A series is born

So just the other day I was whining about how hard it is for me to work in series.

Work in Progress: Scott with MacBook Pro.©2011 Julie Galante.

Now suddenly my studio is full of related paintings in progress, and I have six more models lined up. I do believe I’ve found myself a series.

I’ve been thinking about traditional portraiture and the use of attributes for a while now, and all these thoughts finally percolated into an idea I wanted to pursue. I am really enjoying the the focus and excitement I feel as I define the project and put together this group of paintings. So this is why artists work in series!

Tags: attributes, oils, painting, portrait, portraiture, thoughts, work in progress

In progress: more Munich

Untitled – in progress, 60 x 80 cm, oil on canvas, ©2011 Julie Galante.

I’m racing against time these days, hoping to finish a few works in progress so I can display them at my open studio event at the end of the month. I really need to stop painting soon so that I don’t have any really wet paintings sitting around when my visitors are here.

I have three new large Munich pieces just about ready to show. Sometimes a little time pressure is a good thing.

Tags: work in progress

Portrait in progress: Emily on the tube

Em on the tube (in progress), oil on canvas, 70 x 50 cm.

For this portrait I’m working from a photo I snapped with my iphone while riding the tube in London with my friend Emily. The florescent lighting of the subway car combined with the flash from the iphone created a slightly eerie, strangely-colored image that I really wanted to play with. Plus the sassy one-eyebrow-raised look that Em was giving me was too good to pass up.

I’ve been working on this portrait in a combination of oil paints and oil sticks. I hadn’t worked with oil sticks (basically oil paint in stick form, so you can draw with it) in a long time, but I saw a set of Winsor & Newton oilbars on sale in an art shop in London, and Em talked me into getting them. It seems fitting that she gets to be my first subject, doesn’t it?

Tags: art supplies, oils, portrait, work in progress

Left behind: 3 works in progress

I am absolutely loving Scotland, even though I miss my studio. » Read the full post

Tags: work in progress

Wrapping up the year

I’ve been out of the studio this week, traveling to Prague to see the Christmas markets. I’m hoping to sneak in a little painting time over the next couple days, but it’s difficult with house guests underfoot. I have a couple works in progress that really need finishing.

Available in my online shop.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s will be dedicated to cleaning my studio, labeling and cataloging the last of my 2010 paintings, and goal-setting for 2011. I’m really looking forward to having the time to get my studio and my thoughts organized. 2010 was a very good year for my art career, and I’m hoping 2011 will be even more exciting. I am so grateful for the amount of time I am able to spend painting.

What happened in 2010 that you are most grateful for?

Tags: work in progress

AEDM day 15: work in progress

Munich Wienerplatz (in progress), oil on canvas, 60 x 70 cm, ©2010 Julie Galante.

This one has been in progress for a while now. It’s a larger, more detailed version of a scene from one of my daily paintings. I haven’t quite figured out what it needs so I can call it finished. Ideas?

Tags: Art Every Day Month, cityscape, Germany, Munich, oils, painting, work in progress

AEDM day 13: experimental painting

What do you think? Does this painting work better with a blue foreground, or a red one?

Oil on canvas board, 18 x 24 cm.

I’m open to other suggestions, too. Not really sure where I’m going with this one.

Tags: Art Every Day Month, work in progress

Portrait in progress: Jen

Even when I’m not posting them here, I often take photographs of my works in progress as part of my process. Seeing a photo of a piece helps me evaluate it with different eyes and make decisions about where I need to go next.

In person, I was getting frustrated with this piece because it seemed to have reached a point where it contained way too many colors (and don’t worry, I know the red line on the chin has to go). That problem was so predominant in my mind that I was having trouble thinking about other aspects of the painting. Seeing the painting in a more compact form on the computer screen helped me see some changes I want to make in the hair highlights, for example. I still don’t have a clue what I’ll end up doing with the background, though. Any suggestions?

A couple weeks ago I shared another portrait in progress with you, of my friend Kim; the final version of that portrait is now up on my artist website (check it out in the portraits section).

What tools do you use to evaluate your works in progress?

Tags: oils, painting, portrait, work in progress

Portrait in progress: Kim

I’m starting to like where this one is going, although I need to figure out the background. Usually I leave the background rather abstract in my portraits. It’s the rendering of the face that interests me, but I need to care about the entire composition. The canvas is 50 x 60 cm.

Any suggestions?

Tags: oils, painting, portrait, work in progress

AEDM 2009 day 8: London sunset

This week in London we saw a fabulous sunset. We were riding west in the front seats on the top level of one of those red double-decker buses, and the Christmas lights strung across the streets were coming on above our heads as the sun went down.

I’m hoping to capture just a tiny bit of that gorgeous moment in this little painting. This is it after the first layer of gouache; I’ll let it dry and then work on it some more.

Tags: Art Every Day Month, cityscape, London, sunset, UK, work in progress