Portrait Revolution Art Book

Thanks to Martin Beek in the UK who just sent me a scan of the page in "Portrait Revolution" that has my ink portrait of Mariah O'Neill on it. This is from Julia Kay's Portrait Party, an international art project that I was part of — I did a number of portrait pieces for the project a few years ago via Flickr. Click the links for the UK & US versions via Amazon.

From Portrait Revolution, Julia Kay's Portrait Party

The Adora Project

Many thanks to Hanan Levin for inviting me to be a part of his Adorable project, whereby 1,000 artists draw portraits in a multitude of styles and settings of his young daughter, Adora. Mine went up today, & if you go to his web site, www.growababy.com, you can see my version, as well as many others. Best of luck to him and his project. And also to his daughter & family, of course.

Owen M and the Souls of Arcadia

The latest entry in the Book of Souls, a collaboration with Tim Lowly. I create the original artwork (in the handmade sense) & he does the photography, layout & digital magick parts...

Owen M and the Souls of Arcadia

Owen M is a neighbor of mine here in Rhinebeck, NY.

Drawing of Karin Hanta

This is a pencil drawing of a friend for the Book of Souls project. Karin is a writer/translator from Austria who lives up in Vermont. She was visiting us yesterday, so I enlisted her for The Book of Souls.


Karin Hanta for The Book of Souls, 2010, black pencil on paper, 11" x 8.5".

James ink drawing

This is a brush & ink drawing of my son, James, for the collaboration with Tim Lowly entitled The Book of Souls. This was traced over a pencil drawing that was executed on tracing paper over a photograph (not of my son)...this will all make sense soon...stay tuned...


James, 2010, ink on tracing paper, 12" x 9".

Elizabeth version 2

This is an enhanced version of the pencil portrait below — I scanned in the orginal & then laser printed it, finishing it in brush & ink. I may try (an)other version(s) of this — the good thing about this method of working is that it's non-destructive of the original image & I can make as many reworked versions as I want.


Elizabeth 2, 2010, brush & ink over laser print, 11" x 8.5".

Portrait of Elizabeth

This is a pencil drawing of my daughter done at the Oregon coast (Lincoln City) for the Book of Souls project. I'm intending to take the basic pencil drawing & enhance it in ink, etc. More on the Book of Souls later.


Elizabeth, 2010, pencil on paper, 11" x 8.5".

Tomorrow Belongs

A new painting of a head done in a pointillist style:


Tomorrow Belongs, 2009, acrylic on board, 14" x 11".

The individual dots or strokes are in some cases done in impasto -- raised up in a blob above the surface of the support. Acrylic doesn't lend itself well to impasto, generally, but if the raised strokes are small, it can work quite well (technical tip).

The red strokes also lend the image the sense of being wounded, and the reference is at least partly to the song from Cabaret...

Melancholy Head in Blue

New drawing-that-became-a-painting:


Melancholy Head in Blue, 2009, ink & acrylic on paper, 17" x 14".

The Pugilist

Another new piece on paper:


The Pugilist, 2009, ink & acrylic on paper, 17" x 14".

This was a tough one. The pugilist of the title refers as much to the artist as to the work, as I fought with this one for quite a while in its incarnation as an ink drawing, but it refused to go in the direction I wanted it to (though I'm not sure exactly what direction that was). With the application of acrylic paint, the piece began to take its true shape, oddly falling into a kind of Redonesque tranquility. You can never tell how these things will work out...

Mercury

A new drawing of a head:


Mercury, 2009, brush & ink on paper, 17" x 14".

Just a warm-up exercise in my studio this morning. Always wanted to draw the wing-headed guy...not sure if this is the one I wanted to draw...

"New American Gothic" in Roll Magazine

Just as a break from the usual relentless artistic probing of the meaning of life, the universe & anything else, this is a post to mention that the portrait that Nadine Robbins did of Diana (wife, muse, goddess, poet, life partner) & myself is featured this month in Roll Magazine (creative living in the Hudson Valley), on the last page before the back cover, where they have the monthly "roll portrait":


click on image for much larger view

I still look rather surprised & Diana looks a little melancholy, so it's a slightly offbeat take on us, probably. Nadine's portrait web site is here, btw, and her portrait blog is here. Here are her actual URLs for you:

http://www.nadinerobbinsportraits.com/
http://nadinerobbinsportraits.blogspot.com/

Boy's Head

Brush & ink on paper, 2008, 11" x 8.5" approx.

Seer drawing

A new brush & ink drawing done a week or so ago. The Seer, 14" x 11" approx, 2008. A metaphysical image where all knowledge dissolves into the head, or the head dissolves into all knowledge.

Helen Of Troy

A newish painting from an occasional series of classical (or mythological) images. The name suggested itself to me. I kind of like the way the image is a little crude, primitive & unfinished looking (so I guess I'll probably leave it like that).


Helen of Troy, acrylic on board, 14" x 11", 2008.