Oil painting experimentation

A new painting I have been working on. Oil on masonite board, with quite a bit more texture than I usually work with( you can see the texture in the detail image at left). I am going to try something crazy with this painting and paint the colors over it. My past black and white paintings had the same intentions initially, but they turned out too nice to paint over. I think the added work figuring out the values and brushwork before the colors, should cut the things I need to worry about in half, right? Stay tuned to see if it works out, I should have a color version soon.

Also, I have made a few minor changes but if you haven't looked through my lists of Great artists and Great living artists you should. If you like my work, you will find similar but much better work with these links, and maybe a few you haven't yet seen.

Sketchbook #6

I work almost exclusively in pencil with a .03 size mechanical pencil. I have no real reason except for that I have become accustomed to it. There are some really nice things like the tight clean lines and I don't need to sharpen. but it makes it a little difficult to shade large areas, thus the trailing off crosshatching as I lose patience. Cross hatching is an interesting thing, I always wanted loose spontaneous lines, I worked at it till one day in high school they just became spontaneous.

Sketchbook #5?

A few new drawings from the old sketchbook.

Cast painting

Finally a finished version of the statue painting I did. It's about time I put up a post of some classical non-digital art. It was fun and challenging to paint, especially around the face with all of it's detail and subtle color changes. I am still learning how to take good photographs of my work, this doesn't really do it justice I assure you. The background is a flat color but it all catches the light different to produce this lovely ocean wave background, maybe it's a happy accident. Whatever, just don't click on them because they look pretty good as small icons.

Shoreline

Here's a new digital painting. I like how the face turned out, but backgrounds always bring me down. I just don't have the patience for the detail and have a hard time suggesting things with simple strokes. I really think I need to put more time into the concept. I usually go with whatever comes to me as I am working. I thought this was a good idea with the orange line, but maybe that confuses the light source, the moon maybe? Hope you like it.
And, drop by my website. I've added some detail images if you click on paintings.

Vote for your favorite

I thought since it is election season in America, I would hold my own official vote. Don't worry this computer voting system is completely save. Here are two Warren Buffet caricatures. Please vote on which version you like more. I think the one with all the bells and whistles is leading by a large margin in the exit polls but this is a democratic poll. The winner will control my digital painting folder and keep immunity at the tribal council.

Painting practice

I guess this is maybe a post more appropriate before Halloween, oh well. This is a nice picture I found somewhere and decided to paint. I hate it when I paint things like this just for practice and they turn out nice(in my opinion), then I am stuck with a painting that's not really my own. Practice, I guess.
I included a detail picture. I've had a hard time getting good pictures of the detail in my paintings. Digital pictures will never do justice to the real thing.

Davemalan.com

I have just finished a redesign of my website with some newer art but especially a new design. I would like your input on the changes, especially if you are familiar with the old site. Also, I've heard rumors of it not working for some on Macs, but my it works on my Mac, so if you have problems please tell me. Visit it here

Sketchbook #3

Some more sketchbook work a couple from tonight, one is a Rockwell study. I like drawing more than anything. I like the sketching style that has evolved for me over years of practice. I have pretty much ditched all of the non-essential details and just focus on the important parts of the subject. I also usually just suggest the darks with a quick hatch scribbling, another thing that just started looking better after a lot of practice.

And "Thanks" to Ryan Wood, my last visitor(see lone comment on "drawing" post).

Drawing

Here is a recent drawing done in conte I think, maybe nupastel, I forget. It is in my sketchbook I like the full range of values I get but it makes a mess.

I was profiled by Lines&Colors yesterday, if you've never been there it's a great blog featuring a new artist everyday. It is a useful resource for artists that you may not know about. Thanks for all the comments.

Halloween

Here is my Halloween submission for the Avalanche blog. It is great to have such a talented place to work because it really pushes me. I think this painting turned out very nice.

Prints Available

Because I have a few nice paintings around I have decided to offer a couple of them as prints, including this Halloween painting. They are inexpensive. Right now there are 3, there may be more in the future. Please have a look here.

Gallery work

I've got a couple of paintings currently in the Realism Invitational at the Klaudia Marr Gallery. This one is a detail of probably my favorite painting to date. It's actually my little sister done in Oil on board, 12x16.

Royalty

A painting for Avalanche of a king. I like how the colors worked out. I was nervous about the drawing early on, but it worked too. I am really trying to give my paintings more depth and more complexity.

Statues

I love going to fine art museums and looking at the classical statues. I think sculpture is maybe a more forgiving medium because nearly all the sculptures are so beautiful (though not all the paintings always are). This is an absolutely brilliant statue in the New York Museum of Art called "Ugolino and his sons" by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. I also love the fact that there is an intriguing story that you want to know after you see the sculpture. This is a pencil sketch from my sketchbook.

The Godfather

Nobody likes Gilligan anymore so here is something a little darker. The Godfather slightly stylized oil on board painting. This is an older work, but oil painting with black and white is always a good way to learn how to paint without the headache of colors. And The Godfather I and II are great movies.

Cafe

This is an oil painting done a short while back. I had some nice reference I took sitting at a restaurant that was really deep red everywhere. So I tried to do a play off the golden age illustrator Coles Phillips(thanks Kactiguy) and his dissapearing edges. It is an oil painting about 16"x20".

Composer

just another painting of another face with some crazy hair and costume. I didn't really want to put in the time for the finish work so here it is.

Pilgrimage

I made my first pilgrimage to Walt Disney World last week, that place is unbelievably cool. The Animal Kingdom was so impressive artistically, they do such a great job making cool environments. I was happy to see new visitors when I returned, thanks for all the comments. I haven't had time to work, but here are some newer drawings. I like lost lines. The second is easily identifiable (see The Godfather II, the best movie ever).

Brompton oratory

This is a recent oil painting. It's about 18"x24". I was excited by the idea but once I started into all that architectural detail I changed my mind. But all the work turned out well. I don't think the face is really that red, but I like the composition. The setting is this really great hidden cathedral in London called the Brompton oratory, which is just filled to the brim with gaudy details, I dig gaudy details(unless I am painting them).

Putin

Here is the Russian president Putin painted as practice. A little too red in my opinion. One thing I hate is canvas. It always drives me crazy because I cant control the paint like I would like with all that cloth texture. If it is really a tight weave I can handle it but I always prefer masonite board with a touch of texture from the gesso. I thought it was about time to post an oil painting.

Then a couple drawings the one is not Karr, the Ramsey nutcase. It's actually the guy from "Good night and good luck"(a really lame movie with a lame premise.

Rocket man

I did this a couple of months ago. I think it was my first good color painting. I liked how the colors in the face turned out. I did the light burst just now, I thought it might be fun. He had the hard light on his face so I thought it was probably missing a little light on that side of the picture.

Frustrated

This is one of the drawings from below all painted up a little looser than I would normally. Hopefully it works. Judging by the purple tie I think he may be in the asian mafia, I think they wear purple ties?
Actually I used no color reference for this so I am pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I think sometimes my color is a weakness.

Sketchbook #2

A few more from my sketchbook, my bread and butter. You might notice one drawing is the hobbit on "Lost"(no, I don't watch "Lost", sorry).

My favorite artists

I wanted to get out a list of the great painters of all time along with my previous list of living greats.

Alphonse Mucha, probably my favorite artist ever. He is famous for his graphic work but I think the brilliant stuff is his oil painting which are more difficult to find. See The apotheosis of the Slavs

William Bouguereau, unbelievable figures with perfect realistic skin. If you haven't seen one of these in real life you need to.

Nikolai Fechin, genius drawings you won't believe, probably the best I have ever seen. I don't feel it with his paintings though.

Emile Frient, really beautiful, I love his style and feeling.

Jean Leon Gerome, why is it so hard to find one of the greatest painters ever? See Pollice Verso.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

John William Waterhouse.

John William Godward, stunning paintings. Nice figures, cloth, marble, etc.

Ingres, so great.

Sir George Clausen, he must be my favorite style. I am just paralyzed when I see his paintings in a museum(see Day Dreams in Philadelphia).

Logsdale, you must be kidding me. Some of the most complicated intricate work I have ever seen.

Daniel Ridgeway Knight, I love beautiful people in beautiful landscapes. A few look a little too much like a Kinkaid painting(that's a bad thing) but a couple are absolutely brilliant. See one here.

Thomas Dewing, there is a whole building of Dewing in D.C. and a great painting in the national gallery(The painting above).

Lepage.

La Thangue, hard to find.

Frederick Lord Leighton,

Charles Sprague Pearce,hard to find.

Almost missed John Singer Sargent. Brilliant portrait artist. Painted with such simple strokes.

Illustrators:

Maxfield Parrish, no one can paint colors like Parrish, need to be seen in real life. I like his characters but the landscapes are crazy good.

Norman Rockwell.

Don't forget J.C. Leyendecker (or here and here). Stunning complicated whimsical work. Rockwell's favorite(I think) and my own.

Robert McGuiness, good illustrations, great cowboy paintings. Make sure to see the western work especially his landscapes. Oops, I think he's still alive.

N.C. Wyeth.

Dean Cornwell. Another early great illustrator.

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Sketchbook #1

I attribute any art talent I have to my sketchbook. I've spent most of my freetime in my sketchbook for the last 12 years of my life. I look through any magazine I get my hands on, looking for interesting faces and anything I can draw. Mostly I focus on the faces, I think thats the hardest thing to get because everyone has seen so many faces they can identify any problems. Here's a few pages from my current sketchbook.

Great Living Artists

Here is my short list of great living realism artists that I have been able to discover in my extensive searches for beautiful art:

Burton Silverman, Maybe the best living artist oil painter today. Really beautiful spontaneous loose oil painting work and gorgeous charcoal drawings. My wife interned for him, he's very friendly and talkative.

Daniel Adel, Maybe the greatest Illustrator around. Great work including great illustrative whimsical work along with really wonderful photography, oil painting portraits and watercolors. I would consider his work similar to my future goals. Just so proficient in all areas.

Jeremy Lipking, really great oil painter, beautiful moods. Very loose with nice colors, though he is young I like his older work. He actually has a lot of people copying his style these days.

Joe Sorren, I guess he is out of the realism area, but I love his work and original colors. I bought his little red book and love it. I wish I was an originality genius like Joe.

Doug Fryer(and here), Doug was one of my best teachers at BYU, he has moved from illustration to more of an loosely painted landscape specialist but he still does great figures. His landscapes are absolutely brilliant with incredible colors and atmosphere.
His style is close to a similarly impressive Michael Workman.

Lucong, great portraits that are handled with interesting colors and a nice sense of atmosphere. He has done what I've been trying to acomplish with paintings of people that are more then just a portrait because of the way they are handled and their composition.

Donald Jurney, beautiful landscapes and fantastic compositions and colors. Great realistic landscape artist.

Jacob Collins, More nice oil paintings. Maybe a little too technical for me but great figure paintings. I like the colors too, nice skin tones.

Jeffrey Jones, some wild original stuff. I am not usually into fantasy but this is just great work.

Igor Malnikov, I found this guys art in Santa Fe, and thought it was cool. It's got the Russian feeling going for it, very moody but well painted faces.

Michael Grimaldi, I like this guys style. Really interesting paintings with great drawing. It's a little dark, but very talented.

Richard Schmid, an unbelievable painter, up with Silverman's caliber. He has a really simple style that works if you can put every stroke in the perfect spot the first time, I can't. Not a useful website though, but it'll give you the idea. I do highly recommend his book.

Tony Ryder, really bright colors and a precise style that I like. Check out his demos.

William Whitaker, great figure paintings and painting technique, and he's my mentor.

Morgan Wiestling, Not necessarily my style but a good painter. Some are a little sappy, but others are really wonderful, the Christmas Mary and child painting is very nice.

Digital:

Oren Haskins, A new artist I just came across, but absolutely genius with his lines and shapes. I am in love with his loose drawing style. He has represents all of the best parts of another great, Claire Wendling.

Cali Rezo, I think that's the name? I just came across this one recently, she is French and has some cool digital paintings.

Neil Campbell Ross, this guy is really one of the best. Fantastic digital painting work, really loose but it works so well. Make sure to see his environments. I love the change from tight digital work. His blog is a little easier to navigate.

Craig Mullins, I almost hate to admit it because he is a fantasy artists god, but Mullins is a great artist. Beautiful environments and some great figures. The website is a little clumsy in my opinion which makes it hard to skim through.

This isn't comprehensive, but these are the people who have a folder on my computer. A couple of other good references are the Art Renewal Center, the webs best collection of classical realism art. Finally, the Arcadia Gallery in NY, always has nice realism art.
If there are others I haven't found, that you think might fit into this list, please tell me.

Cowboy colored

Here the cowboy is all painted up. I think I went a little overboard on the details it took a long time, but I like the colors

Goat Wrangler

My Radiohead video isn't getting much love, so here is a new post for those faint of heart. I saw some great cartoony stuff and had to prove to myself I could do "cartoony". I liked how this is going. I want to try something new with the painting.
Unfortunately, there may be some sketch lines in my work. I hope that doesn't ruin the magic. I have notice a lot of crazy artists with absolutely no sketchy lines in their work. I don't understand this, I tried my best to hide my original faults, but couldn't get them all. Maybe I need to buy some tracing paper and a pen. I haven't the time for that.