Self Portrait Assignment

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I had the great opportunity to study under the fantastic artist, Paul Davis, at the University of Utah. His classes were the hardest of all my college experience. I was so overwhelmed most of the time. Now, many years later, I am grateful for his strict teaching methods.

This was one of his assignments: we were to go home and draw our self-portrait for our class the next day. I sat in front of the dresser-mounted mirror in the bedroom. You can see from my eyes how intensely I worked. You can see the facial structure and planes of the face.

Yes, I was bald then. I had dark hair though. Now I’m still bald, but have almost white hair and a full white beard.

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On Tybee Island

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on-tybee-beach

I was with my son on Tybee Island just east of Savannah, Georgia. We had our fishing rods and were walking along the pier when I looked down at the beach below. I noticed a group of girls sunning themselves. They were all facing towards the center. I thought it really made an interesting sight. I knew I wanted to paint that scene.

The first thing I did when I drew the figures was to have some of them go off the edges of the canvas. I have found that this technique makes the scene more interesting than if they all were completely shown.

Another thing I did was to portray different skin tones. Some were pretty tan, others were lily white. The sunlit parts of their bodies had highlights, while the other sides were in shadow. If you look at the girl on the bottom right side, you will see color from the green towel reflected on her leg.

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Morning Dance

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When I first moved to Indianapolis over ten years ago, I wanted to try painting some city scenes. There are four parks all in a row along Meridian Street downtown. I found a beautiful fountain with a sculpture of a woman playing cymbals at the top, and a group of people dancing around in a circle. Water ran from under the feet of the cymbal player and went over the sides into a bowl below. I thought it was wonderful. I especially liked the view of the War Memorial building right behind it.

I went early in the morning because I wanted the light to be just coming up and shining on the subject. I soon found that it only was good for ten or fifteen minutes and then the sun was too high. I went back on several successive days to capture the fifteen minutes. It was really tricky trying to capture the water. It moved too fast for me to get a real view, so I had to do my best. I wanted to have the painting be much further along than it did, but I started getting harassed by panhandlers. One of them shoved my easel over on the ground and then he slugged me. That was the end of my painting on scene downtown. Actually, though, I like the slightly unfinished look, anyway.

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Fishing

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My son and I have never once, that I can think of, had a disagreement. We really get along well, and have done so since he was born. I think it probably is because I always took him fishing. We’d get up early in the morning, load the canoe on top of the car, and drive up into the mountains. We had a few favorite lakes we loved to fish at. Not only did we catch several thousand trout, we had time to talk, joke, and tell stories

Here is Jared with a rainbow on his line. Note the sunlight is coming from the left side of the painting. There is a sliver of light on his arms, face, leg, and life preserver. The inside of the canoe on the right side of the painting is red, while the left side is dark. There is reflected light from the orange life jacket on his face. Small portions of the trees have sunlight on them, but the rest is in shadow.

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Bryan Family

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This is the Bryan family from Michigan. I have been working on this portrait for a year and a half. First I spent a full afternoon having them do several poses to get things right. Once I got that done, I had to choose the canvas size. This portrait is 30″x36″. After I started the painting I wished I had chosen a much larger canvas because with six individuals they were each pretty small and it was hard to paint such small faces.

You will notice that the light came from glass doors on the right. Their faces are very light on that side, and the colors on the clothes show up well. You might notice that Mrs. Bryan’s left side blends in with the chair. The shadow side is not discernible.

Their family is a very upbeat, cheerful group, so I tried to portray their personalities. I hope they’ll consider this a family heirloom.

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Tourists

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I was with my wife and our parents on a tour of ancestral homes in England. My father-in-law was talking to his cousin who was telling him about his ancestor who finally had enough money to pay off the mortgage. He was so happy, he went to the pub and got drunk. The next day, when the mortgage was due, he couldn’t remember where he put the money. He was so upset, he hung himself. We were looking at the house where it happened.

One of my techniques is to look for shapes of value or color, then paint them in without looking to see what I’m painting. It is like doing a jigsaw puzzle. Once everything is done, the picture comes together. Look at the different shades on the faces or shirts.

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Snip

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I did this painting one day when I was stressed. I put flowers in this mason jar on a table, then set a pair of scissors by it. I needed to get my mind off of things. I never gave the painting much thought.

My first gallery show in Indianapolis was to be a week later. I included my best art. My wife wanted me to put this one in as well. I didn’t want to because I thought it was mediocre but she insisted. It was the first piece that sold. It just goes to show that what you might think is insignificant might be the best you have — and that the woman by your side probably knows a lot more than you do.

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Jumping Contest

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In 2004 I entered a juried competition called “Art Between Cultures.” It was held at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures at Indiana University. I was selected as one of the exhibitors. I had submitted several paintings, and they chose two. This one isn’t one that was chosen, but I really like it anyway.

I had a very good friend who had small children and I asked if I could go to her home and take several pictures of them to give me inspiration. When I got there we had a hard time getting them to give me good poses. They were interested in doing other things. Finally the mother brought out a cd player and turned on the music. We told them we needed them to have a “jumping contest.” This really worked, as you can see in the painting.

My technique in bringing them to life was to emphasize the light and shadows on their faces, the shadows under them on the ground, putting wrinkles in their clothing, and making sure I had smiles on their faces.

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