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6 x 6 Gallery Exhibition - NYC

I have submitted a new painting to 6 x 6 Gallery in New York City. All works at this gallery must be 6 x 6 inches square. The gallery has a submission kit with a canvas, guidelines, postcards, and the shipping materials to send the piece back to the gallery. My painting will be on exhibit in March. The painting will be in the physical gallery for 1 month and online on the gallery's website for 2 or 3 months. The painting is called "If." This is another painting of a favorite model of mine, Evy, from San Francisco. The painting was a personal challenge. I gave myself 1 hour to complete the painting. I'm pleased with the result. The image is similar to my painting titled "At the End of the Day" but this one focuses on the face only and the expression is more intense. The painting is an acrylic on canvas.

The gallery can be seen at http://www.store.6x6gallery.com/ and my work can be viewed at http://www.dsimoneau.com/.

Split Personality

I have created another painted instrument for the Kenosha Orchestra Boosters. This year, we have been asked to paint violas. I decided I wanted to paint the instrument in the same theme as last year's cello. When I received the viola, I let it sit out for a week and I kept looking at it, waiting for it to "speak to me." I also researched music looking for contemporary viola music... no luck. Everything I found sounded like chamber music, not quite like the Apocalyptica music I found last year. Finally, this weekend, I began by painting the entire viola black. I then decided to stripe the cello so I taped out the areas to stay black. I left even gradually increasing spacing starting with 1/8, then 1/4, 1/2, 1, 1 1/4, 1 1/2, 1 3/4 and finally 2 inch spaces. I then painted the untaped areas with white gesso. Finally, in keeping with last year's theme, I drew a face on the viola and painted it in shades of Naples Yellow, Cadmium Red Light and Raw Sienna. The eye is Ultramarine Blue and Black mixed with the Raw Sienna was used for the eyebrow and the dark areas. I wanted to keep the entire painting very loose so I painted mostly with a size 12 bristle. The image I used was a photo I took of a model through a shower wall with water droplets on the glass. The white circles in the painting are the drops. The back of the viola was left black and the sides were painted with Cadmium Red Light mixed with Interference Gold, giving the side the look of metallic copper.

The viola will be on display at Lemon Street Gallery at 4601 Sheridan RD in Kenosha until the auction date in mid February.

You can view my artwork at www.dsimoneau.com

Competition Update

My watercolor, EVY, was accepted into Watercolor Wisconsin at the Wustum Museum of Art in Racine, WI. The exhibition opens December 13 and runs through April 4.

My paintings "Medium Rare" and "Bocce on the Beach" were both accepted into the Anderson Arts Center's Winter Juried Exhibition in Kenosha, WI. "Bocce on the Beach" was awarded first place in the competition. I am so honored. The paintings which won second and third place were exceptional. The exhibition is open now and runs through January 3.

I chose not to enter the Wisconsin Museum of Art Members' Exhibition after all. Also, I was informed I could not enter my painting "Looking to the Future" in the exhibition at the Reuss Federal Building in Milwaukee, WI because it was determined that the painting was too sexual for a Federal building. I have to see the humor in this and be pleased with the fact that one of MY paintings caused controversy.

Competitions

Submitted work to two competitions today and two more coming soon.

I submitted EVY, the subject of a previous post, to Watercolor Wisconsin at the Racine Art Museum's Wustum Museum in Racine, WI. I also entered BOCCE ON THE BEACH and MEDIUM RARE, two more previous posts, to the Anderson Art Center's Annual Winter Juried Exhibition in Kenosha, WI. I have two more competitions I'll be entering soon... I will be submitting an acrylic named RAFFY - SAN FRANCISCO to the Museum of Wisconsin Art's annual member exhibition and I'll be submitting LOOKING TO THE FUTURE, a previous post, and WALTER2 (Squared) to the Wisconsin Visual Artists' exhibition to be held in the Reuss Federal Building in downtown Milwaukee, WI.

Evy - Watercolor

Evy is my newest watercolor. The image is 12 x 16 inches. The painting is double matted in neutral tones to a final size of 18 x 24. The frame is a espresso colored wood frame which goes well with the tones in the painting. This painting is the result of a challenge I gave myself. As can be seen in my other posts, my paintings tend to be quite realistic and can take a while to paint. I challenged myself to complete the painting from blank paper to signature in two hours. I'm happy to say I succeeded with the challenge. I wanted a loose watercolor that still had bold color, strong light/dark contrast and which was still realistic and captured the character and the look of the model. I feel I achieved all of the goals. This is my first watercolor after a hiatus where I have been painting acrylic on canvas for quite a while. I'm happy with the painting. I particularly like the play with lost and found edges. The right side of the face and the white of the background are the same. There is no shading and no line to distinguish the two yet the mind makes you see the distinction.

This painting is being submitted into the Watercolor Wisconsin competition next weekend. If accepted, the painting will be on display at the Wustum Museum in Racine, WI through mid-August, 2010.

Enjoy. As always, comments are always appreciated.

Looking To The Future

Walter, the subject of this painting, is an AMAZING model. He understands his body and, being a dancer, understands movement. I love working with models who need very little direction. With Walter, I only needed to explain my concepts and a general impression of the feeling I wanted conveyed and he took it from there.

The title of this piece is appropriate not only because of the image but because, a week after the photo shoot, Walter left Wisconsin and moved to Arizona to start a new life. This painting symbolizes the start of that journey and, as a result, is quite special to me. My life has taken many unexpected turns over the years due mainly to my impulsive and adventurous nature and I can honestly say that every decision took me so far along my path and made me such a better person I regret no decisions along the way. Live every day as if it's your last.

This painting is a large (30 x 40 inch) acrylic on canvas. I intentionally wanted the painting to be as photographic as possible, capturing the day and the moment as accurately as possible. In the painting you can actually see the sunlight hitting Walter's beard stubble! This painting has been in several gallery exhibitions and has been well received. I enjoyed creating the painting because I rather recently fell back in love with doing figurative work and Walter has an incredibly toned body that captures sunlight and shadow beautifully. The painting also gave me a chance to revisit two challenges, drapery and the many variations to the "color" white. The white shirt has so much color in it when seen up close. I hope you enjoy the painting. Comments, as usual, are always appreciated. Thanks for visiting my art blog.