In the matter of color: the Hon. James T. Giles

[Garth Herrick]

Here's my most recent portrait, unveiled this past Friday January 6th, in Philadelphia:

This is the Honorable James T. Giles, having completed his term as Chief Judge of the United States District Court, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. It measures the standard 42 inches by 36 inches, and wil hang permanently in the Ceremonial Courtroom with all preceding Chief Judges of this Federal Court.

As one who has generously mentored and encouraged me as an artist for twenty years, I wanted to paint a fitting portrait for "Jim". "In the Matter of Color" is actually a published book title of the late Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., whom Chief Judge Giles arranged for me to first paint for this Court, six years ago.

In his honor, I decided to push color further than I have before in a formal portrait; some red passages being colors that push the very saturation gamut possible in an opaque oil impasto (glazes being another story). In the effort to keep these somewhat daring colors under control, these were very carefully calibrated and tuned in chroma and value. But that's a long and involved story . . .

Anyway, I will be delighted to know what you all think.

Thanks,

Garth

[Garth Herrick]

I will give you a glimpse of the unveiling ceremony. It was quite a day! About two hundred were in attendance, there being a crowd of standing room only near the courtroom entrance. The Chief Judge and his colleages seemed pleased.

Garth

[Garth Herrick]

Here are some shots of the portrait framed and in the contect of the Ceremonial Courtroom where it will hang:

Garth

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Wowww Garth!
What else can I say? I want to be you when I grow up.

[Julie Deane]

Gorgeous! I'm in total awe!

All that color is wonderful and shines without being overstated. The brushwork is amazing. But what shines most of all is that judge's personality - alert, calm, dignified.

Congratulations, Garth!

[Kimberly Dow]

Garth - Congratulations on yet another masterpiece! Your career and contacts are so impressive - and blows us all away. But - above all that - this is a masterful painting.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Congratulations, Garth! This is a wonderful success. Forget what I said about the red wall. You know how hard it is to get the exact effect in Photoshop that you have in your mind to translate into paint. Well, I think you have done a fantastic job with the gradations of color. Starting with the face as a reference point, the wall is redder, and the flag is brighter and redder--each step very carefully orchestrated. The interesting this is, when you come back to the face, you then notice the yellow lights in it, brought out by the yellow in the flag fringe. The funny (and very cool) thing is that the face color is the most subtle, yet it is the center of focus. I love the way you've painted the face and hands, and those little rose highlights make the skin zing.

Most important, you can really feel the personality of this man. He doesn't just look important and distinguished, he looks human.

[Linda Brandon]

This is just extraordinary, Garth, and it's hard to know what to say, other than... wow... and huge congratulations to you for this very successful portrait.

Alex always gives such terrific comments and it's hard to follow her, but may I ditto them and add that his white collar is the perfect high value spot in your setup.

I am so proud to know you!

[Richard Murdock]

Garth, that's a great piece. The atmosphere, and the personality of the judge come across so well, in addition to your display of color control.

Congrats,
Richard

[Garth Herrick]

Dear Claudemir, Julie, Kimberly, Alex, Linda, and Richard,

Thank you all so much for your very kind responses!

Julie, and Alex: Chromatically, this painting fell together like a jigsaw puzzle. Until it was complete, some passages of color looked wildly off target, and yet they weren't really in the context of the whole image. I did scream in terror about some of the colors along the way though.

Hey Alex, your favorite subject, Judge Shapiro, was there, looking as cheerful as ever! I really like her.

The colors here on the Forum can be a little quirky; I'm not sure how to get them right yet, but there is actually better distinction between the reds, and the flesh tones seem more subtle and less golden in life if one were standing in front of the painting. Part of the problem (and this may be common to all of us) is my silly camera does not discern color nuances as well as a pair of eyes. I need to make a better effort to shoot portfolio pictures too, for which I sincerely apologize. What you see here above is actually derived from this terrible shot below! I'm not kidding! That's a lot of Photoshop reconstruction above, to get the image all straightened out again. This shot below uses a different digital raw converter, with perhaps better color rendition (Bibble). I'll say in advance of posting that the colors look better.

Thanks again, with appreciation,

Garth