Merry Christmas

I plan on spending Christmas Day cooking dinner for several great friends.  I am not making anything fancy-especially since I leave on Friday for New York City.  But, to me the holidays are about celebrating relationships with friends and families and food, lots of simple but tasty food. 

On the dinner menu are chicken breasts stuffed with goat cheese, garlic mashed potatos, greenbean cassarole, and stuffing.  Basically all of my favorite leftovers…yum.  Serving a nice humboldt grey fog, irish aged cheddar and a fu fu french cheese that is wonderful (whole foods sells it).   

Usually it would be a turkey or a ham but since I won’t be home for a few days the chicken breasts seemed best.  I got the recipes from the Barefoot Contessa’s show on food network.  Basically you wash four chicken breasts (with skin on), cut a slight pocket/separate the skin from the breast meat, and place 1/4″ thick slices of goat cheese underneath the skin.  Put some salt and pepper on the skin of the breast (you could add some rosemary or a touch of olive oil as well) and roast in the oven til done (about an hour).  They taste great and look wonderful on a plate.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Newest Additions to my Collection

 

Finished Portrait, by Robert Liberace

 

Robert Liberace.  One of the neatest bonuses about studying with Robert Liberace is that he sells the demos of his work.  I recently attended his Child’s Portrait Workshop at the Alexandria Art League and purchased two of his paintings.

The painting on the left is a two day study that Rob painted of the oldest sister.  If it sounds confusing its because it is or was.  There were five sisters who modeled for us, this painting is of the of the oldest sister. 

Alla Prima by Robert Liberace

Rob worked on her portrait the first day for several hours establishing a solid grisaille (monotone under painting).  One the second day of the painting, he laid in the color.  More information (including pictures-can be found at this posting).

Robert painted this alla primastudy on the last day of the workshop. The colors may seem fairly bold, (especially since I consider Rob a tonalist vice colorist) but they are an accurate reflection of the colors surrounding the model.  I apologize for the odd angle of the picture, I took it in the studio once Rob complete the painting; so it’s not quite dead on/front and centered.

Rose Girl, by Shepard Fairey photo courtesy of the Irvine Contemporary Gallery

 

What I really love about about this painting is how joyful it seems to me.  You can tell that Rob really enjoyed painting this and had a lot of fun.  This painting reminds me a lot of some of Joaquin Sorolla’s work and I think it’s wonderful. 

This weekend I also framed my Rose Girl print by Shepard Fairey and hung the print over my dining area. 

Sadly I decided it was time to move my ‘wall o Liberace’ and rotate or reorganize several of my larger paintings.

Look both Ways, by Henry Stinson

I am a firm believer in rotating your art work so I put the majority of my Duane Keiser works (about eight of the egg paintings) in storage. 

I also took most of the Michelle Tully and Leslie Holt works down and hung up some of the newer works they’ve done.

Caught me an Alien, by Nobuhito Tanaka

 

I am still trying to make room for A Murder of Crows by Gennara Moore, Look Both Ways by Henry Stinson, and Caught me an Alien by Nobuhito Tanaka.   

 Caught me an Alien is another one of those paintings that make me laugh a seriously deep belly laugh every time I see it.  I love this charming painting!

Tickets!

I was invited to attend the Inauguration by a friend who has tickets.  I had planned on watching the event on the Mall down around the Smithsonian.  But these tickets are right around the Capital Building so I am a happy camper.  Now all I have to do is hope for a nice sunny day that isn’t too cold (I plan on arriving early so I can get good pictures).

Robert Liberace Child Portrait Workshop

 

Initial Drawing by Robert Liberace

This weekend I attended a workshop on painting a child’s portrait taught by artist Robert Liberace.  Robert has used the same family for models during several of his workshops.  The models were five girls who range in age from a wriggly 8 year old (who is a total delight) to a serene 17 year old. The sisters were very sweet and playful and you could tell that they really enjoyed posing together.

 

Laying in the Grisaille, by Robert Liberace

When I first looked at the girls I didn’t think any of them looked quite the same. After painting them I realized their skin tones and hair colors and textures varied but their eyes, noses and mouths shared almost identical structures.

On the first day, Rob spent the morning lecturing about how a child’s anatomy and facial structure differs from a full grown adult.  He then gave demonstration in charcoal using one of the models. 

Finished Grisaille, by Robert Liberace

 

We spent the afternoon working on several 20 minute sketches to warm up and then a longer pose.  The goal was to create either a preliminary drawing using charcoal or a grisaille (a two-toned) under painting. 

 

 

Application of color

 

One the second day, Rob started a two-day painting of the oldest daughter.  He seated the model on a platform and was slightly below and to her right. 

Because it spanned two days, this was one of the best demos I’ve gotten to witness (I’d say witnessing him at Zoll Studio ranked as the best-but man this was a close second). 

Initial cool and warm midtones applied to the grisaille

 

Rob started with a quick sketch, working out angles of her face and placement of her features as well as mapping out the darks/shadows. 

Once these were established he quickly sketched in the model’s basic features paying particular attention to the eye socket and the angle of the shadows around it.  He continually checked his placement. 

Once satisfied he started working laying in the grisaille.  Rob wanted this layer of his painting to dry overnight so he mixed raw umber with flake white (lead white) and used galkyd (by gamblin). 

 

strengthening shadows

 Rob started with a mid-tone and worked from there to model the face.  He started with basic shapes taking care to use angles and lines to describe the model’s features.

One the third day, Rob went to work.  After double checking his painting from yesterday he lightly wet the surface of the painting with a mix of gamsol (an odorless mineral spirit)  and stand oil. Rob mixed his first midtone using permanent rose with cadmium yellow and titanium white.  

 

Finished Portrait, by Robert Liberace

 

After applying paint to the area of the cheek, forehead and chin, Rob began modifying the mid-tone for a little cooler/warmer as well as slightly lighter tones. 

One of the students asked how much the underlying grisaille affected or impacted the layer he was working on.  Rob explained that it served to provide the basic terms of reference for applying the color. 

 

detail of the finished painting

Although that sounds pretty obvious he explained it far more elegantly (I didn’t get to write it all down unfortunately) but what I got out of it was that the first layer is critical in developing the second layer of the portrait.  It serves as a map or a point of reference for the color layer.

Rob worked on the portrait throughout the morning and the finished painting was amazing.