"Pay It Forward" Mural

BREAKING NEWS!!

(Flashback to early January, 2008)

The Objective: create a mural in the play yard and transform the drab block walls into a colorful, happy environment for the children served by the Playhouse at Children Today's new North Long Beach location.

I wanted to create a magical world to resemble a fun, grassy, garden-like place from a bug’s eye view through the eyes of a child. My inspiration for the design style came from two of my favorite artists; Henri Rousseau, known for his very stylized jungle scenes; and Eric Carle, a beloved writer and illustrator of children’s books, with whom many kids are already familiar.

Illustration by Eric Carle from, "The Very Quiet Cricket"

"Exotic Landscape" by Henri Rousseau, 1910

In working with a crew of teen volunteers, the approach needed to be ”cool” enough to engage them, yet simple enough not to intimidate the inexperienced artist.

I made the renderings to scale divided into five sections, and outlined the drawing onto the wall with a fat Sharpie. The kids spread out in front of their favorite areas, and we went to work.

As the result of five boys who gave their dollars to finance the paint, and the beautiful brushwork of more than a dozen volunteers– parents included– the “Pay It Forward” mural came to life.




It is my hope that the children will feel the sense of joy and comfort,

when being greeted each day by their familiar “friends”

upon returning to their safe haven at Play House North.

And that the teens who so generously gave of their money and their time, will remember the plight of homeless children as they grow into young adults.

May we all grow in gratitude and a continued spirit of charity!

To find out more about Children Today and how you can assist families affected by homelessness, go to:

http://www.childrentoday.org/

To those who are already helping support Children Today, thank you!

Peace,

kwg

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last Friday afternoon I received an email with an acknowledged last-minute request to do a painting of giraffes. A dear friend from childhood wanted to give his wife, who collects giraffes, the painting for Valentine's Day.

"You bet," I replied. I rarely turn down requests which are within reason. It would have to be acrylic on canvas, the fastest-drying option.

I immediately did an image search for giraffes, and suggested painting two of the beautiful animals together, since it was the day to honor love. Mark asked for a mother and child.

"Great idea!" I enjoy painting the mother-child subject, whether human or beast.

First a pencil sketch on paper. This helps to familiarize myself with the details of a giraffe, and really study my subject matter.

Then I "sketch" the composition on the canvas with paint and block in areas of color for the background. The photo I worked from had an almost entirely black background. I wanted suggestions of foliage, and glints of light here and there.

I began adding Payne's Grey (an almost-black color) to the background and bring darks into the animals. The paint was very wet at this stage which caused glares in the digital photos.

Here I began focusing more on the details of the giraffes. It's important for me to get the canvas covered with color, so I am not painting subjects against stark white (the total absence of color). Color is effected by other colors; and especially black and white.

At this point I realized that I had the shape of the heads wrong, and had made them too squared.

So I rounded out the jawlines and added some blue to the background (which is the direct compliment to orange). Notice how the oranges in the giraffes seem so much brighter with the addition of blue. And the foliage now has a richness and a better illusion of depth.

Painting is just constantly adding more detail, adjusting edges, and layering color; in a back and forth dance between brush and canvas.

Mark was very pleased with the finished painting, and excited about surprising his wife. I can hardly wait to hear about her reaction. The "mother and child" came into being so quickly and were with us only briefly, but I miss them already...

They lived on the wall next to my Toucan for about 2 hours and made nice pals, I think!

Portrait Challenge

Here was my challenge; paint the brother and sister in oil on canvas; and attempt to capture their likenesses and personalities, and create paintings-- not just copies of photographs.

I began with pencil sketches to show to the client for approval. The first round didn't quite achieve their likenesses. I drew both children looking older than they really are; a common problem I have when doing portraits of children.

Also their lips were not at all right-- I drew them much fuller than they are naturally.








Round two (these were actually about round 4 or 5, as I did several interim sketches of both brother and sister)...










The client was much happier with these drawings and gave me the go-ahead to proceed with the underpainting.





At this stage she visited me to see the paintings started.

She was pleased, and again told me to proceed.

Getting close to being finished, I turned to some other artists whose work I respect and admire for pointers. I enjoy the community of artists in cyberspace called "Wet Canvas" where we share our work for constructive criticism and help and encourage each other. It helps to have more eyes look at my work to catch things I can't see.

Being an artist is a lonely profession, for the most part; unless you are a teacher, or work with a team of artists, or share studio space. I primarily work alone in my home studio, except when I teach (currently only one class a week), or when I paint murals and work with a crew.

I got some good feedback and critiques. I learned alot, mostly how much there is yet to learn! Portraits are very difficult, especially when working only from photos.

The ideal situation is to spend some time with your subjects, take your own photos, and make sketches from life.

Whenever I sketch from real life, even very quick gestural sketches-- it has a way of "anchoring in" a visual in my mind that I can conjure up when I'm in the studio. Rough drawings always serve to enhance the "life" of my own photos.

My client was very pleased with the finished portraits, as was the gift recipiant. It was an anniversary gift for her husband.

Portrait of brother finished, oil on canvas, 18"x14"

Portrait of sister finished, oil on canvas, 18"x14"

Iris Chair

Here is the start of my new "van Gogh" painting.




It will interesting to see this develop...




since I'm not really sure of what I'm doing.

Wet Paint a la Vincent

FINISHED?

oil on gallery-wrap canvas (sides are painted), 16"x20"

I worked this some more, adding more orange, golds and yellows... well, and greens, crimson... I believe I am finally finished with the "Vincent's Asylum Wheatfields." I painted three of the sides and just need them to dry to paint the forth.

I really appreciate feedback, so feel free to post a comment if you see something you'd recommend adjusting.

I'm doing another painting "a la Vincent," this time inspired by one of his "Chair" paintings:

I'm using my own "Irises Chair" in the new composition. So, in essence-- it will be a painting within a painting. The chair as subject matter is very symbolic. Here is my chair:

I like the position and angle of this chair and the way it seems to float, with no cast shadow.

But, I prefer this environment (below). I really like the bricks and the directional elements on the fence. However-- I think the fence ought to be yellow or citron...

I toned the canvas with (I'm not kidding!) cadmium orange. I plan to leave "outlines" from the orange background. I'm very impatient, so I covered my canvas with acrylic paint (acrylic dries faster than oil). I will do this one in water-soluable oil paint on a 16"x20" canvas.

Here's my rough ink sketch, which I will now transfer on to the toned canvas using the grid method:

You probably cannot see the grid I drew on the canvas. I used a very sharp no. 2 pencil, and made the lines extremely light so the pencil won't smudge when I paint over it.

Ok-- off I go!!!! I just looooooooooooooooove to paint like Vincent!!!!!!!!!

On My Easel(s)

Vincent's View From The Asylum (copy of van Gogh's Wheatfields With Sunrise), 16x20, oil on canvas

I think this one is finished. Below is the photo reference I worked from. I emphasized the reds and purples, and down-played the greens and amped up the contrast to the yellows and golds. Now that I look at it, I'm not sure if it's finished or not. I'll have to live with it for a while and see if anything jumps out at me that needs tweaking...


Wheatfields With Sunrise by Vincent van Gogh

WIP (Work In Progress) 14x20, oil on canvas

This is a value study in black & white I am doing, based on the photo below. The challenge is to create an interesting composition cropping the image to create a sense of balance. So far I have only used black paint. I plan to only use black & white paint on this. I will need to let the paint dry between applications to keep the paint from muddying.

WIP (Work In Progress) 8x10, oil on canvas

This is a limited-palette study using only complimentary colors (opposite on the color wheel) and white, for tints. So I'm using thalo blue and cadmium orange, with just a little bit of Grumbacher red as needed to make a more purple-blue.

I'm trying to paint very fast and spontaneously, using impasto (thick) strokes, to capture the life of gentle foaming sea waves kissing the wet shore. Here is my photo reference:

WIP (Work In Progress) 16x20, acrylic on canvas

This is a commission for my friend, Judy, who I adore and miss terribly since she moved to Florida. I am grateful she has been so patient with me, as this canvas has been in progress for waaaaaay too long. But, it is back on my easel and I am now doing the finishing touches.

Judy wanted a "modified" copy of a painting by one of her favorite artists-- Marc Chagall's La Mariee (photo below). Slight changes include turning the fish into a dolphin, and making the rooster a cat instead (which I forgot about and need to fix). Also the color palette uses more of a burgandy red, than orange. It is not meant to be an exact reproduction, but rather my intrepretation.

I had the awesome experience of sitting below Chagall's incredible ceiling mural at the Grand Opera House in Paris where I was treated to the graduation performance of the Ecole de Ballet.

You can read about Marc Chagall by clicking on the following link:

http://www.chagallpaintings.org/biography.html

ART GALLERY FUNDRAISER

You are invited to an art gallery fundraiser* on Saturday, December 22, 2007 at Gardea's Gallery of Fine Art.

My artwork (a portion shown below) is available for sale, as well as Raymundo Gardea's entire gallery of fine art; original paintings, jewelry and other objects d'art in all price ranges.

Everything is priced to move! Great for last-minute holiday shopping...

Please come, bring a friend, enjoy refreshments, and help support local artists!

Saturday, December 22, 2008 6-10pm

105B Linden Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90802

R. S. V. P. 562-436-9522

*Join us in celebrating one of the pioneers of the East Village Arts District, Raymundo Gardea. After years of service to the Arts Community and the City of Long Beach, Gardea Galleries now needs your help to save it. Friends of Gardea Galleries and are sponsoring a benefit reception to help keep the doors open.