Today I am getting Married!

Today, February 29th, 2012 leap-day,

I am going to be Married to Athena A. Capen.  

(I pre-wrote this and had it scheduled to post today.)

My life is vastly different with Athena in it.  You may have heard this and just rolled your eyes, but I am twice the man now because of her.  In fact, I actually see myself as a man now.  I love Athena, she is beautiful, well educated, and completely herself.  

Athena is my best friend, we do everything together. 

Athena is completely loyal.

Athena is honest to me and all the world, she has nothing to hide and no regrets about who she is.

Athena is absolutely beautiful beyond words.  

She is tough, don't mess with her or she'll kill you.

Athena supports my career as an artist, loves my work, and is not afraid to tell me when she doesn't like what I am working on.

She stands behind my decisions in life, as I do hers.

Together we have been through personal tragedy, hard financial times, and of course way more good times than bad.  I have more good memories of the last 4 years than I can post in a single blog.  Through everything we have seen, we always came out on top, our relationship always was strengthened, and our understanding of who we are and what we are capable of increased.  

I am probably standing in front of my family and friends right now putting a ring on Athena's finger.

This is Athena, the woman I am getting married to as you read this.

At times she is an intergalactic gangster.

...she makes a pretty bad-ass princess Leia...

Chris (my best man), Athena and Philip.

Athena is a dog trainer, and she is good at what she does.  Her love for dogs, giving them the best life possible, and getting them to do cool stuff astounds me every time our pups know a new trick.  I have no idea how she does it.

Here she is on her last birthday, we went to her favorite restaurant, had her favorite drinks, and ate her favorite food.  I am not telling any of you where her favorite place is, it's silly american food and decor. 

Here we are at the State fair.  Its only fun when I go with her.

yep, you guessed it, the butterfly tent.

Athena is almost has the wingspan of an eagle... 

...or a trumpeter swan.

My vows to you:

I will do my very best to always make us happy...

...to always work to improve the quality of our life...

...as together we build a life based on our love and carefulness for one another.

Getting married to you is the coolest decision I have made to date.

Right now as you read this I am getting married.

Then I am off to my honeymoon...  

...I will see you all in a few weeks.

Progress has been made on my new painting.

I was able to get some serious work done this evening.  I started painting at 5:30 PM, and finished working around 3:30 AM.  Quite a productive night.  I expect my formal work on this piece to be complete by the end of March.  Albeit, there is a huge amount of work to do simply to establish the overall composition.

Minneapolis #? "Penitent Magdelene"

All of these new color-forms will have to be strengthened once they dry.

Here is my Subject-matter, an oil painting I have been observing for almost a year at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

"Penitent Magdelene"

Bartolome Esteban Mutillo    c. 1650-1665

Thanks for reading...

...More to come soon.

Artwork of the month: A recently restored masterwork.

This sculpture is truly amazing now that it has been restored to its assumed original orientation.  We used to joke about how it looked as if he was swimming, or diving into water rather than praying.  Turns out the jokes had merit.

Francesco Mochi

Italian, 1580-1654

"St. Paul the Hermit"

, marble

Before restoration.

Andrea Bergondi

Italian, 1722-1789

"St. Paul the Hermit"

1772, marble

Recently restored, repositioned and reattributed.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts purchased "St. Paul The Hermit" in the year I was born, 1973. It was believed to be the work of Italian sculptor Francesco Mochi.

Eike Schmidt, curator of sculpture and design at the Minneapolis Institute of arts, discovered that the sculpture was by Andrea Bergondi in 1775.  The Midwest Art Conservation Center, restored the sculpture, removing cement that was added in the 1960s to create a solid base, cleaned it, and reorientated the sculpture so St. Paul would appear to be praying instead of diving.  

St. Paul is the first hermit saint of the Christian church, he retreated to Egypt to live a solitary life dedicated to the worship of God.

Regardless of its story, this sculpture is on exhibit on the third floor of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and is worthy of your time.  Go check it out, spend some time with this sculpture.  

New paint palette arrangement

I stated working with a new color palette tonight, and it is my hope that the discordant nature of my new palette can be effectively balanced out with complements.

In this palette I am working with; 

Titanium white

Portland grey light

Portland grey Medium

Portland grey deep

Cadmium red light

Cadmium red deep

Ruby lake

Sap green lake extra

Turquoise blue deep

Cobalt blue turquoise light

Kings blue light

Kings blue deep

Brilliant pink

Cadmium yellow light

Cadmium yellow deep

Thanks for checking out my blog...

...check back here soon.

New painting in progress

I have been working on this painting for nearly a year now.  I started with an academic study of the subject-matter, the artist that painted it, and then realistic details.  Over the last 6 months I have worked on the abstraction of the original composition with a heavy bias on the content of the narrative.  

I am fairly far along, but the real work starts now as I begin to truly work the composition.

Minneapolis #? "Penitent Magdelene"

This painting at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is my source material.  I have admired this work of art for many years.  I am very happy to present the subject-matter as I see it.

"Penitent Magdelene"

Bartolome Esteban Mutillo    c. 1650-1665

I hope to have this painting completed by the end of March or the beginning of April.

Thanks for reading along...

...I will post more about this painting as I work on it.

The BitTorrent series of oil paintings are Finished!

I have finally completed my compositional narratives.  I have enjoyed all of these paintings, and what is to come is sooo much crazier that i can hardly wait to complete the first three.  I hope you enjoy these works.  I added pictures the works of art that influenced this series of paintings compositionally and philosophically.

Artist Statement

This series is intended to discuss stories that have been retold continuously because of their honesty about humanity.  Within each painting I present individuals of historical significance whose impact has undeniably shaped our culture.  Spin is taking fact and altering it to both mislead and redirect the attention of an audience where the given information is manipulated to coincide with an agenda.  Spin is a deceptive heavily biased portrayal of one’s own favor of an event or situation most commonly used to answer questions or present information.  To put spin on a topic of conversation is to lie.  It is disingenuous, deceptive, highly manipulative and although indirectly, it is a method of presenting fiction as fact.

Each painting in this series is my reinterpretation of a master painting I have spent a great deal of time observing and investigating.  I have chosen subject matter that is considered classical and presents a reoccurring story in human history.  Within each painting I present individuals of historical significance whose impact has been a direct result of spin.  I relate these individuals in history with color-forms that i feel best represent the truths behind these myths.  By reinterpreting historical events that were intended and presented as spin I wish to create a dialogue about truths and how we identify with them. 

Adam M. Considine 2011

BitTorrent 1 "Jessica Lynch as the Daughters of Jethro" 

oil on canvas

40" x 30"

 Jessica lynch + "Moses defending the Daughters of Jethro"

BitTorrent 2 "Marinuis Vanderlubbe as Icarus" 

oil on canvas

36" x 48"

Marinus Van der Lubbe + Icarus and Daedalus  

BitTorrent 3 "Bernard madof as the sermon on the mount" 

oil on canvas

30" x 40"

BitTorrent 4 "Nikola Tesla as Daedalus" 

oil on canvas

30" x 40"

BitTorrent 5 "The Building of the Trojan Horse" 

oil on canvas

36" x 48"

"The Building of the Trojan Horse"

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

oil on linen

48" x 36"

"Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist"

BitTorrent 7 "Interventio, The story of Calypso" 

oil on linen

48" x 36"

"Calypso"

BitTorrent 8 "The story of Venus and Adonis" 

oil on linen

48" x 36"

"Venus and Adonis"

BitTorrent 9 "Apollo and the Python" 

oil on linen

36" x 48"

Ruth Duckworth "Untitled" I used the shadow of her work.

BitTorrent 10 "Andromeda" 

oil on linen

24"x 36"

"Andromeda and the sea monster"

BitTorrent 11 "Odysses Itch" 

oil on linen

24" x 36"

BitTorrent 12 "The Peloponnesian War" 

oil on linen

24" x 36"

I hope you like them as much as I do...

...check back when you can there is a new series of paintings on the way.

Artwork of the month: Maxfield Parrish and Skyrim.

I have been playing the video game Skyrim a lot lately.  And just to make a connection between fantasy paintings and this fantasy game I give you Maxfield Parrish.

First off Skyrim rocks.  An HD video game with 5,000+ hours of digital escapism hunting dragons. Seriously Skyrim just rocks and dragons have the best treasure.

Skyrim was released at midnight 11-11-11.  I know that because I was one of the geeks at GameStop in uptown Minneapolis for the midnight release with the rest of the entertainment hungry flock.

As to Maxfield Parrish, I have never really liked his subject matter, albeit his technical skill at rendering realistic and painterly works is nearly unmatched in art history. I love the way his work appears as if it were a silver gelatin print. This painting is at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts where I spend way too much time, but not nearly as much as i have spent playing Skyrim lately.

Maxfield Parrish

American, 1870-1966

"Dream Castle in the Sky"

1908, oil on canvas

"I don't know what people find or like in me, I'm hopelessly commonplace! Current appreciation of my work is a bit highbrow, I've always considered myself a popular artist."

-Maxfield Parrish

New Minneapolis painting started

I started a new painting for the Minneapolis series of works.  This is only the first thin layer of oil-color, as it will dramatically change over the next few months.  I would like to have this completed sometime in March.

Thanks for taking a quick look at my blog...

...many more new paintings to posted soon