Everyday Paintings: An Oil Painting Project by David R. Darrow

Diving Rock - Thomaston, GA

2011-10-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow
10" x 8" (25.4cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
This painting is not framed

AVAILABLE
Unframed
$195 + $8.95 S/H
Click image for larger view.

About This Painting

In Thomaston Georgia, there is a wide, calm, clear river called the Flint River.
The day I was there, the water was easily 85°f and the daytime temperature was about the same. The air had only slightly less water in it than the Flint River, but it still looked inviting — so I took a dip.
From my vantage point, I could see kids, young and old, jumping off this rocksticking about 8 feet out of the warm water, with precarious access from the backside. If I was still a kid, I would have been all over it, non-stop.
They eventually got dragged home by their weary parents, but I stuck around to enjoy the long day and the warming light of the setting sun. It was amazingly quiet, peaceful and beautiful. ◙

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Come Hither

2011-10-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 6" (15.2cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas

SOLD
Collection of Cal Piorkowski
Newton, NJ – USA

About This Painting

This lovely 1965 Chevy Impala parked in my neighborhood for just a time, her eyelids seductively begging me to paint her.
This car was a beauty. Classic lines, heavy metal, even "spats" over the rear wheels. The two sets of three, horizontally-aligned tail light lenses affixed as if to pause with a poetic 'dot dot dot' demanding my full attention.
It's more than just a car.
It's a Classic! ◙

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Be A Pepper

2011-09-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow
8" x 6" (20.3cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Belgian Linen Panel

SOLD
Collection of Derek Beasley
Lancaster, CA – USA

About This Painting

Another pepper from my garden.
I watched this little fellow grow and plump up and turn a brilliant emerald green (if you don't know, they turn red soon after). I felt that the young plant was too weak to hold this 6" pepper – it seemed all the watering and nutrients were going toward sustaining the pepper, so I pruned it off.
Now the plant is three times the size is was, has new flower buds which will bear fruit, and will be doing its pepper thing again, soon.
It's so fascinating to see them take shape, change color, and reshape. Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too?
Maybe you'd have to have grown up in the 70s to understand this one. ◙

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Captured

2011-09-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 8" (15.2cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD
Collection of Robert Marchese
Rochester, NY – USA

About This Painting

This 6" x 8" painting "Captured" is the newest by San Jose, CA artist David R. Darrow. ◙

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San Felipe Lake, Gilroy, CA

2011-08-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 6" (15.2cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
This painting is not framed

Click here to bid on eBay
Opening Bid: 1¢
Ends: Friday, September 2, 2011) at 6:00 PM (Pacific Time)

About This Painting
San Felipe Lake sneaks up on you. You turn a corner and Boo! there it is. It's just a bit southeast of Gilroy proper along Pacheco Pass Rd.
Somewhat humorously, nearby this Gilroy lake is the town of Aromas — I wonder what connection there is to its next-door neighbor Gilroy being the garlic capitol of the world.
As I rounded the corner, heading south on CA SR-152 one day recently looking for scenes to paint, this came into view, and it was all I could do to pull over on the one, small turn-off and not spill my morning coffee.
This is painted more abstractly than I usually paint since I wanted to capture the airbushy blends in 'chunks of color' instead. ◙

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Draped in Satin - Acrylic Figure

2011-08-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

As a beginning illustrator and very "wet behind the ears" in 1980 when I set out at 22 to make a living right out of art school, all I knew was "fast media" — I had only used oils in a few figure painting classes, and didn't know the medium well. None of the instructors I had really talked much about the inherent properties of oil, drying time, block-ins, washes, etc., so Oils were a mystery to me until 2000, 20 years later, when I decided to learn them "for reals."

Old Acrylics

Click the picture for a larger view

Acrylics dry fast, so that's what I used when doing all my time-sensitive commercial work. I did a lot of airbrush work back then, so It was an obvious choice. Still, the darks in acrylic dry a step or 2 lighter, and the lights dry a bit darker by the time the water has "flashed off" — so it was always a wait-and-see game, for me.

I decided to try a small figure painting in acrylic, using washes, glazes and scumbling to achieve an atmospheric effect. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane. For starters, some of the still-good tubes of acrylic I have are older than many of the people on my mailing list. In the picture of some tubes of mine, you can see that I dated them, sometimes, so I would know when I bought them — never thinking I would actually have them nearly 30 years later. The tube in the middle, dated 9/85 is a sure tell. But if you're a Pasadena local, you know that the tube to the left (Modular Color) was from an old product line that was hue and value-based, sold in metal tubes, and in this case, from "Standard Brands" paint store on Orange Grove in Pasadena — that store long ago having changed hands. (The $1.03 price tag is certainly nostalgic!) That store tag means I bought it during my school years, 1977–1980. Yikes-squared!

And it still flows.

I put the near-full "Portrait Pink" tube in the picture to show how useless therefore largely-unused it is.

But I digress...

Stage 1 – The drawing in pencil and then brownish acrylic

I started with a canvas glued to 1/8" luan mahogany plywood. You can't see it here, but the canvas has been highly textured with modeling paste, knifed– and bushed–on, coated in gesso, and sanded.

Stage 2 – A quick, warm/neutral wash of acrylic:

Raw Umber, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna, greatly thinned with water

Stage 3 (2.5, really) — I pat it and wipe it down quickly before it dries to get rid of

the drips and brush marks.

Stage 4 – I start re-working the darks before I completely lose my drawing,

then do another 2 or 3 washes over it.

Stage 5 — I alternate between warm and cool washes of color.

Here, a Payne's Gray wash has been added mostly at the top. By the way, Payne's Gray is merely a premixed Ultramarine Blue and Ivory Black — it says so right on the label.

Stage 6 — A Yellow Ocher wash has been added, plus some reworking

of the lost highlights using Titanium White Gesso and water.

Burnt Sienna is used in the shadows to keep them from going too dark, for now.

Stage 7 — Creating atmosphere with more thin washes.

Yellow Ocher and Burnt Sienna both have a slight opacity to them — they are not true transparent colors, like Ultramarine is. Therefore, they tend to lighten. This begins to create a "foggy," more unified look to the lights and darks. This also ties the cool highlights back to the color scheme.

Stage 8 — I wash in some local color and re-enforce the highlights.

I want a warm-to-cool graduated background, and I want something light behind the head to bring out the profile, so I start working the cool light on the wall. I also add the red of the drape on the chair, while reinforcing the satin white.

Close-up — A bit blurry, sorry!

Stage 9 — Oil Wash or Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue and Raw Umber, Turp and Linseed Oil

What???

You may object to oil paint being used in an acrylic painting since one cannot paint with both. This is mostly true. The astute among you will know that you cannot paint acrylic over oil — ever. But the reverse is not true. You can paint oil over (dried) acrylic. This is completely archival.

The really super-astute among you will realize that this last stage — where I am leaving off for now — is where I became frustrated with the way the acrylic painting was going, seeing the seemingly endless work ahead to get what I wanted, therefore I "changed horses in the middle of this stream."

Goodbye acrylic, for now. This painting has plenty of potential, and it's only going to be realized if I enjoy painting it, so... I did what I had to do. For now, I like oils better, and I believe I can finish this faster/sooner and with greater artistic freedom in oils.

Paint Smarter™

—Dave

Step-by-Step Description of "Curl"

2011-08-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

This painting started out on a panel primed with gesso, then sanded, then painted with a medium gray, latex, flat wall-paint I got from Home Depot.

My first step, above, was to tone the panel with a bit of burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, thinned well with mineral spirits. Next step was to sketch in the proportions of the head. Working on an 8 x 10 panel, I make things a lot easier on myself by cropping my digital photo exactly as I wanted it cropped at exactly 8 x 10 proportions. This allows me to do the sketch paying attention to the shaped of the head as well as the shapes of the negative space around the head. This is painted from the image on the monitor.

Admittedly, I got a little lost right away. I started jumping around trying to "get something right" instead of focusing on connecting values and shapes. Jumping around is always my downfall. Part of the problem is that I do not realize I am doing the jumping around.

And no one was around to stop me.

Eventually, I come to my senses and do the only thing I can do to make the painting better: remove the offending parts. My general proportions were mostly right as far as placing the head on the panel, but I went awry somewhere near the mouth.

As soon as I wiped off the mouth, The Voices stopped.

Just kidding. Now they only sounded muffled.

I got the bigger shapes dropped back in; a smaller mouth, the orange of the background, the cool of the flesh in light.

Back on track, I worked on balancing the shadow values more with the light values, trying to separate the warm shadows from the cool north light on the brighter side. I also blockiin the hand, which I see as an element of the painting that is necessary for the femininity in the pose, but not important enough that I want to draw attention to it. I intend to keep it impressionistic.

Curl – 8" x 10" oil on panel, by David R. Darrow

The completed painting is a result of refocusing and starting at the top of the forehead and working my way down checking the drawing, comparing shapes, values and hues, adjusting edges and temperatures.

I try not to get discouraged when a painting goes off a bit. I don't like that I have to spend extra time on it, but it does feel good to whip it back into shape.

Curl

2011-08-26T15:27:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow
8" x 10" (20.3cm x 25.4cm)
Oil on Panel

SOLD
Collection of Suzie Gregory
Columbus, IN – USA

About This Painting
One of my Beautiful Strangers™ encounters led to this painting.
Beautiful Strangers are 'portraits of friends I have never met.'
I met Blythe in the market. She may have generated the slowest double-take on record. She was in line at the quick check-out at the grocery store, and I was on my way to the produce section and had to cut in front of her just to get by.
I smiled as I inched my cart into the space in front of her so she wouldn't think I was just busting through. She smiled at me and back up to let me through. And the light caught her just so.
I saw a painting in my mind as I passed by her.
All the way to the bagged Baby Spinach and organic carrots, I tried to talk myself out of asking her to be in a painting of mine. Finally, I just asked myself, "Who are you kidding? How are you going to paint a face like that if you don't ask her?"
So I did. And she agreed.
She was a natural. Every which way she turned her head she looked like another painting. She brushed her hair through her fingers and I said "Hold that... ...Okay... ...let go of your hair." A single strand of her hair dropped and curled around into the light. ◙

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Sonoma Roadside

2011-08-23T18:41:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow
8" x 10" (20.3cm x 25.4cm)
Oil on Panel

SOLD
Collection of George Reis
San Diego, CA – USA

About This Painting
Something happens to me when I drive through the lush, green fields of wine country. On a recent drive through Sonoma, I was taken by this scene at a glance as I drove by, so I went back to see it again — it ended up becoming a painting.
It had been a beautiful day, perfect weather, the slightest breeze. Driving with the windows down, smelling the rich earth mixed with a hint of salt air filtering in from the not-so-distant Pacific Ocean.
And now as the sun began its descent, the colors started to concentrate. The leaves, ever-so-slightly backlit, glowed a deep yellow green against the blue mountains.
I must go back.
Highway 12. Sonoma, CA. Wine Country. ◙

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Hot Pants

2011-08-21T20:12:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow
8" x 6" (20.3cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Stretched, Washed Denim

SOLD
Collection of David Hansen
Milwaukee, WI – USA

About This Painting
Not just a couple of peppers. These are peppers from my own vegetable garden in San Jose, CA. And not just a still life on ordinary canvas – this painting is done on my old blue jeans... unstitched, washed and archivally stretched and glued onto a birch plywood panel, then gessoed with archival-quality, clear gesso.
Peppers on pants: Hot pants! ◙

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A Stroll in Lucca Italy

2011-08-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.8cm)
Oil on Panel

SOLD
Collection of Leta Terrell
Lake Providence, LA – USA

About This Painting
I sometimes live vicariously through the lives of strangers, which is why I have on my Beautiful Strangers™ business card "Oil portraits of friends I have never met."
Getting to know the people who model for me is always a step into a new world.
And so it goes with clients who hire me to paint for them, as was the case with one client, recently, who wanted to gift his wife with a painting to remind her of the wonderful time they had together in a trip to Italy. I got to see his collection of snapshots and hear him talk about what memories he had of these various locations, the beauty, the moments that touched them both.
One in particular was a stroll around the section of Lucca (I believe he referred to it as Lucca Park). This walkway at the south-east of the walled city was strewn with Fall leaves and dappled sunlight, walled out on the right, and protected by a small berm on the left, seemingly endless in its forward distance.
I did this color sketch before the final, much larger painting to present to my client. He was pleased, and gave me the go-ahead for the final. ◙

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Creek at Broad St. – Looking East, San Luis Obispo

2011-08-18T18:31:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 8" (15.2cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD
Collection of Jan Krynski
Chicago, IL – USA

About This Painting
A while back I started a couple of paintings en plein air down by the creek near Broad Street in San Luis Obispo, CA. It's downtown, north of Higuera.
I finished one of them months ago. It was the view looking west. My own mother bought that one. She said she "had to have it" since it was a place my late father and she would stop for lunch when traveling south. They moved to the South San Francisco Bay during my second semester in Art School, and though Interstate 5 running through central California is 1.25 hours faster, they always took the slower SR-101 to Southern California since it is the more beautiful route. About 3.5 hours into it, it's great to stop in beautiful San Luis Obispo for a respite.
Now I myself am in San Jose, and when I head south to visit my kids, I take the 101 through SLO, too, and I make it a habit to stop off at this creek.
This is the second painting I started down in that creek area. This is the view looking east, and is equally beautiful. ◙

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Nude with White Satin Scarf

2011-08-17T20:03:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 8" (15.2cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Washed Denim on Panel

SOLD
Collection of George Reis
San Diego, CA – USA

About This Painting
◙

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Thomas James

2011-08-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.8cm)
Acrylic on Panel

SOLD
Collection of James Thomas
Santa Clara, CA – USA

About This Painting
Several months ago I gave a Head Painting Demonstration for a local artists group, and chose this fascinating looking gentleman from the audience to be my model (I added some of the scraggly appearance by use of artistic license — the model is actually a very nicely-groomed fellow).
He did an excellent job, like a pro.
I took 2 snapshots of the pose, thinking I might get back to the oil painting someday (still haven't).
And then last night I decided to drying slinging some acrylic paint around. I haven't painted in acrylic in 3 years or so, and I wanted to try out a build-up method of scumbling and glazing.
In the end I had a decent little painting. I made up the bandanna and blue shirt to give him a cowboy look, and reversed his real name (James Thomas) because I thought Thomas James sounded more Western... probably because of Jesse. ◙

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Pitfalls of Art Contests and Donation Requests

2011-05-09T08:41:00.000-07:00

Pop Art Trompe (Beer Can) - 18" x 24" Oil on Canvas
Ken Davies

I have for over 3 decades been enamored of the work of artist Ken Davies since acquiring his book Artist At Work. This book was a godsend when I bought it at H.G. Daniels in downtown Los Angeles, CA, during my art school days at age 21. I was trying to hone my skills at realism, and was meeting all sorts of opposition from faculty at Art Center College of Design — from, in particular, the chairman of the Illustration Department, Phil Hayes, who was a proponent of New York-style conceptual, editorial art, which at the time was taking a 'lunge toward grunge' and non-objectivity. Davies' work represented to me the pinnacle of the kind of realism that moved my soul at that time in my life. 15 years later I added his first book Painting Sharp-Focus Realism to my collection (the painter and my cousin, the late Raymond Page owned the book in his personal library and gave it to me some time before his passing).

One of my favorite stories, which to me typifies the lure of artist contests and the calls for fundraiser donations, is the following, as told by Ken Davies in his 1976 book Artist At Work, and is the description that accompanies the painting above which, I should add, is highly atypical of his work.

For over twenty years, I've been a member of the Silvermine Guild of Artists. Back in the late ’50s, I submitted a painting to their big, annual exhibition and it promptly got rejected. I think it was the first time a painting of mine had ever been rejected, so I was particularly anxious to go to the opening and see what the "good" paintings looked like. One accepted piece consisted of several crushed, rusty tin cans attached to a piece of wood. In those days, that was not a typical work of art, and so I was properly shocked. I was also annoyed at my rejection.
Several weeks later, when The Guild asked its membership to donate a painting for a fund-raising art auction, my annoyance returned and I thought I would be clever and sarcastic with my donation. I decided to paint the worst non-objective painting I could think of and then to paint a very realistic crushed beer can, complete with shadow as though it were attached to the canvas. When the painting was finished, I was rather pleased with myself. I could hardly wait to submit my masterpiece and get my revenge. I delivered it with an evil glint in my eye, then went home to await their shocked reaction. When the day of the art auction arrived and the results were announced, I was completely appalled. Not only had my horrible painting been sold, but it had brought an outrageous amount of money!
I never did find out who bought it and have not seen it since. But I'd love to know where my "backfired revenge" painting is today."

I wonder if Ken Davies ever found out who bought this painting. The book this is from was written in 1978.

Update!

I got a nice note from Ken Davies telling me he still (as of the publish date of this blog entry) does not know what became of the painting. The story was such a popular one that it has been re-published in his new book Ken Davies: American Realist which can be purchased from his website.

The Least Expensive Way to Mail An Original Painting

2011-03-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks I have been on task with some graphic design work, working on a CD package and some website stuff. It was all fun work, so I actually did not mind that I was not painting much. I've needed a break from painting, anyway, "so I could miss it again..." — time to look through painters' work on Facebook albums and blogs — time to get inspired.

A few inspiring blogs for you to check out later:

The Broadview Blog - An interesting approach to understanding plein air painting. Concept Artist Robh Ruppel — also a student of the late Fred Fixler — demonstrates with digital media (Wacom tablet and stylus, plus Photoshop or other digital painting app.) how he constructs digital paintings that are every bit as amazing as those done in traditional media (which Ruppel also handles expertly)
Land Sketch and Nathan Fowkes Art — Two blogs by artist Nathan Fowkes who does extremely simple, little color and value studies to truly capture the essence of what he is looking it. Often using a combination of gouache (pronounced 'gwash') and watercolor in his little sketchbooks, these are gems, all. Take a look at his painting kit, shown at the top of Land Sketch. Gouache is the fancy name for high-quality opaque watercolor, sometimes called tempera.

Cheapest Mailing Available

I found a cheap way to mail paintings. The safety and condition is not guaranteed, but the reduction of postage costs is.

Today, I am mailing to an artist friend of mine, using no packaging, a sketch that I started on a painting panel but know I won't get back to. That's right, I just wrote on the back like a postcard, addressed it, weighed it and put proper first-class postage on it. (I'm not completely stupid: I did wait for it to dry and then I varnished it). ;-)

I have no idea what it will look like when it gets there, but it seemed like a funny idea to me. Much better than tossing it in the trash or a fire. Someone will be surprised. And maybe a few postal workers will get a good eye-roll out of it.

Update: The recipient, my artist friend Annie Salness, called to let me know that it arrived in great shape, "not a scratch on it."

The Broadcast

Not sure when I will be back on (my broadcast Dave the Painting Guy), but I wanted to be in touch. I'll let you know by mass mail when I am back to broadcasting. Should be soon.

I may get on very soon and work more on another demo I started, at right. I painted a fellow named James who came to watch my demo for the Santa Clara Art Association on Wednesday March 2, 2011.

I only had about 1 hour to 1-hour-15-minutes to do an oil portrait (a little too lean on time for my taste), so I did not get terribly far. But as always, I had a great time.
—Dave

How Do I Start a Painting?

2010-12-09T11:36:00.000-08:00

Often, one of the most difficult things about creating a painting is simply getting started.

Disclaimer, for art purists: There is absolutely no substitute for improving your drawing skills by participating in critical life drawing workshops. (By 'critical' I mean managed by an instructor who is willing to tell you your drawing is off and how to fix it). You can usually find one in your area. Drawing from the figure or head builds your drawing skills by training your mind/eye connection to accurately judge proportions and measurements. No matter how good you get at painting, you will always be making measurements — whether or not you deviate from absolute accuracy will be a matter of skill and/or style or choice.

You may want to start a painting before your skills are top-notch. And that's okay with me. I made a living for the first eight years of my illustration career before I began to learn to draw well from the figure. My painting improved once I learned, but for the bulk of my 17-year illustration career, I used three methods of layout: an optical projector, the grid method, or multiple tracings and transfer.

In the example above, I demonstrated to a private student how to use the grid method. I can go into this in more detail if enough people are interested, but essentially, your source material (photo, magazine image, quick sketch or cartoon, etc...) gets a grid drawn over it with equal divisions (unless you are trying to distort it, use perfect squares). Then, on your painting surface, larger or smaller, place a matching grid. It must match line for line, also with perfect squares, same number of squares. Whether the subsequent squares are larger or smaller does not matter but will make your drawing proportionately larger or smaller. You will use this to assist you in drawing accurately the contents of each square — example the left-most eye starts at the intersection of 4 across & 3 down on both the source and final.

Next, begin laying in the distinct shadow pattern. Treat it as if you have only a black marker and white paper. Get the pattern in. Just get it in. In this example, I am using a warmish mixture of Alizarin, Ultramarine Blue and Raw Umber for my darks.

You will want to paint in lighter values. Don't. Get the shadow pattern in. In areas that are dark, but may actually be lit by the source light, make them dark anyway. You can always lighten them later. Try to connect all shadow areas to others. No islands.

My apologies for the huge reflections in the wet paint. I had set the camera up over my shoulder using window light, before there was paint on the canvas, then just reached over my shoulder to snap new shots, and did not anticipate the reflection.

After you get the shadow pattern finished, fill in the light area with an average mid-value color for the light side. Reserve your highlights for later.

Be careful not to over-model the halftones in the light pattern. Keep your lights and darks separate. Mind your cool highlights if working with north light.

Once the masses are in, then you can play with edges. Edges are to a painting what spice is to food; what music is to romance. Edges help the viewer see what you see, and guide them to what's most important, what to spend less time looking at (the edge of the hair/background), what to know about the structure (cartilage under skin vs. soft cheeks vs. hair).

Annie in Yellow Sweater • 8" x 10" • Oil on Canvas Panel

by David R. Darrow

Collection of Larry and Kay Crain

Paint Smarter™

—Dave

Of Macs and Men

2010-12-06T22:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, I need to address something... many of the viewers and my Facebook friends know that I am a Mac guy and have sworn by them for years.

Since I announced my computer issues and subsequent decision to buy a new one and the need to raise funds through my limited time Warm-Shadows Wednesday Workshop Sale and donations, I have received several e-mails asking me about my current level of devotion to Macs, given the number of problems I am having of late.

First of all, let me state that I have owned both Macs and PCs and do not engage in Mac vs PC slug-fests. I am simply thrilled to be living at a time such as this in which we can do the things we do with computers. In one of my online workshops last year I had attendees participating live from Oregon USA all the way to Belgium! That's amazing!

Still I prefer — and recommend without hesitation — Macs.

Mac Has Not Failed Me

I need to explain that my computer problems have nothing to do with Apple or Macintosh. Yes, I thought it was a failing motherboard, but what I now believe to be the case is that it is a damaged segment of the computer perhaps related to the motherboard.

See, when I was moving to San Jose on April 1, 2010, I put all my stuff in the back of the truck and put my tower-style Mac G5 in the front with me. It was sitting on the floor where a passenger's feet might go. My assumption was that the ride would be smoother in the section where humans ride.

I could not have been more wrong.

There is no way to over-exaggerate the severe, up-and-down shaking I experienced at several [extended] points. It was like u-Haul was trying to shake loose change out of my head. The truck cab found a rhythm that grew and grew until it was absolutely unmanageable, not unlike when the washing machine gets out of balance and bounces itself upstairs splashing all its contents out.

It was violent.

My glasses flew across the cab, my coffee cup self-emptied, and my gall bladder removed itself. It was violent.

In the blurred hell that was my vision, I could see through the corner of my eye my Macintosh G5 being shaken up and down in a manner that would have resulted in a person being arrested if it had been another human being.

When I arrived at my destination, unpacked and began weeding through my belongings, I set up my Mac. To my astonishment, it restarted. But a week later the start-up hard drive failed... just would not turn on one day. Long story short, Seagate (drive manufacturer) fixed it and I got everything back, but still, not everything was right after that. Several replacement drives later, and with the camera problems happening only with my computer and not another, given the timing of the onset of problems I never had before, I conclude that the problems are from damage.

My Goal

My goal is to get a laptop powerful enough for the broadcasting tasks plus the extra stuff I use, iTunes, Photoshop, etc, during the broadcast. I'd like to be able to broadcast remotely sometimes... taking the show with me to other locations, where, if I find wifi available, I can do a show there... like sketching people at a coffee shop or painting a beautiful view near enough to someone's wifi... I dunno. Could open possibilities.

So Far

Several people have taken advantage of the lowered prices on the workshops and several others have donated, too. I am grateful for your involvement in the broadcast. I'll keep you posted. :-) With the money I have set aside for a purchase, plus the recent sales, I feel it is getting close...

Thank you,

—Dave

PS: The discounted "Warm-Shadows Wednesday" Workshops sale is being extended a little longer.

Restarting the Broadcast Soon.

2010-12-01T13:07:00.000-08:00

The Dave the Painting Guy show has a huge problem: to be a show, it must broadcast. At the moment, no one is watching me paint except cobs. (They make cobwebs, of course). That is because I am not broadcasting. And that is because I cannot.

It appears my broadcasting problem is related to a damaged motherboard, or possibly the "i/o circuit" (that's computer talk for "i/o circuit"). To see what I am referring to, view this video. (Ignore the word "Start" in the middle. It was a screen capture).

Within my first broadcast in San Jose, April 23 (three weeks after moving here) my main cam started doing that weird glitchie thing. I assumed it was the camera, a cable or something else, but with each broadcast since then, it has become less stable.

I am finally ready to get back to broadcasting at least twice weekly, but I find I cannot broadcast at all. (Bummer) I am going to have to buy a new computer, and I do not have enough cash for it.

So we're on hold until I replace my broadcasting computer so I can once again regularly broadcast the Dave the Painting Guy Paintcast™ — Sorry!

Creek at Broad Street - San Luis Obispo

2010-11-14T11:03:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 6" (15.2cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD
Collection of Doris Darrow
Sunnyvale, CA – USA

About This Painting
A few weeks ago I visited San Luis Obispo, CA for the annual plein air event. I haven't been to SLO for decades, so it was nice to see what's changed and what hasn't.
The Thursday night Farmer's Market on Higuera Street downtown beats any street party I have ever seen. With evening light speckling the streets through the trees while the smoky aroma of meat on grills fills the air, vendors display produce, various wares, creams, ointments, incense, health drinks, jewelry and so on — it's a street-fair on steroids every week!
Just around the corner, Broad Street crosses a beautiful little creek, just a few feet south of the San Luis Obispo Art Center where the plein air festival has its gallery. This creek meanders through town, popping in and out of view, sometimes running under several blocks of downtown's multi-story buildings betraying its centuries-old, natural history of following the path of least resistance.
One morning I parked my easel by the creek between Chorro and Broad, and began this little painting in the warm morning sun as passers by chatted or friends gathered above the creek for morning coffee and conversation at any of several establishments with balconies or patios overlooking this serene view from their manufactured vistas.
◙

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Covered in Light

2010-11-09T17:42:00.000-08:00

by David R. Darrow
3-3/4" x 8" (9.5cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD
Collection of Chris Opp
Bossier City, LA – USA

About This Painting
A quick figure painting on a small, remnant canvas panel, done in a limited palette, using red, yellow, black and white. ◙

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Pouring From A One-Gallon Metal Can

2010-11-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, this might seem like a no-brainer: Remove cap and tip liquid out. Wipe up excess from table.

But there is a better way to pour that is non-intuitive but takes the spill out of the equation, even with gallon cans filled to the top, like my Webber's Turpenoid Natural, here, or the new Gamsol cans (each of which has a new, easy-open, pull-out plastic seal).

My dad taught me this as a kid filling the lawnmower. To get the cleanest pour, get the pour-hole diagonally as far from the target as possible, or "pour across the can" as he put it.

What this does is keep as much of the liquid away from the edge of the pour hole until you are just past the tipping point, allowing the top of the can to tip down and under, out of the way, with the added benefit that the level of the liquid will not as-otherwise-likely reach the top of the pour spout, sealing it off, causing the "glugging" that makes a huge mess.

Try it! It just pours straight down, no glugging.

$78 Life Saver

2010-10-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

Would you pay me $78 if I could restore your entire Mac start-up drive and all its files back to working order in under 4 hours? Would you pay me even more if you knew I was the best way to get all your photos and movies and e-mails back and have your drive in the same condition it was before your drive crashed?

Then why not pay yourself for the same thing in advance?

If you are using Mac Leopard (OS 10.5) or higher, you have Time Machine included with your Mac OS, and you should just use it.

You can get a 500GB hard drive that is powered from the very USB port you plug it into for $78 shipped, and begin using it to back up your system within 5 minutes of receiving it.

It's a little bigger than a pack of cards and needs only the included, manageable USB cable.

Just the other day my start-up drive died. I bought a new one, stuck it in my Mac and formatted it for Mac OS. I then restarted my Mac from the Leopard OS Install disc. Once it started up, I went to the Utilities menu of the start-up screen and chose "Restore Stem from Time Machine Back-up" at the bottom of the menu list.

After pointing to the most recent back up that I felt was safe, and to the new drive I wanted to write to, I clicked "start." In my case, my start-up drive had 700GB to restore, so it took me longer than most folks. But in four hours it was done, and I was back online with all my apps still installed and working.

That is the easiest recovery I have ever done. By far. It used to take days or weeks.

Do it now.

Classic Sanden Book - Painting the Head in Oil

2010-10-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

Some time ago at a garage sale or old book store I stumbled on this 1976 book, Painting the Head in Oil, by John Howard Sanden. If memory serves me, I was not yet an oil painter, but dreamed of one day abandoning the slapdash, hurried, frequent-all-nighter schedule of a commercial illustrator in favor of leisurely painting subjects in my spacious, 2-stories-tall, natural-light, north-facing windowed portrait studio.

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

I was young, full of future, butbusy raising a family... and there wasn't an internet back then, so I really did not know who Sanden was. But one glance through his book told me that he knew what he was talking about. He was a portrait painter.

And he's one of those painters whose brush marks leave proof that he is in full control of his paint at all times. His paintings are never overworked, and always present a good and flattering likeness. He's painted some of the most famous people in the world, including very famous people you've never heard of. (This irony in pictures was the beginning of my understanding that the world is bigger than I could imagine).

Unlike many art books on portraiture that display fine examples of a master's work, with little practical how-to, this one talks about flesh-tone colors, mixing, premixing, mediums, and much more.

If I have one criticism, it is at the same time praise for Sanden who, due to his tremendous skill and eye for proportion, still makes portrait painting look too easy. But that is not the fault of either the author nor the publisher. The publishers are not painters nor even faintly expert in that which they publish. They are about selling books. What do they know about painting to even ask for additional clarity?

And Sanden? He's so good that when it comes to explaining some aspects of his own methods of painting, there are some issues that are so basic and instinctual to him that he probably cannot imagine they need explaining. Such is the caveat of mastery.

Review: New Book about Illustrator Drew Struzan's Work

2010-09-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

2010 Book about Drew Struzan

Updated

There's a new book about a good portion of Drew Struzan's movie poster career. It's released date is September 24, 2010, and at the time of this writing is being sold at about 30% off at Amazon. It's called The Art of Drew Struzan.

Use www.ClickFiller.com to find a low-priced item to bring your total to $25 or more for free shipping where available.

Review

I received my copy early, and dived right in. I had 6 or 7 years experience as an illustrator in the movie poster design field myself, and just looking at the images brought back some fond — and some depressing — memories.

The book is full of movie posters — not all of them, though, to my disappointment — a selection from his career, showing both comps and finishes. Knowing that this was only a selection of a larger body of work, one gets the feeling this guy worked day and night to complete so much excellent work.

The surprise for me was that much of the text purports to be Drew's own words discussing his artwork. Some of the phrasing does not sound like the Drew I have met and feel like I know, though. Nevertheless, it seems to be a telling of a career in an industry that used up, chewed up and spit out one of the last great 'traditional' illustrators of our time. (Traditional in the sense that he created his art with art supplies in combination with his eyes, mind and hands).

"Big Trouble in Little China"
©Drew Struzan

From the foreword by Frank Darabont (Director, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist) to the end of the book, the message is about the glory of the process of creating great art, and a lament that it is ultimately about money for the corporations that dish out movies, committees of people who believe they are actually important, making decisions in areas of visual appeal for which they can never hope to be qualified. Far from being a sour grapes tell-all (names are withheld to protect the tasteless, but a few punches are thrown nonetheless), Struzan speaks of gratitude for what his career afforded him, yet between the lines you read how easily for him came the decision to retire.

That language is raw and unvarnished at times from all contributors to the book, PG-13, as it were. It was, after all, a career in Hollywood.

For the visual artist, painter, or illustrator, the book is a virtual treasure chest of examples of how to design within (and without) a rectangle; how a work flows, how to control the viewer's eyes, and how to successfully tie elements of a montage together. Today's digital 'artists' with Photoshop and a Wacom tablet would do well to study this book for the use of color, transition, design and texture, use of lighting for drama and staging, and the absolute need for compelling imagery Drew's images demonstrate. A few years spent learning in a solid art school that teaches those things wouldn't hurt, either... if one can be found anymore.

There are three illustrators that influenced me more than any one else in my career, besides Norman Rockwell and JC Leyendecker of the past, and I was fortunate to get to be friends with each of them, often competing for work. Steven Chorney, who did nearly every piece of art inside the TV guide for years, Drew Struzan, (he pronounces it "STROO-zn") who was also a friend of Steve's and who was to movie posters what Norman Rockwell and Leyendecker were to magazine covers and advertising art, and Morgan Weistling, a 19-year-old kid who at the time had a growing reputation along the lines of "he's even better than Drew Struzan!" As much as I admire my friend Morgan's work, and am grateful for his substantial influence on my understanding of painting, Drew is a legend, too! From the first piece of his I ever saw and liked immediately— an Alice Cooper album cover from my high school graduation year, 1975 — to, well, everything he's done. I would learn later that Drew was 28 years old when he did that piece of art.

Alice Cooper Album Cover - Struzan

The album cover for Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare —not my cup of tea, but I ran into the album at a friend's house — was something I recognized as a beautiful design and decorative figure reminiscent of JC Leyendecker's paintings, whose work along with Norman Rockwell's I was just getting acquainted with at the time.

In 1987, I was attending a "Portfolio Review" sponsored by the Society of Illustrators. Drew was to be one of the reviewers, and I had wanted to meet him for about 10 years. I'd heard stories about what a remarkable student he was when he attended Art Center, years before I did.

Since I had been making a living as an artist for the previous 7 years at that time, I did not present my portfolio for review, since it was more for students or beginning illustrators. The evening was winding down and Drew's review station was empty so I went and introduced myself. After awkwardly telling him what a pleasure it was to meet him, and "I'm your biggest fan" and all that, he said "Well, show me what you've got..." gesturing to my portfolio that I had in my hand.

"Oh, no... I wasn't here for reviews, I just... uh... I don't really want you to see my..."

"Come on. We're in the same business. let's see it," he insisted with a smile.

I won't bore you with the details, but he was very complimentary — and then said, "Your work lacks love."

"Love?"

"Yes. It doesn't look like you love doing this for a living."

"Well, really, I don't. It's tedious, hard work, and I do too many all-nighters. I have a growing family to feed and I am always tired."

He asked me how much I made in my best year, and so I told him that this was my best year so far, and I was on track to make xx dollars." His eyes widened, and I thought he was going to scold me for complaining when I was making plenty in a tough field. Instead he said, "I make that much in a month. No wonder you don't like your work."

JFK by Darrow

He asked me to show him just one piece I loved, and so I showed him my illustration of John F. Kennedy, right, that I had done for the 1983 20th anniversary of the assassination, to be used for a local San Diego TV-guide-like magazine called Tuned-in.

That was a bit embarrassing, since it was a direct knock off of the style of another favorite of mine, Richard Amsel, who'd done a slew of TV Guide covers, many of which I had collected and hung on my wall in my studio.

John Travolta by Amsel

In fact, Richard had done the first Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom poster, the series of which Drew Struzan dominated after Richard's death in Nov. 1985 from a relatively new disease at the time, AIDS. Amsel's final work was a cover for TV Guide with portraits of Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw. Amsel died three weeks after its completion.

Drew asked me why I loved that one. I just shrugged and told him that it was because I got it done quickly. It only took a few hours. (I never told him I only got $100 for it). He said, quite matter-of-factly, "Well, that's no small thing. Maybe you're not cut out for all the detailed and tedious work. I could never do what you do [referring to the rest of my portfolio's tedious stuff]."

It had never dawned on me to choose to do work that fit my personality. I had thought it was a virtue to be thankful for work at all, and just do it.

Without missing a beat, Drew invited me to his home and studio in Lake Arrowhead, and for that day, about 3 weeks later, Drew took me under his wing, showing me dozens of originals and even a slide show he'd put together for public meetings showing his methods, start to finish. I was in Illustrator Heaven.

David R. Darrow & Drew Struzan 2009

Drew's generosity and directness breathed hope into a 30-year-old illustrator that year. I will forever be grateful.

22 years later, I ran into Drew and his wife Dylan at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, and was delighted that he remembered my name. He had a few very nice pieces in the gallery show, including a figurative sculpture and several oil paintings.

It was great to see him and if you'll excuse me, I must go buy his new book, The Art of Drew Struzan.

Studying Leyendecker

2010-09-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

Lately, as I contemplate which direction I want to go next with my oil painting, I have been studying the elegance and simplicity of line and form in the work of turn-of-the-century illustrator J.C. Leyendecker [Amazon book link].

Of particular interest to me was his use of color sketches on canvas, his unique "grid-method" transfers, and exaggeration of the effects of light and shadow, in particular 'form shadows' or 'core shadows.' He always maintained a balance of cool and warm to help separate lights, too.

In one instance I found, left, he apparently painted the sketch the way he wanted it, then drew grid-lines through the still-wet oil paint to transfer the image to a another, perhaps larger canvas.

Sadly, Joe Leyendecker was very secretive about his work, taking with him to his grave his "secret medium" that allowed him to "draw fluidly with paint." Still, a student of his images could learn a lot about composition, conservation of line, beauty of shape, simplified volumes and idealization of face and figure.

This is the newest book of many about his work, and is filled with excellent pictures. It comes highly recommended — by me — for its beautiful pictures and examples, but probably not the quality of the text. Besides the authors' elevating Leyendecker by unnecessarily bashing my other early 20th century hero Norman Rockwell, stating opinion as fact, they assert that Rockwell definitely copied Leyendecker. How do they know something that I highly doubt? I have been studying both illustrators for nearly 40 years.
Plus I found the text to be highly speculative and overly concerned [to the point of the unmistakable stench of misplaced agenda] with the sexual preferences of this master Illustrator. — David R. Darrow

Fredrix Illustration Goof-up

2010-06-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

As someone who has been stretching his own canvases for 30+ years, I was surprised to find a different method illustrated on the back of the blister packaging for my new pair of Fredrix Canvas Pliers. In fact, at a glance as I was tossing it in the trash, the image registered as wrong to me.

Can you tell what the problem is?

Well, I went to www.fredrixartistcanvas.com as they directed me to, which redirected me automatically to its 'new' home www.taramaterials.com, not technically a goof, since companies are bought and sold and domains change all the time.

Tara Materials has been the sole owner of Fredrix Artist Canvas since 1968, when Arthur Freidrich sold the NY based canvas manufacturer to a couple of guys from Atlanta.

I recently purchased my second pair of canvas pliers in 33 years because the first ones broke. Can you believe something I bought in college would only last 33 years or so? But way back in college, I learned that to properly stretch a canvas you tack stretched canvas starting in the middle of each bar and work the opposite side for the next tack.

The Fredrix canvas "mounting" instructions, while not very clear, are in agreement with what I was taught about working from the center out and across.

But look at the staples in the illustration.

Fail.

Yes, I am picking on Fredrix for their packaging, but it is all tongue-in-cheek — I am confident in most any of their products, and as with any manufacturer, they produce varying qualities of some products to suit certain needs.
I am confident that the average artist who only stretches a few dozen canvases a year will do just fine with a set of generic canvas pliers, just as well as another brand for $15 more or, if you want to have exactly what I am using (and they do have some nice additional features, like a wider grip and a grip-handle stop at the far end to, presumably prevent breakage) you might want to go ahead and pony up the extra few bucks to get the Fredrix canvas pliers.

Remembering Dad

2010-06-27T11:42:00.001-07:00

My father died 5 years ago today, a little after 10am. I knew then that life will never be the same, and I have been right.

But that's not a bad thing. And it's not an entirely good thing either.

Life goes on. The pain of his death, for me, is gone. I have accepted it. Nevertheless, there is a feeling of missing that is neither painful nor comfortable, but something in between... a resolution that this is just the way life goes... chipping away at us day by day. Giving and taking.

I like the mountain tops much more than the valleys. But I have to admit I learn so much more in the valleys.

Father's Day 2010 - A video tribute to my Father

2010-06-20T19:25:00.001-07:00

The last time I saw my father was around Father's Day 2005. He and I watched my tribute to him together.

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I'll Get the Wine

2010-06-17T17:22:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 6" (15.2cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Panel
Framed and Ready to Hang

AVAILABLE
Framed
$125 + $9.99 S/H

Click here to buy with Paypal

About This Painting
On a recent trip to Santa Fe, NM, I stopped by one gallery a little ways off the well-known gallery row. Traffic must have been slow for this gallery, for they were closed that day.
The gallery has an inviting courtyard, with a patio and overgrown wildflowers everywhere. Seeing these two Adirondack chairs beckoning two lovers to sit and rest, the phrase "I'll get the wine..." came to mind. ◙

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He Bangs!

2010-06-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Poor George. My brain gasped when I opened his e-mail and saw this picture. George is my 167-year-old artist friend from San Diego with whom, not long ago, I chatted and drank wine when I visited him at his home and studio. I wrote about it here.

It seems George is spatially-and-vertically-challenged at times, and he blames his trifocals for blurring his feet sometimes. (It's true. When he wears trifocals, no one can actually see his feet. Amazing).

George's e-mail, titled Don't worry, it's just my head... said:

Hear I am trying to have woman friends, had regular Monday cuppa with Ann Marie, took my Liberty Station walk, visited the building I saved from a serial arsonist in the 1960's — and missed three very low steps, thinking it was level to the door because of my trifocals which fuzz out my feet.

And the arsonist got his revenge — Over 20 sutures over my right eyebrow, a beauty of a black eye, and a compression skull cap.

George was able to use his cellphone to call his son, who came and picked him up and drove hi to his private physician for clean-up and repair, thus avoiding the huge bill that would have been slapped on him had he called 911. (Not to mention, when you call 911 on a cell phone, you reach Highway Patrol by default, which wouldn't have been of much use, either.)

I got updated with this newer photo today. Nothing against your otherwise good looks, George, but the location of your new scar is strangely reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster.

Chicks dig scars.

Update

George sent me a self-portrait he did today (Father's Day 2010). He decided to stay home from church today since he thought he would only frighten people. He's right. Of course in the some churches, he could have had people slapping him in the forehead commanding him to "Be Healed!" That doesn;t sound so friendly, does it.

I think it was a good idea to stay away from churches today.

George, promise me you'll ask your doctor when you go back — with a straight face — "Doc, am I gonna have a scar there for the rest of my life?"

I want to know what he/she says.

Diversive De-cobwebbing

2010-06-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

As a means to avoid making big problems on my commissioned painting that I still have yet to start, I create a diversion for myself, convincing myself it will get the cobwebs out of my head.

I am so distracted these days. The 92°f stifling heat in San Jose, the absolute silence of my home, the pressure of a deadline, the major changes in my life... all contribute to my anxiety, but I feel better at least painting something, even if it's not my real job.

Last night I painted this 16 x 20 for a bit more than an hour while watching a movie. Stage 1 (click the picture) was about as far as I got.

Stage 2 was today's work. I set the timer for 30 minutes just to get warmed up, but wasted about 20 on other things... putting out paint, etc. When the timer went off, I reset it and painted another 30 minutes, so about 40 minutes altogether.

Warming Up

2010-06-13T05:50:00.000-07:00

Summer is about here, and San Jose is hot. Last evening, I could hardly wait for the sun to simply go away so it would stop heating everything up. Bonus: I now understand better the meaning of 'stifling.'

I have a commission on the easel that I am approaching gingerly. By that I mean I am avoiding it by any logical means possible. After stretching a canvas of Belgian linen and preparing to start, I noticed that there were slight ripples on the long edge of what should have been a taut canvas. I knew that the only remedy was to remove all the staples and start again. But I waited 2 hours to start removing staples.

It was Saturday, and I needed to ship the painting Wednesday.

In a moment of superhuman strength I snapped off one of the gripper heads of my canvas pliers — the pair I have had since art school over 30 years ago.

The cast metal just broke.

It was 4pm on a Saturday, and I had just removed the last staple from a fairly taut canvas, was now reattaching the canvas and tightening it up for my second staple when "Snap!" — now I had no way of reattaching the canvas.

Fortunately, a local art supply store had a pair, and I was able to buy a new pliers (is/are pliers singular or plural?) for a mere $32 and rush back home to try them out.

I mourned a bit for the loss of my old friend since college. How could it have happened just like that? They served me well for so long with not even a hint of being stressed.

After successfully re-stretching the canvas, I decided I had better practice painting, first... feeling a little rusty, I suppose. I painted a practice painting, and went to bed. Today, I must actually paint my commission.

Adjusting

2010-06-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

Well, about 9 days after my previous post, Teresa, my wife of 7 years and constant companion for 10 years informed me of her strong desire to be free from the marriage and found a place to live by herself.

Three weeks later, on March 31, our rented house was empty and I hit the road in a U-Haul, trucking my belongings to San Jose, CA where I am currently living in my brother's vacant home while I adjust to the sudden move and all the 'stuff' that comes with such events.

Making up beautiful paintings, it turns out, requires a certain peace of mind that I have not enjoyed since this major change, so Everyday Paintings is on temporary hold [hopefully], while I focus on commissioned work and rest.

Bear with me. This has not been easy.

George

2010-03-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

I got to visit my friend George yesterday. George is now officially a collector of my work, owning 2 of my paintings. George sneaked in at the last moment and snagged my painting John Wayne in Acrylic the other day in an eBay auction. George is a painter, too, and he and I became acquainted in 2007 because George had found my work on eBay, looked me up and even sent me a painting of me from a photo on a blog entry about a day I went plein air painting and my painting blew off the easel landing 'jelly side down.'

George is one of the kindest men I have met, and in many ways his gentleness and careful choice of words, easy laughter and substantial vocabulary remind me of my own father who passed away in 2005. I would venture that If it weren't for his knack for story telling, and his myriad stories from his career, you'd probably never guess he spent a good portion of his life as a Special Agent for NCIS (NCISA Who's Who Story: scroll halfway down).

I delivered the painting to him and he smiled, thanked me, shook my hand and set it down on his coffee table. I had to admit to George that I could not imagine why he wanted another painting. Far from being self-effacing with that question, I was referencing George's enormous collection of paintings, the vast majority of which are his own. He long ago ran out of wall-space in his four bedroom home, and both sides of his garage are modified with shelves loaded with paintings, categorized and alphabetized. It's like a library or vinyl album collection, only the collection is all paintings on panels or canvas, sometimes still in frames, but mostly loose.

As we drank a glass of wine together, we talked about art, painting, his career, his fun memories of his duties an a special agent, the art of getting a confession (for much of his career he obtained more confessions from criminals than anyone else around using psychology, relationship-building and a polygraph machine -- much more often than not, the polygraph was unnecessary), and of course we talked about Pearl.

He's done between 200 and 300 paintings of his late wife Pearl among the hundreds if not thousands of paintings he's done. Pearl was the love of his life and he is never at a loss for words describing the beauty and gentleness of the woman who preserved his heart in a career that could have stripped him of it.

"I've never known a more selfless person in my whole life," he sighs.

Sadly, cancer took her life 7 years ago, and George was left with a home full of memories of her and their children together -- and his box of paints. He visits her grave site a couple of times a week, and talks to her, hoping she's around somewhere to hear.

I once heard that a "real" artist is one who will spend days, weeks or months on a creative pursuit and never care if anyone ever sees the work. This is largely true of George. The vast majority of his oil paintings are in deep stacks along the walls in his studio, the garage, on the piano, and so on. He mostly does portraits and figures, and if it were not for a visit to his home, or catching his fancy as a friend to whom he'd like to give an original portrait, you'd never know otherwise that he paints. He's doesn't try to sell them, but for some commissions he talks about. Many people who have been blessed to know him have received a portrait from him as a gift.

Painting is what he loves to do to pass the slow-moving time and remember his friends, and especially his favorite model of all time, Pearl.

Mary

2010-03-02T12:09:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow
14" x 11" (35.6cm x 27.9cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD
Collection of Jose Arce
Jacksonville, IL – USA

About This Painting
Mary was a stranger to me the day I asked her if I could paint her portrait. I was struck by her wonderful multi-braided hair and dark, dark skin.
"Excuse me..." I said, interrupting her thoughts. I was going to ask her if I might possibly use her as a head model for study.
She turned and smiled a beyond-radiant smile. We talked for a bit and I explained what I do and that I'd like to paint her. I also mentioned I was being awarded a First Place at a local gallery's juried show and invited her to the reception.
She showed up with two of her nieces, who were equally beautiful, and whom I eventually painted, too.
All three young women are originally from Kenya, and Mary is aunt to the other two. They are named Dama and Dama – they are each the first daughter in their respective families and, following tradition, are named after their maternal grandmother who is, of course, Dama. ◙

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Presence

2010-03-02T11:59:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow
11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Belgian Linen Panel

SOLD
Collection of Delilah Smith
Oldsmar, FL – USA

About This Painting
"She's a ballet dancer," my wife suddenly pointed out.
My wife – who has been in dance from childhood through most of her adult life – was out with me for breakfast one sunny Sunday morning at the harbor in Oceanside, CA. Erika was walking nearby with her mother.
From a short distance I was caught by something about her face. I haven't been around dance enough to pick up what my wife did, but she told me she just knew it "because of the way she carries herself."
I set down my fork and got up. "Let's go find out if she is. I'd like to paint her anyway." She has a long neck, lean frame, muscular arms and a gentle but focused, pretty face. At that moment, her hair was pulled back tight and put up in a bun.
Erika, 14 at the time, and her mother were delightful people to talk to and verified that Erika was indeed a dancer – a serious dancer, traveling the world with well-known companies. They told us that they were on vacation from their hometown in Florida and, fortunately for me, agreed to come by my studio the next day.
There is something that sets one dancer out from the rest, even though they may have similar training, athletic ability, grace and strength. What set her apart was what my wife saw, and what I wanted to capture.
Presence. ◙

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Feminine Model Study in 5 Values

2010-02-27T20:09:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 6" (15.2cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Panel

SOLD
Collection of Denise Rich
El Cajon, CA – USA

About This Painting
Sometimes an artist wants to see what he or she can accomplish with as few strokes as possible and still communicate to the viewer the essence of what the artist saw.
To do this four fundamentals are needed, Drawing (Proportion), Value (Light to Dark), Edges (Transitions between shapes and hues) and Color (Hue). These have been listed in the order of importance, in my opinion.
Here, I did a study using 5 values of a few hues in rapid fashion to "make notes" of the model's face. Rendering and realism are not important here, just the placement and shape of the values. ◙

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Black Man in Golden Neckshirt

2010-02-27T18:55:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow
11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Panel

SOLD
Collection of Georgann Bourgeois
Baton Rouge, LA – USA

About This Painting
This portrait came about several years after I last saw James, who was a student of mine when I taught at an Institute of Art in California, San Diego.
James was not only one the best students I ever had at this school, but was also a kind, well-mannered, friendly and talented, but had the most magnetic and engaging genetic gifting (good looks) I'd seen in a fellow of his particular ethnicity.
On the last day of class I asked if he might sit for some snapshots for an eventual portrait. This is a studio study from that moment in the past. ◙

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Sarah A

2010-02-27T15:36:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 6" (15.2cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Panel

SOLD
Collection of Dan Medcalf
Indianapolis, IN – USA

About This Painting
This study is of one of the viewers of my internet broadcast (Dave the Painting Guy) who is an enthusiastic artist and my friend, Sarah A.
This started purely as an experiment to paint using our modern technological advances. Sarah, who lives 2500 miles from me, posed for me via a Skype video connection, and this ended up being painted from a screen-capture. I was going to try to paint her live, but was having tech-issues with the connection that day.
Sarah is a lovely young woman, gracious in personality and appearance and was a pleasure to paint. ◙

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John Wayne Head Portrait - Acrylic

2010-02-27T10:34:00.000-08:00

by David R. Darrow
5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.8cm)
Acrylic on Panel
SOLD
Collection of George Reis
San Diego, CA – USA

About This Painting
The Duke. I grew up with this fellow on TV all the time. Our TV was black and white all the years I lived at home, so I never got to see John Wayne in color unless I 'went to the movies' or saw him on a friend's color TV. The last movie I saw him in was his last movie The Shootist.
It's reported that John Wayne's gravestone is engraved with the inscription Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.
I painted this one evening on my internet broadcast as a demo. Someone in the accompanying chatroom asked why I never paint in acrylic... and I responded with this acrylic painting of John Wayne. As an illustrator for 20 years, I painted in acrylic all the time, but 10 years ago I switched to oil. ◙

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The Colors of Black

2010-02-27T10:30:00.000-08:00

by David R. Darrow
8" x 10" (20.3cm x 25.4cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD
Collection of J. Arce
Jacksonville, IL – USA

About This Painting
Ever since I was a child, I thought it was odd that they called some people black and others white, red, yellow or brown – okay, I got the "brown" reference, but it seemed to me, at that young age, that we were all some variation of brown, anyway... dark browns, light browns, pinkish browns, yellowish browns, reddish browns...
As an artist I have always been intrigued by the colors I see in a dark-skinned person's flesh, and enjoy the particular challenge of mixing those colors. Color Theory tells me that, in its most basic elements, color is a combination of the following things: the color of the light landing on an object, the spectrum absorption of the object, and the spectral reflectance of that same object all combined with individual color perception (it's possible others see the same color differently than I do, which theoretically makes it a different color than I see).
Color Theory says that an orange, for example, has properties that reflect the orange range (red and yellows) of the available light spectrum but absorb all the other colors, and therefore our eyes only pick up the "orange light waves" that are reflected at us.
So, from an observational standpoint, and depending on the environment, some people (their flesh tones) reflect or absorb colors of the spectrum differently than others.
Wen painting this, I observed that there were very few mixtures that included actual white pigment, and many that included blues or purples to balance the golden browns, while much of the other color was absorbed deep into shadow. ◙

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Sofa Nude, Alla Prima

2010-02-26T15:07:00.000-08:00

by David R. Darrow
14" x 11" (35.6cm x 27.9cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas

SOLD
Collection of Kathy Brusnighan
Greensboro, NC – USA

About This Painting
This nude was painted as perhaps the first demonstration I ever did on my live broadcast Dave The Painting Guy. I was painting for no one, then someone showed up and started asking questions... the rest is history. ◙

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5-Value Head Study, Female

2010-02-25T14:42:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow
6" x 6" (15.2cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Panel

SOLD
Collection of Linda Reynolds
Tampa, FL – USA

About This Painting
The following may only be interesting to other artists. It's a long-held principle that a good portrait has a reduced set of values. Five values is common among the great painters, especially seen in the work of John Singer Sargent.
I decided to give it a try, and I started by mixing 5 equally-spaced values using a mixing knife and two tubes of oil paint: raw umber and titanium white.
I quickly painted this head study starting with my darkest dark, then filled in the rest where appropriate.
Two values for shadow, and 3 values for the lights. ◙

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Sitting Nude Alla Prima

2010-02-24T16:40:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow
11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel

SOLD
Collection of Shelley Lampman
Oak Harbor, WA – USA

About This Painting
This seated nude was done in 2009. Thick and thin oil on canvas panel. ◙

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End of an Era - Fred Fixler Dies

2010-01-21T15:27:00.000-08:00

It is with a sense of sadness and gratitude that I report the passing of Fred Fixler this afternoon at 12:50pm.

Fred was one of the most remarkable instructors I ever had, teaching tonal drawing, life drawing, portraiture and quicksketch. He was brought to my attention by a very young Morgan Weistling in 1988, when I asked where in the world he learned to draw and paint. Morgan pointed me to his school then in Calabassas, CA.

Just yesterday, on a whim, I looked up Fred's son Evan to inquire about his father, asking simply, what's the latest news on Fred?

Today I received the following message from Evan:

Sorry for not writing back yesterday. Dad Passed away at 12:50 this afternoon. He died from what we believe was a perforated bowel at Kaiser Woodland Hills. I do not believe there will be any services and his wish was to be cremated.

To say that Fred was influential, brilliant and loved would all be saying to little. I have heard him quoted by name form some of the world's finest living artists, mentioned in virtually every Weistling video and interview, and honored by many who were fortunate enough to be under his teaching.

The world lost a remarkable man today, but beauty will still flow into this world because of what he taught, how he loved his students, how he insisted on following the fundamentals of great art, and his love for the figure.

"Draw near to God, now, Fred."

The Sitter

2009-09-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Last evening

Last night I took a detour and decided to paint something loosely in acrylic. I painted exclusively in acrylic for years in my commercial illustration days, eventually adding colored pencil and airbrush for blending... I never could get the blending I desired with just brushes and acrylic.
This was an experiment with Atelier Brand acrylics. It was an enjoyable experience, and I was able to get a whole figure painting done in about 2 hours.

The Sitter • 7" x 10" (18cm x 25cm) • acrylic on gessoed paperboard

Click each for larger views

Giclées

The original painting has been sold, but for a limited time you may get an 11 x 14 signed giclée for $39 and free shipping in the US. This represents a total savings of about 20% off Dave's regular prices. (I accept checks via snail mail, or you can purchase now with Paypal)

Masai Warriors, Progress

2009-08-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

Current Painting on the Easel

If you haven't been watching lately, I am busy with an 18 x 24 commission, Masai Warrior Initiation shown below at exactly the stage it is as I write this. I will be continuing during the day today and this evening on the broadcast. (click image for a larger view)

Road Trip: New Mexico

Teresa and I will be attending the Artisan Art Materials Expo in Santa Fe, New Mexico from September 17th through 20th. More info at their site: http://www.expoartisan.com

Signed and Matted Giclée Reproductions Sale

Ends (after) August 31, 2009 - See available works and sale pricing here:

Good Tip

2009-07-15T13:34:00.001-07:00

David R. Darrow's 2nd GoFigure™ Online Workshop

2009-05-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

I will be holding my second online portrait painting workshop, May 30 and 31, 2009 (the first one, May 23 and 24th filled up fast) from 8:30am each day, Pacific Time. That's 12-hours total. The second workshop will be the same as the first, except better most likely, since I will be learning from the first. The online workshop will be limited to 16 people due to time constraints related to regular reviews of each participant's work. Participants will view the instructors work via the "over his shoulder cam" and work on the same painting, using the same reference (shown at right), with step-by-step instruction from beginning to end, along with helpful assessments along the way to keep each participant on track. There are still a few spots left. Click here for detailed information on David R. Darrow's GoFigure Online Workshop

John Warby

2009-03-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Just finished John and Bunty Warby -- these are 5" x 7" on panel... I will post the other soon. These were painted on my Paintcast™ Dave the Painting Guy, live.

Alan C. Campbell Portrait

2009-02-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

by David R. Darrow 11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD Collection of Alan C. Campbell
San Diego, CA – USA

About This Painting

This portrait of my client Alan Campbell was started with Alan in the studio watching while I painted during the broadcast of Dave the Painting Guy.
I asked him if I could paint him because I like his face and I like him. He balked at the idea at first, but I talked him into posing for photographic reference for the painting, and then he became interested in obtaining the painting for his office.
So, what started out as a Fine Art piece for me to paint and sell, became a portrait commission. Either way, it was fun to paint.
Alan is a recognized, award-winning architect in San Diego. Visit the website of Alan C. Campbell. ◙

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Captain Nick

2009-01-06T09:14:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow 14" x 11" (35.6cm x 27.9cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD Collection of Simon Wickstrom
Alameda, CA – USA

About This Painting

I first met Nick at North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, CA. He was a 'morning greeter,' welcoming people as they walked in the front door, greeting them with a big smile, friendly eyes... and something you just could not help but notice: the biggest hands you've ever felt giving you a handshake.
My own hands are large; Nick's are massive.
When I moved my studio to Oceanside in 2007, I discovered Nick was my new neighbor, and we chatted from time to time. He'd had to retire due to a heart condition, the treatment of which seemed to be barely tolerable. His weight increased rapidly over a few months, and this once grizzly, hulk of a human was reduced – by increased size – to a man at the mercy of distances, stopping to catch his breath every 15 feet or so when merely walking. He was always kind, generous and jovial, with endless stories of days in Hollywood as a stunt-double, or other bit parts.
A few months before Teresa and I moved to Encinitas, Nick told that me a good friend in Costa Rica had invited him to come down there and help him out with his new Club for mostly American tourists, right on the beach, free grub and free rent and a small paycheck.
I asked him if I could come, too.
One day, in those last weeks, I dropped by with my camera and asked him if I could shoot some pictures of him for a painting.
"Me?" he gasped. "I thought you wanted to be a successful painter," he winked. A moment later he was up scrounging around in some of his packed boxes for his hat collection, and pulled out this delightful captain's hat. I suggested that he'd look official if he had a pipe. "Oh, I have one right over here, he said, turning around to get one out of his china hutch.
I snapped about 10 shots and left him alone, thanking him for the inspiration. A week later his apartment was empty, and Nick was on his way to Costa Rica.
I have not heard from him since.
Nick left me several hats as costume props, and several Hawaiian shirts, most of which I wear on my broadcast, my favorite being the one I was wearing in last night's broadcast – the parrot one. Thanks Nick!
* * * This is the painting I completed January 2nd – my first painting of 2009. I began it on the Dave the Painting Guy broadcast on January 1, 2009, and finished it the next evening. Most of it was recorded as a public clip at the uStream location. ◙

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Ashton's Morning

2008-12-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

by David R. Darrow 14" x 11" (35.6cm x 27.9cm) Oil on Canvas Panel

About This Painting

Ashton is a young woman I met when her family was on vacation to Carlsbad, CA.
She had me at the Coke machine.
Really! I was walking by the soda fountain on my way out the door to the back patio with my new, ice cold Palapa Pale Ale at Pizza Port when this striking beauty with large, dark eyes and cascading black curls turned towards me as she finished filling her glass. She smiled and turned to return to her table.
I have to paint her.
I followed her to her table, where she joined her family. Her mother and father, also very attractive people, looked at me with raised eyebrows as I stumbled through my introduction, telling them I am a real artist – "See, here's my card, and it has one of my paintings on it..." – asking them if I could possibly arrange some time to paint their daughter.
They both looked at her.
She gave a look to her dad that was sort of a wide-eyed head-shake that communicated Hey, I don't know any more about this than you do, but it sounds fun! They explained to me that they were just down here on vacation, but if they could squeeze in some time before heading home, they would call me.
They called and dad brought his 17-year-old treasure over to my studio for a quick photoshoot. It is rare that I have gotten so many paintable reference pictures in such a short time. She's as photogenic as she is beautiful, but her face, eyes, head-shape, hair and mouth are as easily paintable as anyone I have ever met.
And she's a truly sweet soul.
* * * This painting was completed on my Dave the Painting Guy live broadcast.
It s available as an 11 x 14-matted giclee in my online store. ◙

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Reclining Nude 2

2008-12-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

by David R. Darrow 10" x 8" (25.4cm x 20.3cm) Oil on Canvas Panel SOLD Collection of William Rowett New London, New Hamshire – USA

About This Painting

This nude was painted as a demonstration on my live broadcast Dave The Painting Guy (My free, live, Internet broadcast). ◙

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Morning Light

2008-11-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

30-minute backyard sketch. 6:45am.

Oceanside Harbor Sketch

2008-11-22T08:25:00.000-08:00

15-minute color sketch in gouache [gwahsh], which is opaque watercolor. On the days we want relax, but also "get out" my wife and I find ourselves often landing at the Oceanside Harbor about 15 miles away. It's always quite relaxing, with tourists walking about, fishing boats trolling in and out, sea gulls and pelicans diving in and out like planes in a war movie. We sit at Robbin's Nest, a little restaurant with outdoor seating at the corner of the harbor.

The Blind Merchant - Color Sketch

2008-09-23T20:54:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow 8" x 10-1/2" (20.3cm x 26.7cm)
Oil on Panel
This painting is not framed Not For Sale
Private Collection

About This Painting

Last evening on my internet video broadcast Dave The Painting Guy I did a preparatory painting, known in painting circles as a color sketch.
This is part of a process of a larger work in which I can test at a small size how I might approach the color and some of the brushwork on a larger work.
In the case of The Blind Merchant, a commission from a San Diego collector of my work, I painted this on top of a mounted print of the pencil layout I have already done on the final, 18" x 24" canvas.
The painting is ready to go, and I will begin it in a 2 - 3 hour broadcast beginning Wednesday at 5pm, Pacific time.
To go directly to the broadcast, where you can view my show if it is live, or view video clips of past broadcasts, click here. ◙

Limited Edition (25 total) Giclée

I am making available an Edition of 25 limited Edition, signed and numbered, 8" x 10" Fine Art Giclées of
The Blind Merchant color sketch I did Monday, September 22, 2008. They are signed and numbered in the order payments are received. As of now, there are only 12 left in this edition.

- $25 including Priority Mail shipping. This edition will not be repeated, and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.

These Giclées are printed with lightfast, archival inks on archival, acid-free Fine Art paper and will not fade or yellow for over 100 years. (Click image to see larger)

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Samuel Gompers

2008-09-03T15:17:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow 8" x 10" (20.3cm x 25.4cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
This painting is not framed Click here to see it bigger
Price: $295

About This Painting

Next Dave The Painting Guy show: Today, Wednesday, 5pm Pacific Time (GMT -8)
This past Monday, I relaunched my Dave the Painting Guy streaming internet show (website link) after over a month off the air, a month off from any painting (other than walls), and a month of packing and relocating to a large enough home to comfortably accommodate my wife and I, our individual home businesses, my art studio, and occasional guests and family-member sleep overs.
Somehow Labor Day seemed like an appropriate day top get back to work. So I announced my intentions to go on the air again to subscribers to my notification list... and then set about trying to figure out what I would paint fro the show.
As always, careful planning and meticulous forethought are not my strongest gifts.
So it seemed Labor Day might have some interesting faces associated with its history, and sure enough, this interesting man, whom I painted as a demo on the show.
Samuel Gompers, according to Wikipedia "...helped found the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in 1881 as a coalition of like-minded unions. In 1886 it was reorganized into the American Federation of Labor, with Gompers as its president. He would remain president of the organization until his death (with the exception of one year, 1895)."
And he had a pretty nice face for a painting demo.
(You can see the recorded clips on my ustream channel). ◙

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Black Dress

2008-08-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Panel
SOLD Collection of Bob Camp
Cincinnati, OH – USA

About This Painting

I've just moved into a new-to-us residence/studio with my wife Teresa, and am very excited about my new studio... it's the perfect setting to reintroduce my Internet Video Show Dave the Painting Guy which I will have on the air again this week.
From the new studio in Encinitas, CA!
One of the last paintings I did on the air from my old studio in Oceanside, CA was this one I have titled Black Dress.
I liked this woman's face can curly hair, so I asked her if I might pain her sometime, noting that I would kind of like to direct the lighting... she agreed, asked her daughter to photograph her – following my instructions – and sent me several to choose from. I liked this composition best.
I decided to paint this one live on my show, keeping it heavy and painterly, and also decided to experiment a little with the start: I started the painting with my reference photo upside down as a means of forcing my mind to see abstractly, to get the shapes right. (Watch the first in the video clip series)
The result was very pleasing to me, and the painting sold immediately...
...to her husband. ◙

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Signed, Framed, Delivered: It’s Yours!

2008-06-20T10:37:00.001-07:00

My wife and I delivered my commissioned portrait of Mariam directly to her place of work yesterday. Rather than having me bring the painting to her office, which she felt would certainly lead to unwanted ribbing from her already tease-prone coworkers, she met us in the lobby, complimented the portrait, asked for a little stack of my business cards and walked directly out to the parking garage to sequester the painting from prying eyes. She later wrote that she took a few trusted friends to the garage gallery and showed them, which garnered the art work still more compliments. Note: This painting was painted in its entirety live on the Dave the Painting Guy Show.

Jen

2008-05-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 8" x 16" (20.3cm x 40.6cm) Oil on Stretched Canvas SOLD Collection of Renée Richardson Washington, DC – USA

About This Painting

I try to make a habit of painting strangers. In fact, my business card which bears a sample of my oil portraiture makes reference to my interest in strangers with my tag line "Beautiful Strangers: Oil Portraits of Friends I Don't Know."
Now, usually I reserve my canvas manipulations for the likenesses of people I have met and asked to paint. But the other day I painted a total stranger as an alla prima painting demonstration for the viewers of my almost-daily painting show Dave The Painting Guy (Google It).
1 of the 4 video clips of this painting being created can be found at: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/403211
"Jen," as I have since discovered her name to be, left a comment on one of my painting photos on Flickr.com, and so I jumped over to her collection to look at her paintings. Seeing only thumbnails there, I thought that one of the shots was a wonderful painting so I clicked the thumbnail to look at it more closely only to discover that it was actually an out of focus cell-phone picture she had shot.
So, I wrote to her and asked if I could do a painting... an artistic interpretation of that shot. She gave me permission, and the rest is history.
It was a fun painting to do... the angle of the head, the elegant lines of her neck, her curly hair. Beautiful women make for beautiful paintings. ◙

An Archival, Fine-Art Giclée of this print is available: e-mail me for details. To subscribe to my free "Art In Your InBox" Newsletter, just click here.

Megan

2008-05-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
SOLD Collection of Jose Arce
Jacksonville, IL – USA

About This Painting

Last June, I was very excited about an article that came out about me and my portrait painting, and was celebrating at my favorite custom-brew house, Pizza Port in Carlsbad, CA, handing out copies of the the San Diego Reader which contained the article about me, trying, to no avail, to get someone to think I was a big deal and buy me a beer.
A gorgeous, young woman walked by with lovely eyes and beautiful curls in her long, deep-red hair, and so I whipped out my business card which has my website on it, and asked her if I might paint her.
The next day she called, and she and her boyfriend Mike came over for a quick photo sitting for an eventual painting. Last November, I held a painting workshop for artists in Southern California, and used a large photo of Megan from that shoot to demonstrate my painting methods, concentrating on Values and Shapes, and how to quickly get a good likeness.
I only painted for 45 - 60 minutes, and did not finish the painting at that workshop.
Fast Forward
A few weeks ago, I began broadcasting a painting show on the Internet from my studio. It's a free-to-anyone show called "Dave the Painting Guy" (Google it). As one of my many demonstrations to date, I decided to complete this portrait of Megan. The entire process (except for the first hour) was recorded and saved for viewing, with segment 1 found here: www.ustream.tv/
On that internet show, people can log in and "chat" via a text window, and I can answer questions via video and audio. It's a very casual show, with lots of laughs, and honest, straight-forward answers to viewers' questions. You can also log in there and watch this "episode" and others to watch this painting reach completion. ◙

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New Show: Dave the Painting Guy

2008-04-16T11:21:00.001-07:00

I've renamed my Internet-streamed show Dave the Painting Guy. I am working on a portrait commission. I move the camera as I jump to different areas. Next Broadcast: Broadcasting on andd off today... and most days. Check in and see if it's on! If you follow this link to the uStream.tv site, you can log in and/or create a user-name and text-chat with me. I do take questions. By obtaining a User-name there, you can leave comments, rate the broadcast, and chat (text) live while I'm working. (Please be patient, I am still working out the kinks).

Interview With Art & Prose Magazine

2008-03-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

The kind folks over at Art & Prose Magazine did an interview with me last month, featuring my painting Carmen on the cover, along with 9 additional reproductions of specifically-requested artwork of mine inside. It's a fascinating magazine, geared to technical and creative people with disciplines ranging from fantasy writing, to computer model making, to poetry and traditional art methods. This interview came from out of the blue, and being featured on the cover of Volume One, Issue 8 is something for which I am very grateful to John Johnson and the rest of the crew at A&P.

Lora: Commissioned Portrait

2008-03-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 16" x 20" (40.6cm x 50.8cm)
Oil on Belgian Linen
Not For Sale
Private Collection

About This Painting

Lora got in touch with me shortly after the San Diego Weekly Reader article, about me and portrait painting, came out mid-last year.
She wanted me to paint her portrait after reading about my thoughts on painting, God and beauty, and after seeing my work.
Ironically, perhaps, it was in this article I was quoted as saying that as of that time I had not received any commissions from women for portraits of themselves. And I speculated as to why.
Lora's approach changed my thinking. She wanted to capture this moment in time for a number of personal reasons, some of which she shared with me, and which made painting this portrait that much more engaging. She also wanted to own original art, for all the best reasons.
I only hope I captured the kind and thoughtful spirit of the woman I came to know while painting her. She tells me she loves it. ◙

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Bethany in Green

2007-11-22T19:41:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow 8" x 14" (20.3cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
SOLD Collection of L. Grace
San Diego, CA – USA

About This Painting

I'm not as good at math as I should be.
And I am really lame at guessing ages.
In 1991 a little girl came into my life that would change my heart and my mind, and sway my resolutions, the subsequent blessings of which I could never have foreseen.
Bethany.
Because of Bethany, I have a wonderful daughter.
See, in 1991, my daughter did not yet exist, because her mother and I (mostly me) had decided a few years earlier to stop at 2 children. We had two fine boys, and were having plenty of fun, and absorbing the challenges that come with raising two boys on an artist's income.
That year our little family of 4 had season passes to what is now called Six Flags Magic Mountain and decided, for reasons I cannot remember, to take some of our friends' daughters with us. Bethany was 5, and her mother instructed her simply, "Now you hold on to Mr. Darrow's hand the whole time, okay?" Right there in her driveway before we even left for the amusement park, she looked up at me and smiled and grabbed my hand.
Like Superman too close to Kryptonite, I began to melt... little by little throughout the day, this warm, sweet, smiling little girl brought down the giant I thought I was.
At the end of the day, I didn't want to return her to her mother.
But I did. (It's the law).
Later that year we decided to expand our family and "try for a girl." And in 1992 God blessed us with a sweet daughter of our own who has been the subject of many of my paintings, and has her daddy's heart forever.
Well, in 1994 we moved away from that area, and I have never seen anyone in Bethany's family since. Fast-forward to 2007, Tuesday in fact, and I get an e-mail from Bethany assuming, of course, that I remember who she is.
I'm picturing a little smiling cutie looking up at me holding my hand, and I am mentally trying to stretch her image into an older person that has the facility to write e-mails (I told you math escapes me at times).
She attached to the e-mail a picture of her now... posing with a melancholy expression in front of a green wall... and that's when reality smacked me across the face.
She's in her early 20s now, married and just found out she's expecting a child of her own.
How did Bethany turn into a woman in — what's it been —three weeks? All I could write back to her was "Wow! You've grown up!" and then, "This picture looks so much like a work of art with that pose and lighting that I want to know if I can do an oil painting interpretation of it," to which she enthusiastically agreed.
I showed the finished painting to my oldest son when we got together for Thanksgiving and asked him if he remembered Bethany.
"Do I remember her?" he said, as if I asked him if he likes to surf. "If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have a sister!"
The Legend of Bethany, the 5-year-old girl who melted a man's heart, lives on.
And now she is immortalized. ◙

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Distracted

2007-11-20T14:16:00.001-08:00

by David R. Darrow 14" x 11" (35.6cm x 27.9cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD Collection of L. Grace
San Diego, CA – USA

About This Painting

My daughter is one of my favorite models.
Every now and again I see her face in a certain light... the highlights glancing off her cheekbones in some way, or the pattern of the shadows bringing out her natural beauty...
In this case, I happened to catch her looking simply beautiful while she was watching a fascinating show on TV... while I messed with the lights she kept her eyes on the story from which I could not steal her. ◙

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Slice of Life

2007-11-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

by David R. Darrow 7" x 5" (17.8cm x 12.7cm)
Oil on Panel
SOLD Collection of Robin Neudorfer
San Marino, CA – USA

About This Painting

There's a "farmer's market" in a large Carlsbad, CA parking lot each Wednesday. Vendors — most of them the actual farmers of the produce the sell at the market — set up white-topped tent booths and hawk their wares for one day a week.
I think the tomatoes from local growers beat the taste of store tomatoes 365 days a year. So, when I can, I buy them from local growers.
When setting up for a new display at a local art gallery a while back, it looked to me like there was a little bit of room for another painting, and so I asked the owner if I could bring in a 5 x 7 to add to the upcoming show. Permission granted, I told her I'd "be right back" and headed home.
When I arrived in my studio, I got out a blank 5 x 7 panel and dashed to the kitchen to find something to paint.
I couldn't resist this gorgeous, red tomato I had purchased a couple of days before at the farmer's market. Slicing into it, juice spilled out either side, but the firm tomato fruit held its shape perfectly as I removed this aromatic wedge and posed the parts to compose my painting.
An hour later, I returned to the gallery with this finished painting, framed and wired, ready to hang.
"Careful," I smiled. "It's still wet."
"You just painted it?"
"Yep. I told you I'd be right back."
I probably priced it too high for my little known name at the time, so eventually it came back home.
It's time to let it go. ◙

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Bodice

2007-11-06T15:57:00.000-08:00

by David R. Darrow 7-1/2" x 11" (19.1cm x 27.9cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD Collection of Maria Boustani
Beckley, WV – USA

About This Painting

I just finished my 2007 Portrait Workshop in Carlsbad, CA this past weekend. This painting was the last of the four I did as demonstrations for my painting style. In the short time allowed for demos, everything I teach gets crammed into a very rapid painting — and sometimes, these demos come out pretty rewarding.
I talk while I paint, so the workshop attendees can "hear what's going on in my mind" — to see what I see, and understand the decisions I make with paint.
At one point, I was trying to describe the edges and value differences between the light of the model's flesh and "that blue... uh... that, uh vest thing?"
The model who was sitting as still as a mannequin piped up. "Bodice," and went 'back to frozen.'
I will never forget, now. ◙

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Workshop 2007 was a blast

2007-11-05T12:04:00.001-08:00

I had a great group of people at my workshop this past weekend. Everyone seemed in very good spirits, eager to paint and to learn, and filled with enthusiasm despite the challenges of painting from life in front of other people. We had a lot of fun together. The models were great. Good character to their faces, and just fun people, too, as we all got to know them. It is such a pleasure to paint from life from professional models who take their work seriously (I have painted from pros who are nonchalant, and I can tell you the energy is much different!) I started the first session with a 1.5 hour demo quick study in getting the light and shadow patterns down; thinking abstractly about the vague shapes you see while squinting, and putting this little patchwork of a puzzle together on the canvas. This was a purposely rapid portrait demo, using only 4 colors and white. Raw Umber, Yellow Ocher, Alizarin Crimson and Cerulean Blue) because I was trying to demonstrate the importance of value and shadow patterns over color issues. Color seems to bog most students down, when in fact Value and Drawing are far more critical. I spent a good deal of time in each session, except the last, helping attendees get a better feel for how I approach a painting. The individual attention one-on one with the students that wanted it seemed to set them in a new direction and get them approaching the task in a new way. I didn't get much time to paint in Saturday's morning session. But when I did get going, I did a discussion about drawing the features in abstractly, how I measure, what I look for in line and proportion and rapidly banging in the shadows in bulk. This is the result of an hour's work. I also discussed how light and shadow describe form to the viewer's brain... how one shadow describes the forms of both the object that is casting the shadow and the object onto which it is cast. The characteristics of the edges of the shadows are critical in striking recognition within the viewer's mind. It was a great weekend, and I am already being asked when my next workshop will be. If you are interested in getting information about my next workshop by e-mail, be sure to add your e-mail address to my private mailing list. All info on my mailing list is confidential.

Where Have I Been?

2007-09-06T08:47:00.001-07:00

Busyland. It's right near the edge of the earth, so if you think I fell off it, you're close. Actually, to fill in the income holes between painting sales, I do websites and have been constructing one for a long-time client... I am trying to set it all up with good CSS structure which makes it easier to change in the future should they want a new look. Unfortunately, some of the structure I have been attempting is mind-boggling when switching between browsers. It's astounding that since 1998 when CSS2 standards were established, all the major browsers do not agree on how to display pages using these standards. But I have also been working on three commissions I have obtained since the San Diego Reader cover article about me hit the stands. I simply have not had much time to do anything but "real work" -- which is a delight for a full-time artist. Along the way, I have been feeding my artistic mind with how-to videos rented from SmartFlix.com. One of my favorites to watch (or just listen to) is the 10-hour set of Morgan Weistling's Advanced Fundamentals for the Beginning Expert, which you can now rent from them. Even though I practically know this video by heart, it's like the Bible in some ways -- I always get something new out of it, or at least a good reminder or two, minimum. I have also watched and enjoyed DVDs such as In the Studio with Scott Burdick, Richard Schmid's The Captain's Portrait, and John Howard Sanden. (These are found in the SmartFlix Painting: Oil category.) Sometimes watching or listening to masters talk about their work beats the heck out of listening to music. And I love music! Also, I have been switching gears a little to try acrylic painting again. For the majority of my career as an illustrator I avoided oils due to longer drying times, and my general unfamiliarity with the medium -- preferring acrylic for just about everything. When I started painting in oils full-time in 2000, I left acrylics behing (actually, in a drawer), and didn't look back. But the work of Roger Bansemer has sparked interest once again in acrylics... Especially his Tropical Paintings. He is also the influence behind my trying a limited palette for my recent paintings, starting back on July 4th with San Elijo Lagoon. His tropicals are largely done with Red, Blue and Yellow, White and Black. Above is an 18" x 6" of the Pacheco Pass in northern California (SR-152) that I played with for an hour or so recently, painting from a photo I took on a recent trip. I'll finish it when I get the time.

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Braids and a Black Tee

2007-08-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
Framed and Ready to Hang
AVAILABLE $750 + $20 S/H

About This Painting

Maybe you like your job a lot, but do you like it so much that you'd even watch a video of someone else doing it?
Well,that's what I do.
I rent or buy DVDs of other artists painting. I own or have watched videos of Morgan Weistling (portraits and figurative), Scott Burdick (figurative), Richard Schmid (figures, landscapes, portrait) and Roger Bansemer (landscape, plein air), and watch them many times because I always — and I mean always — pick up something new and inspiring, each time. I am constantly inspired and awed by the work of many other artists.
This painting came about as a direct result of 1) having just watched Weistling's 10-hour painting video set Advanced Fundamentals for the Beginning Expert, and 2) seeing my daughter sitting in a certain light with a certain look that is "very her" when deep in thought.
It was one of those moments where I just had to start smooshing paint on a canvas. I purposely chose a limited palette of Alizarin, Yellow Ochre, Black and White.
Currently the painting is available, framed, as shown, for $750 (plus tax in CA) and $20 shipping/handling. If you are interested in having it for your collection, write to me. ◙

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Carmen

2007-08-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 14" x 11" (35.6cm x 27.9cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
SOLD Collection of Peggy Mione
Lake Forest, CA – USA

About This Painting

"Hey, can I paint your portrait?" I asked, rather out of nowhere, handing her my card. You've got such a great face."
"Yeah?" she asked with a big smile. "You're an artist?"
"No, but I'm thinking of starting..." I joked. My daughter's eyes darted at me suddenly waiting for the resolution. "Yes, I'm an artist. I paint portraits and still lifes, and really whatever I feel like painting... two or three paintings a week. It's how I make my living... and I'd like to paint you."
"That would be so cool!" she beamed. I gave her a few details of how I handle this kind of thing, told her to bring a friend for her own comfort, and told her that I wanted her to look at my paintings on my website, and she would like to be painted by me, e-mail or call me.
I never ask for a potential model's phone number, because I don't want to appear to be 'hitting on them.' I leave it totally up to them. As a result, I do not have a lot of luck getting models from the general public. I might hand out 40 or 50 cards only to people I really want to paint — I am very picky — before one will follow through. It's just an unfortunate byproduct of the world we live in, sadly. That, and perhaps because I eat too many doughnut holes... but that's another story.
Carmen waited on my daughter and I with great patience and a servant's attitude when I took my daughter shopping for her 15th birthday present[s] a few weeks ago. I told my daughter that I would take her to the mall and wait patiently in all the shops she wanted to go in while she tried stuff on, and told her there was no time limit — just a dollar limit.
We spent an entire hour and a half in just one store that caught my daughter's fancy, and Carmen was just delightful the entire time. She offered cheerful conversation, ran about the store grabbing articles she thought might look good on my daughter, reserved items behind the counter for us, and was just genuinely confident and friendly.
As we were finally checking out, I caught a glimpse of Carmen's face in some unique lighting which enhanced the God-given, beautiful structure of her face, and I decided at that moment, that I had to paint her.
I'm so glad she agreed! She is a beautiful person internally, too. ◙

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Less Than Zero - The Doughnut Hole

2007-07-31T16:10:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 10" x 7" (25.4cm x 17.8cm)
Oil on Belgian Linen Panel
SOLD Collection of Pamela Penner
Encinitas, CA – USA

About This Painting

The Doughnut Hole If you haven't figured it out by now, every painting I do reveals a little something about me. Even with my theme of Everyday Paintings, which is a tongue-in-cheek twist on the painting excellence for which I always strive, I don't just grab an object or any ol' person to pose and just make a painting. In essence, I am painting a history of myself in shuffled chapters, pictures of a memory, a trait, revealing a fondness, or just letting the viewer know what really 'grabbed me' at one moment.
The subjects I choose are all related to what I love about life, whether a beautiful scene, some tasty food or wine, the delicate, innocence of a child, the beauty and grace of a woman, or the rugged stories told in the weathered face of a man. So much to see; too little time.

Powdered Doughnuts
by Justin ClaytonRecently I was inspired by a masterful painting done by a friend and fellow Daily Painter, Justin Clayton. Justin is one of a very small handful of artists on the entire planet who actually comes very close to painting one complete oil painting every day, and they are always exceptional. I admire his talent, determination and discipline.
He chose, as his subject matter for the painting that caught my eye, white powdered doughnuts on a white background. (I think he could have sold a blank canvas with that title in a Beverly Hills art gallery for $150,000, but he has integrity, too).
His painting also made me hungry. See, doughnuts have always been a weakness of mine. One of my fondest memories as a child was when my dad would get me into the car to run some Saturday morning errands with him, and we'd stop off first for doughnuts at the local Winchell's. Just me and my dad. A little box of milk and a powdered doughnut.
As an adult I still like doughnuts. I used to order coffee with them, and in some sort of canceling-out-calories math or culinary division by zero would sweeten my coffee and cream with Equal. You can't be too careful when you're "watching your weight."
Truth is, though, I've never bought doughnut holes. I've always thought they were the big lie, the conspiracy common to doughnut shops. They sell the doughnut to one guy, and the part they took out of it gets sold to someone else. That's like... well, selling place mats made from the neck hole they cut out of a poncho, or making black basketballs out of the centers of tires. Okay, maybe that's stretching it.
But who really buys doughnut holes, and why? They are the un-doughnut. Everyone knows the legal limit is 2 doughnuts in the company kitchen on Friday mornings. But what's the limit on doughnut holes? Five? Seven? Eighteen?
And how do you eat them politely? I feel silly taking a bite out of something that is bite-sized. And popping the whole thing in my mouth just looks bad. And if you do, you're all done, and all you got was one bite.
There is just a lot wrong with doughnut holes. There ought to be a law... ◙

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Lemons and Olive Branches

2007-07-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Gessoed Mahogany Panel
SOLD Collection of Pamela Penner
Encinitas, CA – USA

About This Painting

Completed late last year.
I love the way the color of the objects work with and against each other, each vying for attention, poking in and out of the light. The organic in harmony with the inorganic; symbolic of our lives. The bitter of the lemon with the peace-offering olive branches.
Give and take.
Dark and Light.
This piece is on display at the COAL Art Gallery and is available for $645, plus tax. S&H and Insurance is $20. ◙

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Press!

2007-07-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

Charley Parker, over at Lines and Colors, has written up a generous piece about me and my San Diego Weekly Reader Article. Thank you, Charley!

Watchful

2007-07-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 10" x 8" (25.4cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD Collection of Sara Scribner
Enid, OK – USA

About This Painting

"My wife Megen called me on her way home from Costco tonight and told me about you approaching her," the e-mail from John began. "She was very flattered."
That was nice, I thought. I remember her distinctly. I had gone to the photo section to pick up a large print of a painting I had done recently to give to the model for that painting, as is my custom.
Megen, whom I had never met, was being served as I found a place to wait at the end of the short line. She glanced my direction as I approached the counter, and immediately left a visual impression on me. Her eyes were kind and warm, and there was a gentleness to her face that moved me.
I tried not to stare, but I was already thinking can I paint you?
The funny thing about asking a stranger if I can paint him or her, is that I know at first glance if they "are a painting waiting to happen." I really do. But I have this internal sense that if I were to ask them as soon as I think such a thought, they will think I am a nut. "How could you possibly think that? You just now saw me!"
So, I look for signs. And at that moment, Megen was done with her business and walked away before I could even form a sentence. That's a sign. Forget it, David.
Well, my turn at the photo center, and I discovered a problem with my print, so they graciously offered to reprint it while I wait. Ten minutes later, after wandering and wishing through the HDTV section I picked up my replacement print and headed out, only to notice that Megen was still in the store, and was just approaching the customer service desk.
Seemed like a sign to me. So I walked over to her and handed her my card and asked if I could paint her.
Her face lit up in the most dazzling smile. She said she'd consider it. By the time I got home, her husband had already written to me. In his e-mail he added that his wife had told him that the first thing that came to her mind was “You don’t want to paint me you should see my kids.”
Pretty and modest. I like that. I had that sense about her the moment I saw her.
John went on, "I wanted to say 'Thank You' for making my wife’s day and to invite ourselves to meet you."
I still have not met John, though obviously I have met his wife, and I have to tell you, she made my day. And I did briefly meet their kids, and they are indeed gorgeous, and sweet! Precious little ones. I hope I get to paint them someday soon.
It is always a joy to paint one of God's naturally beautiful creations. ◙

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Alexandra - Original Oil by David R. Darrow

2007-07-17T16:13:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow 11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
SOLD Collection of Tim Clarke
Pacific Grove, CA – USA

About This Painting

I do private in-home painting lessons in the San Diego area, largely by demonstration and 'thinking out loud" while I paint for the student. This gives the student both the visual feedback of how I am mixing my colors and applying them, and what I am thinking at the moment, so they get the "whys" answered.
This was painted last year in one such session. I am taking it off my shelf forever and offering it to the highest bidder. I suspect an art student might want it to have to study, so I am putting it out there for a low starting bid of 5 dollars — about the price of the canvas and well within reach of all but the most pitifully broke art student.
Please note that this is somewhat 'unfinished' — especially at the bottom, which is why I have shown the entire canvas. ◙

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Encouraging E

2007-07-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 6-1/2" x 13-3/4" (16.5cm x 34.9cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD Collection of Frederica Anderson
Amarillo, TX – USA

About This Painting
An artist friend e-mailed me yesterday sounding like, well... like a lot of artists I have talked with feel from time to time: blocked.
There's nothing more discouraging to a competent artist such as E than to feel that you have somehow used up the last bit of creativity and skill you'll ever have.
I know. I have been there.
My advice to E was based on something I stumbled on back in 2000, and was actually a variation of a then-popular quote: Dance Like No One Is Watching. For me, it mutated into Paint Like You Just Don't Care. My hunch was that E, who has a somewhat meticulous style and an elaborate process of preparation, was frozen in fatigue and fear. For me, the symptoms of fear are many and varied forms of procrastination masquerading as professional preparation. Somewhere deep inside I know that I cannot possibly do a bad painting if I never actually start it. And I feel better about not starting it if I am actually doing something useful or even necessary.
The cure? Stop caring.
For many artists there is a tactile quality to the job that cannot be explained or transferred. An artist can rub a seemingly ordinary corner of a piece of paper between his thumb and index finger and tell immediately if he or she will enjoy drawing on it. Certain paints do not feel as good as others. Sometimes a canvas and a loaded brush can just feel fantastic as the bristles slide over the weave, slathering thick paint over the surface.
There are subtle vibrations that make their way up from the canvas through the brush handle, to the fingers and into the nervous system, and at times these feelings can be either pleasurable or irritating.
The way to get past the pain that is blocking you is simply to make it fun again. And it can be fun if you don't care. Forget the stretcher bars — tape a piece of scrap canvas to a piece of wood, and start painting in the next three minutes.
Find a picture with interesting lighting. Put out a limited palette (in my case, Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Yellow Ochre, with Black and White). Grab a big fat brush, mix something messy and dark and start painting. Feel the thing that got you into painting in the first place. Get some pleasure back into your work.
And whatever you do, don't make the mistake of caring.
I decided to taste a sample of my own medicine after hitting the send button to E. I grabbed a photo I had received from a friend in France which was taken with a cellphone camera. This became the image reference for my interpretation of these shapes in paint. It was so much fun that I couldn't stop!
And — go figure — I ended up liking the finished painting. When it's dry I am going to mount it on a masonite panel and trim it down. So, the dimensions are "approximate" – give or take a quarter inch either direction.
I guess all that is the long way around the block just to say if you're not careful, you might enjoy yourself and do a good painting. ◙

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San Elijo Lagoon

2007-07-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 14" x 11" (35.6cm x 27.9cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD Collection of Jolie Elman
Glendora, CA – USA

About This Painting

So what does a full-time artist do on his day off? Same thing: painting.
Our nation celebrated another year of Independence and Freedom yesterday... both are pretty important concepts to Americans, though I am not too sure how greatly they are appreciated anymore — since we grow up with them, and that's just how things are.
I exercised my Freedom of Expression by getting up at 5:00 am and meeting a Canadian for a morning Plein Air session at San Elijo (san-el-EE-ho) Lagoon, in Cardiff by the Sea, CA. [Google Map]. We positioned ourselves about 3/4 of a mile from the beach, looking directly west across the lagoon. It was overcast, a little misty and very quiet. The only sounds were distant cars and local wildlife: seaguls, egrets and fish jumping out of the still water to catch bugs for an instant breakfast.
My painting partner for the day was Holly, who, like me, had an illustration career that kept her indoors for the better part of her creative life, so for each of us, the opportunity to go outside and paint sounds more like a play day. And it makes working on a national holiday seem not-so-insane.
Bonus: unlike working alone in a studio, there's someone to talk with.
Or maybe just talk to.
Holly asserts, with photographic documentation, that I just painted and talked. I think she did all the talking, but I don't have any photos to prove it.
She's lucky I spoke to her at all after she hit the ground laughing like some kind of Canadian Tickle-Me-Elmo doll when my painting blew off my easel landing on the ground exactly the way toast and jam always does: gooey side down. She was still laughing as I wiped the whole painting off the canvas with a rag and started over.
Well, this fresh start ended up being a good thing. Also, some of you artists that subscribe to my mailing list might appreciate knowing that this was done with a limited palette: Alizarin Crimson, Yellow Ochre, and Cobalt Blue, plus black and white. The limited palette does two things: first, it really forces me to concentrate on values instead of hues, and second, it unifies the painting, since every brush stroke likely has all the other colors in it. I did not rinse my brush until the painting was done... just constantly wiped it off on my rag.
By the way, if you are not familiar with the term plein air, it is French for open air and traditionally describes the genre of paintings that are done outdoors with the intent of quickly capturing the feeling of open air.
Personally, I have expanded that definition to include: The relatively short expanse of space between the easel and the ground. i.e. — "David watched in helpless horror as his painting plummeted through plein air coming to rest at his feet." ◙

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Chicago Dave

2007-07-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 8" x 8" (20.3cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
SOLD Collection of Cruz Melf
Bolingbrook, IL – USA

About This Painting

I've painted this fellow before.
He's a friend with whom I have a lot in common. And it turns out he's a great character model. The fact that he's a musician makes me want to use him as a musician model, obviously, but he's so full of life and is such fun to talk and laugh with that it's just tempting to see what else we can come up with using his ambiguous mug.
Dave's also from Chicago, and makes it no secret. He's been here — oh, I don't know how long — and still waxes on about Chicago. In less lucid moments he even feigns that accent, where you can just about imagine him hamming, "da' Bears."
Chicago Dave is the only model I can remember telling me to "try the light from below, like 'dis." And the only one whose 'advice' I might follow... and so I tried it, reluctantly.
Loved it.
It reminded me immediately of all the campfire spooky stories with the obligatory flashlight pointed up from below. If there is such a thing as ominous lighting, this is it.
It's also fascinating what this reversed lighting does to facial structure and an otherwise kind face. And it was fun to paint Chicago Dave in this upside-down lighting.
For me, and possibly him, it was a very abstract experience. ◙

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My 15 Minutes of Fame

2007-06-29T09:34:00.001-07:00

If you don't count the time I was on Wheel of Fortune, on June 22, 1980 (it's true), I finally got my Andy-Warhol-guaranteed 15-minutes of fame.

Oh sure, you know me as the Everyday Paintings guy, but San Diego County folks get an entire article about me in the cover story of this week's San Diego Reader, a free, weekly publication that gets distributed all over the county at locations such as pizza places, 7-Elevens and Circle-K convenience stores. You know: places where wealthy art buyers go for a heads-up on up-and-coming, 50-year-old artists.

The author of the 8000-word cover story, Geoff Bouvier, e-mailed me in March listing his substantial credentials, and asked me if he could do a story about the experience of getting one's portrait painted. He wanted to write it from the perspective of the paintee but also learn about the whole process from the painter. Sounded interesting to me.

I agreed to it, and managed to work it all into my schedule, which at the time, back in March and April, was about as easy as juggling porcupines.

Well, yesterday was the big day, and the published Readers have been distributed.

If you are one of my San Diego neighbors and you're interested in reading the article and owning a copy, run out and get one today... they typically go quite fast.

Anyone else interested in reading the article? You have two choices:

The article online at the Reader: How To Paint A Portrait
The same article on my site, annotated and illuminated with my comments and photos.

Jessi

2007-06-27T18:24:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow 9" x 9" (22.9cm x 22.9cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
SOLD Collection of Dean E. Bailiff
Palm Harbor, FL – USA

About This Painting

My wife invited me out for a beer one evening last week. We met at our favorite pizza and beer place in Carlsbad after a long day for each of us, in an already long week full of ups and downs.
She placed the order at the counter and I wandered outside to find a spot in the warm summer evening air. I could see it would be a challenge — with summer in a beach town off to its official start, it seemed everyone in town had gone from the beach to Pizza Port to wind down before heading home.
I plopped my superfluous jacket down across the mostly-crowded picnic-style table, at the same time asking the guests to my left if there was room for my wife and I to squeeze in and sit across from each other. As the head of household gave me a murky response along the lines of "we're expecting a few more" a couple to the right of where I was trying to squeeze in suddenly scooted further down, making more room and said definitively, "Sure! Have a seat."
I looked back at the gentleman who had attempted to decline our presence and said with a smile, "I like their answer better."
Just then my wife showed up with our cold beers and I scurried around the table and sat down next to Jessi, opening the seat across from me and next to Josh for my wife.
We would learn that they had just recently met and were out getting to know each other better.
The two of them were just plain fun folks. We talked easily, joked and laughed together like old friends that had just met. Unusually friendly, I thought. A breath of fresh air.
Eventually the conversation got around the the traditional so-what-do-you-dos and Jessi, a pretty mid-twenties brunette dipped into her purse quickly pulling out two business cards announcing that she is a massage therapist working her day job at what is arguably the finest five-star spa and resort in San Diego County, and at the top of many lists worldwide. We were impressed.
She went on to tell us she trained at Lauterstein-Conway School of Massage in Austin, TX, and was recruited from school directly to this prestigious position in San Diego. "That credential will never be any lower than first position on my resume," she beamed.
Josh — whom I hope to convince to sit for a painting soon, too — is, as we later learned, an officer in the military, having already served 2 tours in Iraq.
Now, I am a scraggly-haired, sun-weathered, California-grown, has-been surfer/artist, and when I ask a short-haired fellow if he's in the military, the typical response is a hesitant yet authoritative "Yes, sir." I guess I might indeed look like a peacenik from decades ago, you know, from the pictures in Time-Life, but honestly, I admire these brace young men and women for taking on the exhausting, dangerous and now highly controversial task of serving our country and the cause of freedom in so many different capacities, and so I stood to shake his hand, smiled and said "It's truly an honor to meet you, sir."
Eventually, the conversation got around to Teresa's work, and finally mine. "I'm an artist. I paint portraits and stuff," I nonchalaunted. Turning to Jessi, I added, "You have great eyes. Can I paint you?"
"Sure! That'd be great," she shot back. And so, just like that, it was settled.
She's as fascinating to paint as to know.
And the whole thing has been a confirmation that it is often serendipitous to talk to complete strangers. ◙

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Checkin' The Fit

2007-06-08T15:53:00.003-07:00

by David R. Darrow 8" x 10" (20.3cm x 25.4cm)
Oil on Panel
SOLD Collection of Jeffery McCabe
Port Huron, MI – USA

About This Painting

In very few professions these days, the hat still makes the man.
I live in California, where the only people that wear hats as part of their job, anymore, are cowboys, baseball players and workers in hard-hat areas.
I sometimes wish I lived in the '30s and '40s when even California men wore hats to work, to dinner parties, to town – on a date.
I always fancied myself a hat-person. I got myself a little English-style brimmed cap when I was thirteen. It didn't fit well, though. I have a deep head, front to back... even size XL will give me a headache. I like to think that God gave me extra thinkin' room, for coming up with more ideas, pictures and words.
I console myself with that thought when I walk out of hat stores with nothing on my head.
It's funny, too, because you really can't fake it. People can tell if you're a real cowboy by the look of your hat. And there are such a variety of cowboy hats out there, too. People like to keep them neat and clean, others like to crumple them up and make them look well-worn, some like straw, others leather, others felt.
It's a distinctive American thing, too, the cowboy hat. And getting a good fit is what it's about.
My oldest son, Drew, modeled for this painting. You'll see more of him the near future. ◙

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Green Chair

2007-06-06T21:25:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow 8" x 8" (20.3cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
Framed and Ready to Hang
SOLD
Collection of Randall and Valerie Hasson
Santa Fe, NM - USA

About This Painting

I always love it when an artist names the painting after, perhaps, the least important part of the painting.
Then again, naming it Oh my gosh! You have really grown up! wouldn't work. And Beautiful Young Lady is rather banal. Or, as my daughter would say: Duh!
Holly, my model in the Green Chair, is the daughter of a friend and fellow artist, Randall M. Hasson and his wife Valerie. (Take a look at his work. His art is amazing. He does large paintings that are a combination of painted subject matter layered with amazing quotations, poetry and scripture in a variety of lettering styles and calligraphy. You've never seen anything like it. His work has to be seen in person to really get the intensity of his work.)
But enough about him.
His daughter was 12 or 13 when I first met Randy and his family. Randy was just developing the style of his work at the time, and we hit it off as budding artists. Mutual back-patters always make good friends.
Well, four years later, Randy opened a gallery for his work and I was invited to the opening. And standing next to him when I arrived was this tall, elegant, striking young woman, now 16, whom I barely recognized as "little Holly" from four years earlier, the last time I had seen her.
I asked if I could shoot some reference photos of her for a maybe-painting someday, and last year ran across those photos and put together this head study of Holly's beautiful features and sculpturesque face.
It hung in a small gallery for a year, and now it's time for it to be seen by a wider audience.
This painting is framed in an imported, distressed gold-metal-leaf frame and is ready to hang. ◙

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Stolen Glory

2007-06-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 12" x 5" (30.5cm x 12.7cm)
Oil on Panel
SOLD Collection of Bridget Baker
Deer Park, IL – USA

About This Painting

There's a woman in my old neighborhood who loves gardening and especially tending her roses. I commented that this one beautiful variety, with its brilliant yellow-orange center and deep magenta "blush," was one of the most beautiful roses I'd ever seen.
She told me it is a "Chris Evert."
"Like the tennis player?"
"Named after her," I was told. I never knew about that kind of thing. And I never forgot this was a Chris Evert rose. This particular bush produced rose after rose of incredible shape and intense color.
For weeks at a time recently, however, I rarely saw the woman... working too many hours I surmised. Scurrying off early in the morning and not seen again until after dark. But the roses bloomed day after day into perfect blossoms, then fluffed and then dropped their petals in piles all around, and died. Day after day I walked by these perfect roses watching this sad cycle occur again and again.
One morning I saw this perfect bloom, and almost in anger that it would suffer a similar fate, I grabbed my clippers and walked straight out to the rose bush and brazenly cut the blossom off and took it inside.
I never heard a word about it from the woman. Not a word.
The irony was that I had to end its life to enjoy it. Which was, in my opinion, much better than being neglected.
And I was able to extend its life by painting its portrait. ◙

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Unforeseen Conclusion

2007-06-03T10:06:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow 13-7/8" x 8" (35.2cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
This painting is not framed
Click here to bid on eBay
Opening Bid: $99 / Buy It Now™ $399.00 Ends: Thursday, June 7, 2007 at 1:55 PM (Pacific Time)

About This Painting

This may seem a little odd, and I want to assure you I have not slipped into "my dark period..." This is just a slightly different approach to finding and representing beauty in everyday things.
On my first morning in my new place, I awoke to find this bird on my balcony, at the foot of the sliding glass doors. She likely died on impact, trying to fly through what she thought was an open passage, instead coming to this unforeseen conclusion.
I stared for a moment, then muttered aloud, sadly but somewhat understandingly, "Didn't see that coming, did you?"
I thought briefly about how to properly dispose of this beautiful but lifeless creature and suddenly flashed on a time when my oldest sister Jan helped me put to rest my pet hamster. I was 12; she was 18.
Late that night I was awakened by noise under my bed, and when I peeked under, I saw that the escaped hamster had met his demise via a higher link on the food chain, our cat.
Jan helped me coax the 'toy' away from the cat, and then she prepared a shoebox lined with tissue into which to lay its body for disposal. We both wanted a little diginity for the little fellow under such otherwise humbling circumstances.
All this flashed through my mind as I gathered up the bird. It was right about at that moment that I decided I would do a painting about this...
I see metaphors... they're everywhere. Sometimes they don't even know they're metaphors.
Death had come to us both.
I had slept in my new place only once and, on my first morning, this is what I awoke to. Far from being 'creeped out' I just felt what I felt... there are times in life when you start off on something wonderful and just don't see how it's going to end.
Four years ago, I stood on a beach marrying the woman I was sure was the love of my life, my closest friend, the woman I wanted holding my hand when I passed from this life. From there, on that clear, sunny day I could not have seen the actual conclusion that lay ahead in the distance. Today I live alone.
Unlike this bird, though, my life is not over. I've found a new place to live. A new place to paint. A new place to think. To move on.
But it is very still, and very quiet now. ◙

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Starting Over

2007-05-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

I never painted 74 new paintings in a year before. And I probably never would have if I had not set the goal of painting 365 paintings in a year, or rather, 30 paintings in 30 days, ongoing. Having failed at an initial [and naive] goal, I succeeded in accomplishing something I likely never would have. Yesterday I officially started over. It's been nearly 2 months since my last Everyday Painting, interrupted by a few significant things in my life, namely a large commission, a demonstration commission, and, most significantly, marital separation (I had to move out for medical reasons: she was sick of me). I actually moved into my new apartment/studio at the beginning of May, but just yesterday completed setting my studio back up ready for painting. Besides the grueling work of moving all my stuff out of my old place, putting it into a truck and then hauling it all back out at the next place and then up 4 flights of stairs, there was the additional, previously unknown inconvenience of the notice to vacate for two days while the owners tented and fumigated the entire complex. Mine is the middle circus tent, top floor. (Where's the Google Earth camera when you need it?) So yesterday I sat down and started a painting, and I will be posting it today. Starting over has never been as significant to me as is does today.

Crate Expectations

2007-04-18T17:39:00.001-07:00

Building a Crate
For Shipping a Painting
Well, it's not like waving goodbye to your kid on a school bus on his first day of Kindergarten... but it's close. If I can avoid putting a 32 x 40 painting in the hands of a courier again for the rest of my life, I will likely have fewer gray hairs. Not that I don't trust FedEx — after all, both of my sons work for that fine company — but my anxiety over shipping hit me before I even got the painting started, which, as it turned out, was a good thing. Rule #1: If you are shipping out an unframed painting, build the crate after you have stretched your canvas, but before you start painting. You don't want sawdust in the paint.

Unlike most of the things I have learned in my life I did not learn this the hard way. I am delighted to tell you I actually thought of this in advance.

As I contemplated what this shipping crate should look and function like, I decided to head over to Home Depot to look at wood. This was not a tough decision. For me, thinking about being inside a Home Depot takes about as much forethought as Michael Moore gives to going into a Krispy Kreme. I'm there. I picked out my wood, did a little measuring and then sat down and did some figuring on a scrap of paper which a guy in the Windows Department gave me. With those figures in mind, I grabbed a sheet of 1/8" luan mahogany (door skin) and headed over to the cutting area and had the fellow cut two panels to size so I could then go home and build this box. I then glued and nailed these spacers around the bottom-inside of it, to keep the painting off the bottom skin, and away from the sides. I added FedEx-friendly handles to one side, encouraging them to carry it with those, and to stand it up on edge when not carrying it. Then I made some cleats to hold the painting down to the spacers, and away from the "lid-skin." These were all pre-drilled and marked with numbers so I could re-assemble the crate on shipping day without making new saw-dust that might fall on the painting surface. I carefully set the 32" x 40" portrait inside and onto the spacers. I then screwed on all the cleats (10 of them) which I had previously attached when the canvas was unpainted (bare), and which I had numbered and marked with a line on the cleat and the frame, so that I could easily align them again with their individual holes. With the painting so firmly held in place by the cleats that it actually added strength to the crate, I dropped the top skin into the pre-dadoed reveal on the top, and screwed about 50 wide-head screws on to hold the top skin into the groove, adding corners made from scrap 1/8" "skin" for extra strength and durability. I added a "strap" of scrap luan for added strength across the middle, and duct-taped the edges down so it wouldn't catch on anything in shipping. I then drove it to FedEx — where I got a compliment on my crate from a customer. I need to give credit to Morgan Weistling, a fantastic painter and dearest of friends, who advised me when I called asking for suggestions. His advice: make it as light as you can to encourage them to carry it, not fork-lift it and add handles to suggest the same. He also advised me to use FedEx, as he has had the best handling and treatment from them, out of all the major carriers. I will not sleep for 2 days.

Click here to watch a little movie of a 3D fly-through of my crate. Made with Google Sketch-up. A free modeling program for Mac or PC! The blue, translucent rectangles represent the as-yet unattached bottom and lid, which would later be dropped into place.

Update It arrived safely 2 days later, and, according to my client, looked like it had been handled gently all the way from CA to KS. Whew! And they loved the painting. In my accompanying letter to them, asking them to consider it for two weeks before asking for changes, if any, my client responded:

David, Sorry, I would like to tell you to do this or that to the picture... Impossible, it looks absolutely perfect right now! The three things I was hoping to get... you got. 1. It is a damn good work of art. 2. It looks just like her. 3. You actually "caught" her. The mannerisms, etc.

That totally makes my day.

Anne: A Completed Portrait

2007-04-17T12:31:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow 32" x 40" (81.3cm x 101.6cm)
Oil on Belgian Linen
Not For Sale
Private Collection

About This Painting

It's done!
And with client approval and acceptance I can ship it this week.
I am delighted with the result. It did not "fly off my brush with ease" as these things go with some artists... this has been a lot of work, and I have enjoyed the struggle.
I finished it last night, poured a glass of cabernet sauvignon and toasted my worthy adversary: Portrait of Anne. I have been wrestling with her the better part of a month — not every day, but most days.
She has been a delight to paint. An absolutely lovely face, and a distinctly handsome woman [1] and it was a pleasure to get to know her personally prior to starting this painting.
I am told by her husband Charles, who commissioned this as a symbol of gratitude for the love of his life for their 20th anniversary, that it will hang in the same room in which the reference material was gathered for this painting, in their modest Kansas home. ◙

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Someday...

2007-04-14T14:22:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow 11" x 14" (27.9cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Belgian Linen Panel
SOLD Collection of Anthepy Nelson
Timonium, MD – USA

About This Painting

Her large, beautiful, but longing eyes betrayed her. She looked as if she wanted to be somewhere else.
She had a servant's heart, a warm smile, easily able to be chatty with those on whom she waited each day. She was beyond dutiful when performing her tasks. She was the best around. And nothing about the moment I caught her eyes staring at a distant hope "somewhere out there" diminished the excellence of her work, her attitude, her presence.
In a moment of stolen rest, twisting at the waist to wring out the morning's aches and tension, she stood staring at something beyond the physical window that only she could see, for its reality was in her mind, not outside.
Jamie, who modeled for this painting, caught my artist's eye one morning when I was out to breakfast with my daughter. She laughed easily, chatted at each of the tables in her station, looked each person in the eye making each feel as though we were all old friends. She's a waitress at a popular breakfast chain, and my daughter and I were out for pancakes and eggs.
"Would you like sausage or bacon with your breakfast, sir?"
"Bacon, please. And I'd like you to consider modeling for a painting."
Later that week, she did. ◙

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Reflections on a Fall Morning

2007-04-13T14:03:00.001-07:00

by David R. Darrow 12" x 9" (30.5cm x 22.9cm)
Oil on Belgian Linen Panel
SOLD Collection of Doris Darrow
Sunnyvale, CA – USA
Happy 79th Birthday, Mom!

About This Painting

Weather or not...
That is not a typo, it's a pun.
I joined a group of plein air painters at San Diego's Balboa Park, once the site of a World's Fair one Fall morning to paint sites on the grounds.
There is a gorgeous reflecting pond and Arboretum there, and immediately after setting up my French Easel, it began to drizzle. That's no big deal when painting in oil... the water is repelled by the oil in the paint, so I decided to stick it out and keep painting.
Three hours later the precipitation had increased to actual, bona fide raining and I decided to pack it up, and finish the painting later from snapshots. ◙

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Oil Sketch - Geoff

2007-04-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

Geoff wanted the whole experience of getting a portrait done, so I spared him nothing. The first day started with my arrival at his house, him inviting me in, and his eyes bugging out of his head — albeit politely — as I began to load my stuff into his house. The majority of my stuff was more related to photography and video: lighting, stands, audio mixer, microphone, lots of cords and wires... and the minority were essentials: French easel, paints, canvas, brushes. To loosen up and get my head in an abstract place, I grabbed a gessoed luan mahogany panel, 11 x 14, and began painting freehand rapidly, squishing paint here and there with no underdrawing, no toning. After about an hour (would have been quicker if were weren't having such a fascinating conversation that demanded non-visual parts of my brain), I set my brushes down, flipped the board around so Geoff could see it, and said , "Here's a quick oil portrait of you that I am proud to say barely resembles you." His girlfriend, who visited the following day, said she kinda thought it looked like maybe his 12-year-old-son, in a way, if, you know, he had one.

Michelle in Conte

2007-04-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 12" x 14" (30.5cm x 35.6cm)
Conte on Smooth Newsprint This painting is not framed Click here to bid on eBay
Opening Bid: $19.95 / Buy It Now™ $29.95 Ends: Friday, April 20, 2007 at 7:21 PM (Pacific Time)

About This Drawing

I've decided to post some of my Life Drawings on eBay for sale.
Each of them that I sell is a one-of-a-kind original from the hand, eyes and experience of David R. Darrow. That's me.
These were usually done as demonstrations when I was teaching Life Drawing at a local college. They are all done on 18" x 24" smooth newsprint — the favorite of students and teachers, but not inherently archival. Newsprint is known to yellow and get brittle over time, which I think adds to the character of it. If mounted properly, matted with acid-free mat board, and protected with glass, these drawings can last for decades and look quite elegant.
I recommend taking your drawing to a Poster and Framing shop at a local mall and have them dry-mount it on foam-core. They can also trim it to your frame size, help you with matting, and frame it too, if you want. The mounting and foam-core is about $10, last I checked.
Some of these will be listed as auctions and others in my eBay store.
You may want to take a moment to bookmark my store by name: Everyday Paintings (just like my art website, only different)
The shipping cost covers double mailing tubes, insurance and the shipping weight. If you purchase more than one of these drawings you may have each additional drawing for $19.95 with free shipping if all are shipped together. I will provide the discount on the invoice, or if that is not possible, I will refund the portion that is overpaid, immediately, through Paypal. (It's complicated at my end, but it works).
Please ignore the picture and description of the shipping carton at the bottom of this page... that is for my paintings and has nothing to do with this auction ◙

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Simultaneous Commissions

2007-04-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

I got a rush job that could lead to bigger things (more on that later) so this weekend I have been doing an art house call, so to speak. Geoff, the man in the pictures, is commissioning an oil portrait of his likeness (more on that later) and so I have taken about as much of my studio and lighting and video and audio equipment to his home 35 miles away, and set up in his living room to go through the process. Geoff — knowing that it's a much shorter event for each of us if we just get together and get to know each other for a couple hours, maybe do some charcoal and then color sketches and then shoot reference photos for me to use in the studio — wanted the real deal, the old-fashioned sitting; an "I'm sitting for a portrait" experience. He's allowing me the privilege of videotaping over my shoulder while I draw and paint to eventually use for an instructional demo DVD (more on that later). Due to several forms of upheaval and inconvenient transitions going on in my life (more on that later) as well as the currently diminutive size of my studio, we could not do the work at my location, and so we chose his. It has been surprisingly rattling to my confidence to finally get set up in his home (about an hour and a half of set-up) and then draw in front of him. I'm not sure why. I scrapped the first drawing (not shown) and started over again. The drawing to the right is what I arrived at by the time my sketch was done and he had to leave for work. Before he got up from his seat, I shot a few reference photos, and, back in my studio this afternoon, studied my drawing and the photos and solved the problems related to why it wasn't looking enough like him. The sketch at the top of this post is the final charcoal under-drawing on an acrylic-toned canvas that will be covered in oil paint tomorrow. More on that later.

Promise

2007-04-04T18:34:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 7" x 10" (17.8cm x 25.4cm)
Oil on Belgian Linen Panel SOLD Collection of Svietlana T. Franke
Baltimore, MD – USA

About This Painting

Whenever I look through a camera lens, I start seeing framed pictures. Usually I see framed paintings, to be more specific.
When I saw this young woman sitting in this lighting, I asked if I could take some pictures of her. I told her that this particular lighting would make for a wonderful head-study and that I'd like to do a painting or drawing of her someday.
Getting around to it has been a bit of a challenge.
I met her in my second term at Art Center College of Design — coming up on 30 years ago — when I took the picture on which this painting is based. I mostly wanted to take her picture because I thought she was pretty and I liked her.
I found an old box of slides the other day, and when I saw this image again after all these years, I thought again that "this particular lighting would make for a wonderful head-study."
And so I guess I have kept that promise, just like it was yesterday. Only now I have no idea where she is. I haven't seen her since college. ◙

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Searching

2007-04-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

by David R. Darrow 8" x 8" (20.3cm x 20.3cm)
Oil on Canvas on Birch Panel Available in my eBay Store
Price: $350.00 — Or Make an Offer

About This Painting

I met this fascinating fellow when I stopped in at a local place for a cold drink on a summer day four or five years ago.
He recently posed for me.
There are some days here on the California coast that simply insist that you pour something soothing down your parched throat, further demanding that it had better have the right flavor.
I am not much of a fan of beer.
Not since I got spoiled by the hand-crafted ale made at Carlsbad Brewing Company's Pizza Port right here in my town. To someone who has not found delight in award-winning ale versus a cold beer, I can only describe it as the difference between, say, Yuban or Folgers coffee and a cup of espresso made with a fine Italian espresso machine and the skilled barista creating it.
So, when I stopped in for a chilled ale one day a few years ago, I met Dave. Well, you don't really meet Dave. Dave is part of the atmosphere at Pizza Port.
You experience Dave.
This day he was — as he always is, I have since learned — working on his own personal record on the pinball machine, on which he also held the game's top score until his 15-year-old daughter recently topped him.
When Dave has had enough of the machine that eventually always wins, he backs away, gives it a respectful chin-up reverse nod, and goes out to the outer courtyard with his now-warm glass of ale and mingles with the crowd. Sometimes he retrieves his white-lacquer, steel-string, acoustic guitar from someone who has been "watching it for him" and breaks into just about any popular tune, folk or rock, from the 1950s on forward. He seemingly knows them all.
Dave has done just about everything, I recently learned when I sat down with him and talked mano y mano for about three hours. He's done carpentry, accounting, ditch-digging, welding, auto-mechanic, you name it... but what he always wanted to be — and still laments that it never happened for him despite years on the circuit — was a professional musician. He plays several instruments, wails on the guitar, sings with a decent rock-baritone-to-second-tenor, powerful voice, possesses a performer's heart, and has a head full of knowledge about anything from the US government, crack-pot laws, rock and roll, automobiles and biblical eschatology — the latter being the topic of the bulk of the conversation for those three hours.
The conversation was lively and kept my attention well-enough... but part of the way through, and as a complete non-sequitur — since there really is no way to ease up to such a thing — I cut in with, "Hey, can I paint your portrait?" If I didn't ask him at that moment, I would not be able to listen attentively to much more of the conversation, since, despite the engaging subject, my mind was already beginning to get lost in color mixes and the direction of my brushstrokes in the painting of him I was doing in my head while his voice seemed to be fading into echoing oblivion.
He replied with a twinkle in his eye that by such a request he could tell I chose only the finest-looking models to paint, and that he could therefore trust me as a great artist, and that he would gladly pose. Then he bellowed a hearty laugh and raised his glass of ale for me to do the same.
We clinked the deal right there, and went on talking about the Bible the rest of the night. I am glad to have gotten to know Dave.
I know I will paint him again. ◙

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Progress: Anne

2007-03-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, progress is being made, and for the most part, it's not 'ready for presentation' most of the time. To show all the steps or stages, or shoot a picture every hour on the hour would feel too much like someone is watching over my shoulder. More unnerving than creepy. Besides that, to paint something so large and make it accurate, there's a place I have to go in my head that is neither automatic nor explainable. In some ways it's mindless — not thinking about what I am painting (an eye, a cheek, a neck or hair), but rather what are the shapes and hues, values and edges that make it look good?. To snap out of such a mental place is a bit abrupt and disquieting. So I just paint on. I start, of course, with a blank canvas. This one, at 32" wide by 40" high (81cm x 101cm) stares back at me like Goliath to this Little David. "Go on... I dare you," it taunts. No it's really not that bad. Even if Norman Rockwell said it better, a blank canvas just has to be dealt with. Dangling prepositions notwithstanding. The first thing I have to do is tone the canvas. This serves at least 2 purposes: One is to get rid of all that glaring white which will effectively fool my eyes while I paint, likely resulting in too light of a painting. The second it to get a darker tone down into the valleys of the canvas weave. Often when painting, a gentle brush stroke will apply paint only to the high-points of the canvas texture, (the threads and crossovers of the woven linen) leaving the valleys (the space between threads) untouched, revealing the white acrylic (in the case of this Classens 166 acrylic-primed Belgian Linen) priming. The result is an unpleasant bright speckling, especially in darker passages. Working very quickly due to the extremely quick drying time of acrylic tube paint, with my left hand I spray a mist of water all over the surface of the canvas to wet it, then with my right hand I squeeze random squiggles of Cobalt Blue and Raw Umber Liquitex Acrylic. These are both compatible with the existing acrylic ground, and subsequent oil paint will adhere to it safely. If this were oil-primed canvas, I would have to use these colors from my oil paint supply, since acrylic cannot be painted over oil and expected to last long, if at all. Using acrylic saves waiting time. Without even taking the time to cap my acrylic tubes, I begin brushing frantically to gain an abstract thin coat of acrylic all over the surface. I do this with a moist, cheap, 1.5" house painting brush (the $1.25 kind from the warehouse hardware store whose name rhymes with Foam Depot). The already moist bristles will help the paint flow, and not grab hold of the hairs of the brush, instead. Quickly, I grab a paper towel and start dabbing and wiping, patting and dragging. The purpose here it to gain a "natural abstract" effect, with dissimilar textures throughout, while lightening the value of this tone so that it is not too dark. This texture can add interest to areas of transparency, but will mostly be covered by the final painting. It needs to be light enough to draw on with charcoal... which is my next step. A careful drawing is done with a 4B General Charcoal Pencil. The softer charcoal pencils draw darker with a lighter touch, and are easier to erase with a kneaded eraser. In the case of this painting I erased my first completed drawing after "sleeping on it" for a night. No, I did not sleep on my painting — I did the drawing in the evening and purposely did not start the painting that night, for two important reasons: 1) I wanted to give myself a mental and visual break so that my fresh eye in the morning would warn me of any corrections that needed to be made, and 2) I wanted to have a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. Before I retired for the night, I took one more look at the drawing and decided the figure was just a little too big for the composition, and having learned to trust my instincts, went to bed knowing that in the morning I would erase the whole thing and redraw it. I went to bed a little frustrated. The next day I began the drawing all over again, and when satisfied that I have a good road map for beginning my painting, I start applying the darkest of the darks, wherever they fall, and begin building a shadow pattern, constantly working wet into wet. For the curious, I have created an audio-free, short movie of the progress thus far. It's just a few aligned still-shots cross-dissolving. Note that none of it is in a finished state, even though I appear to move from section to section somewhat thoroughly. (Quicktime 7.0 or higher required. Some browsers may force you to download the entire movie before playing. The file is 2.7MB, and you may have to right-click [PC] or option-click [Mac] to properly Save the file). The entire painting, so far, can be seen here.

Still Painting Everyday...

2007-03-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

If you have noticed a "slowing" in my postings, it is because my time is almost completely eaten up by a 32" x 40" commissioned oil portrait that will take the bulk of the rest of this week to complete. I am really enjoying this larger piece after a year of postcard-sized paintings. I wasn't sure I would. At the risk of sounding unsure of myself, to the contrary I knew it was just going to take some mental gearing-up, and didn't want that process to take too very long.

Frankly, the larger size kind of shocked me when I set it on the easel and got the drawing done. Doing mostly small works over the year, I had forgotten what such a large canvas 'felt' like staring me in the face... so much so that, in addition to the 8" x 10" sketch I did earlier, I decided to do a same-size practice (shown above) just to whip my brushes into shape and let them know we're going to be covering a lot more canvas-real-estate over the next few weeks, and dragging lot more paint here and there.

Fortunately they were listening, and caught on quickly.

Actually, the final painting, underway, is larger than the sample shown above. That canvas, shown with the quick charcoal sketch on it, and then rapidly painted, is on some cheaper canvas stock I had laying around, stretched on a smaller frame than the final, but the head and hands — my area of concentration — are same-size themselves. The scribbling off to the lower right was going to be a study of the lower hand, with the canvas rotated to 90-degrees CW... but I decided, rather absentmindedly, to just continue painting freehand down to the bottom instead of rotating to my earlier drawing.

What did I learn? Hands are harder than faces, for me. That hand area was a total mess for at least three hours, including an hour's work I just wiped right off. I guess the best part of being an old, seasoned painter is that you just know you'll get it eventually, so 'just hang in there.'

I'll be posting "segments" as I approach finish.