Color Comp

Chief Bromden Color Comp

Photoshop/Painter

Chief Bromden Rough Skecth

Graphite on Paper

I made a few modifications to the Chief Bromden comp and also put together a color comp for it.

The comp was created using Adobe Photoshop, and Corel Painter. Hopefully I will carry this one to a finished piece this summer in Hartford. I will possibly print this comp out and paint right over it with oil paint, or acrylics. 

Possible portraits

Piet Mondrian

Acrylic on panel, 8x14

Ken Kesey

Mixed media, 6x9

Chief Bromden

Mixed Media, 4x 12 

In a few weeks I will head back to the University of Hartford for two weeks of classes, followed by graduation. For one of the classes, with Gary Kelley and C.F Payne , we will work on a portrait assignment. I have a few different ideas and directions to go in for this class, and have worked up some studies for them. Two of the possibilities, Ken Kesey and Mondrian , are pretty  straight forward portraits with a little distortion .  The other is an image that I created of Chief Bromden, based on a paragraph from Ken Kesey's , One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Not sure which one I will go with for a final piece. Painting  Mondrian could be cool, I think he is a pretty interesting looking character. Ken Kesey is a very unique character  which I think if I tied in something more about him into the piece could be cool.

 I am pretty excited about the Bromden idea, as I think it illustrates some of Bromden's visions/ delusions featured in the book. I am just not sure if this will fly as a portrait. I may  try to somehow enlarge Bromden within the composition, making it more of a portrait.We'll see!

Final Thesis Painting

Detail

Siem Reap , Cambodia, in progress

I am on to working on my final Thesis painting. This particular panel is a response to my journey to Siem Reap Cambodia, that I took about 2 years ago. It still has a long way to go, as most paintings when they are in the middle stages, I am not sure if I like it or not. At this moment I am without a choice , this painting along with the other panels has to be  finished by early July whether I am happy with them or not. That is when our thesis show at the University of Hartford has to be hung!!!! Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Random Photos

These are photos that I shot in various locations from El paso  to Cambodia and some places in between.

San Fran painting

San Fran contact piece

In between working on my thesis paintings I have also been working on my San Francisco contact painting.I used various mediums on this one. Gouache ,Acrylic, and a bit of photoshop. Not sure how I feel about it yet. It is in progress so hopefully by the end it will be acceptable.

Gunks Bouldering

Forbidden Forest from paul jung on Vimeo.

This saturday Phil Schaal and I headed up to New Paltz for a day of bouldering with our friend

Paul Jung. Paul has been heavily involved with a lot of the new  bouldering development in and around New Paltz, and possesses ninja like skills on the rock.  Paul was nice enough to show us around to some of the more remote sectors in the area and also film and edit a short video as well. Thanks Paul!!

Be sure to check out:

Bassforyourface.com

Its a blog for the climbing community in and around New York in which Paul and some other friends contribute to.

To check it just simply click on the link that is featured in the list of climbing related links on the right side of my blog!

My New Favorite Artist

Jack Levine

Jack Levine Etching

Birmingham 63

Inauguration II ,1958

Portrait of Jack Levine

Massachusetts native , Jack Levine is recognized as an American Social Realist painter and printmaker, who is best known for his satires on modern life, political corruption, and biblical narratives. Levine was born the child of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants , and spent his child hood growing up in the poverty stricken South End of Boston, where he observed much of what became the inspiration for his work. By the age of 17 Jack Levine displayed a level of draughtsmanship that was on the level of masters such as Degas,  his drawings earned him a show a Harvard's Fogg Art Museum in 1932. Levine's raw and explosive style is a unique one, and his technique was  informed by the Old Masters in which he studied. Levine's work displays the same level of technical maturity as the masters, achieving astonishing use of opacity, transparency , and luminosity, all held together with  a sense of mind boggling distortion.  Along with  Hyman Bloom and Karl Zebe , Levine has become associated with the Boston Expressionist movement, and his work has continued to enlighten the world into the present day.

On Jan 3rd. Jack Levine celebrated his 93 rd birthday, and will still be found at his easel where he continues to create, and confront the world around him through his art. Levines work has been included in collections world wide including the Vatican, where his painting Cain and Abel hangs.

This summer during my final contact period at the Hartford Art School I have a class with prolific American Illustrators, Chris Payne, and Gary Kelly. We have a portrait assignment to work on , and I am hoping to work on a portrait of Jack Levine.

Sunday Session

Here is a short video of a sunday bouldering session here in CT.