Painting people

My time is split between my portrait project '11 (pp11) and landscape painting these days. I'm having a great time reacting to the divergent individuals that have partnered with me on pp11. I'm learning new things with each session. If you haven't checked out Chandra's time lapse video take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y00ZCuEr5A


Here's a couple of portraits in sequence.

This is my painting buddy Cal.






This is my lovely daughter, Renee.


I didn't take time to optimize the photo quality so next year if I can arrange for a showing you'll have to come out and see all these great people in person.

I'll give you a preview of some of my larger landscapes in future posts. Have a great week.

Art, Love and Time -Lapse Photography

Big news out of the University College of London this week. Researchers have been investigating brain activity of people standing in front of art. I presume this is art that has elements of beauty or positivity. Look what they have discovered.

“Looking at art triggers a surge of feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine into the brain and results in feelings of intense pleasure,” says Professor Semir Zeki. “We have recently found that when we look at things we consider to be beautiful, there is increased activity in the pleasure reward centers of the brain. Essentially, the feel-good centers are stimulated, similar to the stages of love and desire.”

Of course artists have always known that there is something emotional happening when people connect with art but a little scientific reassurance is always good.

Here's one of my portraits from the week. This is Chandra. She surprised me by setting up her photographic equipment and recorded a time-lapse sequence of my initial block-in of her portrait. She graciously uploaded it to You Tube so copy and paste the link below to see what she created. For the tech challenged just go to YouTube and search for Bill Hibberd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y00ZCuEr5A

Us painters tend to squirrel away in solitary confinement while we work which can be a good thing but this is another reminder to me of the importance of other people in my journey. I never would have pulled off this little video without Chandra's effort. Many thanks.

While we're looking at videos and since you have a long weekend ahead of you let me highly recommend Robert Hughes "The Mona Lisa Curse". If you wonder whats going on in the art world where people pay millions of dollars for shark and pig cadavers, not to mention human excrement this is a great documentary. Check it out and have a great weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbQ0GqX0Its&feature=related

Painting at Marichel Winery

This past saturday 25 artists infiltrated the Naramata Bench vineyards to knock off some open air (en plein air) paintings in support of the Penticton Art Gallery. I had the pleasure of painting with four others at the beautiful Marichel Vineyards. Elizabeth and Richard were very gracious hosts and rewarded us at days end with a complimentary bottle of their wonderful 2008 Syrah. I've just had a little taste so far but highly recommend it. Beautiful!

The day was overcast but the scenery was lovely and it was a healthy break from my current portrait obsession. I appreciated the comradery as the family of artists gathered at the Art Gallery for some celebration of the days achievements and a surprise party in appreciation of several peoples' long service to the areas artistic community.
Ken Gillespie, Robyn Lake and her apprentice.



Robyn Lake
Loraine Stephanson

My contribution to the day. Me.

Next week I will return to my studio to explore facial surface anatomy; if you or anyone you know would like to be included in this adventure you can contact me through the comment link below. I'm booked for the next month or so but will put any willing person on my list.
If you'd enjoy seeing more process photos like the last post let me know and I'll upload more.
Have a great week.

Portrait Demo

Here is one example of how I am developing my portrait paintings. My friend Dona sat for me this morning and here are a few photos of the process from today's work.


I start off with this rather bizzaar sketch. I'm not trying to draw a portrait, just establishing a few value areas and getting some dimensions established. I don't worry about accuracy yet. If my drawing is developed too far I'll be tempted to paint between the lines and that isn't my aim. Next I'll start to block in some basic areas of different value. ("value" is the relative darkness or lightness of an area.)


Okay, let the madness begin. The lit areas of the face are transparent red earth and white, the shaded areas have some ultramarine blue to cool and darken them. I am intentionally limiting my palette to two colours and white while I work out my design.


Now I am starting to work the values back and forth building shapes that are starting to resemble my subject. I am still using a large brush in an attempt to establish an exciting, bold foundation. Some of these wide brushstokes will survive right through to the completion of the painting.


I'm starting to get comfortable with the rough design of the picture and now need to carefully consider each successive brush or knife stroke before I lay it in. I will be moving to smaller brushes and some colour variety now. I scrub some green into the background mainly because I'm sick of looking at the stark white.




This is how "Dona" turned out. I didn't have to bring in too many new colours to achieve my goal. The bright blue sweater reflects nicely up into the shaded skin areas and the pinks and greens play off each other for some visual appeal. Altogether a satisfying day.

Performance Anxiety

Here's my wife, Joanna busy at work preparing another great meal. I do most of the cooking these days so this represents one of our special "ie-more creative dinners".

I'm having a great time working with different people on my Portrait Project. If you are considering getting involved you'll be glad to know that the sittings are typically only two hours , not four like I anticipated. One side effect I'm experiencing is performance anxiety or more plainly, pre-portrait nausea. Even though I couldn't ask for more empathetic sitters I still experience feelings of insecurity. I expect this will pass after I've been through it for awhile. I sure hope so.

Anyway, each portrait is getting more interesting than the last so I think this will be a time of some real experimentation and growth. Please give me a call if you are interested, I'm looking to do plenty of these.

If you live in my area and you are looking for a fun art related activity next Saturday check out this years Penticton En Plein Air; 24 artists painting at several Naramata Bench Vineyards. I'll be at Marichel Vineyards from 11 to 4. You can pick up a guide at the Penticton Art Gallery on your way through. Maybe I'll see you.

Have a great week!