Before and After

I've got two images here. One is the first pass through this painting. The second is the final piece. In between there were about 4 or 5 passes where I tried to refine the drawn elements a bit, pushed the tonal structure, paint application and obviously the color. Feel free to let me know what ya think.

No love for the Nude

This is a recent painting I completed earlier this year. I was hoping I could include it in a figurative show I'm participating in with a couple of other artists here in Connecticut. This painting unfortunately could not be displayed as it was "too nude".  It's 48x60 and is pretty confrontational but really? C'mon, I've seen stuff like this and worse in museums and art history books. I also had to take this painting down early from my grad show for the same reason.  Assuming it's not a horrible painting, I'm kind of taking this response as a compliment. However I'd like to be able to display it somewhere other than the storage facility where it currently resides.

Pushing Portraits

Im trying to improve my work with the figure and portraits.  I've been entering them in juried shows in the area trying to get some feedback on them. This one will be at the Vernon Arts Center's show. For more info on the show go to www.vernonarts.org and I'd appreciate any feedback on this piece.

Eric 

Still Life Exhibition

The painting shown above is my contribution to a new still life exhibition at the Silo Gallery at Hunt Hill Farm in New Milford, CT. The show opens August 7th and runs through to September 12th. For more information click HERE.

Painting with Jackie White

Jackie White and I went out painting together a few weeks back. Despite the lackluster light that day we had a great time. The image here is one of the gray river paintings I did from that day. However to find out more about Mrs. White, go to her website HERE.

Remembering Stephen Brown

As I begin working more with portraits and the figure I can't help but keep going back to my former teacher and friend, Stephen Brown. When I arrived at art school most of my previous knowledge of art was from comic books and what little art history I paid attention to in high school. (My high school art teacher was fantastic, but that's for another time.) I also saw illustration as a path towards a tangible career. Like most young students I was kind of lost. At the same time I really wasn't getting the kind of education I desired. To the schools defense I wasn't as committed a student as I should have been. I spent more time rolling joints than I did stretching canvases... live and learn.

Back to Stephen.

At a faculty exhibit (Hartford Art School) I saw this small self portrait, that from across the room, was able to hit me straight in my gut. I believe this was my first genuine experience with the power of painting. I had never experienced such a visceral reaction from a picture hanging on a wall in my life. Yes the portrait was well executed and looked very "real" but for all it's great technical accomplishments what got me was just how "human" it felt. Here was this paining of an older guy who I had never met but suddenly I felt this deep shared connection with. This man was obviously an accomplished painter yet his portrait contained all of the vulnerability, the searching, and tension that I was (and still am) experiencing. I went and met with Stephen shortly after and have loved both him and his work ever since. I've committed myself to painting ever since.

Through practice, you and I can learn how to paint a convincing portrait, put the eyes and nose where they belong and figure out a decent formula for achieving flesh tones; but to paint with that much integrity, to expose ourselves, to be so brutally honest is really something else, and that something else can be quite powerful.

These are some examples of Stephen's portraits. The first image is that first self portrait of his that I saw.