Speak No Evil

[stlukesguild]

This was the pastel/mixed-media painting that I began after my last move. We had a partner go behind our back and lease another unit in the building we were in after he had agreed to the terms in our unit. We ended up having to move in another artist and reorganize our spaces within the unit as a whole. The guy who bailed on us proceeded to run off to Canada to stay at his cabin on the lake for a month leaving the space I was moving into an absolute shambles. I had to spend nearly 3 weeks of my summer vacation moving, organizing, and fixing up my space. There is one good thing about the time I'd lost. I was looking at my still-life oil paintings and found myself wondering how Cadmium Red in oil would look on one of my pastels.

Of course, as I should have expected, the oil paint looked far too glossy. Over the next three weeks while I was unable to work on any art the paint dried... and then I went over it lightly with a fine-grit sandpaper. The resulting surface harmonized far better with the rest of the painting.

If I were Whistler, I probably would have called the painting something like Harmony in Red & Gold or Fantasia in Red, Gold, & Black.

Ultimately, it became Speak No Evil... obviously as a result of the gesture of the figure. This is probably one of my older pieces that I still like the most.

 

[Artyczar]

Straight cadmium red has that orange tinge to it and I tend to go for the darker version of the cadmium red get a more crimson tone, but this looks great against the gold. The darker may have been too constrasty. I like how it goes with her eyes.

Sometimes I like to mix areas of red with orange. I don't like anything shiny though. I like a matte flat finish.

 

[stlukesguild]

When I was using oils I loved Cadmium Red Medium and Cadmium Red light. I use these colors a good deal with the pastels. The first detail above is probably closest to the actual color of the painting. Good catch noticing the eyes. I make a concerted effort with the eye colors either in contrast to the dominant color of the painting or in harmony with it. Either way... the eyes tend to be a focal point and I like making the life-sized nudes somewhat disconcerting... confronting the viewer as opposed to looking away demurely. In this instance, she is actually looking away off "stage left" as opposed to at the viewer. My one studio mate... yes, THAT one!... always had a problem with the eyes. He repeatedly wanted me to have their eyes closed or looking down or away.

 

[stlukesguild]

I prefer a matte surface myself... except for the gold leaf. When I was painting with oils I wanted a semi-gloss that highlighted the paint strokes but when I moved into pastel I thought of them as being very much akin to fresco. I remember thinking how much this was true of Degas' pastels:

There is something very fresco-like and matte to these. At the same time, I started using a very matte crafter's acrylic... initially as a primer that had great tooth for pastel... but then I started to use it in large flat areas. The Day-Glo florescent/neon paint company is based in Cleveland... just a few buildings away from the studio I had before the last one... and I became intrigued with the use of these colors after seeing them used in paintings by Francis Bacon.

 

[Artyczar]

Seems like he wanted them to look more passive or maybe he wanted them to look more vulnerable? Or maybe he couldn't handle them being alive! Ha ha ha.

 

[Artyczar]

Wow! That's a beautiful painting! So different for you, yet I see your signature lines and markings.

 

[stlukesguild]

That last painting... a pastel painting... is by Degas... and yes, one of his finest.

 

[musket]

How did you get a matte finish on oils?

 

[stlukesguild]

Seems like he wanted them to look more passive or maybe he wanted them to look more vulnerable? Or maybe he couldn't handle them being alive! Ha ha ha.

That could be true. But he also was very much stuck in his ways. He never progressed beyond the art and music he loved in high-school. I still like Pop Tarts on a rare occasion, but my taste in food as well as Art, Music, Literature... continues to change. He rarely questioned the "rules" he learned years ago... and so to his thinking, there was a set way to portray a nude.

 

[snoball]

If I were Whistler, I probably would have called the painting something like Harmony in Red & Gold or Fantasia in Red, Gold, & Black.

How 'bout Speak No Evil of Red? Well done!

 

[stlukesguild]

I ended up sanding the surface lightly with a fine grit sandpaper. Even so... the red surface on this one painting has more of a sheen than any of the others painted with acrylics.

 

[stlukesguild]

Oddly enough, I have very little red clothing. Perhaps I'm just not interested in being mistaken for Santa Claus... especially now that my hair's gone gray/white. I mostly wear the obligatory artist's black. By the way, Arty... is that a thing in California? It was the uniform de rigeur in New York.

 

[Artyczar]

That last painting... a pastel painting... is by Degas... and yes, one of his finest.

Doh! Oops.

 

[Artyczar]

Seems like he wanted them to look more passive or maybe he wanted them to look more vulnerable? Or maybe he couldn't handle them being alive! Ha ha ha.

That could be true. But he also was very much stuck in his ways. He never progressed beyond the art and music he loved in high-school. I still like Pop Tarts on a rare occasion, but my taste in food as well as Art, Music, Literature... continues to change. He rarely questioned the "rules" he learned years ago... and so to his thinking, there was a set way to portray a nude.

 

[musket]

Oddly enough, I have very little red clothing. Perhaps I'm just not interested in being mistaken for Santa Claus... especially now that my hair's gone gray/white. I mostly wear the obligatory artist's black. By the way, Arty... is that a thing in California? It was the uniform de rigeur in New York.

Very few men look good in red. My sweetie is still a stone resident of Irving Place in her heart, and wears black like nobody's business. I look terrible in it.

 

[Artyczar]

Oddly enough, I have very little red clothing. Perhaps I'm just not interested in being mistaken for Santa Claus... especially now that my hair's gone gray/white. I mostly wear the obligatory artist's black. By the way, Arty... is that a thing in California? It was the uniform de rigeur in New York.

Black is the artsy fartsy uniform for most cool people IMO. But a lot of people are whacky and like to "advertise" that they are artists and wear some weird-ass shit sometimes. There's a variety of things here. Fashion is a big deal still. I wear a black t-shirt every day, but that's mostly around the house and when I work, go to the liquor store, etc. I hardly ever go "out" anymore, but when I do, I try to wear something stylish, but my idea of that is not everyone's else's. I do not wear dresses. I'm rather masculine, but sometimes I'll wear a masculine pink shirt. Ha.

 

[Maybenartist]

I like the te technique you use with pastels and also your paintings. They're unusual for me, which is a good thing.

 

[musket]

Our dearest departed Abbijane, a wonderful clothing designer in New York, almost always wore only wore one outfit. Oversize black turtleneck (down to her thighs), black tights, and black Hermes boots. She looked fantastic in this rig, but then, she would have looked fantastic in almost anything. It helps to a girl to be five-eleven, stone beautiful and have the charisma to go with the black.

 

[Artyczar]

Since I've gained a lot of weight, I try not to go out of the house for anything because I don't look good in any clothing at all. I once looked good in anything and everyone thought I was hot shit, but that was a long time ago. Maybe I'll post pics. We should have something like that in the "Café." Old pictures of ourselves when we were younger.

 

[stlukesguild]

I have a couple of red and burgundy dress shirts which I wear. I do wear a lot of black when I dress up... and not merely for art events. On a day to day basis I wear lots of casual grays and light blues. I learned quickly not to dress up when working in the studio back in art school. The Freshmen would all start dressing all weird and artsy... but as it was an art school, all the other students were also artists and not impressed. You also quickly found out that at an art school, oil paint was everywhere. After ruining one or two nice sweaters or pants you quickly started dressing in jeans, t-shirts, and flannel shirts.