Today is my birthday. I’m 47!! Check out my @mycharitywater campaign. Help me raise money for clean water. http://www.mycharitywater.org/richbrimer
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Yesterday I sent off the four completed diptychs in my “Face of Love” series. The went with John Alderson and his son Bryce to BIOLA University for an exhibit that will last the entire semester. It will be in the foyer of one of the buildings on campus. I will post photos of the display when I get them in. It seems a bit strange to send off my paintings and not be there to hang them. I fully trust John’s judgment, but still odd not to be there. ;.) Below is the current stage of the paintings. I have not displayed the “I was Thirsty” paints ever before, and (don’t tell anyone…) there is still a bit of work to be done on it. I want to fuss a bit with the faces still, but I need a break to do some other work, so I shipped them off as is for the time being. Click on an image to view larger. I was thirsty - You gave me drink" 36" x 72" Oil on canvas  I was sick - You visited me 36" x 72" Oil on canvas  I was sick - You visited me 36" x 72" Oil on canvas  I was naked - You clothed me 36" x 72" Oil on canvas
OK… I am getting closer. I have at least put some effort into ALL of the faces now. I have quite a lot left to do on each to tweak them but I can start to see where this is all going. I plan to finish this week with it because there is a “Board and Friends” art show for the Arts Council of the Conejo Valley that I am in. I am wondering what else to show? Here is the current state of things at the moment….  I have the first layer for her face in finally. I wiped of her mouth about 4 times before I found one to keep. Now to finese it.
So, I got a lot more progress done tonight on this painting. I was not ever that satisfied on having the large hand coming in from off screen on the bottom right. I felt it was to “present” and drawing too much attention to itself because of its size and being in the foreground. Its dominance was a distraction. My wife say the painting for the first time last night and told me she thought the same thing. So… I painted a coat of titanium white over it last night and put the first layer of the new limbs and background over it tonight. It can be tedious to work over something that you have spent time putting in place, but overall, I would have never been satisfied with it being there, so alas, it is not. You can see what it LOOKED like here. Below is my progress after tonight’s work.
 Here is the details of after painting some of the arms of the last figure back in. Here are a couple of closeups of my painting. I love how the light can make such simple shapes to tell the story of this kids face… but there is STILL much work to be done. More online soon.
So, I have actually been working on this painting a bit over the past month, but honestly, it is difficult to be motivated when the garage studio is 45 degrees. I have a space heater now but it costs a lot to run and it all the heat gets sucked out as soon as someone opens the garage door. <woosh!> So, here you have the latest draft of this piece. The top kid on the top right is turning out to being the focus. I am struggling still with the faces a bit – specifically the eyes… but I WILL get them right. It is the most important part to get right. I hate seeing a painted face with one eye higher or farther to the side than the other… Adding color has really changed the feel of the painting. I like it, but I also really liked the look and feel of the monotone version. I will post again when I have something new to show… but we are planning to move in the next month, so craziness ensues.
Here you can see that I have begun to block in the four figures on the left panel. There is a lot of work left to get the faces right, but I am well on my way to a good start. I have been off line with this painting for a couple of days to prepare for painting for Christmas Eve services.
So, here is the very first early sketch of a new painting. This is the 4th of my “Face of Love” series. After drawing it with pencil, I began to do a wash of burnt umber and walnut oil. I will not be able to get back to it until Sunday night. This will be called “I was Thirsty” and is going to be my hope that through it, I will raise the funds necessary to build a well in a waterless village in Africa. I am inspired by the hundreds of churches that are conspiring together this Advent Season to provide funds to allow Living Water to build hundreds of new wells around the world. This is from the Advent Conspiracy website… “Drilling a fresh water well is a relatively inexpensive, yet permanent solution to this epidemic… Solving this water problem once and for all will cost about $10 billion. Not bad considering Americans spent $450 billion on Christmas last year. Our hope is that, by celebrating Christ in a new way at Christmas, the church can serve as the leading movement behind ending the water crisis once and for all.” I know a few more churches this year that are involved in this effort. I am joining in with this new painting. I will be spreading the word throu this blog, and in due time, through art shows. Now to get back to painting … which will be difficult during this time of year. but I will work on it as much as I can. Soon, I will also be adding a new “Faces of Love” page to display each of the paintings in the series together. What if……we conspired together!!! |
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