Winter Magic...

Kindred Spirits

(16 x 20", Oils on stretched Linen)   
PRICE: $1400.00           SOLD

I don't have a lot left of my current works. There are total of TWO paintings left for beginning of the year shows, Arisia in January, and Boskone in February. I can't complain too much, I guess...since people seem to be buying my works. However, the two latest paintings are figurative works, and happen to be the first ones that I've attempted in over a decade. That they have turned out so well, and that people have REALLY liked them is a gratification that I've been working towards for the last four years. Yes, it has taken me that long to fight my way through the mental paralysis of working with figures again and making it work. The differences between how I was painting figures and faces 10-15 years ago as opposed to how I am painting them now, is virtually night and day. I have matured as a painter, and it shows. But the journey is a long one, and there is always more to paint and more to learn...

So here is 'Kindred Spirits', inspired by a candid photo I took of a young lady walking the galleries at Illuxcon in 2013, in Allentown at the Allentown Museum of Art. Her costume and beauty turned heads and succeeded in making the resident artists' inspiration and creativity beat a little faster. I, like my colleagues around me, whipped out a camera and took some photos on the fly. The young lady turned out to be fellow Illuxcon Alumni artist, Alessandra Pisano, who creates and models beautiful costumes...and paints extraordinarily beautiful paintings to boot. The two images I had taken languished in my reference file since then...until this last December when I really felt I needed to paint something for the upcoming shows, and equally wanted to paint something 'seasonal', ie. 'Christmassy'. So, I started drawing in my traveling sketchbook. Surprising myself, I actually relaxed and had fun with my pencils and got her likeness to where I wanted it. Then I thought that painting just the figure was somehow lacking...so I went looking for a reindeer to round out the tableau into something more special. Once I drew that in, the idea of the painting started to take on a life of its own.

So, before I could mentally panic and procrastinate, I drew down the sketch onto a linen support, took a deep breath and just started laying in paint. There was no mid-ground tint to use as a balance, the experiment for this painting being a 'let's see how far I can get in just sketching this in paint'. I got asked about how I worked out the 'values' properly when I posted an 'in progress' photo on Facebook. The answer is, I do most of it in my head (and it probably shows disagreeably to more 'well versed in method' artists) and the rest is instinctive. At least that is what happened with this painting. So, below, is an easel shot of the beginnings of the painting process... plus a closer detail photo. Since I had initially just wanted to see how far I could go painting the figures, I only had a vague idea of what I wanted to do in the background. Well, that sort of solved itself over a couple of weeks during the holidays, whilst my brain was busy with party and food preparations. I got splashy with a limited dark palette, and had my usual fun smooshing paint around...

 Below, is the nearly finished painting. The darks have dried out in this photo, and came up with a little application of a retouch spray varnish. Note the copy of my original sketch off to the right, and my three reference photos on the left of the easel. I don't paint photo realistic any more. My style has evolved into a lovely slightly brushy aspect that has impressionistic notes in its execution...and I am so happy with that, I can't express.

The color palette for this painting included: Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Light, Sap Green, French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna, Titanium White, and Alizarin Crimson.

Thanks for stopping by,

Cheers,

Marianne

You can find out more about Alessandra Pisano's work at:
https://www.facebook.com/AlessandraPisanoIllustrations/?pnref=lhc

http://www.alesspisano.com/