The Mancini Challenge, continued

"Forgotten Teacup", 9x12"  oil on canvas mounted on board

The second half of the Dailypaintworks challenge was tougher than I thought it would be. After copying a master work, we were to paint an original painting with the master work serving as inspiration.  I set up a still life, put the Mancini copy on my easel for easy reference, and got to work.

I started painting with the Mancini copy in sight for inspiration

My mantra as I painted was, "Lots of paint, Keep it loose".  This part of the challenge was difficult, because now it was up to me to decide which edges I should lose, which highlights to hit the hardest, and what areas I could abstract entirely.  Mancini wasn't making the decisions anymore!

A few hours later

One of the most interesting parts of the challenge to me was that no matter how hard I may try to copy the style of a master, when it comes time to paint my own rendition, the painting won't look like it was painted by Mancini.  My style surfaces, no matter how hard I try to mimic someone else's.  It's my "fingerprint", and while I can absorb the influences of other painters, my paintings will always look pretty much like my own.  And I guess that's not an entirely bad thing!

I learned so much from this challenge.  If you'd like to see what other people painted, here's the link.

We Have History

Jen With Glasses, May, 2017

I've been painting portraits from live model sittings for many years now.  Heaven knows I don't do it for fame or fortune; I rarely sell one of these paintings, and I have dozens of them stacked high in my studio.  On the evenings when I get together with my fellow artists to gather around a model, it's often snowing or raining hard, and I don't get home again until around 11:00pm.  

Painting Jen in the Studio

So why do I do it, week after week, year after year?  Because no other subject gives me a thrill the way capturing a person's likeness, and sometimes even their personality on canvas does. I can paint a really wonderful apple or bunch of flowers, or even a sunset and be happy with it, but I'm never as fulfilled as I am after a session with a live, breathing human being in front of me, surrounded by like-minded artists who are my friends.  

We are all after the same thing-- to describe and translate the uniqueness of the person sitting before us onto canvas.  And when we come close, we feel that thrill.

And we will be back next week!

Jen, 2013

Jen, 2016

Starting with a Transparent Wash

"Meditation on Joy"

9x12", oil on canvas mounted on hardboard

The Hildt Gallery, Chicago

I thought I'd try a completely different approach with this little floral abstract painting.  Instead of setting up a floral arrangement to paint from, I thought I'd let the painting "create itself" this time.  

I started the painting with a little bit of paint and a whole lot of Gamsol (a paint solvent) to make my oil paint behave similarly to watercolor paint.  I dropped the different colors on the canvas and let them run together and spill right off the bottom.  All the while, I was observing what parts of the painting were speaking to me.  I wanted to develop the areas I liked with just enough detail without ruining the spontaneity of the abstract underneath.

Little by little, I snuck up on the painting, adding small dashes of color wherever I wanted to.  This was a pretty long, drawn out process.  After every few brush strokes, I stepped back about six feet and asked myself what I should do next.  To me, the process of abstract painting is much more intensive and tiring than painting from a reference.  In abstract painting, it's just you and the painting, without any outside guidance from reality.  

After this painting is mounted and framed, it's off to the Hildt Gallery.

Daniella, 9x12"

Daniella is a young student at Mainstreet Art Centre who posed for our Open Studio last night.  I tried to keep things very soft on her face and features, then punched things up a bit with the palette knife at the very end.

Sorry Folks... (Sold)

...sometimes a gal just has to paint a fluffy kitty!  Maybe I should call this one "Mug Shot". (I wonder what he did...)