Rembrandt with Rags

"Rembrandt" oil rag reduction by Judy Burgarella

Well, it's been some time since I uploaded any artwork, and there has been some things done, but this one is interesting.  It was a brief demonstration (45 minutes) at the Sebastian River Art Club (Sebastian, FL) February 21st, 2013, and was the first time I tried this.  I let the class pick which picture I would try out and they picked a Rembrandt.  Trouble was, there were two self-portraits in that book which was opened to facing pages of his image, and I kept going back and forth by mistake, so this one is truly original.

How I did it: 
First I squeezed directly onto the canvas from the tubes, sap green and alizarin crimson, placing globs here and there.
Then with a big brush I scumbled a thick layer all over the canvas, mixing the two together to make a rich, dark brown - almost a black.
Immediately I took a rag (T-shirt material), wrapped it around my index finger and began wiping the light spots out, lightly at first, then heavier when I was confident the wiping was in the right place.
Using a Q-tip, I pulled the lightest spots out, and pulled lightly some detail not possible with the finger.
With cadmium red I added light under his chin, nose and bottom of the ear, and scumbled a bit lightly wherever it was too green.
Used alizarin on lips
With the Q-tip I pulled detail out of the eye, and lightly painted a gray-white for the white of the eye.
Painted the iris with ultramarine blue, the pupil with prussian blue, and pulled out the glow in the bottom of the eye and replaced it with a little lavender at the 5:00 o'clock position.
Put a crisp glisten on the eye at the 10:00 o'clock position.

It was such fun, and certainly immediate gratification.  My students loved the demo and will probably try it themselves.

Hope to have time to post more soon.  In the meantime, PLEASE VISIT MY BOOTH #44 THIS FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, MARCH 8-9-10 AT UNDER THE OAKS FINE ART AND CRAFTS SHOW.  Over 200 of the finest artists in the USA and beyond.  Proud to be a part of it.  And be sure to fill out a raffle ticket - I'll be painting still life's on palettes all weekend and several people will be lucky winners of this free raffle.

Judy Burgarella
Blogger

Cats! Cats! and more Cats!

Tracy & Turhan's five little furballs

Finished the last of Tracy's cats last night.  Started the first cat in acrylic as a demo on Thursday, but had scant time to work on it.  Didn't revisit the project until Sunday, when I finished all 5.  Those exercizes in "Challenge" speed paintings are really helping me to paint fast, especially in acrylic.  Although the push was on, this was a fun project, and hopefully they will get to my daughter's on time.  Her and her husband have 5 beautiful cats whom they love dearly, so the below portraits of them should please them both.  Just wish I could be there to see them open the portraits.  The red background will go perfectly with their red checkered kitchen.

With the holidays approaching and lots of people coming, there will be no painting (except tomorrow at my classroom in Vero).  Have a portrait commission and triptyk in the planning stages.  Five major events to work on too: 1)  Dorothy Starbuck's workshop I've organized for January 5-6; 2) Vero Beach Mural Reception and Launch party January 12th (I'm one of three artists who worked on it for a year); 3) The Sebastian River Art Club's 75th Anniversary Reception, I am Chairing; 4) The Sebastian Art Studio Tour, which I am participating in an handling publicity; 5) Stepping Stone Quilter's Show in the Sebastian River Art Club's Art Center to be installed January 2nd.  So many wonderful events happening back-to-back, how lucky to be living here, and working with so many swell artsy people!

What a Challenge!

Today at the Sebastian River Art Club, was Peni Baker's "Three-Hour Challenge Painting" day.  There was about 20 of us painting feverishly trying to finish a painting in three hours.  Well, actually, we were doing more talking and eating than painting ... but most of us did finish--or close to finish--our paintings.  We are finding that it is a great exercise in getting the job done.  And many wonderful and diverse paintings went out the door today.  Oh, and we had turkey soup, potato soup, grapes, melba toast and tomato relish, cheesespread and delicisou crackers, mini cupcakes, home made cheesecake, fresh coffee, candy, grapes and pizza.  Lots of people streamed in and out, and a good time was had by all.  Below is my painting.  It is a copy of an old Flemish painting, "Boy with a Hat" by Michael Sweerts, 17th Century.  I was so taken with his face I just had to paint him.  Since it's long been in "Public Domain" it's ok.  It's quite exciting to see a face looking back at you after just three hours.

Acrylic adaptation of "Boy in a Hat"
17th Century painting by Flemish Painter Michael Sweerts

Judy Burgarella
Blogger

Some new paintings, and some starts

Haven't seriously picked up the brush in some time, but dabbled with a few things.  The Artists Guild Gallery is sponsoring a fundraiser for "Our Father's Table" wherein all Member Artists were asked to paint some small ornament-sized paintings for the Christmas tree, and all proceeds will go towards that charity.  They are in desperate need for food staples or the holidays.  One of our members, Annette Geckle, and her husband Bob volunteer to serve and cook there, and they have said the shelves are sparce.  And so it's the season to share our good fortune.  In this way, we can use our talents for the good this Christmas.  Please do stop in and take a peek, and if nothig strikes your fancy, you can always drop a couple of dollars into the donation jar near the tree.

My contribution to "Our Father's Table" fundraiser is the below small paintings.  Had a lot of fun creating them, and very pleased with the way they came out.  If they don't sell, they will definitely be gifts.

I have also contributed my Santa painting, which was created last year for the Sebastian Library's Christmas Window.  The kids really loved this painting.

One project I finally did finish is a commissioned painting of corgy dogs.  After a bit of tweaking, the customer was ultimately happy with the painting (below).

Well, that's all for now.

Judy Burgarella
Blogger

July 17th - Abstract Painting at the Sebastian River Art Club

Today, inspired by a lecture on Abstract Painting at the Sebastian River Art Club, I completed--well almost completed--this fun and fast painting.  I was a-slapping the paint on like it was on fire!  Didn't really know what I was doing, but just kept going, hoping it would turn out ok.  It's got lots of room for improvement, but I'm pretty happy with the technique.


Abstract Seascape on gallery-wrapped canvas, using acrylic paints and plastic grocery bags

 First I troweled acrylic paint in blues, blacks and white on the canvas using a palette knife.  Then very quickly I started ripping plastic bags and sticking them on "willy-nilly" to the wet paint, scrunching them as I went, trying to cover the whole canvas, including the sides.  After covering the sides I began slapping paint on top of the plastic bags, being more careful to create the storm cloud shapes, the water, and the glistening horizon, all the while painting very fast to keep up with the fast-drying acrylic paint.  I struggled a bit with the frayed edges of plastic, and began cutting the excess wherever it appeared.  Next time I will make the plastic gather in such a way that the water has horizontal waves, like the sky.  It was a lot of fun, and completed in less than an hour and a half.  I plan to take this to the next level. 

Judy Burgarella
Blogger

Creating A Rainbarrel

Saturday July 12th I spent part of the day with my bud Rita Ziegler and we helped "budding" artists (who ad actually never painted anything before) paint their designs on rain barrels in the Indian River Mall for a recycling organization.  We didn't know what to expect, but we had a good time and helped a very nice lady, Dianne, complete a nice-looking rainbarrel using the most rudamentary equipment.  We three collaborated on ideas and painted away for a couple of hours.  Below is our masterpiece.


Rainbarrel painted using acrylics



Rita Ziegler (left) and me (Judy Burgarella) with the finished rainbarrel

Giving Birth to a Cowboy!



"Texas Cowboy" 11"x14" Acrylic, UNFINISHED 

 "Texas Cowboy," in progress, started today in the Sebastian River Art Club's "Three-Hour Challenge" painting program.  We try to do a painting, start to finish, in thee hours.  Some take less, some take more.  I started this one just before noon, painted till 3:00, and I'd say have about another hour or so to finish.  It's my first serious portrait in acrylic, and I'm pretty happy with it, although it had a bit of a rough start.  Can't wait to work on it again, but for now I'm off to another non-painting event! 
PS - The Sebastian River Art Club will be having a show in the Art Center in September for these 3-hour paintings, with many unframed and reasonably priced.  More news to come!

Judy Burgarella
Blogger