New Painting on the Way

I have started working on a new self portrait. It will be 24"x30", oil on canvas. It will be for my portrait painting class, but I have been hoping to do a self portrait in this style for some time now.

Drawing on top of toned 24"x30" canvas for new self portrait

It will be a very dark painting, as there is only candle light lighting the scene. I love dramatic chiaroscuro, and want to emphasize that technique in this painting. I hope to get better and better at it. This painting is inspired by the work of Caravaggio, and Vermeer (two of my favorite painters). The reference picture for this painting can be seen as my current profile picture here on my blog. I am keeping the full composition a surprise :) I have done the underpainting in grisaille (shades of gray), and will update with my progress with a photo when it is dry.


I had the opportunity to enjoy the unveiling of the John Rosenquist 'Mural of North Dakota' on Thursday. The first mural commissioned was tragically burned in a house fire in 2009. Rosenquist's home was burned to the ground. This mural that we have now is the second mural that he has completes for North Dakota. it is 13'x24' in size. It was very unfortunate that the artist was not able to attend (he is now 77yo and caught pneumonia right before the unveiling and couldn't travel). He will instead be coming back on October 20th to enjoy a second event for the mural.

Unveiling of the 'North Dakota Mural' at the Fargo Plains Art Museum

My Current Projects:
as of 10/9/10

• Self portrait in Oil (Portrait Painting Studio) 20% done
• Portrait of Taylor Kearns in Graphite (Drawing Studio) 10% done
• Medusa Tattoo Design (Commission) 50% done
• Possible Commissioned Painting (no details yet) 0% done