Schoolgirls - Part 3

Part 1

Part 2

Since the girls just wanted to have fun, I released two from among my many other characters.

Something else to note is that with this series within a series, I started using the oval as face form. This is usually not done in figure drawing.

Notice that between the idea sketch and the final portrait, she lost a tooth.

Interesting enough, in painting the girl hanging upside down, I couldn't paint her right side up, only upside down. If I turn the sketch over, she looked totally out of proportion to me. What do you think?

My next step with the school girls started crystalizing around the idea of a crowd of girls, but not bunched together in a circle or in a line. Part 4 will explore how that came to fruition.

Thank you for reading!

Schoolgirls - Part 2

Part 1

After my first three schoolgirls, I moved on to many different characters but found myself returning to sketch the girls in many different poses, some happy, some sad.

Three of those sketches turned into paintings #84, #92, and #93.

The sketch of #105 then reached over to #106 to fix her collar and I wondered...

...how was I going to handle their insubordination in not staying within their own panels? I decided to give them a chance to interact and solve the obvious framing problems of attaching them later.

I decided to do another sketch balancing the action reaching the opposite direction.

Therefore #101 and #102 saw her returning the favor, but with a little more gusto.

Finally, I took the interaction to my logical conclusion of boredom with the subject - one of the girls strangles the other to leave her alone and get back into her own panel!

I brought a little more emotion into #103 and #104 where they are shown fighting for their own individuality and the next part will show how they celebrated in their freedom as I returned to them stand alone.

Thank you for reading!

Schoolgirls - Part 1

I've selected portraits that I have titled "the schoolgirls" because these characters have become a favorite theme among my current body of work. I'd like to take a few posts to take you through my thoughts behind the process and how it led to their development.

It all started with these sketches. I started with the one on the left, and then was intrigued to sketch the second and third. As I began the actual painting, I started to discover different expressions on their faces. I saw a fragile personality, naive, young, and pensive. It occurred to me she might be a schoolgirl in uniform. The bright hat, much like a halo, needed to bring emphasis to the face and the many emotions it could evoke. Although I'd intended black and white stripes, her shirt became red and white. I chose the purple to add richness and the green to balance it all out.

These were also some of my earliest paintings from the entire body of related works although they are #82, #83, and #81. I moved on to other characters and from the progress of those I was inspired to move back. I will write about the next schoolgirls in part two.

Thank you for reading!

Origins

My new work is a pictorial journey of my inner world. Populated with characters, color, texture, and allusion, each piece wanting to tell an individual story while restrained within a moment's frame of time. Let me show how the idea transcends the early sketches into my character development.

My first idea sketch was simple pen on paper.

I worked the idea sketch showing a grouping at a sea shore with some glazing techniques - oil on Gesso board.

The figure in yellow seemed ignored by the other two and since I wanted to show what would interest me enough to turn away, I conjured up a starfish with his inherent geometry.

The third painting of this series gave me a chance to explore more colors and develop the characters greater identities.

The last painting features an intense view of a simple man and his new buddy, the starfish. Will I take them further? I don't know, I do know that the starfish has appeared again.

Much to a family's amazement, he makes his reappearance in another painting .

Thanks for reading!

New Gallery Open!

Everyone is welcome to explore the new gallery space and view Michael's art in person!

Monday through Friday

9 am - 5 pm

500 Auburn Folsom Rd

Suite 110

Auburn, CA 95603