painting walls and canvases

Here are a few shots of a painting begun several days ago.  The painting is only about forty five minutes in.  I’m not entirely certain I am going to leave the painting composition as is, or if I am going to change it.  I may turn both the woman and cello inward.  I’m hesitant to say much about the painting, in that my ideas are still in a relatively early stage.

My Islip studio is not altogether private, and so I am unable to paint figurative works there.  This has been a frustration for me, especially after the success of the painting Anna, which  I did in Florence.  But, I’m glad to say that I’ve been able to find a studio in which I can work on figurative pieces.  The studio in which I am painting is actually a part of the Hampton Studio of Fine Art, where I teach classes.  I haven’t painted the human figure since I came back from Florence a year and a half ago.  I’ve drawn the figure often, I’ve painted a quick sketch here and there, but I haven’t had any opportunity to paint a serious figurative piece.  So, I’m very excited to be working on the painting of the cello and the woman.

Anna, 36″ x 60″, oil on linen

Yesterday, I spent the entire day painting.  Not painting canvases, but walls.  The church has been so generous in allowing me to use their chapel as a studio, and so I am painting the walls as a token of gratitude.

Fortunately, today I painted canvases.  In fact, I worked on portrait commissions.  In between portrait commissions, I spent some time on “The Spackler,” as the painting has come to be called.

detail of “The Spackler”, 30″ x 46″, oil on linen

That’s all that I can show of this painting.  My wife enjoys reminding me of the fact that all my paintings go through an awful stage of adolescence, much like I did.  Proportions are strange, skin tone is bizarre, but the eyes are often pretty good.  So, here is the eye of the spackling painting.  More to come soon…