Thursday, June 4, 2009

"Man of Passion" (face #37 of a series of 50) sold


6"x6"
Oil on Gessoboard

The subject of this painting is a man named J. Chester Armstrong. He is a sculptor primarily of animals and begins his carving using chainsaws! I got to watch him demonstrate this last Saturday and it was really fascinating. After he gets the basic form carved with the saws, he uses a variety of tools to finish his work creating beautiful, flowing figures of animals. He is incredibly intense and passionate about his art. He is one of those sculptors who really lets the piece of wood he's using "release" the form. The photo I used as a reference had him in mid-sentence, but the feel of that expression really captured his personality for me. I am still counting those faces that I set out to do last fall! This is number 37 of 50. Once I was able to paint again, I let them go . . .but still want to finish out the 50!

Another artist I'd like to bring attention to is Dana Cooper. She found my blog the other day, then I found hers' and I am glad I did! Please visit her blog!

3 comments:

Leslie Saeta said...

Wow - great painitng and what an amazing expression. Of course you could never guess what he was doing when you snapped his photo for this painting!

Sheila Vaughan said...

I love the fluidity of this piece Vicki and also as you said below the limited palette really pays off in terms of colour harmony. I think this is a fantastic painting.

jennifer woodburn said...

Amazing portrait!