Month: April 2009

Black Jack: The Painting of a Dog


Meet Black Jack! Black Jack is a friend that I have known for some time, his person being a neighbor who has an office in my building. He is a sweet fellow whose bark is certainly worse than his bite! His person asked me to paint his portrait, which was a wonderful experience for me!

First, I took some photos of Jack in the studio. He was very excited, and moved around quite a bit, stopping only for a second to pose.

Next, I played around with his photo in Photoshop, using digital filters to abstract the image into an interesting composition. Then I started painting.

All of my paintings begin with a simple line drawing on a dark background. Sometimes I freehand the drawings, but with Black Jack, I traced the image from the digitally altered photograph onto a canvas using an overhead transparency. After the drawing is drawn onto the canvas with a light colored pencil, I begin blocking in colors with acrylic paint.


Several layers of color are added, with essences of previously applied layers showing through in subtle ways. A border is masked off around the edge to allow for a faux frame to be painted in later.


It looks a little bizarre at this point…

As much as I enjoyed the tail in the previous stages, it just didn’t seem to work right for the overall composition, so I took it out.

Eventually, it all comes together. Black Jack’s portrait is finished!

Allowing others to see my step by step process like this is a courageous new step for me. Although I am not at all nervous about sharing my process or having others look over my shoulder, so to speak, there are times that I do not know exactly where a painting is going. It is a bit unnerving to allow others to watch as you venture into uncertain territory.

I was brave enough with this piece to actually allow “live” updates to Twitter (@BZTAT) as I was working on the piece. My followers on Twitter seemed to enjoy that, so I plan to post future endeavors “in process” as I work. Search #bztatptg if you are interested in following these updates on Twitter.

Life is an Adventure!

BZTAT

Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OHnear Second April Galerie and the historic Onesto Hotel.

Random Musings of an Artist

Am I one of those difficult artists who is a legend in her own mind but nowhere else? Do I fancy myself as more talented and more valuable than is justified? Am I unrealistic to believe that I could sell my artwork based on its own artistic merit? Am I crazy to set limits on how much I allow patrons the opportunity to dictate the directions of my work?

These are the random musings, or random questions, I should say, that plague the mind of an artist. Or at least the mind of this artist.

Recently, I have experienced criticism from all sides. I have had renegade artists in my own community criticize me for working cooperatively with community arts authorities and business leaders to complete public arts projects. They called me a “bootlicker” and a “sell-out”. I have also received criticism from an arts dealer who wanted me to fulfill her vision as opposed to my own. She suggested that I was an amateur and a zealot who would never sell my artwork because I was unwilling to make artistically compromising changes to the work. So which is it? Am I sell-out or a zealot?

Or am I just a fool?

I am no Rembrandt, and I am fine with that. I do not aspire to be an artist who changes the art world, nor do I aspire to being rich and famous. I have no illusions that I am some sort of Picasso who could do anything and have it sell for millions.

But I do have a unique artistic vision, and I do have a talent for articulating it in creative works. It is my vision, like it or not, and it is not yours. God gave it to me to give to the world. He didn’t give it to me to allow renegades and elitists on both ends of the spectrum to push into their own realities.

Artistically rendering someone else’s vision would be no more satisfying to me than working the drive-thru at the local burger joint.

And so, that is that.

It is no coincidence that we are referred to as “starving artists”. We’d rather starve than compromise, sometimes. It is ironic though, that sticking to our ideals satisfies our hunger more than anything else in the world.

Such are the random musings in the mind of an artist.

Or at least in the mind of this artist.

Life is an Adventure!

BZTAT

Art Adventures Studios, located in downtown Canton, OHnear Second April Galerie and the historic Onesto Hotel.