI 2:4
"And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led. 1 NEPHI 17:13

"Lehi’s Exodus/Into the Wilderness depicts the departure of Lehi and his family as they journey out from Jerusalem and into the wilderness. Intended to be a personal piece rather than a realistic depiction of the actual event, the story is told in the faces. Shown from left to right are: Sam, a daughter, Lehi, Sariah, a daughter, Nephi, a daughter, Laman, and Lemuel. As Nephi is the one from whom the story derives, he is the only one looking directly at the viewer.
Care was taken to research the clothing, implements, and livestock of the era and area of Jerusalem in Lehi’s day. Designs from actual ancient textiles are incorporated into the costumes.
The purpose and meaning of the piece revolves around the idea that Lehi’s exodus, just as the Israelites’ and others’, is a type of each of our own journeys in the wilderness. Lehi’s wilderness, like ours, is a place of tribulation. But it is also a place of becoming, where, if we choose, we can draw closer to God."

Here are some shots closer in...
Lehi, Sariah, and child:
Nephi (flanked by Sariah and baby sister, and another sister):

On the easel

Along with the Bawden portraits, I'm also working on a large piece mimicking the A Field to Grow Boys In piece for my brother-in-law Sam's office. We went out into some fields and shot a bunch of pictures. This is just one of them. I've pieced the figures together and made a composite, but no peeking until it's done! (Maybe)

Bawden Portraits

Here are the beginnings of some more portraits that I'm working on. Again, these are the drawings that I will paint on top of. They aren't meant to be finished pieces in and of themselves, just a good base to start painting from.

Fun with Kiddos

Here's a fun modern art project we did with my sister's kids a few months ago. BIG canvas, some pre-mixed colors, plastic cups, foam brushes, and a backyard. You never know what kids will do. We just let 'em loose!

We turned it upside down to this effect. Now they will draw their cute robots, helicopters, monsters and notes all over this with colored permanent markers. Can't wait to see the finished product!

Portrait Process

Alright, here's a step-by-step of the three Gillespie portraits, from start to finish...

First, I get the drawing wet on the back by dipping a brush into a bowl of water...
Then paste the thing, front and back, with matte medium (this is sort of like mod-podge), using an old credit card or something to smooth it out...
Make sure the front gets a good coat.
Once it dries, set it up and begin!
The setup: reference photo on the laptop, palette (I've tried probably a dozen different commercial palettes, but I've settled on disposables as my favorite), easel, turp, etc.
Closeup of the palette...

A closeup of the palette...
Lay in the darks and a general background (this can be painted over later; it's just best not to have white to compare the skin tones with).








And the finished products.

Faux Show!

It's that time! The Lehi project is finally finished (minus a few fixes, a varnish, and a frame--that is, until Friday)! Time to show! We're calling it a faux show because we're pretending to be highbrow, and because we're holding it at a residence, rather than a gallery venue. Come, look at art, admire the fine architecture of SJB Architects, nibble, and talk. All are welcome!

Vote!

Alright, I'm submitting a couple of pieces to the Spring Salon at the Springville Museum of Art. I have three candidates, but I can only submit TWO, so I need your input! Which of these three should I submit?
There's this one, which I've posted about before. It is now framed...
There is this one, which I have also posted about, but I've fixed the background as per some friendly advice...this one has not yet been framed, but that is easily remedied...

And then there's this one, which I STILL cannot get a good photo of. It's big (36" x 36") and it's cooler in temperature than it is here. And this is obviously quite blurry...but it's one of my favorites...
What do you think? If you were a juror which would you receive (and which would you be most likely to award, if any?)

The Art of Making Art

It's kind of a funny thing, trying to put a painting together...sometimes people ask me, "do you look at a photograph for this, or is it just in your head?" HECK YES I use photographs! It's kind of clumsy, though. First you have to stare at strangers who get kind of freaked out sometimes. And then you have to ask them if you can take some pictures of them to use in a painting, which gets even stranger.
So far, with my Lehi project I've been pretty lucky. Between Springville and Bountiful, I've been able to pick models out of the people I know! For the baby, I used my daughter Nora...
We had to use Bonnie's cat to persuade her to stay on dad's shoulder and look in the right direction.

Our good friend Bonnie posed as Sariah, and MAN was she good! I really couldn't have found a better Sariah. But how did they wear those head things without making them pointy on top? (Don't worry, we eventually figured it out).My brother-in-law Sam and our neighbor Zeke and his daughter are also in the painting. But I couldn't find the right face for Nephi's eldest sister, and I've got deadlines (!) so I succumbed and just had Aaron shoot some photos of me. He's much less clumsy at this camera thing than I am:
Here's a sneak peak at this ginormous (four foot by eight foot) painting, to be finished in May.