Posts made in September, 2008

“ Acrylic on Multimedia Artboard (sold)

My take on Karin Jurick’s photo of the week on Different Strokes from Different Folks. When I saw the image of this man reading the newspaper in Chicago, I had to make it about the senator from Illinois. I never realized how much Obama and wife looked like John and Jackie Kennedy until I tried to paint them in miniature on the newspaper.

Do check out the rest of the work on the Different Strokes blog. There’s some amazing work there!

UPDATE:
This morning when I looked at the painting in the daylight, I hated the red lettering on the bench. So I changed it to white to push it into the background. Here’s the current version, which also shows the color better:

I painted on a red-toned background, so the colors are very warm.

“ Oil on Raymar canvas panel, 6 x 8"

These red bell peppers were catching some sun at the local farmer’s market.

“ Gouache on canvas panel, 7 x 5"

This week’s challenge on Karin Jurick’s Different Strokes From Different Folks uses her photo of a place called Rehoboth Beach as the reference. I have no idea where that is, but I’m guessing it’s on the east coast of the US somewhere.

The photo shows the scene in full daylight, but I’ve been wanting to try a moon, so I changed the time of day to night. Not sure how successful the change was – it looks to me like a snow scene from a vintage Christmas card – but at least I tried to stretch my comfort zone.

“ Oil on Raymar panel, 6 x 8"

I haven’t painted much lately, but thanks to artist Karin Jurick’s new blog, Different Strokes From Different Folks, I’m getting the kick in the pants I need to get started. Karin is a kick-ass artist best known for her paintings of people interacting with art in art museums. Once a week she will be offering a single photo for artists to use as reference for a painting. It’s fascinating how many different ways artists can interpret one photo.

The inaugural week was devoted to paintings of Cracker Jack, Karin’s beloved dog who passed over the bridge recently. I think I’ve finished exactly one painting of a dog in my entire life, if you don’t count kindergarten, so it was quite a challenge for me. It’s not really “Jack,” but I was satisfied it at least looked canine.