Bear Skeleton

I’m entering pretty gory territory here.  Sorry if you’re squeamish or hate hunting or meat eating or anything like that.  My friend Gilbert is a hunter and recently killed a bear, which he removed the meat from and gave me the fresh skeleton, (minus the skull which he has buried in his backyard so that bugs will clean all the nooks and crannies of, so he can dig it up later and have a nice clean creepy and interesting object).  Anyway, Smithfields wants intensity and I think this will deliver – no?  The back ground elements will all be painted in grisaille, heightening the red and gold of the meat.  I have finished the previous painting for Smithfields, although I’m not showing them publicly until they’re all assembled in the restaurant and we can have a smashing unveiling.  : )  So, enjoy.

Bear Skeleton in Progress - By Sarah F Burns

Bear Skeleton Painting in Progress with the Actual Bear Skeleton

End of day 2

Rachel

Not much to say about this piece – I really hated it when I was painting, but with a little time and distance, it’s grown on me.

Rachel by Sarah F Burns

New Models

Hannah by Sarah F Burns

I just got a new batch of art models for the summer- and I hired them off of Craigslist.  People raise eyebrows when they hear this.  For the most part, it’s perfect.  I’ve found some excellent new models this way.  Will, from last week’s post was a Craigslist find.  He’s a member of a local dance company and was a lot of fun to draw and paint.   Usually Craigslist folks are first time models, and first time models can be refreshing.  They do some weird things because they don’t know what the routine is.  That being said, it’s  always fantastic to use a professional model.  They know what their body can handle, they have a sense of what makes an interesting pose.  They remember to bring a robe and set the timer and all that.

That being said, this weeks new model, Hannah, wasn’t a Craigslister, she found me at the Art Center.  She was available at the last minute so she modeled for us in the last two weeks.  It was her first time, and she was nervous and kind of froze up and talked a lot, but she did the job fine, if not very inspiring, the first week.  The next week (the week of this painting) she came in obviously stoned, which irritated me, so instead of setting the pose myself, as I usually do, I pawned the job off on the first artist to arrive.   Because the model was inexperienced and high, it took them a LONG time to settle on a pose. They picked a pose that was okay, the hand placement is not what I would do, but it was fine and I was sure the model wasn’t going to be able to hold still worth a darn, but again, whatever.  I was not excited, but surprise surprise – it worked out.  Despite the handicaps, we had a great night and I like my piece.  It’s not always easy to know what will translate into a satisfying painting experience.  Sometimes we’ll have a pose that knocks me out and my painting turns out horribly.   But please models, come to work sober anyway.

New Approach

Painting of Will by Sarah F Burns

On the Wednesday evening long poses I usually like to paint on panels sized about 12 x 16 ish.  I’m kind of a creature of habit, but I’m also busy and temporarily out of titanium (needed to make the gesso I use to prepare panels) so at the last minute I had to grab whatever I had available – which was an 18 x 24 inch stretched canvas.  It was already toned (yay!) I didn’t want to think in full color so I kind of just did a drawing using raw umber.  The results you see above – and I have to say I am pleased.  Unfortunately I don’t have any other canvases prepared and I still haven’t gessoed any panels, so I’m not sure what I’ll do next Wednesday….

Xyara

This piece was a pleasure to create. I just relaxed and decided to paint a girl and not this particular girl, not a portrait.  It was immensely freeing to just make a piece of art, rather than do yet another study.  In fact it was a study – but a really relaxed experimental study. Transparent paint in the background makes it warmer and opaque paint for her body.  The strange object she is holding is this modernist portrait bust my studio mate keeps around.  (It’s really a cool kitschy piece of art).  I was experimenting with a wide screen format for a painting.  Ten three hour sessions.  – so there was time to get into things.

Xyara