Dear Subscribers, Greetings. |
New prints are here :) but first, this is what I currently have on the easel. I've been mostly painting on larger panels this year. Still following some urge to go big I guess. Getting bolder (and slower) with age? Haha. Here is the first stage. This is a 30in x 40in panel. The model is the incredible (artist AND model) Tiffany Cole. |
After covering the panel with various umber tones, I made a large 4x4 grid (also in umber) in order to make my start more efficient. I usually do this on a larger painting that contains a figure. The big simple grid is very helpful in the beginning for layout and proportion, but not so intrusive as to make me feel trapped in a paint-by-numbers prison of my own making. |
I'm altering skin tones as I go, trying to make color transitions that will relate to the surrounding painting. |
My reference for the painting surrounding the figure is actually one of my AI creations *gasp* that I sold as an nft *double gasp*. It's actually really exciting to be using some of my ai art as reference for an oil painting--to know that the final product has been triple-filtered through various forms of my creative interpretation. Similar but much more exciting to me than using my own photo reference of a landscape, for example. Here is the link to that ai-assisted artwork (from a series cheekily named "Stolen Masterpiece"). It was created by first generating images with midjourney using my text prompts which include various descriptive words as well as some of my favorite artists including Thomas Moran and JMW Turner. After many iterations (curations), I selected a few of my favorite images, upscaled them with Topaz Gigapixel AI, then brought them into photoshop for some heavy collaging and manipulation. A time consuming process...and creatively thrilling. There are of course fears that AI will ruin art forever, but I have a much more optimistic view *triple gasp unsubscribe unsubscribe*. We always fear the new. I think it is mostly a matter of experience and understanding. I've been experimenting with AI art processes over a period of 15 months now, and that perspective really helps. Go take a look at what painter Francien Krieg has been doing--a prime example of how AI can be used as another tool to create magnificent artworks that remain consistent with the artist's style and vision. She is so good! It is no mystery to me that the best ai art is being produced by artists that have spent their lives building visual talent. Perhaps this is the perfect time to end this paragraph. Alas, I cannot contain myself. There is one thing that really irks me. There are those that fear AI will cause art to be too easy for the unwashed masses to create, and thus will put "real artists" out of work. Let me ask you a question. The ability to conjure beauty--is this something to be jealously guarded? If so, why? To what end? My art friends, never fear, your pursuit of traditional skill and craft will never lose legitimacy... good art is still hard to make, and even as the use of AI as a creative tool will raise the bar for ALL artists, the best art will ALWAYS be hard (if that matters to you).
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Using a large bristle brush to lay down paint around the figure. My inspiration for this combination of boat/seascape and figure stems from one of my favorite films: Ponyo by Hayao Miyazaki. A masterpiece and very popular in my house. Highly recommend. |
Still a long way to go on this painting. I will update you in the next newsletter. |
I've been gradually printing four new limited edition runs over the past several months, and finally they are ready to go. My goal was to get them out before holiday season--mission accomplished hooray. These are very small runs of 15 and 10! |
"Carrion" Limited Edition 15/15 $99 |
"Corona" Limited Edition 10/10
$89 |
"40 Downtown" Limited Edition 15/15 $99 |
"Vulcan" Limited Edition 15/15
$79 |
Art collectors: these four new print runs (as well as a few other prints) will be available to the public this Thursday October 20th 10am Pacific. As always, you subscribers get early access. The print shop is already open for you. Use password firstdibs to enter and acquire your prints. |
Some print details (please see shop for more details and pictures):
Carrion, Corona, 40 Downtown, and Vulcan are all beautifully printed on museum-quality archival 300gsm paper with archival pigment-based inks. Each print is hand numbered, signed, and includes a certificate of authenticity. Ships flat-packed (NOT rolled) in an acid-free and archival safe polypropylene sleeve. USA shipping: $10 per order. Order containing 2 or more products ships for FREE with discount code FREEUSA
International shipping: $50 per order. Order containing 3 or more products ship for FREE with discount code FREESHIP |
I'm gearing up for the Gallery 1261 booth at the upcoming LA Art Show in February 2023 :) |
Thank you for reading. Until next time, best wishes to you -David |
