Geisha #1 (Geisha in Green)

This is a mini mixed media piece I did over the last weekend. Ink, watercolor, Japanese paper, and gold leaf on illustration board. The entire piece is 6"x6", and the image is about 4"x3". I did the pen and ink drawing first, then laid down a few washes of watercolor for the skin and more ink for the hair. I used an x-acto knife to cut the paper and applied the gold leaf last, and finished it up by applying a few more lines of ink over top of the paper. I really enjoyed making this one and love the format. There's also a special challenge and fun to slicing up colorful papers. :-) This'll be the first in a series of androgenous geishas.

Who's That Crossing the Alps?

Not Napoleon.*







Here's an 18"x24" commission I've been working on. It's after Jacques-Louis David's portrait of Napoleon Crossing the Alps, but with a slight change.*



It's all acrylic, so it's a change from what I'm used to, but a whole lot of fun. I'm really enjoying the concept (other details will be tweaked from the original JLD, including the names carved in the foreground and the flag) and I'm having a lot of fun with the challenge of the different medium. It's really a different way of thinking; in watercolor, I paint light to dark, in acrylic... well, I'm pretty much painting whatever I want, in whatever order I feel like. But I'm doing a lot more broad areas of color and building up the shadows as I go, rather than leaving the darks for last. I've also been dividing my time between this and a watercolor painting, and whenever I switch between the two, it kind of gives me pause, and I have to take a few moments get back into the right mode.

Anyway, I'm almost done with this one. The background is almost done (just need to finish the soldiers and flag, and touch-up the sky and mountains with another layer or so). Most of the horse is done, and so is the face.

I love this painting so much, I've been thinking I ought to do more copies like it...


*(It's the client crossing the Alps.) :-)

New Stuff

I've been working on building my illustration portfolio whenever I can. These two are some of my favorites so far.


"Rats." Ink and watercolor on plate illustration board.


"Crows." Ink on plate illustration board.

Frog Prince

Ink & watercolor on illustration board.

Black Mask

Finished this one up a couple weeks ago. I really enjoyed the challenge of interpreting all of the colors that give the appearance of the shiny black mask (which I also made: clay & glossy black paint). I'm looking forward to making some more masks and exploring this theme more. I'll post a better photo and some detail images of "this one" (still working on a good title for it) soon.

Masquerade #5

Finished this one up back in August. I painted the ink lines with a fine point brush and added watercolor washes before applying gold leaf. The Japanese paper was applied last; it's not quite visible in these pictures, but the underskirt has a pattern of waves, and the other bit of white skirt is patterned with cranes.

Long time...

... no post. Been pretty busy lately, though not as busy as this guy'll be with the clippers.

"New Growth"
13.5"x16.5"
Ink and watercolor on archival plate illustration board




This is the largest painting I've done since January and also the first large painting I've done on plate illustration board. The surface definitely took some getting used to (I practiced on scraps before attempting this size - I'm used to cold press/vellum surfaces). Also need to build up my strength - I underestimated how hard it would be to cut 4 ply illustration board! My arm was sore after chopping up just one board.

I used a fine point, round synthetic brush to paint on the ink lines, and a larger brush for the color washes. I really enjoyed working on this. I'll be doing more like it (in style, size, media) when I get the chance... Which may take a while, seeing as I have summer grad classes as well as work.

I do also have some miniature paintings that I've done over the past several months, which I'll post pictures of one day soon.

Exposed

This month, my painting Solitude will be featured in the eighth annual Trinity Presbyterian Church juried art show. Titled "Exposed," this year's show was juried by F. Lennox Campello and will hang in Norfolk's Mayer Fine Art gallery from February 6 to February 26. The opening reception will be held on Saturday, February 6 from 7:30 to 10:00PM.

Mayer Fine Art
333 Waterside Drive, Suite 252
Norfolk, VA 23510

Solitude

30"x22"

Untitled... still.

About halfway done now.

Untitled... for now.

Started this back in November. I've been waiting to post it because I wanted it to be recognizable as a girl in a mask, instead of just an insane splatter of squiggly colors (which is what it looked like for several weeks). It was slow going at first, but now that I'm out of school again, I've been making a lot more progress on it, and it's finally starting to come together. Still a lot of work left, though - I wouldn't say it's any more than halfway done, if that.

The painting is a full sheet of watercolor paper (30"x22") and the mask is one I made in late October/early November with air-dry clay and chrome spray paint.

Still working on a title for the painting...

Portrait of a Boy

Finished this one back in the summer. It's one of my favorites. He has such beautiful eyes. :-)

Quick Sketch

Been busy making more masks so I can then make some new paintings. I've gotten a bunch done, so I hope to have some new work to show soon. :-)
For now, here's a life drawing of my dog George, done in Photoshop.

New Painting

So my new fascination is metal, particularly metallic masks. I like the contrast of the hard mask against the soft face, the abstract shapes and swirls within the metal, and the challenge of imitating a metallic surface using ordinary paint. I also enjoy making the masks to use as props (I've made three so far). I think this is the start of a new series. :-)

Still working on the title for this painting... It took about 3 weeks start to finish.

Updates

Updated with final photos and some detail shots of Michael, Katherine, Michael, and Rebecca.

KPF (Finished)

Finished this one on 7/7.

Revamped Website

Just to let everyone know, I revamped my other (.Mac) website, so if you have it bookmarked, you may need to change your links - the URL changed slightly. To get to it now, just type http://web.mac.com/jennydavisartwork into your browser's address bar (and, if you want to add it, bookmark the new website, since its full URL differs from the old one).

I'm still tweaking some things here and there (don't worry, the URL won't change again). Comments on the new look are welcome. :-)

Olaf's New Hobby, Boba Fett, & Other Scribbles

I started this with the intention to draw some kind of enraged barbarian horde leader.
Then it became... this.


And I named him Olaf.

(Can you blame him for wearing a leotard? Really, with legs like that, how could you not show them off?)

Also, some quick scribbles of Boba Fett (of Star Wars fame) - the digital one took about 1 minute, the pencil sketches each took less. What do you think? Do you recognize him?





And a little (very little) change to this old painting, which is still in progress and will be finished one of these days...

Really not much left to do to it. Just need to finish her shoe and make it so she doesn't look like she's floating in a green void. Or maybe I'll leave it that way. Who knows.

Also worked more on KPF today, but ain't got a picture yet - will post new pics soon; I want to wait until the progress has been a bit more dramatic before I do. :-)

KPF

Started this one a few days ago... It's about 21"x14". Almost done with the face; I need to finish the hair so that there's some contrast before I add anymore color to her skin.

Michael (Finished)

Finally finished. :-)