Coming October 22 - B/W&C Group Show at Gallery 414

Update on the show I've organized at Gallery 414.

Show title: B / W & C - Paintings and Photograph by Ron Crouch, Leo Wesson, and Kipp Baker. It will be at Gallery 414, located on the near west side Fort Worth at 414 Templeton, just north of 7th Street and east of University Drive.

The opening will be Saturday, October 22 from 6 to 9 PM and will be up from October 22 through November 20. The gallery will be open Saturdays and Sundays from noon until 5 and by appointment during the week.

I don't know how it is that I've become friends with so many photographers - I've known Leo for over 35 years, and Kipp since my days as an undergraduate at TCU (I'll let you do the math there, thank you). Both have done countless favors for me (many but not all of a photographic nature).

I’ll be showing mostly recent paintings with maybe a couple of older, pieces, while Leo and Kipp will be showing photography. In addition to the Gallery 414 website, the 3 of us also have a website up with more information about us and the show, which can be seen at:

http://bwc-artspace.com.

Once we've got the final mix of work for the show we'll most likely feature it on the bwc-artspace.com website, but for now, here's a little taste.

A painting progression - Kipp

Finished a painting of my friend Kipp the other day which turned out pretty well. I actually thought to take progression photos along the way (smartphones are actually good for something other than texting), and thought it might be of interest to others to see how a painting takes shape.

First -- I usually start off by doing an underpainting or sketch in burnt sienna. This gives a warm undertone to things I find appealing. At this point I'm primarily looking at getting proportions and basic placement the way I want it.

If you look closely you'll see a light grid drawn in pencil. I've worked with photographic sources most of my painting career but have changed how I use them. Back when I was in grad school and for about 10 years afterwards, I shot 35mm slides and would project those.

These days I mostly shoot digital, using my phone, then print them out on a color laser and grid them off. They each produce a slightly different look. In addition to gridding, sometimes I'll print out the photo and project it on the painting surface using an Artograph opaque projector.

Second -- I usually work from the edges towards the center, doing more of the background elements, saving faces and other centers of interest towards the end. This has the effect of lulling me into working looser on these bits since (in my mind) they aren't the "important" parts.

Curiously enough, because I work more freely, this has the side effect of sometimes transforming these areas into the centers of interest in the final painting. The sweater, for example, took on this role.

Third. At this point I was pretty far along, but I wasn't completely satisfied with where I was with it. The painting was clearly of Kipp, but there was something about the likeness I wasn't happy with, and I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. I was about to leave it as it was when...

(Fourth - brief interlude) -- I noticed it was Kipp's birthday. Since I was painting this portrait for my own amusement, I decided to do a little quick study as a birthday present. I found a piece of old 1 x 12 in the studio that had been cut up for some now-forgotten purpose. The aged pine had a nice middle-tone that served as a toned ground.

I spent about 45 minutes during my lunch hour just having fun with it. When I was done, I looked at it and saw it was by far a better painting than the one I'd been fighting with for the last several days. So now I couldn't just leave it...

Fifth - I stared at the painting and the study, trying to sort out why one was so good and the other not. I went back in, wiped out what I had done with a turpentine-soaked rag (the painter's best friend), and started over.

A fair amount of the problem was some subtle proportional issues with the shape of the head and what-not. The rest of it was just that the painting was overworked - the surest way I know to ruin a painting.

 So I finally finished; it still wasn't as wonderful as the study but it was definitely improved. And somedays you just have to be satisfied with improvement over perfection.

 Hope you found this interesting!

A retirement

I first met Jim Woodson, lo these many years ago, when I was a long-haired painting major at TCU. And now, some 38 years later, he has the audacity to retire.

I had a number of excellent instructors when I was at TCU and Jim was at the top of the list.

He had a gentle way of guiding one back when you'd strayed a little too far off the path without making you feel as though you'd screwed up or wasted a lot of time and effort

His wife Barbara threw a retirement party for him last Friday that was a gathering of the tribes. I saw old friends I hadn't seen in 20 years and students that could have been my kids.

Dan Shepley, a friend from high school days who later was a college roommate, made it down from Indianapolis. Back in the day, Dan and I lived in an apartment that was across the alley from Jim's house. Watching Monty Python at Jim's was one of our Sunday rituals (along with eating Mexican food at Pancho's Mexican Buffet).

Good times...

Good luck, Jim, and thanks for everything!

The Portrait Project

A few years (quite a few, actually) I decided to start a project that I referred to (in my mind) as "One Hundred Portraits." After the first dozen or so, I decided it was just "the Portrait Project."

The goal was, loosely stated, to do a portrait of everyone I knew. Talk about a never-ending task. Regardless, I've completed around 50 (give or take).


Last fall my good friend Leo Wesson, who I've known and worked with for over 30 years, came over and shot a massive number of works on paper for me on his digital camera. Among the stuff he shot were most of the portraits. After much screwing around, I've finally posted my favorites on the Ralph Art website.

The pieces that comprise the project follow a fairly standard format: all are more or less mug-shots, and are on 22 x 30 rag paper. Not all are paintings; quite a few were done as drawings.

It's been fun, and I'm certainly not finished (I meet new people every day), but only a few people have seen them, and usually only a handful of the pieces at that. If you know me, you probably know quite a few of the people in these works.

A big thanks (again) to Leo, who made this possible.

Enjoy!

John Moore at Arts Fifth Avenue

My old friend John C. Moore has a new show over at Arts Fifth Avenue here in Fort Worth, which opened last night. It is, not surprisingly, wonderful.

He's pulled in some themes he worked with in his Hip Pocket production, On The Origins of the Specifics (look for fossils and the HMS Beagle), as well as some other classically Moorian imagery. Dorothy and I showed up at around 8 PM last night and already 7 pieces had been sold.

Along with John, there were some great work by Dale Connor and Wally Night.

In addition to seeing John, I also ran into old friend Beth F. and Robert E, who I'd not seen in a long time. A great event. Catch it while you can. There is a closing event scheduled for Spring Arts Google on Saturday, May 14.

PS: here's my own John Moore painting.

A new acquisition for the collection

As of Sunday, I became the proud owner of a painting by my old friend, John C. Moore, who is a fabulous artist. You can see more of his art on his Facebook page.

Here's my treasure. I'm currently trying to find a decent place to hang it in my house.


Please note I shot this with my iPhone so I could post this quickly. The actual painting is a far better thing than my crappy photo.

Thank you so much John for sharing this with me!