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

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.