Figurative painting in pastel

Down in SOHO©2006C.L.BURGESS artist's collection

In the spirit of the Ashcan School but not for the FTM challenge.

Just figured a break from my recent wip images was in order. I won an honorable mention for this in one of the first times I entered a competition. I took the photo, that was the source, of a man in NYC looking real tired and sad. I was, in fact, thinking that it did remind me of the subject of paintings that Sloan, Henri and the Eight did. I like to draw so I used pastel. I may revisit this image and try it in oil. (11x14 on sand paper)

WIP Reading with Poppa completed

Reading with Poppa©2010 C.L.Burgess 16x20 oil on linen nfs
Closeup: grandpa figure after softening the form and getting rid of garish reds, fixing some proportions and changing shirt color and loosening up the strokes on the shirt. The faces are the focal areas every thing else supportive, so I was tighter in the rendering where it counted.

detail of girl background dulled and darkened, skin tones and hair adjusted in tonality and definition

I know some of you thought it was done. But it really had a few more hours of work to go. I am satisfied with it at last and will photograph it again when it is dry. The graininess is because it is wet and the light is muted this afternoon. But it is accurate otherwise.

I had to finish it today so I can move on. Can't wait to start another figurative piece.

Welcome to new folllowers...hope you enjoyed the wip.

Now I can watch the game and not feel guilty.

SNOW again! and an update on the figurative wip

WIP Reading with Poppa©2010c.l.burgess cont...

ok..almost there...some more gentle glazing, mostly on Poppa...the reds on his face are popping out like splotches.....they have to recede a bit and I need to build the body of Poppa's shirt and paint it like the child's, with a few directional finishing strokes and deepen the background behind the girl. Basically that is it and taking a better photo of the finished piece. the kight is too white from the snowfall...even in the studio.

Then off to the next painting....
Whose woods these are...

richmond,va backyard feb2010

whoaa....very beautiful until you start wondering how many trees will come down...when we bought this house, we couldn't see this house(an acre away) for the trees, then hurricane Isabelle took about 50 tall oaks and pines among other things. We just now have come back from that disaster...5 years later...so I hope we don't lose any more...

Well, the ultimate challenge is to paint this scene outside my studio window...I guess sepia and white might do the trick, huh?

I may just relax tomorrow, read and watch the superbowl. enjoy! Back on monday...

Still Life with Orange Juice

Juicy©2010C.LBurgess acrylic on canvas 6x6" $150.00

This is my painting at the Six by Six gallery at Charmingwall in NYC. It is in keeping with a glassful and accompaniment, like my Milk and cookies. See a motif? I like working with transparent objects...takes a lot of looking and with that comes a lot of learning.

This painting is 'art from art', as it is a crop down from another painting of mine from a still life series I am working on for another show. One can find paintings within paintings. I do that frequently, as it is a habit developed from teaching graphic design to my high schoolers. When running out of ideas, I used to tell them to repeat something, flip it, change it's color, magnify, crop etc. Take a look at some of your own stuff that may seem like a reject and see if you can find a new set up to paint...either set up the still life according to your crop or draw from the crop and "do something to it"...if nothing else it is a good exercise for you to practice all kinds of things when you are at odds or just want to do something beside watch snow fall.

Speaking of that...we, in Virginia, are getting clobbered once more.

Have a great weekend!

Reading with poppa#4wip detail

Details...closeups...work in progress.....
In these two photos, as I move forward, I am beginning to add some more flesh tones and some hints at color. I have added Venetian red and Naples yellow and Cad green to my palette. Using some neomegilp now to glaze and also add some body to the paint on the palette that has tendencies to dry out.

I am using number 4,6 rounds and filberts soft hair brushes. My strokes are delicate, feathered layers in a cross hatching. I am still working in high key. Still checking in the mirror to see if the sculpting of the form is still apparent or getting lost. ( That is a hazard of not working dark enough at the start, or adding to much white to your colors at midpoint. Live and learn. Practice, practice, practice)

I want an overall soft look to the painting because of the lighting and the mood, the intimacy and gentle spirit that is obvious.

The loose realism, not impressionism is kicking in. I hesitate to label. I will leave that to my critics. Representational painting is an all encompassing term I prefer, that leaves me able to paint in a way that suits my subject and my reaction to it..

I will keep posting as I work..time for me to walk away from this for a bit...let the paint tack up so I can move it around with some body and glaze in other places.

Demonstration WIP 3:Seated Figure with child

detail WIP continued.....

working in some flesh tones over the underpainting on the adult head and shirt....

Colors: ultra marine blue, cad red lt, yel ochre light, alizaron crimson

the background is actually bluer than it shows here but still a light value gray.

I am leaning toward less articulation of who the people are, making the image more generalized rather than true portaits.

Fig with Cherries Still Life Oil Painting

Fig with Cherries©2010 C.L.Burgess 12 x 12 oil on linen

I have been using different kinds of red in paintings lately as the theme for the Willowbrook Gallery contains red. It is also my favorite color...bold,lush and beautiful, especially on containers, veggies and fruit. A perfect excuse for the painter to spend money on paint...almost as decadent as buying pastry or jewelry for me.

The Willowbrook Gallery Art Show and Sale each year raises funds for a special needs school for children who are dyslexic.

Teacup with Figs

Teacup with Figs 6x8 oil on canvas ©2010C.L.Burgess

I am still working on my other two shows' paintings but am taking a break with small stuff while the paint is drying a bit.

The foodie paintings are many since I have this restaurant thing going... and another small work off to NYC for next week's opening, which I will post afterward. When I saw these figs, I just had to get them..the color so cool, to go with my asian pottery.

Demonstration:two seated figures wip adult and child

16x 20 oil on linen work in progress Reading with Poppa©2010C.L.Burgess

Housebound in 16 inches of snow this weekend. Gorgeous. After the hot chocolate and birdwatching, newspaper read...it was time to paint.

I am doing this demo step by step in stills...

started with a loose drawing based on a photo I had taken, in a burnt sienna and cobalt mix straight onto primed linen.

Toned that into some gray and swiped at it with a cloth as if I was laying it out in charcoal. Then, I began to introduce limited mixtures of same colors, with the addition of white and some cad red but tried to keep the values still pretty much to less than five. Things started to muddy up, my darks were too light so I went back in with the rag and my fingers and removed some highlights. It needs to tack up a bit before I continue.

A reminder: check your image in a reverse mirror to gage proportions and it is always good to take a photo of the wip and make it b/w with the editing feature on your computer or camera to check out your values... love technology for that alone....:-)

More later. Might post something else in the meantime.

This painting will be in the Fredericksburg show in April.

Portrait of a Young Woman

Insight: Portrait of Alison ©2010C.L.Burgess 20x16 oil on linen

I keep and have kept for years, Robert Henri's The Art Spirit not far from my side. He is a teacher's teacher. While reviewing this image from last night's open model session, my impulse was to continue to work on it, pausing instead, got a glass of wine and then I took to the book and found this passage taking it to heart:"..objects are painted for what they suggest, and their presentation has no excuse if it is not to carry to the mind of the observer the fancy they aroused in the artist."

Henri here, has been speaking of the question we all ask ourselves "what is attractive to me, excites me, moves me to pick up my brush... and why is that?"

Ah, the search for beauty. For me the ultimate beauty is found in the human expression, most often in the face but also the entire body.

Henri is talking, I think, about what we each find so beautiful, that we can't do anything until we speak of it through our art. He speaks of the rare art student, "whose life is spent in the love and the culture of his personal sensations,...the cherishing of his emotions....the pleasure of exclaiming them to others and an eager search for their clearest expressions." (I found it very interesting, that the paradigm he selected to underscore this notion was the poet Walt Whitman.)

Sometimes, that clarity comes from just waiting a bit... turning something to the wall and then when gazing upon it again, asking 'does this say what I experienced?' 'does the attitude convey the sensation of the moment?' If the answer is yes, them by all means let it be. If not, then continue to work the battlefield until that moment and only that one moment, is realized.

We are reading The Art Spirit with Michelle Burnett's book group and this month our Master is Robert Henri in Following the Masters. This link has more information.

For those of you reading the book, I paraphrased and quoted from pages 68-89.

Still life with Silver teapot: Soliloquy revisited

Soliloquy Blues©2010C.L.Burgess 14 x 11 oil $550 framed silver leaf

Sometimes it is nice to have a cup alone and daydream...and why not let it be a pretty cup at that?

I am seriously trying to get rid of the duds, reclaim some ill begotten work and keep moving forward with new stuff. (Signs of spring cleaning beginning early on these warmer winter days.)

I had posted an earlier version of this painting then deleted it from my older posts. It now looks a thousand times better than it did in the original state. After painting for two years or more after that initial attempt, I found many annoying things that needed fixing. I wish I had saved the earlier version to show the improvement but alas, it is gone. It is still fairly loosely rendered but color and forms are more solid. It is on show for sale at the restaurant.

Do you do this too to your older pieces? Or do you just slam dunk the thing into the g file?

I will be tossing some duds out after wasting more time on them. Sometimes stubbornness is just that and one has to face it. There is no saving some work. And it will be good therapy to stretch and mindlessly gesso some canvases for a little while.

I may even treat myself to a day at the Smithsonian tomorrow to get that creative juicy energy replenished.

Clothed Female Figure-"Uncertain"

Uncertain©2010 C.L.Burgess 13 x 23 oil on linen

Felt like drawing with paint..quick, bravura strokes, working from the computer screen, pretending I was standing before her and had only 1 hour to get this down. (which I did, cause I had myriad odd jobs to get done today.)

I like how it came out and may do this again. Sometimes the muse gives peculiar directives.

Portrait of a young man:Joey

Joey in Gray Cap©2010C.L.Burgess

I love when my former students stay in touch and we become friends. Joey was a graphic design whiz in high school, a teacher's assistant and all around great guy, now studying film making. He occasionally poses for our group on Wednesday nights.

Bread

Bread©2010 C.L.Burgess oil on cradled wood 16x16

How about a piece of bread for that butter in the last post?

This is for the other restaurant...still have about three paintings more to do. Then I have to get back to work on the work for my upcoming shows in Fredericksburg and here in Richmond. May be slow on posts after this week.

That framing I was gonna do??? Well, the wood is in a corner of my studio still waiting for me to get the courage up to get a saw. May have to do it the old way, with a hand saw and my dad's miter box.

Butter

Butter©2010 C.L.Burgess 5x5 oil on gessoed panel $125

A hearty welcome to my new followers...

It is always the light that draws my attention...a simple morning, coffee, stillness and the sun on my table as I sit in contemplation appreciating the basics. Yet, something so simple as this portrait of a staple from my fridge presents an agreeable challenge to start my day in the studio and I greet it eagerly.

It is better with butter.:-)

Figurative Painting-"Summer Repose" Relief for Haiti

"Summer Repose" giclee 20x26" ©C.L.Burgess

Just cannot comprehend the fright, loss and damage. Here I am at comfort, painting my life away. I am warm and safe. There but for the grace of God. Sleepless thinking, what can I do? We already donated to AARP which matches funds up to 500,000 dollars. Didn't seem enough. So I, like a few other painters am offering something I do well, this print, to the winner of the auction, free shipping with 100% of any money I get, to go to Doctors Without Borders. Please, if you cannot bid, pass the word along to others who may. I have received many compliments on this painting in my home, so I only made an edition of two. One is at auction right now. Please help.

Thank you.

Return of the Red Shoes

Kicked Back©2010C.L.Burgess oil on cradled wood 30 x 30"

Ok..Good news...sold a painting from the restaurant, Bread and Water and also was asked to fill the back of another location. Six more big paintings to get done pronto.

I had started a painting of the infamous red shoes a while back and then proceeded to sand it down when I got the idea to just improve on the composition. The shoes were painted well, I thought, but ill placed on the large square. Necessity being the mother of invention, and a stroke or two of creativity and perhaps a bit cliche, I thought...hmm, this will be in a restaurant that serves fine wine with meals. Remembering how that relaxes me, anyway I invented a different story for the shoes.... and the play with different reds in the same composition was good, too... I added to the composition and voila...one down and five to go. The owner's wife saw this already and thought it was good to go so, phew! on to the next one...

Study in White Still Life Painting

Arrangement in White©2010 C.L.Burgess 8x 6 oil on linen $250 framed

This is not a rant. Just a roundabout story towards a good ending to a busy day.

But I need to ask: do you not get tired of lost email that never bounces back to you? I almost, (but did not) lost an opportunity to show 20 still life paintings because of an email that never got to where it was supposed to go on the day it went. Phew!

This small work is one of the pieces on show and for sale at Cafe Cateura at Short Pump Crossing in Richmond. If I do say so, my smallish paintings ( 6x8 to 16 x 20), do show very well and the owners are thrilled that I could rally at a moment's notice. ("me , too", I think, as I catch my breath).

One of the reasons I am grateful for the discipline of daily painting is that when a door opens..I am ready. The only thing I need to learn now, is how to frame my own work. Keep an inventory list fresh. Also, buy a miter saw,framing tools, and jump in and learn by doing.Those will be some of my professional goals for 2010.

Goal setting: a major resolution for 2010. I used to be real good at it when I was a high school teacher. Retirement from teaching has been very good, but I have indulged in closing out the world to paint, rather than market. So marketing will be prime on the list, too.

And there will be more. All stated in doable doses. One of the things about setting and reaching goals is to put a limit on them. For example: I intend to sell 10 more pieces this year than last...or maybe

enter 4 major magazine competitions and 8 local/regional competitions. Get the idea?

And definitely : have enough on hand framed, in case someone knocks at your email with a request to fill a restaurant with your artwork.

Happy Painting!

Walking with Ella: figurative oil painting

Walking with Ella©2010 C. L.Burgess 8x6 oil on canvas nfs

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. Langston Hughes

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. John Ruskin

I decided to paint the memory of my rainy Thanksgiving walk with my grand daughter in the

backyard near Rattlesnake creek.

She had this funny cute, bunny hat on and she was pretty in pink.

What more can be said?

Simply put, one can find geat happiness in the simple act of holding a young child's hand

and just being together. Rain or shine.

Portrait of a Man: Lamont

Lamont©2010C.L.Burgess 20 x 16 oil on canvas

Back at group after the holiday. This young man just had the kindest spirit ooze out of him.

Portrait is almost done...I need to complete the bottom and the tie and check him out after he dries a bit. Overall it is a good sketch for another 3 hour session.

Yorkshire Terrier: Dog Portrait

Studio Buddy©2010 C.L.Burgess oil on linen 8x10

I love this little guy. He keeps me company while I paint. It is the grand dog. He is quite the fearless protector, too...I think he thinks he is a BIG dog. What a personality.

Interested in havng a portrait of your dog? Send me an email for info.