Jay Z

18 x 16, oils
The idea of the picture is based on Jay Z being a music maven turned financial mogul but the initial reason for making this painting was inspired by Jay Z's look. The landscape of his face provided a lot to work with, constructed of plump almost chubby features sitting on his long oval shaped head.

I had great fun making this picture- I borrowed a background application that I discovered from studying a Courbet painting at the Met.
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId=
{13F483EC-3584-41B6-913A-1FE9D6181CBB}&HomePageLink=
special_c2a
(here s the link, everyone should go)
It appeared that Courbet layered a semi opaque cool, almost steel blue over a warm ground. I found the technique to unify the piece but it also revealed fractures of broken color, which I thought was interesting. The smoke is basically the same color just in a higher key- creating a dimensional smoke wafting-like atmosphere, tying it all together.
hope you like the painting. I have details on the blog-
best-D

Jay Z detail

Jay Z detail

Doc Nash-12 x 18-oils

My thinking at the start was to make a color study but the more I painted the more I got into it.

I ve known Doctor Nash for several years, his specialty is sports medicine, he s rugged, loves to trout fish and a real down to earth guy.

Doc Nash has intriguing strong, cut features and a defined structure that provide a lot to work with from a paint point of view and the source for my inspiration to paint him.

My Color assessment:
The color is fairly accurate to my Mac, as you know, color varies from monitor to monitor but the color of the background in the image is a little higher key than in the painting. I played cools and warms in the shadow area, trying to keep the darks transparent and jacking the opaque color, making it more opaque around the eyes and cheeks, a strong area of interest for me. To help better understand the colors in the warm shadow areas, I studied works created by Velazquez and Dega. http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm

An important aspect of picture making for me is that the painting live as a painted image and this painting addresses some of those paint needs as well as others. I believe the play of semi opaque against opaque works well and I stated who I think he is. His look is fairly accurate too. . . For those interested, he was happy with the painting, however his family thought I made him look a little sad. Their assessment might be accurate because that s not the first time I ve heard that about the people I paint.

Hope you enjoy the painting-

take care- David
attached is portrait of

Doc Nash Detail