"I Dream Of Jenya" ......and more

It's been several months, about four, in fact since I last posted. Between some health issues and commissions with deadlines to meet, I almost bit off more than I could chew. But, "Here's Johnny!" Still down on energy, but much better than I was. (Thank you VA Healthcare.)

The two commissions I did presented challenges. Neither had a live model to work from and both had to look like the persons they depicted. The hardest one was a portrait of a father and child. The photo was old grainy and a flash was used to take it, but it is the only photo available. I know better than to take commissions with this kind of reference, but the client s are good friends and it was to be a Christmas present for one of them. The father depicted is 40 (at least) years older and lives in Southeast Asia now. The child shown at about age two, is now middle aged, so you can see my problem. No people to work from, bad reference material, no choice in composition, and having to fake a lot of things. Here it is in progress. I took this one evening after dinner still on my easel. Because of my health issues I was up against the deadline and unfortunately I did not get a photo of the painting finished. Since I know the people and they live in my area, I will get a photo, hopefully the next time I am over at their home. It is quite different finished, as you can imagine.

As you can see, I still have a long way to go and starting with finishing the toddler.

This painting is done on Dibond 24"x18", that I sanded lightly to take the shine off the metal, primed and put an oil ground on it. I really like the finish to paint on. Paint goes on like when using oil primed linen but without the linen texture. No adhesion problem as I prepared it pretty much the same way I used to prepare aluminum race car bodies for a custom paint job. Yep, I was a car painter in another life, doing race car paint jobs.

My second commission was for another friend and a tribute to a model and photographer. Again, I had no access to the model, or the photographer. Normally, I do not use other peoples photos. No matter how good they are, and in this case excellent, they are not mine or my "vision" of the subject and how I wish to paint it or her, in this case. Also almost no compositional choice as my friend wanted this pose and lighting. It is also more risque than I normally do figurative paintings. Consequently I am only posting the drawing in progress here, but the finished painting is in my figure paintings tab on this blog. Please understand I recommend, adults only. Yeah I know, that statement just invited every kid who looks at this blog to take a look, but how else to tell people?

This is also using Dibond as a support. It is prepared the same way as the previous commission. This is the drawing in progress. It is to scale on the Dibond.

Hmmm.... Maybe I should have placed a black censor strip across the drawing. Well we're all adults here. Right?

The painting is titled "I Dream Of Jenya." It is a 36"x24" oil painting. This image is being done with a charcoal pencil. It is a painting of Eugenia Diordiychuk, a Ukrainian model who is now living in Los Angeles and working for Playboy. She is also the model for some video games, does work for an American fashion company.

Doing this painting is not my normal practice, but I did it, for a friend. I do have to admit it was a joy working on this and paying tribute to her beauty and the incredible photographer, Pasha Lisov, who's name is listed with mine on the front and back of the painting This is one of the most beautiful ladies I've seen in many years and would love to work with her someday and do all original work of my own.

I will be posting more often now, but the subject matter will be paintings for my gallery, Biltmore Galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona, and for a group show in Wyoming this coming July. The catalog painting for this group show is nearly finished, an 18"x24" landscape. No naked ladies for this show, folks.