"Andromeda" painting step by step.

Last month Athena and I went to New York for a week on business and pleasure.  We had the chance to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (among other places) and spend a few hours just wandering. 

While we were getting lost we saw this...

Andromeda and the Sea Monster

Marble

Domenico Guidi (1625-1701)

Italian (Rome), 1694

 I spent some time observing the piece and was inspired to recreate the idea of "Andromeda" as I saw it presented through the sculpture.  This is it...

"BiTorrent #10 Andromeda" 

oil on linen, 24in x 36in 

2011

Here is a step by step progression of how i created it.

I work in light glaze after glaze of color, slowly transforming the work until I am satisfied with its appearance.  A thin to thick approach to oil painting is both classical and lasting in that the color quality that i can produce as I work is amazing.  At least to me it is.

Each glaze of oil color is a complete reworking of the entire painting.  Its all or nothing as each layer of oil color must be uniformed and transition from color to color as I see it in my mind.  It takes time and patience.  with this piece i went over it 11 times but i only recorded the stages that would show how each new layer 

As always i start my work with the academic study of my subject matter, and in this case the character Andromeda.  I will dedicate a post to that literature when I have taken a professional picture of the new work after it has been varnished.  You will find it interesting enough.

here we go...

 as you can see the entire piece changes slightly with each complete glaze of oil color...

Here we have it...

The finished oil painting, my retelling of the story of "Andromeda"

New pics of Caravaggio in the studio

I thought these were pretty cool pictures of my dog Caravaggio in the studio.  he spends as much time in the studio as I do.  We shot a video for my kickstarter project and he was tired and lazy afterward.  

Studio #8 - 2509 Pleasant Avenue South

Since 1997 I have always lived in my studio.  Now that I live with my fiance Athena, and we intend to have a baby someday I cant live in the toxic chemical environment of an art studio.

So I converted our garage into my new Art studio!!!

My 8th studio in Minneapolis is a garage, yep people my wife to be needs something better than living in a studio, so we are renting a house (the roommates downstairs suck).  It was pretty cool the two of us, our two dogs and 1 cat all living in a working art studio that was only 800 or so square feet.  

here are some of my old studios over the years...

...you have seen all of these in my past posts on my studios.

This is my new studio...

...right to left panorama.

I have already been fairly productive here, except for the time I needed to recover from the accident.  I finished the final touches to the studio a few weeks ago.  Funny as it is, I will be moving on in three months to a new larger house with a larger and better studio.

Thanks for reading...

...check back with me soon; I promise there are interesting things to come.

My return to oil painting.

In the summer of 2009 I was hit by a car that ran a red light (while on a cell phone).  I was hurt pretty badly, and i was out of work on medical leave for a year and three months.  During this time i was unable to paint, but I was able to study, to listen to lectures and learn about the subjects I wanted to paint in depth.  The year + of recovery after the accident was the longest time I had gone without painting, and that alone was agony.

I had just finished this painting before I was hit by the car.

BitTorrent #2 "Marinuis Vanderlubbe as Icarus" 

36x48 

oil on canvas

I was working on these ideas before i was hit...

Study for- BitTorrent #6 "Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist" ink on paper 36x24

I took my study from this oil painting...

"Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist" oil on canvas

Onorio Marinari - 1680 CE

Study for- BitTorrent 5 "The Building of the Trojan Horse" 36x48 ink on paper 24x36

I took my study from this painting...

"The building of the trojan horse" oil on canvas

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo - about 1760 CE

over the last few months I was able to complete my work where I left off...

BitTorrent 6 "Salome with the Head of Saint John the Baptist" 

48x36 

oil on linen

2011

BitTorrent 5 "The Building of the Trojan Horse" 

36x48 

oil on canvas

2010

Now that these two ideas are complete I have moved on to something complete new to me as far as composition and color go.  Both of these paintings were inspired by works of art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  I am currently working on more of my own abstract thoughts on works of art in the permanent collection at the MInneapolis Institute of Arts.  So far i have been sticking to works from 1800 CE or earlier where the subject-matter is of Greek, Roman or Christian mythology.  

I will post more as I finish them, but now after the accident I am unable to work as fast as I used to so these take a great deal of time (they took quite a bit of time to complete before the accident) to complete.

Artwork of the month: Subodh Gupta

At the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, on the second floor, there is a new "Modern" art gallery.  It is a great exhibit, and a fantastic set of works.  This one is my favorite.  The medium- bronze, made to look like gold and spray painted cardboard is cool.  The context of the work is a philosophy that I can connect with, and after looking over Gupta's portfolio I can see where his ideas are coming from.

Subodh Gupta

Indian, born 1964

"Dubai to Calcutta #9"

2006, bronze with gold patina and aluminum, in parts.


This work is quite a tease...
...I will have to create something very cool now.

Caravaggio my Studio dog.

I rescued a puppy at a shelter in hayward Wisconsin.  I fell in love with my girlfriends dog, so i just had to have one.  Three years of training and I now have the type of dog I wanted.  He is now three years old and I couldn't go without him.  Check out some pics.

 Here he is in his first studio...

 Here he is in his first cone of shame...

 He still does this, if a window is open he will stand there and look out...

 2 years old

Here he is with his second cone of shame...

His special Carhartt hoodie for winter.