Playing with photographs: The Happy Couple Kiss

So my sister occasionally brings home the canvases from her store where she works, after they have been on display for months and the "new look and displays come in", so they just replace them with new ones. They just throw them out, and they are perfectly good canvas frames, just with some strangers photos on them. The factory has coated each one in something though, so I am dubious of the canvas quality. We have a few now and I dragged one out of the closet yesterday to play with.
I opted in this case to just update the photo a bit; make it much more interesting. Now this couple looks MUCH better, I think. I was going to paint over the whole thing, but have now decided that I like it this way. It makes me grin.
Of course, I 'm not sure what to do with it, but it's a lovely little 8x10 canvas portrait of a happy couple's first married kiss.

Preview of 'Picasso' Show at AGO

Ok I enjoyed this members preview showing of Picasso at the AGO on this Friday past. This show is definitely one to see if you even like Picasso's work, and perhaps even if you do not. It is worth the entrance fee certainly, as here is seven rooms of his works over the varying periods of his life.

They wouldn't let you take pictures though, and the rooms were crawling with security. Very nice security, but lots of them. My favourites were "The Reading", "The Farmers Wife" (fabulous rooster!), the "Bullfight: Death of the Torero", "the Supplicant" and some of the "Bathers" (not necesarily in this order). Some of these I found on the internet, and some I could not.

I did note that many of his works are unfinished, which was something I had not realized previous to this show. Many pieces are in varied stages of completion, but very few are truly finsihed. Perhaps he was always thinking ahead to the next piece, and hence did not settle into and finish the piece on the easel. His ambition was as far reaching as his vision.

30x40" Oil Painting, "B. Cohades Return to La Rochelle, France"

So I think I'm finished completed this painting, with the possible exception of some detail work which will be done before the weeks out. I'm posting now anyway, as I can do this while sitting back and looking at for a bit (which I am constantly doing while working on a piece). This one has been in the works for two years now; it seemed to be one of two pieces that got caught in a transition phase, between getting really irritated with painting and an increased desire to work on sculptural chess set pieces. And realistically I was and am transitioning again in painting styles, for lack of a better term, which made painting less of a secure haven to work within.

Has this been resolved, not really. But I find myself very much wanting to paint again.

I was hoping to show it on the weekend, or at least enter it into the EAG Juried Art Show on Sunday, but I do think now it will be too wet to actually submit. This piece has several variances from previous ones, or at least the ones that I notice myself personally. Initially it's one of only a few where I'd hand smeared oil as a thick background of colour (in this case mid-tonal range colour).

It was wonderful fun, and provided a lovely thick feel to the piece before it even initated. However, as I progressed, I became less and less enamored with this quality as now the flow of paint didn't necessarily go in the direction I need the paint to go now. A 'hmm' moment, indeed.

But this is not to say that I'm unhappy with the final result, as I did manage to keep the somewhat 'rough' surface nature of the final product, which is perfectly intended and in keeping with the the portrait personality.

At any rate, this and several other factors evolved during working on this piece, which makes it stand out for me. Probably small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it stands out for me as separate from others.

Little canvas

Was working on a little canvas today while finishing a larger portrait. iPhone pic so I'm sure the colours are wrong (groan). Cours are actually brighter in reality. Will fix later though; back to painting.



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6:00am Sunrise Service

A sunrise service with the deceased before a pancake breakfast. Getting up at 5:00am seems even rougher at 10:00 when one's supposed to be getting ready for the regular service.









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