Museum Director

[Julie Deane]

She's not the only one with a sense of humor, Alex!

I love the shimmering, moving light - at least, that is how it reads to me. The hands and instrument are done so well. And that mouth is about to move and say something interesting, I am sure.

[Patricia Joyce]

Wow, not only is she beautifully painted, I LOVE the skeletons, their positioning, stance, etc. are an amazing component to the painting.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Marvin, Julie and Patty--thanks for your kind words.

The consensus from Ms. Worden's friends and colleagues was that the background should be kept plain, with one featured item from the museum's collection to represent the museum. The skeleton of the giant came to mind first, and then I snuck the dwarf in because it's in the same case as the giant and most people associate the two. I spent a long time in the museum observing how the expressions of the skeletons seem to change depending on the angle at which they were viewed. It was a lot of fun deciding which angle to paint them from. I wanted the three figures to be interacting. The skeletons began to seem like her friends, and i suspect she thought of them as such.

I was told by many people that Ms. Worden saw the humanity in everyone and appreciated all the variations of nature. There's a kind of mystery and wonder in science, and a connection between her and the skeletons. I think that was all in my mind as I was painting the "shimmery" air. (Julie, I like that word!)

[Richard Monro]

Alex,

Amazing what you have accomplished considering the reference material you had too work with. No questions of the details...they are always well done. painterly referred to the brush stokes that appear to be confidently put down without trying to blend them with what lay underneath or along side. Well done.

[Thomasin Dewhurst]

Superb portrait, Alex! You have such mastery of your technique and ideas, and in this one I feel like you're riding on a wave of confidence and assuredness. To me, this painting is a pillar of contemporary portraiture making you definitely one of the very top portrait painters around.

A real masterpiece.

I have just come back from 3 1/2 weeks of vacation overseas with family which seemed like a lifetime of intense living and learning, and came back feeling like I wanted to shake off all the things that were hindering me in my art and seeing this one of yours was such an inspiration. A lot of art I saw in this recent trip seemed to be more in the line of art therapy - a getting-out of personal feelings and a kind of punching-the-cushion gestural mark-making. After watching Kenneth Clark's "Civilization" (a lovely revision of art history) I was struck by the professionalism of the painters of the past. A dedication to work and to service rendered to society and humanity. Art is a privileged career, but it is not a society-supported psycho-therapy. To have an income - to take people's money for the services we provide - there must be a respect for the clients, and so there must be a balance between belief and expression of in our own ideas, and a professional attitude toward the hard labour of recreating those ideas in paint. A gestural mark doesn't make it by itself - it needs a lot of painterly explanation. In the end we are workers like everyone else, and should be.

Your painting is a very fine example of this - the balance between original and passionate ideas and a dedication to the unavoidably hard work of creating them.

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Marvin Mattelson

This is my favorite of yours. Well done!

Me too!

Alex, this is stupendous! When I visited your studio and saw you at the beginning of this project, I just shook my head in disbelief than anyone could pull this off. You showed me your disparate reference images with the cut-out hair and masking tape. Not only did you pull it off, but it is arguably your most moving portrait, and a very successful one. You put a lot of humanity into this one. I love her LIFE despite the fact it's posthumous, one would never detect that; and I love your sense of humor in the interplay of the characters. Superb!

Garth

[Carlos Ygoa]

Fantastic work, Alex!
The efforts you exerted to create this piece show your level of professionalism and you have set an example for all of us and for that we are very grateful. You have combined the "technician" part of our work with your usual high level of artistry and the result is a posthumous portrait that brings the sublect "back to life", as it were, which is the ultimate aim of such a portrait.

Congratulations!

[Debra Rexroat]

Incredibly personal. I too like the sense she is mid-sentence, which is a lovely way to handle a posthumous portrait.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Thanks, All!

Richard, I can't help but thinking how it is always better (incomparable) to have a living person in front of you when you are painting them! But I don't want to give the false impression that I had to work from a tiny snapshot with flat lighting. The videos provided me with some decent possibilities.

Thomasin, I like your point:

"Art is a privileged career, but it is not a society-supported psychotherapy." I've always felt that, If you express your feelings or ideas in a way that can only be understood by you on a personal level, or can only be understood if you explain what you're trying to do, then there is an ingredient missing. Art (in my opinion) needs to be both a personal expression and a way to touch others, to say something that is understood by the person looking at it. Moreover, I would want the viewer to enjoy the experience of looking at it.

Garth, I knew you were worried that I wasn't going to pull it off. All I can say is: it may have looked like a mess of disparate pieces, but it was all in my head!

Carlos, I'm so glad you feel I've brought her back to life--my ultimate goal, as you pointed out.

Debra, I wish I could play the videos and show people on the forum how expressive Gretchen's face was. Potential energy is a powerful thing in art.

[Judy Simons]

I love the movement. The figures are all in motion to me ... very nice indeed. Congratulations on a wonderful painting.