Robert of Robert Dunne Salon generously offered his walls to hang my most recent work. Thank you, Robert for your generosity.
WIP
Starting a little study of an old school pencil sharpener. I’m at a point in my painting process where I want to challenge myself with each painting.
Self portrait
It’s been a few months since I did a self portrait, so I thought it’s time for another. A few more wrinkles, a little less hair and a whole lotta grey. Get it? Grey…
Another Sumo on the go…
I thought I was done with sumo portraits for the moment, but I got sucked in thinking after I finished my “Tachiai” painting that it'd look good with another portrait of a single wrestler, which then got me thinking that another tachiai painting would complement the first two. So now in my mind, I have another sumo series already mapped out. The vicious circle that is sumo.
New home…
I’ve been a little tardy with my blog updates but I'm really happy to share with you a picture of my most recent sumo portraits in their new home, in the Bahamas’ Albany Club. Looking good.
Taking pictures
It's fortunate for me that I have a talented photographer friend who generously offered to take pictures of my most recent paintings. I didn't realize the extent that an image needs to be worked on in post production for it to be ready to have printed as a giclee. I thought i’d just give the raw file to the printer and he'd just hit print. Yeah, i’m the techno illiterate artist…
Thanks, Michael for your generosity. Please check out his work on Facebook or Instagram, @michael_barker_photo
Kimchi study
in oil painting
A small study of my little furball, Kimchi.
Sketchbook dump…
Getting kinda lazy about my sketchbook uploads. So here’s a few spreads I’ve been saving up.
Victoria, B.C.
in sketchbook
I took a small trip to beautiful Victoria, British Columbia. I took some time to sketch a bit and I have to say, I’d like to return there and do more sketching.
Sketching Rick, one of my airBnB roommates.
Some close ups of my other roommates, Chris and Machiko.
Rick up close and personal.
Easter weekend productivity
Productivity is something that either is top most on my mind or underlies everything else I do. It comes from pursuing this art track later in my life and thinking I have to get all the bad paintings out of my system before I get to the good ones. So this long Easter holiday weekend, I’m two paintings closer in getting to the good stuff. I also felt I needed to be a bit faster and looser with these two paintings since I spent so much time on my commission. It felt good just to produce and have a bit of fun (especially with my self portrait).
The weekend’s not over, so there’s more time to pump stuff out! Back to work!
French's Mustard, Done!
Done and done. I’m happy with how this little commission turned out. However, my hairline receded a quarter inch after finishing the lettering.
Stan the Man
in sketchbook, family
I don’t know why it’s so hard to sketch my father, but I do it every chance I get. Practice makes perfect. I think all these sketches are preparatory work for a painting of him. A little of him from this past weekend.
French's Mustard
in oil painting, WIP, still life
I’m currently working on a small commission. Here’s a WIP of the painting. It’s nice to return to a subject matter and see things in a different manner from the first time I painted it.
Milan 2019
I had the opportunity to visit MIlan, Italy for the first time from March 2-11. I was like a kid in a candy story. Around every corner there was a scene that could have been put down on paper. Unfortunately I only had 5 days to sketch. Here are the drawings I produced on this trip. It definitely is a city I have to visit again.
Killing time before class…
Weekends are usually the days where I sketch. This past particular weekend, I was on a run. I sketched Friday, Saturday and Monday (this sketch done on a statuary holiday). Leading up to this sketch I was a little angry that I wasted Sunday so when saw Lina, my mission was to sketch her. I wasted no time and just went up her and asked if she would mind. The rest is history. I need to harness that attitude every time I want to sketch someone in public. NO HESITATION!
Work in Progress
in WIP, oil painting
This is my third piece in the “Canned Meat” series and is proving to be the most difficult to complete. In this series I’m trying to not be so rigid in my approach by just painting within the lines. I’m scraping, covering up previously painted parts, applying paint out side of their “proper” areas and trying to achieve a looser look to the painting. There’s a fair bit to go with this painting.
cold weather+warm cafe= blissful sketching session
I remind myself whenever I sketch for a few days in a row that sketching like any skill deteriorates if not used. It typically starts with the first day feeling a little rusty and getting the cogs working properly and the subsequent days falling into the comfortable groove. It also helps whenever i sketch people in public that they aren’t nervous whenever I look at them AND yes I do ask if I could sketch them, as was the case with Steve and Jason today: very laid back guys.
Delayed Gratification
in sketchbook
I started these two sketchbook spreads in December 2018 of my co worker, Lindsay. Every chance I would get when Lindsay and I were taking the same lunch break, I would wolf down lunch to try to get a few minutes of sketch time with Lindsay. After my initial ink sketch of her, I knew the spread was going to be a bit more than just my average sketch. I wanted it to be a full on, jam packed spread, with multiple images on top of each other. After every session, I thought “yeah, this could be good enough to scan and feed the internet beast”, but I kept it going until there was a second spread. The second spread definitely came closer to what I had imaged in my mind’s eye: messy, overlapped, crammed imagery and which was good enough to finally upload to the ever consuming body we know as the internet. It also gave me a chance to practice painting letters.
Sketching LIndsay during lunch breaks has not stopped just because I’ve finished these spreads… I just won’t show all of them.
Nice to Sketch Again
I’ve been busy painting lately and have been neglecting my sketching practice. I had a chance to sketch at Futures Bistro and do a work sketch of my co worker. It was nice to exercise that muscle again.
First post
Welcome to my inaugural post. I’ll be showing WIPs, sketches and other art related items on a semi regular basis that I hope will show my viewers what my art practice is all about. So, without further ado, let me show you into my studio (aka, my living room, dining room, entertainment suite, foyer among other things).
