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/.

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.

Toledo Area Artists' Exhibition

My painting "Market and Powell - San Francisco," a photographic acrylic on canvas, has been selected for exhibition in the 91st Annual Toledo Area Artists Exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio (http://www.toledomuseum.org/taa.htm). This is my third year being selected. This juried exhibition is presented by the Toledo Federation of Art Societies, Inc. I'm eligible for this show because of my prior residence in Lucas County, Ohio. Previously at one of these exhibitions, I won a Toledo Federation of Art Societies Purchase Award (that collection is housed at the Toledo Museum of Art) and a Third-place Judges Award, both for the same painting. The painting which will be in this year's exhibition previously won first place in the Wisconsin Visual Artists Southeast Chapter Exhibition at the Reuss Federal Building in Milwaukee in December 2007. The painting was also included in the Racine and Vicinity Exhibition at the Wustum Museum in Racine this past Summer and the recent “Go Figure” juried exhibition at Artworks in Kenosha.

"Half Baked" or "Medium Rare"

This is my newest painting. It is the newest in a series titled "Beaches". Last summer, I rented a beautiful home on the coast of Southern Maine. While there, I drove to York Beach to shoot photos for paintings. The series is based on those photos. Currently, there are six painting planned for the series. This is the first completed. There are currently three more in various stages of production. All are acrylic on canvas. The paintings are either 30 x 40 inches or 24 x 48 inches. This one is 24 x 48 inches. The painting are for a group show coming up in June at Lemon Street Gallery in Kenosha, WI. (http://www.lemonstreetgallery.org/
The painting is of a group of tourists sunning themselves. There are three people in the painting though you really only notice two. The man on the right is blocking the view of his wife, lying on the chair behind him. You can see the tie to her bikini top above his chest. The other person is his daughter. While still realistic, I moved away from painting photographically as I have in the past. While the image may still appear photographic I painted with little blending and more blocks of color. I also decided to leave the beach very simple as a graded tone with only simple strokes indicating clumps of sand on the beach. I love the color in this painting and the sense of light. The subject of the blog has two possible titles for the painting. Which do you prefer? Please leave your suggestion in the comments.

Enjoy and I hope you like the painting.

Dan

Acuity

ACUITY is a rather new painting of a model I hired when I lived in Toledo, OH. Steven was an incredible model. I oversaw a life drawing session at our gallery and was responsible for finding models. Steven knew how to use his body, how to pose and how to use light to its advantage. This is my second painting of Steven. As I looked through my photos, I was drawn to the intensity of this image. The lighting and the facial expression caught my attention. To start the painting, I did something I have never done before... I mixed metallic gold into my mixed black for the background. It gives the background an interesting quality that I feel enhances the image. This painting is small compared to my recent work. The painting is a 12 x 24 acrylic. Once the painting was completed, I was looking for an appropriate name. I felt that the painting showed an intensity of thought or focus. I settled on Acuity, "a quick and penetrating intelligence." I hope you enjoy the painting.

Market and Powell - San Francisco

This Acrylic on Canvas (24 x 48) recently took first place in the Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors Winter Exhibition at the Reuss Federal Building in downtown Milwaukee. I like this painting because I feel it says a lot about society. Notice that, even though there are 4 people in the painting, all in close proximity to each other, there is no connection between any of the people. Even the two women on the left are not connected even though they are walking together. I also like the ethnic diversity of the image (Asian, Hispanic, Caucasian and African American). I go to San Francisco annually and make a point of spending time each year at the Market and Powell Cable Car turnaround to "people watch". I have taken many images here that are potential paintings but this was my first in the series. This painting is available for purchase for $3,000.00. If interested, please contact me at dsimoneau@wi.rr.com with the subject Market and Powell.