SOLD

Looking Down

Oil with a palette knife on board

8" x 8"

Click on the image to enlarge

SOLD

I'm excited because a painting of mine hanging at 13Forest Gallery sold this month.  If it looks familiar, that may be because I've posted it before when I entered it into Karin Jurick's blog Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge last year. I just read that Karin may be starting up this blog again which has been on hiatus for several months.  I've really enjoy participating in this blog because it's challenged me to paint subject matter that I probably would never have thought to paint myself. I think the pieces I've painted for those challenges are some of my strongest pieces. You can see the entire collection by clicking here.

Palette knife portrait surprise

Girl with the Green Earring

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board

10" x 8" x 1.5"

Click on the image to enlarge
NFS

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

This portrait was done as a surprise thank you for Karin Jurick, the artist who organizes the Different Strokes from Different Folks blog challenges. You may remember that Karin's end of the year challenge was a portrait swap. Out of the 180 participants, there were 4 artists who weren't able to come through. So at the last minute, Karin painted those missing 4 portraits so that those artists wouldn't be left out. Jill Polsby was one of those artists. So she organized this project as a thank you by contacting as many artists as she could to paint their own portrait of Karin. Then she created a book of all of the paintings. Take a look at all of the wonderful portraits here.

I don't know why, but I never had an interest in painting portraits. It's probably the pressure of getting the likeness just right. But I've discovered that I really enjoy painting portraits with my palette knife. I feel as if I am carving out the structure of the face with my knife. I thank Karin for introducing me to subjects I would not choose to paint myself. It has really pushed me as an artist.

Portrait Swap

Artist Suzy Charto

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board

8" x 8"

This is my entry for the latest challenge from Karin Jurick's blog, Different Strokes from Different Folks. This mystery artist will also paint a portrait of me from a photo that I submitted. I remember looking at all of the amazing portraits that were painted last year and knowing that I would want to participate should Karin do it again. What fun this was and I can't wait to find out who my mystery artist is.

UPDATE 12-29-09 Suzy Charto is my mystery artist! Here is the link to the painting she did from my photo. Her blog is so fun to read.

Oh, and this is really cool. Karin is making videos of all of the portraits and posting them on You Tube. There are 4 parts to the series. Check them out!

Abstract #2

Looking Down

Oil with a palette knife on canvas paper

8" x 8"

Click on the image to enlarge
SOLD

This is my entry to the latest challenge from Karin Jurick's blog, Different Strokes from Different Folks. Like the last challenge, I was trying to paint just the shapes I saw to keep it as abstract as I could. The photo was full of straight lines and angles-difficult to achieve with a palette knife, so I told myself that they didn't need to be perfectly straight and to just let go and had fun. This was the first time I painted while looking at the image projected on my computer screen. In the past I have printed out a color copy and painted from that. I'm curious what others artist do. Do you print out Karin's photo or do you project in on your computer or do you use some other method?

Abstract #1

Abstract #1

Oil with a palette knife on canvas paper

8" x 8"

SOLD

Here is my entry for the latest challenge from Karin Jurick's blog Different Strokes from Different Folks. It was a photo of rooftops in San Francisco. I really, really tried to keep it to just abstract shapes but then couldn't help myself by putting in a more details. It was fun to lay in big areas of flat color with the palette knife. Karin was right when she said that this was a perfect challenge with respect to value and mixing colors. I painted this all in one sitting last night because I really like to work wet into wet. And it's easier to scrape off areas that aren't working. I call it Abstract #1 because you never know what someone else might see in it, and perhaps it may become a series. Who knows? 

Vanilla or Chocolate?

Sprinkles 

Oil with a palette knife on cradled artist board

4" x 4"

SOLD

This is the latest painting I submitted to Karin Jurick's Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge. The photo that Karin posted was an beautiful array of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles. I chose a vanilla one to paint because that is what I would have chosen to eat. I painted it on a small cradled board so I also took this photo that shows it's dimension.

When I paint with my palette knives I often feel as if I am icing a cake so this image was such a fun image to paint. Getting that icing nice and thick was so satisfying. Like butta.

Streets of San Francisco

Streets of San Francisco

Oil with a palette knife on canvas paper

12" x 8"

SOLD

Here is my entry into this week's Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge. I was confused when Karin referred to this as a view of Lombard Street because I always thought that was the crazy winding street, but perhaps this is the climb to get there and then you descend down the other side? 

When I first saw the photo I was excited because it immediately brought to mind one of my favorite artists, Richard Diebenkorn. I dug out the big orange book I had about his work and found this painting. I wanted to use his work as inspiration for my painting.

Ingleside

Richard Diebenkorn

Oil on Canvas

81 13/16" x 69 1/2"

1963

Collection of the Grand Rapids Art Museum

I started with a sketch again to warm up....

And then launched in on the painting last night. I think it will make a nice companion piece to the NY Madison Avenue painting and the other scenes of Boston in my View from a Cube series. A new "Streets of..." series might be in the works. 

Quiet Time

Quiet Time

Oil with palette knife on canvas paper

10" x 7.5"

$50 unframed

This is my entry into this week's Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge.

I started out with this pencil drawing to really study the figure as Karin suggested. I find that my train commute into work is a great time to sketch. As I was getting off the train, a woman commented "Your drawing is really nice. I was watching you draw in the window reflection as I was sitting behind you." A compliment like that from a complete stranger can be the best kind ever.

Looking at my painting now, I do see some flaws in the drawing. His torso looks too squat. But I do think that the drawing helped me to really study the figure in detail before I attacked the painting with a knife. I wanted to focus on the figure and really downplay the background. I also deliberately put him in the corner, emphazing his isolation from the surroundings. Here is a close up of the face.
And I didn't wait until the last day this time. Yeah!

Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria

Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria

Oil with palette knife on canvas paper

8" x 8"

SOLD

This is my entry into this week's Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge. I found it difficult to get the boat to look right. I scraped it off a few times because the color got yucky. And I kept hearing Karin's advice in my head as I was painting "Remember that there is weight to this boat in the water - pay careful attention to the woman and the boat resting in the heavy water." Of course, I waited until the very last day to enter this challenge. But they are such fun to do. I can't NOT at least try it.

What a wonderful town

It's A Wonderful Town

Oil with a palette knife on canvas

12" by 6"

SOLD

This is my entry into this week's Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge. I was just in NYC last week so I was really looking forward to painting this one. I love New York. It is truly a wonderful town. That's why in my painting the sky is a beautiful blue. I found painting the taxis came quickly, the buildings...well I sruggled a bit with those. Getting straight enough lines with the palette knife is a bit difficult. You can check out Karin's reference photo here.

DSFDF Challenge-Drawing!

This is my entry for the latest Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge. It is from Karin's reference photo of a sculpture called A Companion of Diana. The marble sculpture was done by Jean-Louse Lemoyne and is in the National Gallery of Art in DC. The nymph depicted in this sculpture with her hound, was a companion of Diana, the goddess of the moon and the hunt.

I first sketched out the entire thing to make sure I had the proportions right, then I used the "roundy-roundy" shading technique I learned in the botanical illustration class to finish it. Here was my sketch.
The image above that I submitted was done as a color scan. The one below was done using the black and white setting. The difference is interesting. I think you can see the detail better in the black and white scan but I thought the warm tone of the paper came through nicely in the one I submitted. This challenge reminded me of all the reasons I love to draw:

1. It makes you see details you wouldn't otherwise notice

2. You can sketch anywhere-on the train, on the couch, on a bench in the park (I did all 3 of these to finish this challenge).

3. It is great practice of the basics. It's the first class you take in art school.

4. It can be quick and gestural, or highly detailed.

5. You can erase!

I've known I wanted to do something with art pretty much all my life (except for that brief period where I thought I wanted to be a mailman because I thought driving around in those little post office trucks with the driver's seat on the other side looked like fun). I used to draw a lot as a kid, mostly interiors that included our cat, Hercules.

If you haven't yet checked out the book, An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory, do it ASAP.
He has collected images of 50 artist's sketchbooks and compiled it into one amazing book. I swear it will immediately inspire you to want to start journaling your life with drawing.

Happy sketching.

Ah, Summertime!

Here is my submission to the current Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge.

APRIL FOOLS!

Ok-I wish that was my painting. It's really Karin's. Below is the real Gorbett palette knife submission to the challenge, submitted on the last day of course. It's 8" by 10" on stretched canvas. I wanted to make a Red Sox hat on the guy which was difficult to do at this size with a knife, but anyway, I know it's there.

Beach Fans

8" by 10"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas

SOLD

And here is a detail. You can also click on the image above to see the entire painting in detail. I just noticed now that the triangle created by the woman's arm should be a darker blue to match the water. Better fix that.
The reference photo that Karin posted can be seen here.

Thiebaud sushi

Thiebaud Sushi

4" x 4"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas
SOLD

Last night, I gave the latest Different Strokes for Different Folks challenge a whirl. Here is the photo Karin Jurick posted.


I think food is difficult to photograph and to paint. I mulled over how to tackle this piece for the entire 2 weeks. I even went to my favorite sushi place, Snappy Sushi on Newbury Street, for lunch one day to get inspired. Then, one of my favorite artists suddenly came to mind, Wayne Thiebaud. I love the way he so deliciously depicts food in his work and so my version of sushi was inspired by his wonderful paintings of cakes and pies. In particular, I envisioned how the composition of this painting could work with sushi.

Below is my final piece.

This is only about 3.5" by 3.5" but I really laid on the paint, didn't I? It was kind of like icing a cake. And finally, here is a photo of the Theibaud inspirations I had on hand as I worked.
Here is a redo of my photograph which had some glare spots on it. The color of this image is probably closer to my original and more Thiebaudlike. I find getting a good image of your painting is one of the biggest challenges in art. Any suggestions from others are welcome.
Ok-now I am obsessing. I think this photo looks too blown out now. My painting is really somewhere in between the one above and this one. Maybe I need a new camera. The one I have is a Canon but several years old and only 4 mega pixels. Anyone use a camera to take photos of their art that they really like ?

Different Strokes challenge

The artist Karin Jurick hosts a blog called Different Strokes From Different Folks and every two weeks she posts a photo inviting artists to do their own interpretation of the image. She then posts all of the entries on her blog. Fun idea, huh? If you click on the link to her blog, you can see the entries for all of her past challenges in the side column under View The Collections Together. She has gotten up to a hundred entries and I think its' really interesting to see the different styles and interpretations.

I decided to give it a try this weekend. Ok- so here is the photo she has posted for the current challenge.
I was excited about the palette knife possibilities of all of the different textures here. Isn't it interesting how even though they are just mannequins heads, they each still have a distinct personality defined by the wig they are wearing?

Here are a few stages of my painting. The third one is the final piece I sent to Karin.




Here is a close up .

I thought this was an interesting angled view where you can see size and the texture of the painting.

I changed the hairstyle on one of the mannequins in the photo. Did you spot it right away?

Update: This painting is now SOLD.