I remember wanting to give up on this blog a few months ago...or was it late last year? Not important, but this team blog needs Detective Rivero to report back to duty. I feel an ulcer growing in my stomach just thinking about what he's been doing with the gun and badge that we forgot to confiscate the last time he was at his desk.
Is it just me or are we all imagining him hunched over a bar stool in a smokey dive bar where all the livers of its patrons can't be combined to make even one good one? Maybe he's carving one out of the first trouble-maker who makes the mistake of touching his leather jacket. He'd be doing it straight-faced for sure, like he was going through a stack of junk mail full of local coupons and catalogs for home accessories.
Well, I guess it serves me right for leaving him to do all the work here for days/weeks at a time.
The above is another pass at another portrait. Trying to do something a little bit more controlled with the skin tones and application of the paint.
How can it be June already?
Finished a quick self-portrait (posted on my other blog here) and then started this one because...well, I just need to paint a lot more and there were a lot of things that I would have changed with the first portrait of my niece had I given myself more time.
Again, there would be some things that I would change in the face, but I'm calling this done, so that I can move on to the next painting. I think that the painting is showing what my nephew will look like in the next couple of years and not exactly how he looks now. Let's just say that I did that on purpose, and that's the way I approach painting now. With these canvases, you see into the future ! ! ! It's strange how the thumbnail of the whole canvas makes him look even older whereas the detail to the right shows that it's not that bad.
It felt good to paint with a palette knife again which I did on a lot of the canvas' surface except for the face. Actually, maybe one more hour on certain areas could really bring the piece together, but we'll see how things go. I'd still like to make some changes to the first portrait (of my older niece) that I finished a few weeks ago...
We're really working on getting a show together in the next 4-8 weeks, and Rivero knows two people (can't say yet because everyone likes surprises) that may be down for a group show of paintings and drawings which would be great! More on that as the space and details become more finalized.
-cm
This is a loose quote from a manager at a chocolate cafe that Rivero and I were patronizing. Rivero wanted to visit his friend, so they talked, and I ordered the chocolate au lait after the young guy behind the counter assumed I was a moron who couldn't figure out the meaning of some names on the menu. I had only asked a couple of questions just to make friendly conversation, but he mistook my kindness for illiteracy. Then three of us talked about Adrian's behavior, drinks they had the day before, etc. More chit chat, and no other customers were coming in when this guy comes out from the back room and rudely interupts the conversation with his red face. Now, I fully understand that most bosses don't want their employees to enjoy themselves especially when it comes to food service, but this was a bit much. He barked his orders and told them to dust the cafe, even getting up on a chair to wipe the top of a picture frame to prove his point. The guy will probably continue his stressful ways and drop dead at the age of 41 if we're lucky.
So now on to more important things. After that lovely experience, Rivero and I go to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall which ends up being a great movie. Mila Kunis is in it along with Kristen Bell and Jason Segel. I've been calling him "the drummer guy from Freaks and Geeks," but no longer. They're all great in it, and it's nice to know that we're not 100% bitter when it comes to relationships and life that we can't enjoy a comedy like this. Hell, the 85-year-olds down the row from us probably liked it, too, except for the parts where Seagle gave the audience a view of his dong [on two occasions].
Below are a couple of early stages of the digital drawing. Check my other blog in the next day or two for the finished piece.
See? No boring bloggers here, Lauren. -cm
note: This is an exercise based on a photo from complex.com. Photograph by Brian Bowen Smith.
