Michael Watching the Solar Eclipse

Michael watching the 2017 total solar eclipse in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  

Obviously it hasn't happened yet as the sun is strong on the face and those eclipse glasses. 

The t-shirt is my rendition of what I think the total eclipse and solar flares looked like to those lucky enough to be observers.

Insert Yourself into a Famous Portrait - Madame Matisse

I made this painting of myself as Madame Matisse many years ago in a class at College of Marin. Your too can personalize a famous painting. Maybe you want to be Royalty, or the Girl with the Pearl.  Maybe you think of yourself as the Mona Lisa or Frieda Khalo.  Let me know and let's see how we can do that!

There are AI Portrait apps now where you can put yourself into a painting or painting style, but not in a specific famous portrait. AI portraits are done in the Renaissance style - 15th century portraits - and smiling is not allowed.

Scroll down to see my portrait from AI Portraits as imagined with a  Starry Nights theme by Van Gogh.

Gouache Studies

These are quick study portraits copied from a magazines and painted in gouache.

Self Portraits

This self-portrait was done in oil on canvas.

Obviously a selfy....I spent time trying to make the iphone look interesting until I decided not to because it took away from the image.

Aluminum Portrait

This aluminum head results from months of  work.  First I made a clay sculpture.  Then the clay head was surrounded by a plaster mold. Three wax molds were poured so I could finally release the undercut at the back of the head that made it non-draftable.  The wax head was corrected and carved. The finished wax was gated and a ceramic shell of colloidal silica and silica powder was created by a dipping process that had six events.

The ceramic shell was cracked off.

Then the aluminum gates were cut off the sculpture. The face was sanded and then burnished with various tools.  I worked on the base so the sculpture would stand. The unplanned but interesting negative space in front makes the head look like it floats. At a later date, my instructor suggested that I use shoe polish to heighten the contrast in some areas.

Mom at Delray Beach

Not a sunny, warm day, but the beach was exhilarating. That is Mom behind the Foster Grants.

The sky and water add movement. There is a subtle yellow glaze in the lower cloud bank to play with the yellow sweater.

Dad and Me

This is painting is from several photos.  I hoped to get both Dad and me at our best. Family members always think they don't look like I paint them, but in this instance the likeness is there.

At some point in the future I will define my hair more, but otherwise I like the painting.

Janice with Egon Schiele Hands and Colors

To the left is a portrait of my sister Janice with her hands painted in the style of Egon Schiele.

More from Myanmar: Towel Seller

You get the picture. My painting ages the young girl. The assignment was to work on a large canvas. The size is 18" x 24". When it dries, I plan to varnish it to brighten the colors.

Chris

Great chiseled jaw and deep set eyes, this model was a pleasure to draw.  I tried turquoise accents.....I am not sure if they worked.

Burmese Man

I love to try and capture people in photos and then make them into art, in this  case oil paint. This man was standing on a beach of the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar at sunset. And yes he has on a t-shirt that says NASA. The likeness is not quite there, but he does not look like he is from outer space either. That t-shirt definitely traveled!

Self Portrait

No I am not trying to be Rembrandt. He completed more than 100 self-portraits. And he was not into flattering himself in any of them.

I have done quite a few self portraits in various classes and mediums. None of mine are particularly complementary either, not that I am not trying to make them that way.  Fellow students told me I am prettier.  My teacher told me she liked this oil painting, especially the use of color on the left side.  So here it is. I have my head tilted back for a different approach and maybe did capture the stress of the pose, or the painting or both.

Avocado Seller from Myanmar

This is an oil from a photo I took in Myanmar of a local woman selling avocados.  Note that the light yellow line on the nose and right side of the face is not a highlight, but thanaka cream that is used for sun protection and as make-up.

Locals rub the bark of a tree on round stones and add water to make this paste for use by men, women and children.

Lolita Reworked

This little girl's face changes depending on the way I ink and paint.  The biggest change is that a I reduced the cheek on the right.  It definitely reads improved!

Lolita - Monoprints

My print making professor says this image reminds him of  the 1962 Stanley Kubrick film Lolita. I don't see it. The image was printed from a plastic plate and then enhanced with water color. I have done several mono prints. It's fast and fun to change the look of the image with water color.

Scroll down to see all the iterations.

Channeling Egon Schiele: Madchenkopf

This is a print cut and inked on plastic.  The women is drawn from Egon Schiele's Madchenkopf portrait.

A second print with sepia on purple shows the woman with a different feeling.

The original is posted below.

Linocut portrait from linoleum sheet.

Co-Workers: Obama and A Campaign Star

This pencil drawing is from a photo of Obama with my sister Janice.  She earned the honor being a super campaign worker in the effort to enfranchise Virgina workers.

Dad

This black and white print of my Dad was from a plexi-glass plate.
The plastic plate covering was not removed, just scored and then inked.

Variations with Monoprints

This portrait is from a monoprint. The one on the right is painted with coffee and water color.

I thought is was too monochromatic so I intensified the colors and added the blue complement for the background.

Which one do you like?

See the original charcoal drawing.