Construction is moving along on the Newberry Gallery. The cement floor will be sealed and the walls painted in the coming days. It is close to being ready.

I miss painting on my major oil paintings. Two in particular: Lovers Jumping and Man Coming out of Oblivion. Both are life-sized figure paintings.

But in the last couple of months I have done some pastel color studies--pastel for me is an awesome source for color variations that is difficult to replicate by direct oil painting.  With these I am focused exclusively on the color of the light and body.

I have other studies that give me other information, like anatomical detail. The challenge is to integrate this range of information into something that looks just right.

While setting up the gallery in Santa Monica, I have had time to ponder this painting--a man coming forcefully out of oblivion. I decided I would make him a clothed figure in contemporary style, but hopefully timeless enough so that the clothes don't date the image. That will be a challenge. As well as, what the clothes say about the man. A good thing is that the work on the anatomy, and color will not be wasted--it is a great asset to have anatomy studies for under the clothes.

The color studies will also help give hints of color to the light fall. So next will be to do some clothes studies, and then I will be ready to paint.

A few days ago I was hanging out in the gallery during some construction, and I say a neat small piece of drywall (sheetrock). I had a pen handy, and I had a clear vision about the light design for Lovers Jumping. The problem was that I had two models posing for studies in my studio, yet the background is sea/skyscape. Anyway, I got the right feeling with this study. The guy is dark and silhouetted against the lighter sky and water, and woman pops forward out from a darker sky. A yin/yang thing.

(I have a note to myself, how to translate the light effect into a pastel color study.

Below is the current stage of the life-sized monochrome underpainting. As soon as I am painting on it again I will use the study above to give more depth and light to the background.

In the last few days I have done a few pastel landscapes:

Gold Apartments	Santa Monica Beach North	Neutra House
Chinatown Storefront	Gallery Under Construction	Chinatown Red
Santa Monica Palm	Chinatown Artist	Window

 

Lastly, I wrote a new art tutorial on imagination.

Tutorial Connecting Your Philosophy to Your Art: Imagination
March '09

Michael Newberry
Santa Monica, March 2009

MN@NewberryGallery.com