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My Mother Every artist paints their mother.
Here’s mine thinking about the
roof falling in, or something. She looks worried.
She likes to cook, so I added
the bread box and cake box.
This type of portrait aims for |
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Abby Abby and I were playing in the backyard. I liked the contrast of the rough textures of the old wood and fence with her soft skin and hair, and her exuberance. The skin tones in the painting look great, but are too subtle to reproduce well here. |
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Jessica Jessica came over with her parents. I was working with oil-based clay, and she said she would like to play with clay, but didn't have any cardboard. I asked why she needed cardboard to play with clay. Her parents said they made her play on cardboard to keep from messing up the rug. She asked me to make her a bear. "Put big floppy ears on bear." I told her "This bear will look like Mickey Mouse when I'm done." |
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Kerry This portrait was done with a mirror. I had a waxed mustache and metal rimmed glasses at the time. The background represents universal elements of time and space. There is one ray of light across the background and it is bent behind the head. Man has an effect. |
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Sharlene This lively portrait gives the impression she just turned to talk to someone. The folds of the blouse add movement, as does the warm vigorous background. I like the friendly, animated expression. |
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Chuck Chuck is known as the "Duke of Pearl" for his masterful job of cutting abalone and mother of pearl shell to make musical instrument inlays. I bought shell from him, and as we got acquainted, I thought he would make an interesting portrait. |
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George George was a character. He was a master at avoiding the check. He taught classic guitar and painting. I did this portrait after being told one couldn’t paint clothes brighter than skin, or paint a light spot near the edge of a picture. George normally wore glasses to keep his eyes from crossing. We would stop periodically and let him put on his glasses, as I noticed I was crossing his eyes on the painting! George was a Miwok Indian. |
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Nan Nan was the subject of several paintings, a drawing and a bust. She is a sweet person, very thoughtful of others, and you really see it in her eyes. This picture is square, which is very rare. |
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Self portrait This portrait shows my early technique. I did a very meticulous drawing with burnt umber oil paint over a charcoal drawing, then I painted the color with oils on top of the drawing. Now, I use a few lines, and do color, value and drawing as I paint. I drew several landscapes on the picture on the easel, but eventually developed this figure. The painting looked like I was sitting in front of a window, and I was no longer doing landscapes, so this is more appropriate. |
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Nan Here’s a nice, friendly expression of a favorite subject. I learned a lot about painting from this series. |
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"Sweet Sixteen" This picture was fun to paint! The necklace and earrings have lots of values and reflections. Her mother owned some of the objects in the background, and I invented others to fill the space. |
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My Mother-detail I included this because it's interesting to see a close-up of a painting. It also adds a little variety to the presentation. |
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