Finally . . . An Unfinished Painting Finished!

Finally ... at least one painting finished!

"David Leffel, Portrait King" from his self-portrait, oil on wood palette

This little beauty was started as a demo at the Sebastian River Art Club (Sebastian, FL), and was about 1/3 finished.  I glue-gun globs around the perimeter at first, then put acrylic colors over the globs, then squeeze small amounts of oil paint on top in my normal color palette order, and create my portrait there in oil on raw wood.  Trouble is, the oils have to be used up before they skin over and get sticky, or it will be difficult to use them for the portrait.  So it was a week before I began playing with it again, and now finally it's done except for painting the black around the outside edges and putting a hanger on the back.  This is a young David Leffel, who now is about 85 years old, and is considered one of the finest portrait artists (great still lifes too!) in the United States.  Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, he studied and taught at the Art Students League in NYC for 25 years before moving in 1992 to Taos, NM.  I have studied his style for some time, which has made a strong impression on my own painting style.  To read more about David Leffel, visit http://davidleffel.com/david-a-leffel-biography/ and see other works of his simply by Googling his name.

 St. Sebastian River Mural

Now, to get back to a mural I am working on for a client who lives along the Sebastian River.  Here is a snippet from it, it's about 80% finished.  Some work to be done on the forebanks, then final tweaking of all and finishing the outside edges--which is a project in itself.  

Detail of St. Sebastian River Painting, Acrylic by Judy Burgarella

It is such a thrill to see bright pink birds in a cerulean blue sky flying overhead like this.  They are seasonal visitors, and I was so happy to have a photo published some months back in the Press Journal as "Picture of the Day" of a spoonbill fishing with an egret on a sandy bar in my canal out back.   I feel so fortunate to be living in an area of the world where I can see this beauty almost whenever I want to.  One can get complacent down here after a while, but I try not to take it for granted and continue to marvel at the exotic plants and animals coming into view as soon as I pull out of my driveway.  Pure paradise, and a feast for the eyes.

Judy Burgarella

Artist/Blogger

in Sebastian, Florida