portrait of Mae, 1985

Sunday, August 29, 2010

I recently started working on more straightforward portrait paintings. One of the first was the portrait of Mae Fogg. I took a Polaroid snapshot of her one morning on a Florida beach in the morning sun. The canvas is 16”x 20” and is painted in a kind of loose brush stroke fashion. I simplified the background quite a bit so the emphasis is on the face, not on the various element specifics that are in the actual photograph.

16″ x 20″ oil on canvas painting

Since I see a portrait as a document of a particular person, I wanted to be honest in my rendering. So instead of adjusting the distortion the eye glass lenses presented, I left it the same as the source reference captured it.

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Hermes At The Bath Of Diana

40" x 40", oil on canvas

40″ x 40″, oil on canvas

Friday, August 27, 2010

Here’s a fun little painting (actually it measures 40”x 40”) done back in 1985. This odd kid, with even odder sun glasses and a title that doesn’t exactly tell the story. So what is the story? Its whatever you want it to be. Pictures and images tell truths but can also tell lies. So simple, benign looking concepts may or may not be what they appear.

Sometimes the mundane can take on some other meaning when presented in a different medium. And working from old photos as a reference starting point, I add or subtract from the original image to suggest something other then what is initially seen on the surface. Case in point are the oddly shaped red sunglasses, uneven horizon line and unusual plant life.

And to keep the painting from being pinpointed to a specific person or place, as if required for a linear narrative that the painting is illustrating, I’ve given the painting a title that the viewer can fill in what ever storyline gaps they take from it.

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