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| (C) 2016 Dale DiMauro |
The coast of Maine begins to offer its attractiveness at this time of year. Just looking at a photograph of the ocean makes the smell of the salty air come to life. The Maine shoreline always seems to have a mass of dark green evergreens for quite a stretch.
I have had a lot of interruptions lately and needed to just paint a simple scene, quickly. At the end, I added the figure because the bottom of the paper was lacking substance. I do like the contrast of warm colors against cool colors. In addition, the areas where you can see the white of the paper add some quality to the picture, but I am not sure what, in this case. Often the white of the paper can convey reflections or texture, if nothing else.
Recently, I have been painting looser pictures done with freer brush strokes. I have been experimenting with different approaches and the nature of the subject matter has a lot to do with this. This winter, I painted more landscapes, I believe, than buildings and the focus of the pictures has been more informal in appearance.
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| (C) 2016 Dale DiMauro |
This is a little portrait I did a few years ago while staying overnight in a motel room in New Jersey. This head shot, in a field book of watercolors, consists entirely of portraits like this one. I enjoy the simplicity of the composition and particularly how the white apron tie lays, circling around the man's neck.
I thought it would be nice to mix it up and post something different. In fact, these little portraits I do and there are hundreds if you include pencil drawings, seem to capture some quality about the individual, even if they are exaggerated. My art mentor, Gerarde Doucette, compares these portraits to the work and spirit of Alice Neel.
Gerarde thinks I should mount them in a series on one wall next to each other with little space between them. I have thought about it but have not done it yet. Maybe someday, but I need the right space to exhibit them. In the meantime, I am looking for the next great portrait....
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(C) 2016 Dale DiMauro
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This drawing started out as a little doodle of President Obama's eyes and eyebrows, which are distinct. I was tired from a long day working outside and thought I would nod off before long. The current presidential campaign season, as we know, was in full swing on television when it dawned on me how Barack Obama has truly fallen into the background of our daily political discourse.
We had a visitor to the house earlier today who was struck by the drawing, so I figured why not post our current two-term president who is so different from any other person who has occupied the oval office.
I like the overall feel of the drawing even though I may have depicted President Obama face as slimmer than it actually is. Obama's eyes looks out yet reveal much inward expression. Is he reflecting on past decisions or is there another heavy crisis looming?
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| (C) 2016 Dale DiMauro |
The Vermont Watercolor Society has its spring show at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vermont until May 22, 2016. The opening reception was held yesterday from 2-4pm on a most beautiful day, which attracted much activity in the galleries. It was great to see all these watercolors, so different in subject matter and scale, hanging in one room. The subject matters include flowers, barns, portraits, water, and snow, amongst others.
Fortunately, my watercolor painting Heading Up River, made it into the exhibition. In the above photo it is hanging to the right of me, in an upstairs gallery. This is the first time I have used ultraviolet glass on one of my framed paintings. It protects the colors in the painting from direct sunlight.
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| (C) 2016 Dale DiMauro |
This little watercolor study was inspired by a walk along a local field last summer. Unfortunately, this field has become a solar array field and is in the process of being fenced in. The scale of the field was quite pleasant to walk through with lovely native trees gathered along the perimeter. There often is much bird activity as last year an eagle soared over me, in early spring, before the foliage emerged.
I have been experimenting with different color combinations to depict the shadows of trees. In this picture I mixed ultramarine blue with various degrees of raw umber and an olive green that was on my palette. At times I dropped in payne's gray too.
Recently, I have favored the mixture of aureolin with prussian blue as an earthy green. However, I have learned that aureolin, a cool yellow, has questionable longstanding archival quality.
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| (C) 2016 Dale DiMauro |
This winter I read many nonfiction books. Recently, I finished Ron Chernow's book, Alexander Hamilton. It was over seven hundred pages long and so well written. It makes me want to see the play, now on Broadway. I have read numerous books on presidents or at least the well known ones. I have read in-depth books on Lincoln, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Taft, Truman, F.D.R. and Theodore Roosevelt among others.
Recently, I bought this magazine called American Presidents: The Greatest...and The Worst! from our local supermarket and have been drawing many of our past president's faces. When I start a drawing of a figure from the past I try to imagine what that person's life was like and how America was at that time.
Theodore Roosevelt had so much energy from his hunting expeditions and his later efforts to preserve land from development that I tried to express some of that intensity, in his face. Regardless, that face with those glasses are unmistakeable. I have not in person seen any glasses that resemble Teddy's with that ring over the nose and that ring and strap coming off his right lens.
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| (C)2016 Dale DiMauro |
Artists have to transport their paintings to shows in advance of exhibitions. I was more than willing to transport another artists painting in exchange for having my painting retrieved at the conclusion of the show. After numerous emails working out the details I will be one of those artists bringing an additional artist's painting to be hung.
With time running out and the Vermont Watercolor Society's Spring show around the corner I had to make some critical decisions. I have not had much experience cutting mat board or assembling the moulding into frames. Earlier last week, I cut a dummy mat board( a cheap board) to the size I would need but accidentally cut the length a little short which I temporarily taped together. I have learned it is easy to over cut the bevel lengths which creates the inside window, measuring incorrectly or ending up with debris or marks on the mat board. Some of this can be addressed, no question with more experience, but I also learned that the moulding chips when I run it through the compound miter saw. However, I do have a nice joiner which makes clear, square corners of the moulding but this was already too many new steps in this process than I was ready to take on to do a professional job.
Reality finally set in, at least for this show, as I brought my painting with the kayaker to our local frame shop. Since this is just one painting and I wanted the picture to look sharp on the wall I feel like this was the right thing to do.
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| (C) 2016 Dale DiMauro |
A few Christmas's ago, my wife bought me this little spiral drawing pad as a stocking stuffer. Then as now, I find the drawing of hands to be the most difficult part of the human body. This is my right hand which I had to draw from a photograph as I am right handed. Artists usually convey the dimension and depth of the hand with some form of cross-hatching or shading.
To get all five fingers and the wrist to scale is one thing. However, to get the hand accurate it also needs to be in scale with the face if one is working on a portrait. This requires much practice along with observation.
Hands not only depict the five fingers but they convey the age and gender of the individual. A woman's hand may be slender while a man's might look like beat up sausages. Some may have hair on them while others may depict a tattoo and/or jewelry. Hands also communicate direction and movement. An open hand may reflect a discussion someone is having with another person while a closed fist may express anger or conflict.
I admire the great masters who captured the hand with authority. Albrecht Durer's 'study of hands' is extraordinary. Other master artists highly skilled at depicting 'hands' would have to include Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti. I like how Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres placed his hands in his portraits, which somehow seemed to enhance the overall posture of the sitter.
