Continuing with this little burst of still life exploration that I'm going through, I'm trying to push more abstraction into the mix with the palette knife here. I do like the warm textural effects of the background and the cool green foreground, but the mauve vase was what I was after.
I just stumbled on this Sharpie drawing I had done of Tina Turner way back at the beginning of this art thing, in 2005. She is really fun to try to capture.
This is a palette knife study in progress, about 95% done. I rarely do still life paintings, but I'm pushing myself to do them now in a way that is more expressive than representative. Still, it's all about color for me.
And speaking of lions, I've long thought of Tina Turner as a lioness. Her fierceness, tenacity, chutzpah, and general badass veneer, while being deeply rooted in her Buddhist faith of love for all beings forms an intoxicating cocktail of inspiration to women everywhere. Her message will live on for years to come. Tina Turner is Simply the Best!
Another bird study, this one of a white-bellied sea eagle. I was drawn to the intensity of the stare.
After hearing of Tina Turner's passing, I just had to paint her. This is before she became Tina Turner, when she was still known as Anna Mae Bullock and probably in her late teens. I've got one or two more of her in me yet to do. What an inspiration she was, is, and will remain well into the future.
Just a spontaneous "mood" painting to help me switch hats.
This thing turned out better than I expected. Bob Dylan is the real thing.
This painting is in tribute to my great friend Marilyn. She is a total horse lover, and Victor was her quarter horse sweetheart. Quite a handsome fella, and once upon a time, he was a race horse.
Finally getting around to doing a painting of this little owlet pair which, in their kiss, form a beautiful heart-shaped face.
This is another addition to the series of portraits I've been amassing on Black American artists, musicians, poets, and other notable creatives. Mark Bradford is an accomplished abstract artist known for his collage paintings. He also incorporates video, print and installation in his process.
I started this painting in 2020 during the COVID lockdown period. I kept imagining a little piece of paradise floating in tropical waters. It was all but finished except that it needed a figure, and I remained undecided forever about it . . . that is, until recently. Even though isolation can foster a feeling of NOT belonging, I wanted the figure in this scene to have a sense of place, of belonging there, as if isolation is a chosen thing.
This nude study is based on a painting by Guillaume Seignac, entitled "The Awakening of Psyche." I'm planning to attend a figure painting workshop this summer and feel the need to paint nudes to kind of get in shape for the workshop.
Just a doodle based on a Peter Wileman painting, playing around with color and shape here. I like the color combos and the overall composition.
This is my third portrait of Amy Winehouse, who never ceases to fascinate me. With this portrait, I wanted to capture her edgier side. She came off much more innocent in my first try, then the second I left unfinished, as I wasn't happy with it. I like this one, though. I feel I got what I was after with it. There was often an undercurrent of anger in her, but that was also part of her appeal, her fire. A highly emotional singer, she didn't hold back.
This is a quick study that I rendered for a larger painting I envision that may not look much like this one when I'm done. This was just to get familiar with the figure's contours. I wanted an elongated torso a la Modigliani, so I exaggerated it on this figure based on the Matisse sculpture "Reclining Nude."
Here's another painting from New Mexico. I used to drive by this scene in Arroyo Seco on my way to Taos Ski Valley, and as the sun was setting, it would light up Taos Mountain with shades of pink, crimson, and maroon as the sun slowly sank out of sight, giving credence to the monicker Sangre de Cristo.
