I had the privelege of doing the portrait of Pastor Isaac. He has a church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I wanted to portray him as a spiritual man with symbolic representation of the “light of the gospel.” I had him next to a sheer curtain which diffused the light on his robes and the opened Bible. I tried to give a delicate look to the pattern of the curtains, and wanted to give a shiny look to the gold sash on the robe. Hopefully I presented him and his message in a simple, yet sacred manner.
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Last year I did a portrait show at the Sherrus Gallery in Northville, Michigan. I had gotten snapshots of prominent community members. They didn’t know what was going on. I painted eighteen portraits. Then the ones who were painted received special invitations to attend the opening reception. They were very surprised to see themselves on the wall. I love doing portraits.
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I taught a still life class this morning. This is how I painted the subject today. You can see three types of light. The light from the lamp I used is yellowish, like all light bulb light. You’ll see hints of yellow on the tablecloth. The other kind of light comes from the window. It is blue light coming from the sky. You can see subtle blue highlights on the apples and on the tablecloth. There is also reflected light. If you look underneath the apples you see yellow reflecting from them on the cloth. There is reflected light on the cup, from the apple, the window and the light bulb.
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This was a commission I did of a mother and her child. I tried to portray the child’s personality as she looked in wonder at what was outside the window. Her gesture gives life to the painting. I have complimentary colors. The inside has warm reds and oranges while the view outside is in shades of blue, giving an interesting contrast. The faces are a pale pink, with the only shading where shadows would appear. I paint what I see. Sometimes dark hair has a bluish tint to it when certain light falls on it.
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I was thinking of my late father. He was from “the greatest generation.” He and thousands of others left the comfort of home and fought for freedom loving people during World War II. He spent time in Italy. Luckily he wasn’t hurt during his time there, but many others on both sides laid down their lives. I have walked through cemeteries in America and Europe where rows of crosses stand. Many young men never went home to their mothers and fathers, their wives, their children and their friends.
This painting was done to make some kind of statement. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what the statement is.
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I’ve lived in Indiana since 1998. This painting really shows a typical view. We are really in the corn belt. I can leave my home and drive about ten or fifteen minutes and I’m right in the middle of the cornfields. In the musical “Oklahoma” by Rogers and Hammerstein there is a song that talks about the corn being as high as an elephant’s eye. I don’t know how tall that is, but I’m 6’5″ and it definitely grows a lot higher than my head!
There is atmospheric perspective in this painting. The corn right in the front is painted large, while the barn and the trees are small. That gives the feeling of depth. Does this painting make your mouth water for some fresh corn on the cob?
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Whenever I do a still life I light it from the side so I will have shadow and light. I draw in the scene, making sure that the items are placed in a pleasing manner. I do not begin with the specific objects in mind, but first I find the darkest and lightest parts of the scene and painting those areas. The values of everything else are always between those two. Next I look for shapes of colors or value, rather than “painting the apples.” I paint each individual shape I see, such as the light green shape “on the left” and the deep red shape “on the right” etc., proceeding like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. It all evolves nicely with a beautiful dimension. You can almost reach in and grab everything in the picture.
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Visiting is the great American pastime. In fact, it is the great European pastime. I’ve tried to portray people of different ages, sizes and beauty. After all, we’re all different looking. I have atmospheric perspective – the people in the front are clearer and sharper, while the woman sitting further back is somewhat less detailed. The brick wall is more detailed than the background which is faded. There is linear perspective. The sidewalk is wider at the front than it is further back. The lines of the brickwork do the same thing. Both of these techniques give a feeling of depth. You can walk into the picture and stop to visit the people there.
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