A Jockey a Day

Here's another of these fellows that I have painted for Parklane Gallery in May. Again he's very close to completion, but still needs a couple of more strokes, and of course the signature.

All the reference photos for the jockey series I took last summer at Emerald Downs racecourse. I look forward to racing starting in April so that I can go back and get some more photos. They've been a blast to paint.

As before this jockey is for sale, and won't screw anything up if he goes to a new home before May when he's due at the gallery, because I have several of these paintings I'm working on, and probably more than I need for the gallery show in May. The price (before he gets to the gallery) is $250.00, and includes a custom wood frame, but not shipping.

If your a new viewer to my blog, this is an original oil painting on canvas. All the jockeys are the same size 16" x 8" (this is the unframed canvas size).

The Jockeys

Come up to the lab and see what's on the slab . . . er easel. I have to confess I was playing that soundtrack the other day when working on my new series. While the jockeys may be tan there is no blonde hair ;-).

This is the first in a new series I'm working on. They'll be shown at Parklane gallery in May. I have been enjoying painting the bright colorful silks immensely. I've chosen to do almost all of the jockeys from the back with the exception of a couple of side views. I made this decision on purpose because if I were doing them from the front, their faces would automatically be the focal point, which is not what I was going for. To me it's all about the posture, and the beautiful silks. What are they doing? What are they thinking? I find I am really drawn the to mystery of figures from the back. They capture my interest. B.C. Nolan, a fine artist who also paints many figures from the back expresses it much more eloquently -- but naturally I can't find that article when I want to. So I'll just have to leave it by saying it was a conscience decision.

This painting is done except for the signature, which I'll get done this week. So in the meantime I've got the copyright mark across the bottom.

They are for sale, each painting in the series is 16" x 8" and they are framed. The price for each one is $250.00 (plus shipping). Plus they do not need to be purchased as a set. I will probably have prints made of them, but do not have a final decision on that yet.

If you wish to purchase one of these fellows you can contact me directly until they are at the gallery (in May). After that they maybe purchased by contacting Parklane via their website at www.parklanegallery.com.

Salute painting

To finish up my "Salute" painting story. These are the deep gallery wrapped canvas, because obviously I didn't want a frame on them. When Salute is hung the canvases are spaced 1 1/2 inches apart. So I made block thing (from tapping several house paint type stir sticks together) that was 1 1/2 inches.

Then I could work on a couple of the paintings at a time. I'd have them stacked on my large floor easel. Naturally I couldn't work on the entire painting at the same time, although on occasion I did try. The painting was hung in my gallery from the very start, then I would take down the sections I wanted to work on to my easel. Then put them back up on the wall. Well naturally I kept seeing something I wanted to work on when standing back looking at the over all painting. So I'd forget and go up to make the stroke. Of course that didn't work. They paintings where hung, so they would tip and move all over.

I'm the kind of a artist who works a painting all at once. I also like to work alla prima (wet into wet) and with such a large piece I couldn't do that as much as I would have liked. Areas would dry before I could get back to them. Anyway I had those canvases up and down off the wall so many times. LOL

The one downside I did find to doing such a large piece was when I went to take a photo at the Parklane Gallery (in Kirkland, WA) so that folks could see it. Obviously to fit the entire thing in the frame I had to stand quite a ways back. And therefore the viewer doesn't get to see the brushwork that went into the piece. This always happens when trying to share small jpgs, but certainly I'd never encountered it to this extent.

So for your viewing pleasure (and to show that brushwork). This blog entry starts off with a portion of one of the panels - the nose.

Hope you enjoyed my "Salute" story. I'm on to jockeys next . . . . .