The Plasterers

Linda Brandon · 12-08-2005, 07:12 PM

Alex, this is a stunning painting! Like Garth, I've seen this in person and it's just amazing. This "men at work" concept is so freshly painted and holds together so well from a viewing distance. It has real presence and it is (like Garth said) BIG.

What wonderful faces on the canvas, too. Very impressive all around, Alex!

Alexandra Tyng · 12-08-2005, 09:35 PM

Thank you, thank you, thank you--Kim, Pat, Carol, Garth, Jimmie, Allan, and Linda--for your very generous comments! You guys are terrific artists so your words mean a lot to me.

Allan, yes, it's true I don't use medium any more, and I feel I have a lot more control over my brushstrokes, plus I'm forced to use more paint which I needed! I'm posting some extreme closeups for you, and for anyone else who's interested.

Carol Norton · 12-08-2005, 10:02 PM

Love the close ups...hands with plaster, eyes...everything. Thank you for sharing this with us. It sure got me.

Alexandra Tyng · 12-09-2005, 10:57 AM

Carol, thanks! Here are a few MORE closeups that I was going to post originally, then when Allan wanted the extreme closeups I thought it would be overkill, but here they are anyway.

Carol Norton · 12-09-2005, 11:36 AM

Thanks for posting the close ups. Can't get enough of this!

Allan Rahbek · 12-09-2005, 11:17 PM

Alex,
thanks so much for showing the close ups, now I really wanted to see this in person. I think that I am going to give this technique a try

Alexandra Tyng · 12-10-2005, 09:42 AM

Allan,

A demo might take a while, but for now I'll try to get a couple of photos of me mixing paints so you can get the idea. It's really not that luscious. I wish it were more luscious. I'm working in that direction. (While I'm painting I always feel it is luscious, but then I'm always amazed and frustrated at how thin it really is!) When I first started painting as a teenager I think I was highly influenced by my parents' negative attitude toward waste. You couldn't waste a good piece of paper if you only needed a scrap. You couldn't throw out a small bit of leftover food. I was in awe of the expensive oil paints and I used them sparingly, plus I figured out how to stretch them out with medium. You get the idea. Anyway, this habit is taking me a long time to break.

I've noticed that when I paint totally from life I put more paint down. It's just so much easier to see what should be emphasized. I'm working on how to transfer that to working with digital photos. I would guess that working from a monitor as you do would be pretty close.

On my first layers when I'm painting really loosely, I mix in some Gamsol. Most areas get about three layers, and by the time I'm up to the last layer, the darks have a little Gamsol mixed in because they are thinner, and the light areas are just paint mixed from the tubes. That way I get a nice soft edge, or crisper (but still soft) accents.

Alex

Chris Saper · 12-10-2005, 01:10 PM

Dear Alex,

I have been watching this thread all week, but haven't had the chance until now to start putting down my response into words.

Beyond its original and spectacular execution, I find this painting to be heroic. Sort of a simple honest American worker and family version of the statue of Iwo Jima. Or Rosie the Riveter.

Lines form this old Nana Mouskouri song suddnely popped into my head- I haven't even heard thought of this song for twenty years!

"Sons of true love and sons of regret
All of their sons you cannot forget
Some built the roads, some wrote the poems
Some went to war, some never came home"

This painting belongs on the lobby wall of the US Department of Labor.