I was paddling my canoe at a small lake in southern Indiana. As I went around a bend I noticed a heron hiding behind some grass. I almost missed it.
This is a knife painting–instead of using brushes, the paint was applied by palette knife–it was loaded with paint, then wiped on the canvas.
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A few years ago my wife encouraged me to do annual self-portraits. Rembrandt and Kahlo always did so she thought I should. This is my seventh. It’s different than the others because my face is done in profile.
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A typical day for a mother with a baby is overwhelming. She’s constantly involved with that child–maybe it won’t let her put it down. Anything else in her life is secondary. The baby needs to be fed, changed, bathed and comforted. Most of all, loved. Even though the mom is physically and mentally worn out at the end of the day, she absolutely loves that little child.
I’ve done hundreds of paintings, but I’ve felt more emotion with this one than any other. It’s my favorite.
There is no stronger love than a mother’s love for her child. She hurts when the child hurts — she laughs when the child laughs — she goes without sleep for the child — she loves her child unconditionally. She would sacrifice her life for her child. This painting represents that sacred love.
I teach a lot of portrait classes. We start with drawing the face — first of all, where the features go. Next we do the eyes. After the eyes we concentrate on the lips and nose. After four weeks of drawing, I teach them to paint faces.
Here is a self-portrait demo from a recent class. To me, the eyes are most important. That’s my biggest concern. I also have the students divide the shapes and shadows of the face and try to match the colors they actually see. I’m a believer in painting with emotion — not just trying to create a photo-realistic image.
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This is a portrait of Stephanie. Each portrait I do is done differently to reflect the personality of the subject. She’s a very good artist so I wanted to portray her in an impressionist manner.
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This scene is looking down a hill in the Gamla Stan area of Stockholm. There’s depth in the picture because the cars go from large to small as the viewer looks left to right. The biggest is closest. The smallest feels further away. The man crossing the street is bigger than the people behind him. He feels closer than the others. These techniques are using atmospheric perspective so the picture doesn’t look flat, but it appears there is actual depth.
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Michelle is an amazing woman. She had a degree in architecture from Ball State University. She’s married to a great guy and they have four very cute children. Michelle is multi-talented–she cooks, sews, does oil painting and many other things as well. She’s a people person with tons of friends who love her. It was an honor to paint her portrait.
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