What a week!

So over the past week we have seen so many things happen. So many historical events in a short span of time: The Royal Wedding (I'm so sick of that) and the death of Usama Bin Laden. Top that with my busy life and all of the excitement of finals week! In the end it has been a long month yet it is a good month. My watercolors just keep getting better and to me that is all that is important to me.


I have just recently finished a painting of Gary Bowlings(a legend as far as I am concerned) and Jody Queen - great friends whose tireless efforts in the Bluefield, WV community has made so many opportunities available to artist like me. For those who have been following my work over the years you know that the Iraq Art show held at the Bluefield Arts and Science Center (Bluefield, WV) was possible because of Joe and his wonderful wife Vicki who not only got the show scheduled for me but also provided the food, promotion and countless hours of sharing my work with complete strangers. Also, last May he and his wife helped my wife's show with the same. All in all I cannot be more grateful for these folks and I felt a painting coming on.

Gary Bowlings, like Joe and Vicki, has been instrumental in our development as well. During our first year at Bluefield College we were seriously thinking about transferring yet I felt that God was telling us to stay - I really think part of that was to give us the opportunity to know Gary and thank God we did. Gary is not just an artist he is a force, something that not every artist has or will ever attain. Gary works on a different level and watching him and seeing work ethic is something else. Over the last two years we attended Bluefield College we found ourselves more and more involved at Gary Bowling's House of Art in Downtown and it was because of this we became better artists and it is what gave us the belief that we could make it as artists.

So as I reflect on these two people I think about how I came to this point.

In the recent months I have been developing a series of paintings about my friends. My wife was watching me work on a portrait and said "Jerry, people are important to you". At that moment I thought "she's right" and that comment gave birth to this new series. Dana pointed out that when the students leave in the spring for summer that I get depressed and I am always trying to get connected to them. I suppose that this is a sign of the "Facebook" era. Being connected is everything. Yet, it is not about the number of "Friends" you have on Facebook it is the stories behind each person and the reasons why you are friends that count and perhaps that is why I am and have always been interested in painting people. So this new series: My Friends.

Above: "Joe", Watercolor, 11"x15", $225

"Gary", Watercolors, 11"x 15", $225

May 19th, 2010 - The World of the Gorillas

So last night while working on the Wild Horses design (a temporary name - not the official title) I popped in a youtube video. Typically I like to put movies, music or a professor's lecture (thanks Dr. B) as background noise to keep me at ease - working in complete silence kills me!

Yet, the video I put in happened to be about the world of the Gorillas in the Congo. In particularly it was about the silver back gorillas that were massacred a couple of years ago - http://mountaingorillas.gorillacd.org/ - and I never really knew much about what had happened or what was going on now.

So this morning I started a drawing from a picture I had taken at the Asheboro Zoo in NC of a Silverback Gorilla in their Forest Glade Exhibit.


The Gorilla is a beautiful animal and it actually made me nervous walking up to the exhibit as it was lying right next to the glass when I noticed it. It got up and stared right at me and moved on. These animals are so breathtaking - they're not swans but they are wonderful creatures.

Well apparently they are not as wonderful to the charcoal traders in the Virunga National Forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While watching the video it is sad to see that the one group - whose mission is to protect them - is under attack as well. The Director of the National Park seems corrupt and the Rebel Leader who has limited access to the Gorillas is ....well he's a rebel leader. Go check out the video here:



So now that we've seen the video and we've heard their story....what do we do? Where do we go from here? What can we do to help?

I feel a new inspiration for a painting....

visit: mountaingorillas.gorillacd.org for more information.

May 11th, 2010 - The Value of Studies

So this morning I had a final and today is actually the last final I take at Bluefield ever again! On saturday I walk! It's been a long time coming and just the thought of it just about brings me to tears!

So anyhow, I decided to draw a closer look at the anatomy surrounding the eye of the elephant for the simple fact that I want to really get the feel and texture of this wonderful creature right!

The other night I started a painting of the elephant - something that has been obsessing the pages of my journal lately. I opted to do a painting from a picture that I took in Asheboro NC at the NC Zoo. I really like the composition and the texture around the eye - SO POWERFUL LOOKING!!!!

For the value of doing mulitple studies over and over again and even if they seem repetitve is to help you - the artist - to really get into the essence of the subject matter. Constantine Brancusi was notorious for this - he spent a whole life time studying the bird and his end result was Bird in Space and Bird in Flight - he truly captured the essence of the bird! It wasn't over night and he never gave up. My belief is that if you want to really capture a subject regardless of your style you have to observe and study as much as you can - you have to be obsessed!

So how does the painting look?

Well, so far so good! Above is the first step, I do a semi-detailed sketch or at least enough to get the important structural framework done. Then afterwards I start putting the textures in using Golden Acrylic's Mediums (Light Molding Paste and Fiber Mix).

After the texture comes the painting, but first I wait for the texture to dry. After the texture is dry to the touch I start using light layers of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna Acrylic paint from Liquitex. This is basically drawing, but in paint! So if you can draw you can paint!

So after the initial block in, I start adding a little background and detail. I think its important to give every part of your work - while working on it - appropriate care. Don't just focus on the one point and forget to do anything in the background because it can become a distraction. Anything that takes you from the focus of the painting becomes a distraction and when I mean focus I don't mean that you have to have one particular area - your focus can be your message and again if there is anything that takes you away from that then you are just hurting yourself and the image!

So after this morning's sketch and study I came back this afternoon to finish up the detail of the eye, trunk and the area below the eye. I think the above picture truly illustrates the need to study. If you don't then don't be surprised if you can't see a difference between what you are doing and dumbo! STUDY!!!