anglicanbeachparty

This is merely a TEST to see if I can post a New Topic.

Here is one more painting that is 99.5% done. It is called "Dark Benediction."

I have been waiting for over 3 months for a post here to be approved. "Your content will need to be approved by a moderator" Is this a normal wait time for this site?

Wow ... I guess I haven't been here in over 2 years. Sorry. I've been painting. This one is called "Spiritus Ubi Vult Spirat" (The Wind Blows Where It Will ... from John 3:8). It's gotten ... umm ... mixed reviews. I have to hide it when my parents visit.

Here is another (perhaps the last) of my cemetery paintings. This one is called "Sentry." This was a commission piece. I hope to do more like it. 1955 Cadillac.

Thank you!

That's exactly how I was seeing the work. Your approach also has a way of affecting the flow of observation. For instance with "Ever Love" you seem most detailed with the dress. I wandered around and followed the dress first and then branched out from there. Her shoulders, chest, calves and ankles also seem to have a higher level of photo-realism than her other body parts (principally around the tattoos, it seems). Then the further away the less detailed, such as the grass in the background vs the grass in the foreground. But that is also based on how it looks on my computer. Wish I could see your work in person. Even in thumbnail size it had an interesting quality. Joe Thanks for taking the time to explain that, Joe! It makes sense. Thanks.

I guess if I had my way, I'd be as realistic as possible everywhere throughout a painting. But what is "realistic" is up for debate. When I can find (or take) them, I love to paint from thin-depth-of-field photographs, so that the background is blurred. I think it is more representative of the way we actually see things to not have everything in a painting be in sharp focus. Which part(s) in that painting do you consider to be less realistic or less detailed?

I know I haven't posted in this thread for a long, long time. I'm just stopping by to say that I plan to enter another bodybuilding contest in July, 2013, just after my 55th birthday. I actually tried quitting bodybuilding for a while, to become a beer connoisseur, but after several months, I missed the discipline and structure of the bodybuilding lifestyle, so I made plans to enter another contest. I'm no good at it, really, but doing it helps me be better in other areas of life.

I don't know if I can still reply to this thread (since it was later moved), but I would just like to say that Fred Folsom ROCKS! I want to be him when I grow up.

I was going for a different style here, trying to simulate stained glass, using acrylic inks. The subject is Adam, my tattoo artist. "St. Adam"

This one is another in the series of cemetery paintings. Check out the rendering of the leather on her boots! The name of this one is "Necrosprite".

Thank you! This one is another bodybuilder:

This one is called "The Bishop's Angel", and contains a deep message about The Episcopal Church. I took the reference photo for this painting with a former Playboy model in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit. I think the photo shoot was almost as fun as making the painting. This won me a $500 prize in a church-sponsored art contest.

Here is a painting which is part of a series of cemetery-themed oils. This is called "Ever Love", and it won me the "Best of Show" award at the South Oakland Art Association show/contest back in October, 2012.