The Oil Painting Blog : Photo Reference

Words of a Winner

Austin R. Williams — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 05:06:00 GMT

The winners of our Self-Portrait Cover Competition are featured in the September issue of American Artist, and they share advice about how to paint the figure and how to maintain a successful painting practice. When we asked David Tanner, the winner of the competition, to give his advice, he offered more than we had room to print. So I thought I'd share it here--hopefully it's useful for those of you working on how to paint the figure realistically, as this artist does. Here, then, are David Tanner's recommendations:


Self-Portrait by David Tanner 2009, oil painting, 16 x 12. Winner of American Artist's Self-Portrait Cover Competition.

If you are interested in representational painting, make sure you find a school or take classes taught by artists who can "walk the walk." Even the most general of painting classes should be taught by a painter capable of doing a basic still life demonstration painting from life.

Paint what you love, of course, but also challenge yourself to paint subjects that hold less interest. I had no idea how much I would love plein air landscape painting until I tried it for the first time, and I'm positive it has improved my reaction time to light and color in other genres.

Draw from life constantly--both alone and with fellow artists. Take advantage of local open figure drawing sessions, where you can join other artists and chip in for a model fee to practice with a live model outside of your classes.

Go to museums and galleries, and linger over the paintings that resonate with you. In particular, look to see how the artists have simplified their subjects down to the masses of color-values.

Study magazines like American Artist, and pay close attention to the advice presented in the articles. In my early days as a painter, I created my first successful flesh-color combinations after reading an interview in American Artist with a well-known portrait painter.

Painting from life is the only way to successfully sensitize your eye to color, value, and form. Avoid frequent painting from photographs until you have extensive experience painting all subjects from life.

Squint and compare when observing your subject and your painting to see value relationships. Let your eyes blur and go out of focus when observing colors on your subject. The blurring will simplify the color to a mass and may make your color mixing choices easier.

Stand far back from your canvas after every few brushstrokes to monitor the success of the effect you are achieving compared to the subject.

For more information about the artist, visit Tanner's website. You can learn more about the artist's painting--and see all the finalists of our Self-Portrait Competition--in the September issue of American Artist.

--Austin

Finding Meaning in the Details of My Painting

Patricia Watwood — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 03:26:00 GMT


Some of the inspiration for the landscape in my painting, Leaves of Grass, came from found images of industrial areas along the New York waterfront.

Sometimes in making a small study for a larger oil painting, an artist will sketch in certain areas very loosely. It's almost as if she says to herself, "and there's some other stuff that fills in this area of the composition, but I'll think about that later." With the set of small paintings I was doing recently, I wanted to push myself to answer those questions earlier, and allow myself more time to critically consider the elements I include, before committing to the time and scale of a large work.

The still life and landscape details in an allegorical painting are the passages that tell most of the details in the narrative story. In what time period is the piece set? Where? What kind of person is this figure? I am interested in creating images that tell viewers they are looking at a world we share and live in. It is important to me that we have images of the human body that show a contemporary experience of the figure in art, as opposed to a sensibility that refers to a time past.

I mentioned in a recent post that Whitman's "Leaves of Grass," was the inspiration for my painting of the same name. So, I wanted this painting to feel like the figure has flopped down on a grassy bank, but not in Whitman's time--in the modern world. I chose the still life objects around her--paperback books, an aluminum water bottle, and an iPod--to show that she is contemporary to our time.


	I often take simple snapshots of landscape elements for my paintings. I don't paint directly from the photo. I use the details to support my imagination.



	Creating plein air studies is also a rewarding way to get a basic knowledge of natural forms that you can draw on for later studio paintings.

The bright colors of these objects also anchor them in modern life. All our stuff is so colorful! What a feast for a painter! To compose the still life painting elements for this work, I gathered objects mostly from my home life, though I'll sometimes shop or borrow for something specific. For example, I knew that I wanted the fabric my figure is laying on to be blue, because it would complement her skin tone, work with the overall design, and to create a relaxed setting. So, I headed to the fabric store to find something that suited the picture.

The landscape is where I departed into the world of imagination. I designed the landscape based on the composition needed for the image. The dark of the trees behind her creates a good contrast for the paleness of the model's skin, and also makes the space feel more private and secluded for a bit of nude sunbathing. The open meadow slopes down to the waterfront of Brooklyn, and shows both nature and industry peaceably cohabitating. Whitman is big on embracing the Holy in the World as it is, not prettified or cleansed of human messes. The waterfront I ended up depicting is not a specific viewpoint, but an amalgamation of elements from the New York waterfront and park landscapes. I combined observation from nature, landscape paintings by other artists, and a few photos from the internet, for my references. I usually print out a set of reference photos and then invent the landscape from my head based on all this material.

For more detail on the landscape, I'll often do outdoor studies, search for found images on the internet, and simply take my own photos for precise details of say, an oak tree branch or a container crane. In general, I paint from life as much as possible, but I am happy to be able to draw on photo reference for background details such as this. I have done many plein air studies, and so have a basic knowledge of natural forms and atmospheric effects to invent from as well. Combined, they express my vision.

--Patricia

For more painting instruction from Patricia, check out her latest DVD, Figure Painting: Realistic Skin Tone.

Oil Painting: Garth Herrick Portrait Demo: Copying a Notable Portrait

American Artist — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:41:00 GMT

The Historical Society of the United States District Court has commissioned Herrick to paint a copy of an original Gilbert Stuart portrait for their collection.

Another diversion—I'm in the process of copying an original Gilbert Stuart portrait of an 18th century Philadelphian, an early federal judge named the Honorable William Lewis. He served just one year—1791—then he went back into private practice so he could make a better living.

The Historical Society of the United States District Court has commissioned this copy for their collection. They directed me to another copy of the original, painted in the 1960s, as a reference. It is indeed a fine copy, but I desired to see the original if at all possible. After considerable sleuthing, and through a string of private contacts, the original was located, and its owner was delighted about the additional copy commission. I was allowed to study the original for one hour one morning to make several digital reference photographs, take measurements, and very importantly, do a quick oil study sketch to basically match up some colors and values. I would be lost without that sketch.

The flesh tints are rather warm and ruddy in the original, and the light is keyed in the typically darker 18th-century mode to accommodate richer colors from an earth palette. I decided to use the same select colors of paint as would have been available to Gilbert Stuart, though I am not claiming to use the same actual palette as he did. The reason for using historic pigments is to more easily mimic the color effects and paint handling seen in the original portrait. Actually I am finding it a challenge to adapt to a thick flake white, and to really load the thickness of the white so it will maintain opacity over the centuries. I have also used real vermilion for the genuine look of the reds. There is still much more to do!

I have included the original painting, my initial oil sketch for the underpainting, the progress thus far, and the portrait and the color study in front of the ongoing children's portrait—presented together to provide a sense of scale.

To read the feature article on Herrick, subscribe to American Artist today!

About the Artist
Garth Herrick was a semifinalist in the Smithsonian Institution’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and was awarded a certificate of excellence by the Portrait Society of America at their 2006 International Portrait Competition. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he received the William Emlen Cresson Memorial Traveling Scholarship, the Stewardson Prize, and the Thouron Prize. Herrick’s commissions include portraits of eight notable federal judges, a governor, a mayor and numerous cultural, educational, and business leaders. His work hangs in a number of public, corporate, and private collections. View his work at www.garthherrick.com.

Oil Painting: Herrick Portrait Demo From Start to Finish

American Artist — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:27:00 GMT

Follow Garth Herrick's entire demonstration from start to finish.

Meeting the Client

This came through an agent, a local representative of Portrait Source [a portrait broker]. I think the client found me in the agent’s portfolio. The couple that commissioned this had so many options for good settings where they live, and they were worried that it would take them a long time to agree on what they wanted. The agency representative set up an appointment in June—I met her in the client’s driveway, we went in, and she introduced me. The meeting was very friendly, and the client was very receptive. We immediately started taking pictures.

Settling on a Pose and Taking the Reference Photos

There were so many good choices for settings! It was amazing that we so quickly narrowed the pose down to the kids sitting and standing on the rock, considering that all areas of their place were just spectacular. The kids gravitated toward that particular rock. The client’s original idea was to have them sitting in a porch swing—that was nice, but it didn’t really inspire me, especially there was a blank stucco wall behind the swing. I wanted more contrast with the kids’ white clothes. The dark evergreen foliage behind the rocks was more interesting. I took a lot of pictures that day, and met with the clients to review the photos on my computer. We decided that we wanted to take some more photos. It was sunnier the second time, so the weather conditions became more of a challenge.

Once I settled on the reference photos, I spent a few days combining them into a composite image in the software program Photoshop. All of the photos used in the composite image were taken on the second day because of the different lighting conditions on that day. I mostly worked in Photoshop the day after I took the photos, but I kept rethinking things and fine-tuning the image. Although the client approved my first version, I kept tweaking, and they approved each subsequent version.

The Underdrawing

I don’t do a drawing—I do most of my thinking with the camera and Photoshop, and then I just jump right into things. It would be nice to work out colors and composition, but I tend to be impatient.

I tone my 80”-x-52” preprimed canvas by rubbing it down with a combination of colors—using paint scraped off my palette—to create a green-gray neutral base. (I do things differently every time I start a project.) I start to block in the portrait with thin washes of green umber, referring to the photo on my 30-inch computer monitor. This imprimatura is dark—about the same value as a Kodak Gray Card—but given the sun-dappled nature of the image being painted, this middle value seems like a good place to start.

I begin with the heads, indicating them with lines and washes. At this stage I just want to map out the composition. I mark positions with a tape measure, using the brush like a marking tool—everything is eyeballed. I find a junction of a couple lines or shapes and mark that spot. Then I draw the shapes radiating from that point.

Blocking In the Portraits

I was just trying to find my way with this painting—locating bigger shapes and anchoring positions and major color notes. I wanted to avoid too many spots of disparate colors—completing an idea like the boy's legs is often better and more encouraging.

The painting seemed analogous to a fiendish Sudoku puzzle! It was a tightrope walk between keeping the surface alive and vital and reining it all in to keep some color and value control. Value control was a priority when mixing these first tentative colors so that the forms begin to emerge. I added a few color notes in the background to break out of the completely monochromatic mode. I needed to start anticipating ways of placing the colors. It was part of my impatience—I wanted to wake it up somehow.

The Older Girl

She was a bit of a challenge because I was sorting out her likeness from multiple reference photos. I wasn’t sure of her expression—in general, I try to avoid toothy smiles, but it didn’t seem to work to have her with a closed mouth. I struggled with her for a little while deciding which way to go. In the first image, those dark marks on her right arm indicated that I was figuring out how the shadow from her hair should be placed. I tried to anticipate the right combination of value and color from the beginning, but I was wrong and had to make changes later on.

The Boy's Shorts and Face

I tackled the boy's shorts, organizing the color changes in reflections and shadows. Although the kids were wearing white or off-white clothes, they are a kaleidoscope collection of various colors in this environment. There was a golden glow of light coming from one side of the kids and a cooler color light shining from the other side. It seemed a little shocking at first to put that golden color on the shorts. I ended up painting yellow over that, but it was a good guide for me—the gold color influenced what I painted on top. I just scumbled or feathered over the foundation I laid down. Then I began to work on the boy's face—I couldn’t reach it without the stepladder. At first I was shy about putting too many disjointed color spots in his face, but sometimes that is the only way to get where you need to go. There were so many different colors and values that had to be organized, and I had to decide if it was better to develop something monochromatically or through colors. I was sneaking up on some of the highlights here. They looked intense enough at first, but the more I developed other things, the more I realized I needed to go further.

Background and Adjustments

I needed to address the background foliage to establish a context for the portraits. Things were looking a little dark in the background, so I removed some paint that was just applied with some newspaper sheets. The background needed to appear more open. I corrected the head of the little standing girl. The more the painting came together, the more I realized that I measured her eyes wrong—they needed to move up a little, and the nose needed to be bigger. It was a little painful at first, but in the end it all came together very well. It was a little embarrassing that I had to shift everything about a quarter of an inch. Next, I developed the trees more with a few suggestions of speckled light. I'll make the background more detailed when it’s warranted.

Further Work on Faces

The little girl was close to where I wanted her to be, but the older girl seemed a little too dark. I needed to add a white glaze over her just to send it in the right direction, and then I painted over the glaze. The boy’s hair looked extremely bright, and the face needed to be adjusted to complement this hair. I needed to trim his hair too. I traced some red lines onto his shirt—from my reference photo—to correct the drawing. I wasn’t proud of that, but it was something that I had to sort out because there were just too many niggling errors there. I attached my palette to my canvas—I got the idea from David Kassan, who positioned a vertical palette next to his painting. Attaching the palette to my canvas was a practical thing for me because I was on my stepladder and needed my hands free to work and to keep my balance. I was constantly reinventing and adjusting my approaches because of the scale of the canvas—I had to think outside of the box a little bit.

Working on Other Portraits

The client has been great—they were more concerned with getting the best painting than getting the finished piece at a particular time. But because the painting was taking up a lot of space in my studio and uses my best easel, I am very motivated to keep it moving along. In between painting sessions on this piece, I have to complete other commissions. For example, I just completed this painting of a Federal judge, the late honorable Clifford Scott Green.

A College President

I often have to interrupt one commission to finish another. Recently, I had to put aside Of Scions and Sunlight to complete this portrait of a college president. I toned the 43”-x-37” canvas with brown ochre light, which is a lot more golden in a transparent state—almost too much.

As you can see, I was not happy with my first attempt at painting the head, so I simply flipped the canvas and started again. The better start gave me the confidence to proceed. The separate elements of the composition fell into place and became more dimensional in their interrelationships as I covered the golden ground color, piece by piece. Often as I continue to close up passages over the ground, I see where I need to revise and further develop what has already been indicated in paint. There is a quite a lot to do, and the unveiling is coming up quickly. Of Scions and Sunlight will have to wait!

Copying a Notable Portrait

Lightening the Key

I need to lighten the boy's face and shirt, and that means everything needs to be keyed up higher in the same way. It is a frustrating but necessary adjustment.

Light on the Ground

I have been adding to the light mass on the ground below the kids. This may be overstated right now, but I can readjust this later.

I also keyed up the light in the middle girl's face.

Oil Painting: Oil 70th Anniversary Competition Winners

American Artist — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:00:00 GMT

We present the semifinalists in the oil category.

by Karen Stanger Johnston

Hyacinth
(and the McCoy Pot)
by Ellen Buselli, 2006, oil on linen, 12 x 16. Private collection.

First Place: Ellen Buselli

Ellen Buselli’s favorite subject is the still life. Influenced by Dutch masters as well as Emil Carlsen, Fantin-Latour, Sargent, Chase, and Giorgio Morandi, this New York City artist says she emulates their sense of chiaroscuro and classical painting in her oils. She likes to paint flowers in season among other subject matter, using her own collection of antique vases, glass, and pottery acquired during travels to China, India, Europe, and parts of the United States. Buselli paints in a studio with northern exposure to get soft, moody light. “My procedure is traditional, and the painting develops by carefully observing how the light defines each object and the space around it, and then putting down the values and transitions of temperatures in color,” she says.

Buselli exhibits her work in galleries throughout the country and has received awards and recognition from The Artist’s Magazine, the National Academy of Design, Oil Painters of America (signature member), and American Women Artists (signature member). She has studied at the Art Students League of New York, in Manhattan; the Tyler School of Art’s program in Rome, Italy; and Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, where she received her bachelor of fine arts degree.

For more information on Buselli, visit her website at www.ellenbuselli.com, or e-mail her at busellistudio@aol.com.

Second Place: Mel Greifinger

Coney Island
by Mel Greifinger, 2006, oil on gessoed Masonite, 24 x 18.

“Making pictures is all I ever wanted to do,” says New York artist Mel Greifinger, a freelance illustrator who has worked for publishers and advertising agencies for 30 years. “I paint now to see how good I can get, doing whatever strikes my fancy.” The idea for this painting came to Greifinger when a group of people of various ethnic backgrounds and ages caught his eye as he exited the New York Aquarium, in Coney Island, New York, and walked out to the benches facing the ocean. He took a photograph of the scene and painted it back in his studio.

Greifinger prefers to paint in oil on gessoed Masonite because he finds it safer and easier to handle than canvas. He also works in acrylic and usually makes an acrylic sketch of a subject before painting it in oil. “I try to work out all of the problems in the sketch before I start a larger oil painting,” the artist says.

In New York City, Greifinger attended the School of Visual Arts and the Art Students League of New York, where he studied with Robert Schultz. He received the Frank C. Wright Medal of Honor from The American Artists Professional League in 1999.

For more information on Greifinger, visit his website at www.melgreifinger.com, or e-mail him at melgreif1@msn.com.

Third Place: Katie Dobson Cundiff

Native Sun
by Katie Dobson Cundiff, 2007, oil, 18 x 24.

Floridian Katie Dobson Cundiff is primarily a landscape artist, painting almost exclusively en plein air. “The most difficult stage for me is facing a stark, white canvas,” Cundiff says. “Especially if there is a subject I am particularly drawn to. Putting down those first lines of paint can be the most challenging.” Once she gets started, however, she works quickly, becoming fully absorbed in the painting. “Although I usually have a clear picture in my head of how I want to paint a subject, there is a time when the painting seems to take me in, and all the elements are working together,” she says. “I feel almost as if I am on autopilot.” Cundiff says she is not afraid of using a lot of paint. She tends to paint larger en plein air than most artists, preferring a canvas that is at least 16" x 20". She usually does not work on an image after she brings it home, but the artist sometimes paints a larger studio piece from a smaller plein air painting.

Cundiff graduated with honors in 1971 from the Ringling College of Art and Design, in Sarasota, Florida. Her artwork has won awards in numerous plein air paint-outs throughout Florida, and it is in
private collections across the United States and in Spain and France. In 2004 Cundiff was the subject of
a solo exhibition at the South Florida Community College Museum of Florida Art and Culture, in Avon Park. She is an associate member of Oil Painters of America and American Women Artists, and is a
signature member of Plein Air Florida. She is represented by M Gallery of Fine Art, in Sarasota, Florida.

For more information on Cundiff, visit her website at www.dobsonart.com, her gallery’s website at mgalleryoffineart.com, or e-mail her at katie@katiedids.com.

More Semifinalists

Grace Mehan DeVito

Hydrangeas and Tea
by Grace Mehan DeVito, 2006, oil on linen, 16 x 20. Private collection.

If Connecticut artist Grace Mehan DeVito doesn’t have a still life subject in mind, she goes to a farmer’s market or flower shop for inspiration. Back in her studio, DeVito sometimes spends a long time setting up the still life, taking objects out or moving them around until she finds a composition she likes. “The challenge is to come up with a good overall design with a good value structure,” the artist says. Once she starts painting, she first masses in the big light and dark patterns and then blocks in the paint thinly at the right value and basic color. Later she adjusts the temperature and refines the details. She paints wet-into-wet, finishing as she goes so she can work the edges wet.

DeVito earned a bachelor of fine art from the School of Visual Arts, in Manhattan. It was there that she also studied at the Art Students League of New York and the Grand Central Academy of Art, and with Laurel Stern Boeck. In addition to still lifes of sumptuous foods and flowers, DeVito paints portraits. She is represented by Portraits South, Portraits North, and The Portrait Source as well as by Susan Powell Fine Art, in Madison, and Handwright Gallery in New Canaan, both in Connecticut. She exhibits her work regularly in Connecticut and New York.

For more information on DeVito, email her at gracedevito@sbcglobal.net.

Lynn Digby

Sharpie Chic
by Lynn Digby, 2007, oil, 20 x 16.

Ohio artist Lynn Digby usually begins a painting with a specific concept and modifies her process to convey that idea. “The excitement I get from painting is not in the act of painting itself, but to communicate something very specific that fires me,” Digby says.

In this painting she wanted to explore using a warm red underpainting for skin tones. First, she toned the whole canvas cadmium red. She then painted the mid tones around the eyes and balanced the color and value there before blocking in the larger shapes and refining them as needed. “I pay a lot of attention to edges, trying to soften any that are not needed for impact,” the artist says. “When certain passages got too wet, I let the painting dry for a few days before proceeding, but mostly I worked it wet-in-wet until it was finished.”

Digby earned a bachelor of arts in art education at Mount Union College, in Alliance, Ohio. In 2007 one of her oil paintings won best of show in the Canton Artists League Winter Show at the Canton Museum of Art, in Canton, Ohio.

For more information on Digby, visit her website at www.lynndigby.artspan.com, or e-mail her at lynndigby@sbcglobal.net.

Jack Montmeat

Diego
by Jack Montmeat, 2006, oil on linen, 28 x 22. Private collection.

Connecticut artist Jack Montmeat usually works from life, but because of the age of the sitter in this portrait painting he worked from reference photographs taken in a room with north light. After selecting the pose, he makes a full-size charcoal drawing on paper. “At this stage, I focus on drawing the subject as carefully as I can, cropping it later,” Montmeat says. Next, he transfers the drawing to a canvas he has toned with a gray or umber color. He then does a sepia-tone underpainting before beginning to paint the darkest, deepest colors and working into the half tones and lights. Montmeat says he likes to stretch his own linen, using rabbit skin glue to tighten it and applying a thin layer of lead white ground, which makes the painting proceed more quickly.

Since graduating from Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio, in 2002 with a bachelor of fine art degree, Montmeat has been painting portraits and working from live models at the Lyme Art Association in Old Lyme, Connecticut. His work has appeared in 12 group exhibitions, including those of the William Benton Museum of Art at the University of Connecticut, in Storrs; Allied Artists of America, and The American Artists Professional League.

For more information on Montmeat, visit his website at www.jackmontmeat.com.

Richard Murdock

Three Magnolias by Richard Murdock, 2007, oil on leaded copper, 10 x 20. Courtesy Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, Connecticut.

Connecticut artist Richard Murdock graduated from Pratt Institute in New York City only to discover that he wanted to pursue a more personal vision for his art. “I look for the uncommon in the everyday objects in my environment, whether it is the beauty of a blossom that has just passed its peak, a big, fat onion, or several eggshells from breakfast,” Murdock says. “Twice I’ve painted fruit that has started to rot, attempting to make repulsiveness beautiful.”

He usually starts with an abstract concept, such as time, beauty, death, or color, and explores one aspect in great detail. A painting might include various orange objects, for example, such as lilies, clementines, and hibiscus. Once he has chosen the subject, he does charcoal studies to work out values and color studies according to a color system developed by Graydon Parrish that allows him to mix any color with total accuracy. He then paints in oil on copper plates he makes himself, a method he says best suits his subjects.

Murdock is represented by Cavalier Galleries in Greenwich and Susan Powell Fine Art in Madison, both in Connecticut; Klaudia Marr Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries in Coral Gables, Florida.

For more information on Murdock, visit the artist’s website at www.richardmurdock.com, or his galleries’ websites: www.cavaliergalleries.com, www.artnet.com/gallery/181897/susan-powell-fine-art.html, www.klaudiamarrgallery.com, and www.virginiamiller.com.

Edward J. Reed

John
by Edward J. Reed, 2007, oil on linen, 80 x 40.

“Few paintings, no matter how beautifully crafted, captivate me unless they contain a strong central idea,” says Virginia artist Edward J. Reed. “The core idea for this painting came from the subject’s personality. John, an 81-year-old World War II veteran, fell on hard times after the war, then worked as a merchant marine and an engineer before becoming an artist himself. Time has deprived John of many things, from physical mobility to loved ones who have passed away. For me, this painting is about dignity in the face of loss and isolation.”

When painting people Reed works from life whenever possible, developing the large shapes first. “Not sweating the details early lets me remain loose and expressive, which breathes life into my work,” he says. Unlike many classically trained portrait and figure artists, Reed avoids grisailles. “I plunge in with meaningful color from the first stroke,” he says.

After graduating from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in 1986 with a minor in art, Reed pursued a career in law until a disability forced him to give up that career in 2000. In 2001 he started taking classes at The Art League School in Alexandria, Virginia. He taught a few classes there in 2003 and was asked to join the faculty in 2004.

For more information on Reed, e-mail him at ted@edwardjreed.com.

Linda Tenukas

Morning Light
by Linda Tenukas, 2006, oil on wood panel, 18 x 24. Private collection.

The reference photograph for this painting was taken in 1980 when Connecticut artist Linda Tenukas was renting a room at a boarding house while attending a photography workshop in Maine. “The print sat in a drawer for more than 25 years,” says Tenukas. Fast forward to last year when a book about glazing oil paint over a grisaille inspired her to take out the print and use it as the basis for a painting. “I thought, why not start out with a black and white image where you have no idea of the original colors and see if you can realistically paint it—sort of like doing a full-color painting from a charcoal sketch,” the artist says. “Redrawing it would allow me to correct distortions and change anything I didn’t like, while using colors that were appropriate for the period.”

Tenukas says the skills she learned as a medical illustration major at Ohio State University, in Columbus, in the 1960s helped her two decades later when she decided to take up oil painting. Her work has been exhibited in nationally juried art shows and is in private and public collections throughout the United States and Canada.

For more information on Tenukas, e-mail her at linda@lindatenukas.com.

Robert P. Zerwekh

Vanitas 2005
by Robert P. Zerwekh, 2005, oil on gessoed panel, 16 x 12.

Kansas artist Robert P. Zerwekh has been creating highly realistic trompe l’oeil oil paintings since the early 1970s. Essentially self-taught, Zerwekh says he has been influenced by a variety of 19th- and 20th-century realist painters, particularly William Michael Harnett. “Beyond simply depicting subjects in a realistic way, I hope that my paintings have elements of abstraction, can be enjoyed at different levels of artistic sophistication, and occasionally have a touch of humor,” the artist says.

For Zerwekh, the most challenging part of the painting process is creating a finished work that completely matches his initial vision. Unlike most still life painters, he rarely works from a setup. His compositions come primarily from his imagination and most of the objects are pure invention.

Zerwekh’s paintings have appeared in approximately 50 juried and 30 invitational shows and have been the subject of numerous articles. They have received many awards and are in collections throughout the United States. Zerwekh is represented by Kinion Fine Art in Sedona, Arizona, and Roy’s Art Gallery and the Lawrence Arts Center Gallery Shop, both in Lawrence, Kansas. In his principal career, Zerwekh is a professor of engineering management at the University of Kansas, in Lawrence.

For more information on Zerwekg, visit his website at http://zerwekh.hypermart.net, or e-mail him at bobzerwekh@hotmail.com.

American Artist would like to thank the following sponsors for making our 70th Anniversary Competition a success:

Blick Art Materials
General Pencil
Hartford Fine Art & Framing
Jerry’s Artarama
Legion Paper
Metroshed
Savoir Faire
SourceTek
Utrecht