Painting Style

I started painting oil in 1997 after painting in watercolor for many years and I feel my work is still evolving in my struggle for maturity. The influence of watercolor on my oil painting appears evident upon close scrutiny; the paint application is light thereby showing a transparency effect. However, I am not totally dismayed by it but I feel I am not utilizing the full inherent characteristics of oil painting, i.e., applying paint thickly and opaquely (except with the darks). Over time, I am slowly incorporating this technique to suit my particular style which I feel is yet to be defined.

The Process

After trying many approaches in painting the human head, I have settled into the sequence of getting the tone right; applying the darks; building the lights; and finally refining the portrait. I believe that success at painting a head portrait requires a sound foundation in drawing. For me, painting the head is more aptly described as drawing with a brush - carefully smearing patches of paint next to the preceding marks with the appropriate color and value. I continue with each stroke of the brush with paint having the correct color note until the head is covered in paint. I don't paint likeness; I "draw" shapes juxtaposed to other shapes which when aligned correctly the likeness usually shows up. Also, to see the shapes and values I squint incessantly. These portraits are basically head studies. They were not meant to be finished works which means I have not done everything I want to say in the painting due to the time restraint. However, having said that, I think I have essentially captured a loose expression of the model in all the imperfection of paint application.

All paintings were executed in oil on board. These portrait and nude paintings involved the model sitting for 20-minute intervals with the total painting time of about 2 1/2 hours. The portrait models are varied in racial and ethnic backgrounds and came from all walks of life.The portraits that looked finished (and listed as not available) were commissioned works done from photograhs, except one done of my wife (study #2085) which was done from life. My preference has always been to paint from life as the colors are truer than that of photographs. Also, the observed model is not distorted that which sometimes the camera will exhibit on film.