Red Shows Saturday 11.15.2008 in OKC
November 15, 2008
This’n: Red Dot Show, an annual fundraiser for the Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery (IAO). 811 N Broadway Ave, Oklahoma City. Saturday November 15th, 7-11 pm. Click here for ticket information.
At the Red Dot Show, in addition to auctioning artists’ works, IAO does something different. A group of artists (myself included) [scratch that, I wasn't included] has agreed to auction “blank canvases” — that is, they are selling commissions. When a buyer purchases a blank canvas from me, the artist agrees to paint them a commissioned work.
And That’n: The Red Show: What Makes You See Red? An annual fundraiser for the Red Line Foundation, a local organization promoting education and awareness about HIV/AIDS. AKA Gallery, 3001 Paseo, Oklahoma City. Saturday November 15th, 8 pm to midnight. Tickets available at Moda Salon, The Velvet Monkey Salons, the 42nd Street Candy Company, or at the gallery door.
My friend and colleage Ashley Griffith is a cofounder of Red Line, and is lending us her Paseo gallery space for this exhibit of red art. (The show guidelines stipulate that works must be at least fifty percent red.) Below are the three paintings I made for this show. I have included in-progress shots to give an idea of how I build layers in a painting. (Secretly I hope that in five years I look back at these and think, “Gracious Aunt Betsy, what was I thinking? I am SO much better at layering now.”)
I began with photos of my subjects, which I doctored in PhotoShop to shift the color balance toward the red end of the spectrum. I drew very basic pencil outlines on my blank canvases. The underpaintings are thin layers of red (cadmium and napthol), yellow (cadmium and naples), and sienna.
This is one of my palettes at the beginning of a painting session. I use styrofoam takeout trays. When they get full of paint, I let them dry and then apply a thin coat of gesso.
Top row: burnt sienna, cadmium red light, cadmium red dark, napthol pink (mixture).
Second row: burnt sienna (liquid acrylic), Golden glaze in rust, Golden glaze in yellow ochre, Liquitex portrait pink (mixture).
Third row: burnt umber (liquid acrylic), van dyke brown, unbleached titanium (mixture), cadmium yellow.
Bottom row: payne’s gray (liquid acrylic), neutral gray, titanium white.
Not pictured: alizarin crimson.
This is a different palette, after a painting session.
Recently I am taking a more painterly approach to my work. Looking back at the last couple of years I have felt like a drafstman who uses paint. I’ve missed the tactile and aesthetic pleasures of pushing paint around, building layers of color, and laying down single, decisive brush strokes.
The Dave painting was not fit to be photographed at this point. In the final piece, you will see that I changed direction somewhat. As a professor of mine says, every painting goes through an ugly stage.
Charlie: Stripes, acrylic on canvas, 2008 by Sarah Atlee
Dave: Red, acrylic on canvas, 2008 by Sarah Atlee
Trent: Halvsies, acrylic on canvas, 2008 by Sarah Atlee
A warm thank-you to my sitters, including Mr. Trent Lawson.
Refreshing the Palate: Titus
November 7, 2008
On Sunday, November 9, 2008, the Metro Wine Bar in Oklahoma City is hosting their second annual wine tasting and art exhibit, Refreshing the Palate. The Metro has commissioned twenty local artists to reinterpret the labels of their featured holiday wines. I was offered the 2006 Cabernet Franc from Titus Vineyards. How could I not riff on the deliciously gory Shakespeare tragedy of that same name?
Titus, collage and acrylic on Rives BFK, 2008. Click image to enlarge.
The artists’ labels will be sold by silent auction; proceeds will benefit the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition.
TAMORA
Know, thou sad man, I am not Tamora;
She is thy enemy, and I thy friend:
I am Revenge: sent from the infernal kingdom,
To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind,
By working wreakful vengeance on thy foes.
Come down, and welcome me to this world’s light;
Confer with me of murder and of death:
There’s not a hollow cave or lurking-place,
No vast obscurity or misty vale,
Where bloody murder or detested rape
Can couch for fear, but I will find them out;
And in their ears tell them my dreadful name,
Revenge, which makes the foul offender quake.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
Art thou Revenge? and art thou sent to me,
To be a torment to mine enemies?
TAMORA
I am; therefore come down, and welcome me.
(Thanks to William Shakespeare Info. And thanks to Julie Taymor for making the colorful film version of Titus Andronicus.)
Afterthought: The body and limbs of this character were collaged from a copy of Woman Stabbing Herself (or Woman Next to Water) by Urs Graf. If you like this style, you might also like Durer, Cranach the Elder, and Goltzius.
Normal, OK Characters Appear In Nimrod
October 3, 2008
Two characters from my series Normal, OK appear in the Fall 2008 issue of the Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry. To purchase a copy, follow this link.
Normal, OK: Peoria Jenks. Mixed media, 2007.
Peoria Jenks, 72, carries on the family tradition of bootlegging. (Opteemah County is dry.) She does not sell to “drunkards.” One day, while having her hair set, she overheard a call on the salon’s police scanner noting suspicious activity at the Slim Pickens Mo-tel. On a hunch, she went over. Onlookers say she got a shotgun from the trunk of her Dart and walked purposefully past Sherrif Ardmore into room 112. No shots were fired. Ms. Jenks reportedly walked out shaking her head and saying, “Not in my town. Not in my town.” The headline in that week’s Porcupine read “Meth Lab Seized With Help From Locals.”
You can learn more about the people of Normal by reading the book.
My series of works titled Normal, OK was part of the Art 365 exhibition sponsored by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. Art 365 travels to Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to open on October 15.
Lyle Lovett Portrait Illustration
August 6, 2008
This is my entry for the BookMooch Journal “A Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love.”
Lyle Lovett, ink on paper, 2008. Click image to see full-size.
I’m really enjoying this marker sketch process. They’re either cheap markers or old markers, so in either case they dry out quickly. That gives me an opportunity to layer colors like I would with glazes in painting.
Join BookMooch! It’s a great way to match old books with new readers.
The BookMooch Journals are an offshoot of BookMooch. Read more about the journals here.
Related: I’ve been updating my Flickr page. Pop in for a visit, yeah? The Mooch Journals have a Flickr pool, too.
Illustration Friday: Foggy
July 12, 2008
Let Things Be Foggy, ink on paper, July 2008.
I began this sketch during my stay in Canadian, Texas over the Fourth of July holiday. I don’t have any major shows planned or new projects in progress at this point, so I feel a mite bit purposeless. (It’s been a long time since my schedule was this open.) Plus, I’m exploring some less graphic, more painterly stylistic ground. This foggy place is the perfect environment in which to let some new ideas germinate.
See more of Illustration Friday here.
Here is a snapshot of my desk upon completing the drawing, where you can see my collage sketch:
In General: Now Showing for Paseo First Friday
June 6, 2008
In General, acrylic on found wood, 2008
In General is one of the paintings in my current solo show Idiolect, now showing at AKA Gallery in Oklahoma City’s Paseo District.
In General, detail view, 2008.
June 6 is the next First Friday Artwalk in the Paseo. Also opening that night is the Canvas show. If you’re in the Oklahoma City area (and who isn’t?), come on out and see some art!
Related: See a shot of In General, in progress, in situ, at my former studio, over here.
Canvas Show Opens 06.06.2008
June 4, 2008
Hey, Pal, acrylic on Vans canvas shoes, 2008.
Faye: Now Showing for Paseo Fest
May 22, 2008
Faye (Runs Hot And Cold), acrylic on canvas, 2008.
Faye is one of the paintings in my current solo show Idiolect, now showing at AKA Gallery in Oklahoma City’s Paseo District. This weekend is the annual Paseo Arts Festival. The hours are as follows:
Saturday 05.24 10 am to 9 pm
Sunday 05.25 10 am to 9 pm
Monday 05.26 10 am to 6 pm
Hope to see you there!
Faye, detail view
Faye, another detail view.
Hey, Pal: Custom Vans for Canvas 2008
May 13, 2008
Hey, Pal. Custom painted Vans, 2008.
These custom painted Vans will be in the Canvas 2008 show, which opens 06.06.2008 in downtown Oklahoma City. Visit the Canvas site for more details.
Hey Pal, detail view, acrylic on canvas shoes, 2008.
In Soviet Russia, Vans customize you!
Here is my Canvas entry from last year:
Vans on Vans, ink and mixed media on canvas shoes, 2007.
Left shoe view.
Left shoe detail.
Vans on Vans was done by collaging Kleenex Viva towels on the blank shoes using Golden extra heavy matte gel, then drawing with Sakura Pigma Micron pens (I prefer sizes 01 and 02). The hands are tinted with acrylic wash. This piece is an homage to my old Vans Sk8 Hi-Tops. (Vans on Vans sold last year and won’t be in the upcoming show.)
Normal, OK: Stroud Drumright
May 8, 2008
Normal, OK: Stroud Drumright, graphite on wood, 2008
Stroud Drumright leads the local Boy Scout troop and plays a mean game of water polo. Occasionally he works as a rafting guide for Outward Bound. In recent years he has taken up the hobby of buying and reselling cars on eBay.
The Art 365 show, which includes my project Normal, OK, will be on display at Liggett Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from May 29 to June 14 2008.