Posts

A Tale of Two Statues

Image
   Recently, during a lovely trip to the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, I drew studies of two marble statues that really left me thinking. Both statues were of women and both seemed to have something to say about femininity. The first was eye catching to begin with. A statue of a Greek slave girl, carved in 1846 by an American artist, Powers. She (the statue) stood in front of a window, at the end of a room, and with a bench conveniently placed in front of her (perfect for drawing!). The slave girl looked remarkably unconcerned with being in chains. And I found the statue to be in a way, a bit sensational. Almost emotionally manipulative. The slave girl is stands in a very basic and simple pose, with her head slightly turned so that you can appreciate the profile of her face. Her body is very smooth so that all of the shadows fade gently and her arms and wrists are very slender. Her chest is completely uncovered as her arms are both hanging down in chains, although not even
Post a Comment
Read more

Finished at last!

Image
  My recently finished painting of the turkey vulture ( Cathartes aura )       About five years ago I started working on a life size painting of my favorite bird, the turkey vulture. It was a big and ambitious project for me since I finish most of my paintings in about a day or two. This painting ended up being a bit different though. I’ve worked on it on and off for the last several years and finally managed to finish it this morning. It has a lot of flaws and I have definitely improved my painting skills since starting it in 2018 but I don’t really care because I’m just happy to have finished the piece. It probably would have been done a long time ago if I had stapled it down and used a wet wash technique instead of dry brushing the WHOLE THING.     Back in 2018 when I started working on this painting I was  obsessed with the work of John James Audubon and wanted to make art that looked like his. Now I’m happy to have a style that’s more my own but I think the Audubon look really fit
Post a Comment
Read more