"Alexandria" Completed

I am very happy to say that my painting of Alexandria is complete and has been delivered! Delayed for several reasons, including my inability to paint because of my shoulder surgery for almost a year, I have worked many, many hours to complete it before Christmas. Alexandria hangs beside a portrait of her brother, Jonathan (the boy with the skateboard), featured in an earlier post. One of the most time consuming parts of this painting was the skirt, with all those folds! I faced a few challenges in this painting which, fortunately, I overcame. I am now very happy with the result as are Alexandria and her family.

I am having a lot of family here for Christmas and hope to enjoy my time with them. I wish all my readers a wonderful Christmas, some of you a great Channuka, and all of you a healthy and happy new year. Keep your loved ones close and treasure your moments with them.

A Completed Portrait

Portraits such as this one take me soooo long to complete, and I am always happy when I call it done and paint my signature on it. Someone just asked me the other night how I know when to stop, how I know when it is finished. The answer is straightforward. When I can't find anything to do to it that will make it better. Now that doesn't mean that I won't see something later that I might have done differently. As Burt Silverman once said, "The dynamic of a painting does not end with the signature." As you grow as an artist, and let's hope that we are growing every day in some way, you will see things differently, may learn something new that you could have applied to an old work. You may have reached a greater understanding on resolving particular problems in a painting. But for me, once it is done, I rarely, if ever, go back to an old painting. If anything, I might repaint it (not a portrait), applying the newer philosophies or techniques to a new work. Then I have the advantage of comparison.
I hope you like this painting. Chance is the third grandchild I've painted for this client, with one more to go. (Chance's cousin, Ben, is in the right hand column of this blog.) But I have another portrait in the last stages (Alexandria) and will have that finished by next week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Happy Valentine

Ashley is a beautiful young woman, but in just two and a half hours' painting time, this burnt umber and yellow ochre underpainting was as far as I could get. I really like the method I used of wiping out the lights from the toned canvas. This was a good likeness and the model really liked it. Her boyfriend surprised her with it for Valentine's Day!

I am still having a difficult time painting at the easel, such as I did here, but I am trying. I hope to be getting more art posted in the not too distant future.

11 x 14 oil on canvas

SOLD!

Finally, a New Post!

I can't believe that my last post was on June 12th and it is now July 2nd! MUCH has happened since then and I have been very busy. I have had several diagnostic tests and have found that I have a very significant tear in my right rotator cuff and must have surgery. And yes, that is my painting arm. My son has been staying with us for the past several weeks and is probably staying on a semi-permanent basis. His three teen-age kids were also with us for a week during this time. My sister arrived while all of them were still here and Tom was out of town for 2 weeks! I have a new employee at the frame shop/gallery and my talented student, Alexandria, is with me three days a week. I have just completed my portrait of Jonathan (photo below) and am now working on the next. And then last week, my wonderful daughter, Kerry, who wears an artificial right leg, fell and broke her left ankle! Need I say more?

Now back to Art Matters! Below is the completed painting of Jonathan, the early stages of which I have posted before. His mother and sister love it and the father will be surprised! Click on images to view a larger version.

Copyright Pat Aube Gray, Oil on Linen, 32 x 48

Next I want to do a little bragging about Alexandria, who will be a senior in high school come September. When she first came to me last year, her drawings were very typical of almost any sixteen year old. Her interest was in drawing faces, but those she had previously produced were flat and cartoonish, lacking form and antomical accuracy. After only one three hour lecture, with little thumbnail demos in explanation of form and values, dimension and structure, etc., Alexandria's true ability was immediately apparent. She was instantly able to grasp the concepts and apply them to her work. In a rush to paint, her first painting was actually a portrait and she did a very good job. Then on to a still life from a setup, which is now framed and hanging in her parents' home - it was that good! We are now back to the basics, using the atelier concept of drawing first, painting later, as drawing is the foundation for all two-dimensional art. In addition to drawing from life, I have Alexandria copying from Charles Bargue plates, the same as those used in French Academies during the mid nineteenth century.
When you see the photo below, I think you will agree that she is making great progress!

Graphite on Toned Paper, highlighted with white charcoal, 18 x 24

I have a couple of small paintings completed and will most likely post them tomorrow. Until then, have a great evening and remember that Art Matters!

Working on the Boy

I've worked now on the face as I don't want to put a ton more effort into the clothing and the background until I am comfortable that I have a good likeness going. This is only the first round of working on the head. That will continue throughout the painting process until it all fits together well and the boy looks like he could turn and talk to you. His hair is merely blocked in with mixtures of burnt sienna, burnt umber and some yellow ochre. But his hair, though it has some red in it, is not nearly as red as it is in this underpainting. I will work next on his hand and get the clothing going and also start to put some of the detail in the background, a few more trees between him and the distant hedgerow. In case you can't tell, that's a skateboard he's holding onto. Most important thing in his life right now!

With the exception of modifying the background as I work on the boy's painting (to keep them well harmonized), I won't begin the girl's head and body, etc. until I feel the boy is 99% complete.
See the last post for the last pics I posted of the two paintings.

Your comments are welcome - click on the word comments below.

Portraits in Progress

Each canvas is 48"x32"

I haven't posted in a couple of days because I have been working diligently on my portrait commissions. As you can see, they are basically roughed in, with the background suggested but by no means finished. This isn't a stage normally shown to anyone, as it might scare people off, especially the client! I like working this way when working from a photo as it is similar to the method I use when working from life. I have done studies of these kids from life and photos prior to beginning these paintings.

Because these portraits are going to hang side by side, I am painting the backgrounds so that they look like one is a continuation of the other. They can, of course, always be hung in separate areas of the home.

I would love to squeeze in a couple of small ones, but can't do it right now. Be sure to comment or ask questions below. Thanks!