My last chance to take a photograph!

As I took down my Manhattan Arts Center show today, I snapped a picture of "Red Square" in her frame. It was my last chance, because she sold during the show! I think this was one of the few pieces to sell after opening night. It's also my first sale through a third party!

SOLD!! Jewels

It's too bad I never took a proper photo of this! I had her framed with a black cherry matte (?? I'll have to check my records on that, actually) so that I could hang her in my 2012 Radina's show, despite the fact that I hadn't actually finished the painting. Many discussions later, I decided that I could call it "done" and stop worrying about whether to work it more or not. I had various interested parties, and she went to the buyer who put a tight deadline on purchasing it... "Oh, by the way, I'm moving next week and would love to own one of your paintings." SOLD!

For the curious, "Jewels" refers to the name of the dancer, not any kind of "family jewels"; although I suppose if you look into it hard enough, you might see a pair...

SOLD!!! Red Square

My first sale through a third party.

I'm glad I went with the title of "Red Square" on this one, so as to not influence my audience too much. The buyer saw some interesting things, including golf and music.

I love hearing about what other people see in a piece of my artwork.

"Red Square"

Details to come! Original sketch included. 12 x 12 inches on canvas board.

Tyler framed!!

I love how this came out!

SOLD!!!!

This will still hang in my November show.

Frame Job!!

If you rotate her one quarter turn clockwise, you get a fire breathing chicken. I'm changing the title to "Cow and Chicken".

I Painted!!!

I was feeling squirrely the other night, so I sat down and painted. I alternated between layering gesso on freshly stretched canvases and layering paint and other media on this piece of heavy paper.

This is a stripper painting but I'm hoping to work it enough so that you don't know it's a nude unless you know me and my art style. I have an art show to prepare for and I can't put nudes on the wall. :(

The sketch is of Jewel and I think for once the painting is better than the sketch. I'm not done just yet (I ran out of steam and started making mistakes so I had to remove some paint and stop and go to bed). The first layer is quinacridone crimson mixed with soft gel (semi-gloss), carbon black, and cerulean blue chromium in color blocks painted with big, wide brushes (a 16 flat and a 10 angle bright). The next layer is titan buff mixed with soft gel (semi-gloss) and a tiny bit of sap green hue, painted wih a 16 flat brush. The top layer is quinacridone crimson (no media), titan buff, and paynes gray applied with a variety of small round brushes or a 5 bright brush. 26 1/8 x 20 inches.

Turned a Stripper into a Cow...

Bunny represented abstractly in acrylic on paper... Hmmm.

Original sketch included.

Color Blocking: Complete

I think I need to blend the blue a little better, but overall, this looks great! Now I need to get some bright ideas about the rest...

For a Brief Moment, I Felt Like Picasso...

Hot DAMN!!! I cannot believe this. Yet another piece I thought was trash that just needed an open mind and some mental pushing. I don't think it's done yet, but my goodness is it an improvement over the last iteration. Notice I did away with almost all of the "better background work." Hah!

The "Picasso-eske brilliance" that I am arrogantly bestowing upon myself here has everything to do with solving the awkwardness of the shoulder(s) position with a dark curvy line that suggests a woman who is pulling her scarf across said shoulder(s): up with her left hand and down with her right. It ties everything together in a wonderfully abstract manner, squaring off the angles of the upper body in a way that the previous iteration simply could not capture.

In addition to the frame-within-a-frame concept I have going on, I've noticed another theme that I am extremely interested in exploring: figurative work in combination with musical elements. I'm excited.

Tyler! This May Turn in to my Best Piece Ever

So she's is obviously not done and I identified some "problem areas" just after my painting session last night, but I still wanted to share the progression because I think it's turning into something amazing. See previous iterations for a full progress report.

Tyler... Still Going!

To answer my own question: No, she's not finished.

Better Background Work

Comments forthcoming...

Commissioned Painting: Do Over

Attempt Number TWO!!!!!!! I like this a lot better, although I probably have to fix some of her proportions a bit. Overall, the feeling is right.

Here is the original sketch.

Tyler with Bright Red

I like the red, but I think maybe it's not enough? If the goal is blocks of color (which I suspect it is), then I should probably extend the red to the northeast a bit...

Tyler

I like where this continues to go. I feel inspired by the documentary on Robert Motherwell I saw recently (Robert Motherwell & The New York School: Storming the Citadel, by Catherine Tatge)...

Dimensions: 30 x 36 on pre-stretched canvas.

I Love the Suggestion of a Head Here

Hmmm. Nice. I like where this is going. Here's the last post of this painting.

Inspiration - Tyler

This is the original sketch (see post titled "A Very Gestural Start") from the Strip Club in Topeka. The girl's stage name is Tyler. The size of this "canvas" is 7 x 7 inches!

A Very Gestural Start - Tyler

I took a risk with this painting by sketching with a dark color (Paynes Gray). It's not quiiiite what I wanted, but it's not too far off, really. I think that as I work the painting, I can move the out-of-place lines closer into focus. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied. Now I need to choose my color scheme (muted pastels). This canvas is 36 x 30 inches.