" Jazz Legends: The Cotton Club", 16x20" Acrylic on Canvas. Prints Available.
For the final piece in this series, I decided to do something a little different. Instead of a portrait, I went with a depiction of the legendary night club, the Cotton Club... the spot in Harlem where so many jazz greats got their start. Reading about the history of this place was a bit of an eye opener. The entertainers were all black, the patrons all white. I had watched the 1984 movie... but it wasn't really big on historical accuracy. Some of it perhaps, but white and black musicians playing together in a band didn't really happen much until Benny Goodman, in the late 30s/early 40s. Anyway, since the club was constantly popping up in my reading about the musicians of the time, I thought it would be a nice finale to my series.
Here it is... the entire series.
So, now that this is done.....
What's next? I have no idea. I'm still working on my little abstract series based on movement. Pretty sure I'm not even close to done with that yet. But I've got something else playing at the edges. It's just an idea at this point. I'm not even really ready to articulate it yet... it's just something that keeps popping into my head as I work my way through my little pieces. Maybe it's time to start a new journal, and see if I can take the idea to something even resembling art. I'll keep you posted.
Feels like I've been working on this series forever. I was checking to see how many portraits I've posted so far, and realized this one somehow got missed. It was actually the first one of the series I did, and the one that set me off doing these portraits in the first place. I had intended to post him in between some of the earlier ones I had working photos for, but somehow he got shuffled to the back, and never made it onto the blog.
Dizzy had so much style... He had a look that wouldn't necessarily be out of place today. In fact, my son has glasses very similar to the ones he wore. It was fun working out this piece. I had a couple photos of him without his cheeks puffed out.... although that is how he is most recognizable, I was pretty sure I would manage to mangle it if I tried to do it that way. I found an old photo with an interesting angle, and drew in the glasses and cap he sometimes wore on stage. The frantic, almost chaotic background that I started with was an attempt to convey some of the energy of the music. I continued on with this type of approach with the other pieces, but somehow I think this one has a unique feel... maybe because his music is different from some of the other performers I've done.
I've got a couple pieces left in this series, and then that's it. I don't know what's next... I've been working on my little motion abstract pieces that will probably be worked up into a few large pieces, but at some point I know I'll get back to painting people. Maybe I can figure out a way to combine the two. I've got lots of time to figure it out. One piece at a time.
"Jazz Legends | Lionel Hampton" 16x20" Acrylic on Canvas. Giclée prints available.
I always notice people's teeth. I think it's because mine are on the large side... seriously, when I smile they take up half my face. You can't help but notice, and if I'd have to guess, I'd say that's why I always notice other people's. I envy those with nice, even, white chicklets... My horse sized chompers are functional and strong, but not an insignificant feature. I also had an accident as a teenager that did a bit of damage to my mouth... broken teeth and a cracked jaw and a fair bit of time spent in the dentist's chair as a result. Things like that change the way you look at things... what you notice.
I've been painting, off and on, for a long time. I love painting people, but I have always avoided painting teeth. I think every artist has something they avoid... I know a few who avoid hands like the plague. While I have no problem with hands (one day I'll do a tutorial to show my technique), I have always managed to make the teeth look like they somehow don't belong in the mouth they've been assigned to. When I started the Jazz Legends portrait project my first thought was how on earth was I going to be able to do it making sure everyone had their mouths closed. I managed with the first few... then I got to Count Basie. I can't paint him not smiling... it wouldn't show his personality. Ok, so I gave him a slight smile. It worked out ok. Next came Cab Calloway. OMG, there's no way I can paint him with a closed mouth... his teeth take up most of his face and he's smiling in every picture. I have to just bite the bullet and go for it. Took a bit of fussing, but in the end, they looked ok. Charlie Christian? No detail in the photo, so no detail in the painting. Problem solved. Billie too... on that angle, didn't seem like much of an issue.
A young Lionel. Even in a suit he looks like he's about 12....
Next up.... Lionel Hampton. The gap between his front teeth is a defining characteristic. It makes him seem to look young, even in his advanced years. The guy was a serious cutie.... and the disarming smile was a big part of that. But even 4 successful sets of teeth later, I was still a little hesitant. Turns out I had no reason to be concerned. It was easy... and I got it on the first try. When I was in art school and was having trouble with representing something complicated, my instructors would always tell me to just "treat it like everything else". Turns out, that really is the key. I like to paint light on dark, so that's how I approached it. A dab of white paint on a brush the right size and voila! Teeth! And they actually look like they belong in there.
Silly that it took me so long to figure that out. Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is not avoid it... but just tackle it head on. Just treat it like everything else.
"Jazz Legends | Billie Holiday", 16x20" Acrylic on Canvas.
Giclée prints available from Global Vernissage
I had to make a few copies of my original drawing to use as
masks... I would love to be able to just paint the details
right on the canvas instead of doing all this extra work,
but somehow it never looks quite right.
I'm getting near the end of this project, so I'm going to be posting a piece every few weeks as I add my finishing touches. I was going to do a video for this one, but as I looked through my working pics I realized it wasn't going to work. I had taken a bunch of close up shots rather than full canvas images. Don't know what I was thinking.
When I first heard Billie Holiday sing, what struck me was the emotion she was able to convey with her voice. I was young and just realizing there was more to music than the top 40 played on the radio, or the prog rock loved by my older siblings. This was different... she sounded so sad. Certainly not what you got from your average teeny-bopper pop. I got a bunch of records (yes, records) out of the library and taped it onto a cheap cassette tape, which were listened to over and over when I was a mopy teenager.
Just starting to build up the interior forms...
Starting on this series I knew she had to be included. She was of the right era, sang with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, performed at the popular night clubs in Harlem. Deciding on a photo to work from posed a bit of a challenge… there are many great photos of her floating around, but very little video footage exists. I didn't want to just copy a photo, although I ended up choosing an iconic image, and altering it to include the signature white gardenias she wore in her hair.
Years ago, for my birthday, my now-husband gave me a box set of her "hits". I don't think until then that I realized her song "Strange Fruit" was about racism. She didn't write it (it was originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol), but she sings it with such intense emotion, I remember feeling slightly ill the first time I listened carefully to the lyrics. I still can't listen to it without it affecting me... and I don't know of too many singers who can wrench that kind of emotion out of a song. Especially these days.
"Jazz Legends | Charlie Christian", 16x20" Acrylic on Canvas. Giclée prints available
at Global Vernissage.
I decided to add Charlie Christian into my line-up of Jazz Legend portraits after finding this fantastic (and apparently, fairly rare) album at Village Vinyl (for those who live in the GTA, definitely worth a trip. They have some great stuff there). Even though it seems my 18 year old has managed to appropriate my turntable (to be fair, I rarely used it, and he uses it all the time... who knew records were making a comeback?), I've gotten a chance to listen to it twice and that man was truly an amazing musician. He may not have been the first to play an electric guitar in a jazz band, but he certainly managed to change how everyone thought about it. He played with the Benny Goodman Orchestra in the late 30s... and Benny is credited with making jazz popular across America. For a black man at that time, that is quite an accomplishment. Even though jazz is a black invention, it took a white man to make it popular.... The documentary series Jazz by Ken Burns goes into detail about the racial history of the music. It is a great series for anyone interested in the history of the USA, not just jazz fans. But I digress...
I did working photos for this piece, but my peeps at Global Vernissage aren't going to post them there... they've already done 5 paintings and as the entire series is done the same way, it can get a little tedious to follow along. There are slight differences... mostly in where I screw it up and how I manage to fix it. This one I messed up the position of his nose and had to move it up... which made him look like Voldemort for a bit. Not pretty. Anyway, I took my working photos and made a little movie, which I've posted on my YouTube channel along with the other ones. I've done Duke, Coleman Hawkins, and Cab Calloway so far... I will do the others as I have time. If you've missed them and want to check it out, I've made a playlist. You can also subscribe... I've not posted much so far, but as my son is very handy with a video camera, and he is as of yet unemployed for the summer, I'm hoping I can recruit him to help me out in that department....
I'm in the process of finishing up a few pieces I've had sitting around for a while. Well, in truth, a couple are getting painted over, because after looking at them for a few weeks I've decided they really aren't going anywhere. Doesn't happen often, because in my experience, every painting goes through an ugly stage. If you can get past that, often you can get somewhere you are happy with. But some ugly stages are uglier than others, and if I've lost the thread that had me tied to the piece in the first place, its really tough to keep going. And after last week's retreat, I have a load of new ideas floating around in my head that I am really eager to start... I have no idea how I'm going to get them to work, or even IF I can get them to work, but I will never know if I don't get to it, will I?
Legends | Coleman Hawkins, 16x20" Acrylic on Canvas
I'm still chugging along on my Jazz Legends Series... I have a few paintings on the go which I hope to finish up sometime in the next couple weeks. I feel that maybe I might be losing a bit of focus with this series, so I'm going to buckle down and finish it, or I might not get all twelve done as planned.
This is really the first time I've worked on a series where I've figured out how many pieces I want to do right up front... usually I figure that out as I go along, and when I get a bit distracted with something else, it's done. While I like the idea of doing a set number, I did learn that I need to focus my attention a bit more to avoid those distractions. I do think, in some way, working on the abstract pieces simultaneously has probably improved these last couple paintings. It's a bit of a different thinking process for me, and I apply what I learn from one painting to the next. Each one I will discover a new way to manipulate the paint, maybe try a new tool, take a different approach to dividing the space. The abstracts are all experimentation. Then with my next portrait, I push it just that little bit more. It seems to work... but if I want to keep the series unified, I should probably try to keep my technique more consistent.
I created a video of my working photos, like I did with Duke Ellington. I like seeing the painting come together this way... I may go back and do the same thing with some of my other Legends paintings. As always, my working photos (with commentary) are on Global Vernissage.
The weeks leading up to Christmas is always busy. Usually I spend these weeks making things, but this year, not so much. I just don't seem to have time. What I seem to be spending all my time doing these days is all the stuff necessary to have my art out in the world.
My paintings hanging at CJs Cafe in Bronte. A lovely little artsy spot right in the shopping area of Oakville.
Things I've done this week: packaging up prints and calendars and shipping them out. Returning emails. Following up with potential collectors. Hanging a show. Being on Social Media. Meeting with other artists. Showing up at an opening for an artist friend and an open house event for a gallery that supports me. Getting my car fixed so I can get to those events safely. Throw in a 40 hour/week job that seems to want to morph into a 80 hour/week job...
What I haven't done is pick up a paintbrush.
It's wonderful that things are happening. I love getting feedback about my work. It's awesome that people actually want these prints and calendars and want my art hanging in their venue. But somewhere inside me there's a little kid getting ready to throw a temper-tantrum. But I just wanna paint!! Wha wha whaaaaaaaaa!!!
Count Basie in progress... you can follow my working photos on the Global Vernissage website.
There's a thing about creative work that I choose to ignore at my own peril... in order to have creative output, you actually have to DO something creative. It can't all be about work, there has to be some fun involved. Some play. Too long without it and I won't be able to just pick up where I left off and get back to creating. So... what to do? I really don't know. Hopefully I'll have a little breather soon and be able to get back into my studio to actually paint and not just to find my packing tape or mailing tubes.
In the meantime, you can follow along with my Count Basie painting on Global Vernissage. I intend to finish that up and post all the photos, no matter how long it takes. I just can't leave him unfinished, and I know there are a few people following along that want to see how he turns out. And at least I will get to do that, no matter how busy I get with everything else. That might just be enough to keep my inner child in check.
The latest in my Jazz Legends Series: Duke Ellington. Acrylic on Canvas.
Signed limited edition prints available soon.
Here is my latest installment in my Jazz Legends series on Global Vernissage. He's finally finished… this one seemed to take me a while, as you can see by my working photos (which are all posted at the above link). The final result turned out decently though, so I'm glad I kept at it.
Anyone that paints will understand about the "ugly phase". It's that point in every painting where you look at it and go "Ick…. I Just can't see how I'm going to make this work". This is the point where a lot of potentially good artwork gets abandoned. I have it with every painting. Seriously. Every. Single. One. I think I had it more than once with this piece. Sometimes all it takes to fix it is a couple brushstrokes. Sometimes I have to tone down the color or add a glaze to an area. I've abandoned many pieces over the course of the last few years, but usually because I haven't noticed some weird anatomical mistake I made at the drawing phase, and I just didn't have enough enthusiasm left for my subject to bother trying to fix it. It happens.
I think so many artists get discouraged enough to stop when their painting hits this point. I understand that, I really do. But if you just keep going and push through it, you'll find you can fix the problem and be satisfied with the finished piece. Try putting it away for a while and then going back to it with a critical eye. Or maybe talk to an artist friend about what you think isn't working. If you think the idea is worth working through, don't give up on it. The results can be worth it.
Saturday's Street Shuffle. Pretty good turnout, as usual. And no rain.
One of the things I love about where I live is the festivals in the summer. There are three that happen just a short bike ride away from my home. The Southside Shuffle is one of the big ones, and one that I make sure to get to every year.
Horn players from the band "The Jive Bombers". I bought a CD... I can't resist a horn section.
This year I decided I would help out. I haven't volunteered at a music festival for quite a long time. I was beginning to feel like I was jinxing the event. It never seemed to fail: if I volunteered, it would rain like hell. Well... seems that still holds true. I only signed up for Friday night, and at about 8pm a storm rolled through that was blowing over tables and sending performers and spectators alike running for cover. Figures. Saturday morning the sun was shining, and the rest of the weekend was beautiful. Thank goodness I didn't sign up for all three days.
One of the "Stilt Guys" dancing in the street. They are regulars at Port Credit events.
Saturday afternoon the crowds come out for the "Street Shuffle". Lakeshore Road is closed to traffic and there are bands set up on both sides of the street. The music goes for 6 solid hours, alternating sides so they don't interfere with each other. One band finishes their set, turn around and the next band is starting up. The last couple years I've taken the opportunity to get a load of working photos for potential paintings... this year I was trying to get photos that were decent as actual photos. It gave me a chance to play with the settings on my camera if nothing else. I'll never learn how to use the thing if I don't get out and actually use it. And some of those shots will undoubtably end up as reference for canvas. I just can't help myself.
Steve Strongman on stage Saturday evening. Big crowd for Steve this year... last year he did an acoustic set and there were maybe 30 people there. Obviously winning the Juno has gotten him a bit of attention.
The evening acts after the sun went down were interesting to shoot. The stage lighting in particular gave some cool effects. Most of my night shots didn't turn out that well... I still need to figure out how to do low light shots of people. If you are interested in seeing the rest of my pictures, I've signed up for a flickr account and have uploaded more there. I still have a load to go through, so I will probably be adding to the library for the next week or so. And maybe I'll upload some of my other shots as well. I seem to have a large collection starting...
My painting in the window of Imagemaker Gallery in Port Credit. Perfect spot along Lakeshore Rd. for my work to be during the festival.
Jazz Legends: Louis Armstrong 16x20" Acrylic on Canvas
If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you'll have noticed my occasional postings of works in progress on a website called Global Vernissage. This is an online gallery type of site based out of Europe. Over the next year I am going to be working on a series of portraits of Jazz Masters, and posting all my working photos over on this site. The first one, of Louis Armstrong, was completed last week. If you are interested in how I work up a painting from the very beginning, you can see that here. The next one will be starting any time now... if you sign up to follow the site you can get notifications when a new photo gets posted.
"Louis" in progress. Mask is in place.
How I get from A to B in a piece may see a little strange to anyone who paints. I spent years doing things the way I was taught in school, but honestly, I got bored making little thumbnail sketches and working drawings, and many of my ideas never actually made it to the canvas because of this. I thought this was some kind of flaw in me... my boredom threshold being unreasonably low means that lots of things I start don't get finished and things I set out to learn I don't actually accomplish. The thing is, once I gave myself permission to do things my own, unconventional way, my art just took off and improved immensely.
I had to figure out a way to get the excitement I felt when I had an idea to keep until I actually started to paint. I do it by putting off the "planning" stage until I'm about half way through. Seems a bit counter-productive, but it works for me. Even when I want to paint but don't have an idea, just starting will often lead to something coming to me as I see the marks I'm making. I'll see something in the shapes I'm getting, or I'll try a colour combination that just sparks. It's an energy that I feel, and I think it shows in my finished work.
As for my subjects.... I'm painting portraits of artists that definitely did things in their own unconventional way. Each one of them had a style that was uniquely their own, and it made them legends. How inspiring is that.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Toronto artist Kristen Hamilton, who had seen my work on Twitter, and she invited me to participate in a charity art show/music event at a church in the Davisville area of the city. The concept sounded interesting, the charity was certainly worthwhile (SKETCH... a non-profit whose mandate is to help create opportunities for young people living on the margins to create, collaborate and lead), and it would get new eyes on my work, so of course I said yes. I have never participated in an art event at a church. In fact, I've never been to or heard about art events being held in church, at least in Canada. I know they do that kind of thing in Europe, and there are a few churches in Toronto that have will have concerts. The acoustics in this church were amazing, and the organizers made some adjustments to the lighting so the art looked wonderful. They had wine and cheese, the band was great, and lots of people showed up. It was a great event and I'm happy to have been included.
My paintings, interspersed with Kristen's, along one wall of the church.
Me, checking out some of the other art. I believe these ones were done by Gene Tempelmeyer. And looking at this photo... man, I really need a haircut.
The paintings were hung between these fantastic stained glass windows. Unfortunately by the time we got there it was already too dark outside to get a great view of them... I bet the room looked wonderful this morning. There were a few sales, which was great... I think the one with the tree (between mine, by Toronto artist Kristen Hamilton) was one of them. There are some great photos on the Facebook events page, if you are interested in seeing more.
David Rubel Trio... great performance from these guys. I'm going to watch their website so I can catch them again. I got some great working photos... not fantastic as photos really, because I'm focusing on certain things I need to work from. Photographer William Ye was also there... He got some much better shots. Check them out on his smugmug page.
Oh, and by the way... the winner of last week's draw is Cecile Sheff. I'd like to thank everyone who left a comment. It was brought to my attention that some people were having trouble with the commenting function on the blog, so in light of that I shall be doing this again in the future, but including Facebook, twitter and google+ comments as valid entries. Sorry to anyone who tried to comment and couldn't.
Did you realize there's only 4 and a bit weeks left until Christmas? I think I clued in around Wednesday... I'm usually REALLY organized when it comes to Christmas, 1. because I seriously hate crowds, and shopping in the malls around here in December vaguely resembles roller derby, and 2. it's a month that is usually insanely busy at my day job. This year I'm not so organized... somehow the time has managed to slip by without me noticing, and here it is one week till December. Yikes.
What have I been doing? Well... painting. I did my class with Gwen Tooth, worked on a couple decent sized abstract pieces, and finished off a large musician piece that's been hanging around my studio for a few months now. I got an amazing book out of the library, "the Jazz Loft Project"... Its based on the photographs and tapes of W. Eugene Smith, from 1957 to1965. There are some fantastic photos in this book, and I used one of Thelonious Monk as a jumping off point for this piece. I try to alter my drawings so they don't actually look like the photos... I will draw from the photo, put the book away and draw it again a couple times, and each time it gets further away from the original, and I learn enough about my subject to be able to paint it with minimal detail and get the "feel". With this one, I was going for the atmosphere of the smoky bar, with the jazz band in the spotlight, completely into the music.
"Straight, No Chaser" 30x36" Acrylic on Canvas
This is the largest piece I've done in a while. I love painting large, but storage can be an issue... my house is small and I've got art up on pretty much every available wall (not all my own... I have a small but growing collection of works by artists I admire). If you are interested in the various stages one of my paintings will go through, I sometimes post working photos on my facebook page. You can check it out there.
In other events, last weekend was the opening reception for the Colour and Form Society's annual juried show. I hadn't entered many juried shows over the past few years. Time has been limited and I really thought my energies were best spent elsewhere. This year I've been in a few, but they have all had specific size requirements. This show was open, and apparently I had forgotten something i had previously learned about juried shows... if I enter a small piece, I might just have a hard time finding it when the show is hung. That's my little one on the end... the far, far left... actually the end of the hallway. See where all the people are? Yeah. That.
I went to New York City this past summer. When I was there I was captivated by the buskers around the city, from the classical guitarist in the Brooklyn subway station to the phenomenal singer we saw in Central Park. On the one day it rained, there was a busker in front of the MET, playing sax in the pouring rain. I snapped a couple photos... and then did this, based on my photos and memories of the day.
In my neck of the woods, the signal that summer is pretty much over is, for music fans, the Southside Shuffle. Held in Port Credit, Ontario, this awesome 3-day music festival is celebrating it's 15th anniversary, and it gets bigger every year. It's usually my last chance to get out there with my camera and get some photos to work with over the winter (there is lots of live music here over the winter, but outside shots turn out better with my crappy point and shoot camera). I got out all 3 days this year... and the lineup was awesome. Highlights included acoustic sets from Suzie Vinnick and Steve Strongman, and a great group of performers from Mississippi, most of whom I had never heard of but now have a little collection of their CDs.
As usual, I took a load of pictures. There are a few I'm going to work up right away... I've been focusing on painting these miniatures and the last few days I've been itching to work on something big enough that I can really get my hands dirty (this is not just a figure of speech... i usually end up covered in paint up to my elbows). This morning I started a 24x36 canvas for my New York busker in the rain, and I've got two more lined up for a couple of Shuffle photos.
D'Mar... by far the most entertaining drummer I've ever had the pleasure of seeing perform. He had so much energy... kinda made me wonder what he was like as a kid....
This bass player was with the Mississippi guys... he so LOOKS the part of a blues man that he is surely going to be in a painting at some point
Steve Strongman... I've seen him live many times, and it's always a great set.
I spent the last week in New York City. I was exhausted, overworked and stressed out... and after a week of cultural saturation, I'm completely exhausted, but refreshed. I went to the Met and the Guggenheim to look at the masterful art, toured around looking at the amazing architecture, caught some live music and just generally soaked it all in. It was fantastic. I have about 400+ photos to wade through... I'll have them sorted out by next week and write a nice long post.
I love jazz guitar. My son has started playing, which could be part of it, but I had already explored a bit before he ventured into the world of jazz. "In Your Own Sweet Way" is a piece of music done by many musicians, but the one that caught me was by Joe Pass, on the recording "Chops".
Around Christmas I went to an art opening where London guitarist, David Jolly, was playing, and he was kind enough to let me take some photos while he played. I'm sure this is just the first of the paintings I'll do using the photos from that evening. He seemed completely comfortable with me walking around him taking pictures while he played, so I took a lot.
I've got a few months before the festivals start up again, so I'm going through last years pile of pics, along with video stills from some DVDs I got from the library, and trying to see what I can come up with. I've got a few pieces started.... but I still haven't begun the huge 4x6 foot canvas I have sitting here. Something that big is a bit intimidating. It's been many years since I've painted really large. I think Ill need a good chunk of time for that one. When a piece hits the ugly stage, and they all do, it seems to last longer the bigger it is. I have to be mentally prepared for that.
In preparing for this show at the theatre, I neglected to look at my upcoming commitments for the galleries I was already a part of. At the last minute, and after repeated reminders, I pulled out a couple miniature paintings I had done last year and submitted them to the Art Gallery of Lambeth's juried miniature show. The opening was this past weekend. Good turnout, as always, and quite a few pieces sold, one of which was mine. For an added bonus, I got an honourable mention (and a lovely ribbon). The juror was Madeline Lennon, an Art History professor from Western University. That was a lovely surprise.
