Animation comparison:
 

Today I decided to see how closely Apotheoun conforms to the original 1981 slide image, with a GIF animation.

Well the result is it does not perfectly conform, which is interesting, and human, I suppose. There is some distortion which suggests I at least did not project the reference or paint over a photo. Maybe that's a good thing :oops: .

Anywhere there is movement apparent, the painting varies slightly from the photo reference. This technique could be instructive in the future with other portrait projects.

Gosh, is this too revealing?

Garth

Garth,

Now, how did you do that? You are full of tricks. It looks like the boy is breathing and his mother is tapping her feet to the radio. I would be totally scared to do that to one of my paintings!

Seriously, I think it's good that they are not excactly the same.

Alex

The secret?
 

Hi Alex!

Actually I found an animation palette in Photoshop yesterday. It's hard to explain and not user friendly until you "get' it. At least in version CS2 it is in the Window menu heading. One must construct the image in layers in the animation palette and save it as a GIF file. Great care must be taken to keep the file small enough to post here, which means some compromises to the image quality, which is also why I posted the original images along side the animation.

Thanks,

Garth

Camera distortion?
 

I am looking at the painting on the wall in my studio, and it looks like it conforms better than the GIF animation suggests, at least to my naked eye. It is more than possible there is some minor distortion present in the photo of the painting here, though certainly none is intended. It seems the raised bent arm and the blue shoe are more in line with the photo reference, than in the animation.

Garth

6000!
 

To mark 6k hits, I am adding another GIF detail. Perhaps it's back to the drawing board for me!

Garth

News Break!
 

I know Apotheoun has attained oversaturation status here at the Portrait Artist Forum, but there is still more: The Outwin Boochever 2006 Portrait Competition has chosen this painting to be among the competition semifinalists for the inaugural exhibition of the reopening of the National Portrait Gallery, on July 1, 2006. So there is another round of jurying coming up in early March 2006. Wish me luck!

Garth

Oh my goodness - you must have just been blown away when you heard! A HUGE congratulations to you !!!

Congrats Garth! :)

This doesn't surprise me one bit. Once again, I love your tight realistic and "painterly" style...especially when one comes up close to view all those wonderful brushstrokes. I can't stop looking at this work! :o

~Gear

Dear Michele and Geary,

Sincere thanks!

Michele: Your reaction is not unlike my own last night. Initially there were buffering emotions of disbelief as I braced for less than great news. I sat down securely, and read the email once again and suddenly a swell of seemingly undeserved elation raced through me as I jumped into a spontaneous quiet cheer. YES!

Geary: I was indeed surprised and stupified (resampling the math in my head). My eyes were definitely bugged out for a moment too. The feeling is not all that familiar yet, and it is hard to contain; that is obvious by all of today's posting transactions!

Pinning down emotions is an elusive activity. I have to remember this is only part way through the competition and avoid becoming deluded too much by a momentary high. Trust me, reality is still hanging out just around the corner!

Garth

Garth,

Hot dog!

Artex Day (Smithsonian pick-up day)
 

Hi All,

I want to share that it was exciting to have Artex, the premium art movers and handlers in the land, to pick up Apotheoun for the next leg of the National Portrait Gallery, portrait competition. They need to see the actual art now; I understand about 100 pieces. Artex has an itinerary for four local competitors today on this run. I have no idea who these other artists are.

I briefly was employed by Artex, and feel strongly they have the most professional operation going, and many centralized bases and hubs across the country, to their advantage. That's a nice truck in the shots below, with a climate controled interior. These guys did further packing of Apotheoun once it was inside the truck.

In the mean time since last posting, I have updated the framing and varnished Apotheoun with Gamvar to spruce it up, in the event it goes all the way and gets exhibited in July.

Wish me luck some more! Feedback on the framing is fine by me.

Best,

Garth

ARTEX website.

Thanks for sharing Garth!
I sure hope they packed it a little more than that! :bewildere :cool:

Terri,

I wrapped the poly sheeting you see myself in advance of the pickup. That common material is totally inert and harmless. These guys added layers of bubble wrap then added a custom fitted corrugated cardboard shell. This is called soft packing. It was secured in the truck behind several more protective sheets of corrugated cardboard and strapped securely. I used to do moving and have no problem with this practice. It will be fine!

Garth

edit: Yikes! 7,000 hits as of today.

Garth,

It

Hi Allan,

I made the frame.

This is basically the same frame as before with an extra strip of 1 x 3 maple added to the outside. Then yes, I painted it! (and rubbed and buffed paint off, and added more paint, etc. oil paint.) Does it look okay in the little picture?

Thanks,

Garth

I think that it is better than if the paint was put on totally even. Now it looks more like the paint in the painting itself, same vibrations.

You are the master and entitled to decide for the painting, including the frame, that

Thanks for your affirmative vote of confidence, Allan!

The paint on the frame is quite uneven, and mostly translucent, letting the maple wood peek through. The warmer tints are from the wood, while the paint is a grayish-buff-ochre-(some colbalt turquoise green hints here and there too) related to the paving in the painting. The framing seems cleaner to me as a statement with the painted surface. I just didn't want a perfectly painted surface fearing it would then look too plastic in appearance. Maybe I'm partial to the mysterious graining of wood, so that I could not quite completely lose it.

Garth

Garth,
I understand why you chose the wider frame. It

Hi Allan,

Perhaps you are more verbally articulate and insightful than I have ever been in defining to myself what I was after in the framing. Lebensraum is a new word to me. In its pure sense (and not the Nazi association), you may be close to the mark. There are several bodies cut at the middle and disappearing off to the sides. Psychologically, it may seem more comforting with more of a visual buffer between the painting and the wall environment it hangs upon.

As for the color, I wanted a close relationship to the paving, but not the same color. I like the frame lighter than the paving; why, I am not sure, but a darker frame puts everything into a different value context, with everything glowing too much. With this relationship, it seems to emphasize for me, the chiaroscuro of the boy's body, being the contrast between the light mass and shadow mass; and the shadow may appear more shadowy in context, without a darker frame overpowering it.

As for the extra space I added with the extra strip of wood, I was not happy with the proportional relationship between the frame and the spacing and cadence of certain elements in the painting, and I wanted to change that. Widening the frame by 3/4 an inch seemed the best option to me. Adding more would not have worked well either, making the painting seem too lilliputian in a huge frame. I was looking for a balance comfortable with the painting, and I'm happier with the current solution. Now the space above the upper elbow of the boy does not clash as much with the frame, to me.

Garth

Garth,

I was actually thinking of your changing of the frame, and the color of it ,as an extension of the lebensraum of the color of the painting itself. This related to the topic about "Optical Red".

I agree that shapes can be too close to one another and in that way block the free expression of the limb , or whatever.

But more interesting is the unintended restriction of a color if it is not allowed to fill its full potential.
In the case of your painting, it could be that the shadows would look too pale if you used a too dark frame, as you mentioned.

The reversed example, how to emphasize a color, or light, is to extend the effect of it beyond its borders. That was my first idea when I saw your post at first.


Allan

Oh well, not a finalist!
 

Hi all,

As I learned yesterday in an official email of decline, and already announced over here at member news , Apotheoun did not make the final exhibition cut for the National Portrait Gallery exhibition opening on July 1. That would have been nice. It still has to be a very interesting exhibition of current American contemporary portraiture, whatever is included. Space apparently allows for just about half of the 100 semifialists to show.

I am so grateful to everyone here for all the tremendous cheer and support during this very lengthy competition process. We all should get another chance at this Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition in three years when this particular competition recycles again.

So, a hearty thankyou to all!

Garth

A kind word of encouragement
 

Yikes, better than 8,000 views today!

I just received a very nice note of encouragement from the Contract Registrar at the Smithsonian Institution National Portrait Gallery, within an email detailing the procedure for the return shipment of Apotheoun. Citing Apotheoun as a personal favorite, she made my day!

Garth

Ha! Pearls before swine, and the like. I love that painting. Let me know if you'd like to do a trade. :)

Look forward to seeing you next,

Dear Chris, thanks; what kind serendipity you bring! I'm awaiting for word on a couple show options; one being the possibility of a possibility of a west coast venue. To perhaps be continued.....

Garth

Another kind note!
 

This morning, I received a kind note from Brandon Fortune, the Associate Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the National Portrait Gallery, and the curator of the upcoming exhibition of the competition finalists. He expressed he was also very impressed with my painting, "Apotheoun". This was spontaneous, and he certainly wasn't required to say anything given my painting being declined; but from him such kind words mean a lot to keep me motivated, and I am appreciative in no small way. I just wanted to share this.

Garth

That is SO good.

Great news on the possible west coast venue.

My motto is, "just keep putting it out, ya never know"

It just goes to show, "good follows good".

You deserve it, buddy.

You never know what might happen from that! :thumbsup:

Apotheoun wins again!
 

I received the email notification from the Portrait Society of America yesterday at five PM, that Apotheoun is being awarded a Certificate of Excellence, in their Eighth Annual International Portrait Competition. Wow, I was not expecting this to be the one chosen among my entries! :)

I don't have to exhibit it but it will be included in their Power Point presentation in the opening ceremonies, and also during the awards presentations.

Too much!

Garth

Awesome and well deserved!

Oh Garth, Congratulations!

Dear Chris and Terri,

Thank you both so much for your kudos; you're so kind.

Jeez, were up to about 8,500 already. When will it end?

Garth,

Another kudos for a wonderful painting!

10,444 (?!)
 

Golly, this is the third most viewed topic on this Forum (the first among paintings); why? Sincerely, there are so many worthy topics posted throughout this Forum. Belated thanks, again, Sharon!

Anyway, to further stretch an old thread, I 'll share what most likely is the final manifestation of the polychromed maple frame around this painting. A molding profile has been added to the outside to relieve the former flat severity of the edge. Getting a frame right can seem so important, sometimes even driving me to the point of splitting hairs. I am happy with the current solution, two years in the making. The shapes in this molding addition seem to segway better into some elements in the painting, like the light falling upon those ribs. It's hard to justify this in small pictures here, though.

Currently, Apotheoun is among the works of seventy juried artists showing at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, through March 4, 2007. It is about the most sedate work in a very stimulating, innovative display grouping of paintings, sculpture, and photography. I recommend the rest of show. In fact, our Alex Tyng got a nice prize for her portrait of "Nancy Bea" in the next room. I am just happy to be included quietly in the show. (Congratulations, Alex!)

Okay, enough said!

Garth

The American expressionist, Stuart Shils, whom I greatly respect, delivered a gallery talk on Thursday the 8th, and must have spent fifteen minutes devoted to focusing upon this painting. He was drawn to the relationships of the figurative elements as they were designed in the space, and was especially intrigued by the blue sneaker coming in at the top right, a necessary element, as he put it, and he then emphasized the interesting role the shadows produced by this shoe and the legs added to the composition and infered narrative. He talked about the qualities of the edges thoughout the painting, the alliteration of arch design motifs repeating, the design of the feet pointing up into the head, and the interest of some negative spaces. As he delved into the underlying psychology of this painting, I had to smile, because he went much deeper in his interpretation as the viewer experiencing this painting, than I ever thought about as the creating artist! It is always interesting to hear what take another has on one's own work. It can be an insightful education. At any rate, one of his main points was to illustrate with this painting how photography has opened up very innovative new ways of seeing the world from pre-existing western compositional conventions; and that this particular composition with its particular croppings of the figurative elements with the mother's legs coming in front of the boy, would never have occured to an artist until recent times. I am paraphrasing Mr. Shils here, as he actually said quite a lot. I enjoyed his in depth talk. As he finished up his last sentence, he began a hurried run out the door to catch an express train to New York.

Garth

Google News
 

Here is a recent review of this show at Woodmere, I just chanced upon on Google News:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?n...id=40301&rfi=6

The author singled out my painting, Apotheoun, along with two top prize winners for a mention, which is surprising because I did not get any of the prizes.

This is the first time I even tried Google News. It is a nice resource! All one needs to do is type in a target key-word in the search engine. In this case, either my name or Apotheoun will yield the same result of this news article. I think I will try some other Forum member's names too, to see what comes up!

Garth

Wow, go for it, Garth! Congrats for getting mentioned in the review, especially since they only touched on a few others. I wouldn't call this piece "photorealistic," however. It has quite a different quality (to my eyes). When you painted it, did you consider (or did you ever consider) your style photorealistic?

Google news really is a great resource. I use it to set up news alerts if I'm painting any clients who are public figures. Google news will send me an email any time their name appears in the press. It helps me understand what's happening in their lives and to serve as a conversation point when we meet next.

You can also set your own name up for Google news alerts. Then you get an email any time someone mentions your name or work in the press. Always helpful to know about, and you can print out any articles that might be useful to put in your portfolio.

Hi Alex and Michele,

Thanks Alex; I suppose I have never denied the close affinity to photography in this work. I only hope it holds up in this context, as I want it to feel as more than just a rote copy of a cropped reference. I am glad you see more worth in this example. I can understand too how the writer associates this with snapshot vacation photography, as well. I am taking it as a positive response to the imagery as it evokes and resonates with this writer.

Michele, you are certainly qualifying as the most business savvy among this Forum! I always learn from you. So now I will set Google News for tthe Email Alerts option setting. More power to you, and Thanks!

Garth

Garth--

As you know, it's one of my favorites.

One thing that critics tag as "photorealistic" is a certain fidelity to realistic drawing, but that term misses the mark for me here. I've always seen "photorealism" as having a certain randomness or "found" quality to the imagery, plus a fairly non-discerning approach to edges and detail. This painting has been refined through a couple of permutations to a completely non-random level of design--there is an abstract, pared-down underpinning to it that's anything but "found." And the nuance of edges really asserts when one sees the original painting. And the color captures that hot summer sun in a way that photographic color wouldn't, to my mind. Just my opinion.

It may have started with photography, but it's been refined way beyond that by now.

Congrats on the recognition!