Prime for a Study 2016-W04

For the first time in a long time, I got the post ready by 2pm on Saturday. When I realized: still week 3. To keep things tidy I've set it to post for your Sunday breakfast as the sun rises on week 4. Let's see if I can compete with the New York Times for clicks.

I want to call today's painting a study, but then I thought every painting is a study and vice versa. It was a learning day, about a new type of watercolor paint that uses some space-age polymer for a binder. I can't say how I find the new paints different, but suspect maybe they aren't best for portraits. Time will tell.

Besides the new paints, we also have a 'study in red yellow & blue', which can be tricky. I think that part went okay tho. If the subject's identity is eluding you, I'll offer a hint: Our banshee today is only just emerging, so her hair hasn't yet turned its customary ashy brown to match her brows. And whatever else...

Surprise, it's Carly! I don't think many people pay attention to her so we probably won't get to enjoy her antics much longer (darn it). Who but she could surround herself with adorable puppies and still come off creepy? Not many, I tell ya.

Enjoy the study and come back next week — I'm attempting something adorable. But for now I'm just off to take a painterly nap.

Banshee VI

More like W03.5? 2016-W03

My only excuse for being late with this week's posting is that I spent the weekend in Maine with that half of my family, and it was fantastic! This week's painting dates back to sometime last April or May, and with this week's post I have exhausted my small stash of backup paintings. Consequently, you can most definitely look forward to a freshly painted work on the week 04 posting. Hurrah! Meanwhile, a few brief thoughts about this week's painting:

I include her in the Banshee series (even though the figure is fully corporealized) because she fits in the spirit of the series... people who talk a lot but without something worthwhile to say. (Though I do applaud the ever-angry Ms Tantaros for defying Fox News' blonde manifesto.)

As depicted here, she would make a fine and fitting figurehead for the hypothetical S.S. Banshee — if ever all these horrible people gather on one ship. God bless her and all who sail upon her...

(Corporealized) Banshee V

Back in the Saddle, Again 2016-W02

I painted this weekend, only the 2nd time in a long spell. It was comforting to spend time with an old friend. Even though I tried a thing that I later regretted, it felt great to be painting. While I was cleaning house, all kinds of thoughts popped into my head about what to write in the blog, but now all escape me entirely. <emoticon for mind-blank>

What I painted was a banshee emerging from a miasma, as one does. Already crazed and ashriek. I love a hard worker! In my original concept, she had green octopus arms of her demon self that would be withdrawing into her new corporealization... but I decided less green was more. I have been enjoying looking at this painting and I hope you will too.

Banshee IV

The Commisioner 2016-W01

New year, clean slate. With this post, I'm batting 1000 on posting every week in 2016. We shall see if I can maintain a perfect record, as I have done in years past. Let's get started!

When I was a lad, I loved watching the iconic Batman (as portrayed by Adam West) with my dad. And sure, it would be nice to live in stately Wayne Manor, but I always thought Commissioner Gordon held the job worth having. He had nice suits and a pretty fancy office, and yet his job seemed to consist mostly of pushing the button on the bat phone and clucking at/with Police Chief O'Hara. I bet that do-nothing job comes with a pretty sweet paycheck attached, and what a title: The Commissioner. No further information available... or needed, evidently.

Speaking of commissions, I don't actively seek painting commissions but I generally accept them when asked. A work colleague faced with the task of getting a nifty gift for his first wedding anniversary, the dreaded "paper", adroitly noticed that most watercolors are painted on paper and thus would be suitable.

Oddly, when I accepted the commission I expected to be painting the happy couple. Portraits are mostly what I do and show. When the reference photo hit my inbox, surprise! Basically a landscape, backlit and some other art challenges. But what good is an artistic license if you don't wield it as needed? So after a consult with the client, I got to painting.

The result was a little tighter than I would wish. It seems that "commission nerves" still can inhibit me somewhat, but in the end we got a good result. The image coincides roughly with the time of a certain question popping, and of course we know how she answered. I'm told that on receipt of the gift, the bride cried... so mission accomplished! Please join me in wishing them many happy anniversaries to come, and thank you for stopping by.

As One

Substitution 2015-W48

Technically today lies in week 49, and that's just the first item that isn't quite right in today's post. I decided to include this post's new painting in the Banshee series even though the subject is more "embodied" and less ethereal than a banshee ought to be.

Reason being, I painted it many weeks back, between Banshees I and II.  It was around the time a woman in Colorado was attacked and her living baby cut out of her womb. Horrifying. Then, today's Foxy Banshee (Laura Ashburn) characterized this horrible crime as an 'abortion'. Rilly? No wonder Laura looks so sheepish. Anyway, with that stupidity issuing forth from her piehole, Laura qualifies for the Banshee series even if stylistically she mismatches her painted sisters.

As it happens, I have another, more embodied Banshee in reserve for a future weekend where painting doesn't happen; unusually for a Foxy Banshee, this one has dark hair. So there's a clue if you fancy a game of "guess who". Meanwhile, enjoy today's Foxy Banshee and thanks for stopping by!

(Corporealized) Banshee III

Been a While 2015-W47

Though I was sure it was more like May, I'm confronted with proof that I haven't made a blog post since early March and nor have I painted much since then... but with pretty good reasons for most of the gap. We know April showers bring May flowers, and I'm happy to say that Old Red made his annual appearance. We know May flowers bring Pilgrims haha but I don't know if there's a rhyme for what June brings. All I can say is for me, June brought a substantial life change. I was back in school.

I started my career in IT before I graduated High School even, and was a software developer before eventually moving towards consulting and sales. But my tech skills were mired in a stale shrinking tech backwater so I decided to enroll in an intensive course in web development. Intense is a bit of an understatement. Since early June I saw only co-workers, fellow students, and the parade of humanity that rides the rails of our CTA. Working full time during the nine weeks of offsite prep work, I expected a break when full time classes started. No such luck. I think in five months I watched 12 hours of television and went on four social outings.

For now, I'll say not much else about school other than the workload was crazy and the technical challenges were nothing compared to the emotional hurdles. Glad to be done & now I'm putting my shoulder to the wheel of job searching. Very different nowadays, is that. So please wish me luck and meanwhile — as of last week — I'm back to painting and now today, blogging. You see, I visited my old Truman College painting classmates a couple weeks ago and they inspired me to get back to both! I'm on a new series, The Banshees. Which are Irish but we Scots have nearly the same creature.

Banshees shimmer into existence and they wail and they shriek. Obviously not a portend of good, but more typically of death and misfortune. In our time, some corporation seems to give airtime to, or employ, no shortage of foxy Banshees — on whom we can rely to open their pie holes and wail some sort of nonsense. Like the Irish model, foxy Banshees tend to pale hair and they utterly lack real substance. Series inspiration Koch's Banshee today is joined by my newest: You-tuber Megan Fox, who should not be confused with the hot version. As I recall, the Tuber opens her pie hole to deny evolution. I'll wryly observe that many science deniers seem to accept science just fine when they need medical attention.

On that note, as I look out today on our slushy first snowfall, I'm glad to be back. I plan to post more dependably and maybe I'll score 52 in 2016. Thanks for stopping by and I hope this finds you well, too. Enjoy!

Banshee II

Puppy Love 2015-W10

First things first, I'm happy to say that my friends at Salon deWinchester have two new posts that you should please check out. Their lazy blogmaster finally got off his rump. A handy Awesome Link to that blog is located on this page.

Secondly, I and the Salon share the same lazy blogmaster. Who is a/k/a me myself. And we usually share the same David painting, too, but not today. I have a study I painted this morning posted over there.

Meanwhile, I figured I'd better get the item below posted before it made no sense. Knowing it were painted on a wintry Valentine's Day gives it a contextual boost. Three weeks later, we find ourselves in early spring and shocked at how hot it is...  nearly 50 degrees. No kidding, it actually feels "hot" out. But if that reads like a complaint, t'ain't.

Next week, I hope to have a more thoughtful essay to go with the painting but for new just enjoy another Olive and do visit Salon deWinchester, s'il vous plaît.

Olive III