Sunday, February 24, 2008

Are we there yet?


Acrylic polymer emulsion on gessoed hardboard, 14 x 20"
Created January 15 - February 24, 2008, #142.


This is my first figure painting in four years. I have to admit that it was somewhat of a struggle. I usually paint hard surfaces and inanimate objects. Here, I'm dealing with fabrics and flesh tones. The faces became tedious to the extreme. I'd thought that I might never get them right. It turned out to be a grand exercise of patience. At 5 weeks, it's time to call it a wrap.

Featured in this slice of life with my son Jean-Luc are his two other cousins on my wife side of the family. Isabelle lives in the province of Québec while Céline lives in northern New Brunswick. Gabrielle, the model in "La Balançoire" is Isabelle's sister. The photo study for this painting was taken 3 summers ago, when they were 12, 10 & 7. They have grown so much since then. They always get to spend a week together during the summer vacations.

The graphic novel that Jean-Luc is holding is from the serial The Adventures of Tintin. Tintin is a globe-trotting, crime solving Belgium journalist/reporter. He was created by Georges Rémi under the pen name Hergé. It first appear as a comic strip in a Belgium newspaper in 1929. The series of graphic novels have been translated in 50 languages and 200 millions copies have been sold. The series is very popular especially in Europe and French speaking Canada. I am not certain about its popularity in the rest of the North American continent. This volume is entitled "Tintin au Tibet".
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-This painting was selected in the juried FCA show at the Kamloops Historical Courthouse Centre for the Arts, 7 Seymour St. Kamloops, BC, April 18-27, 2008
- Included in my solo show at Handworks Gallery - Oct 16-30, 2009
-SOLD