Joseph Lorusso & Peregrine Heathcote Opening Reception

I attended the Opening Reception for Joseph Lorusso and Peregrine Heathcote at Newbury Fine Arts and I was not disppointed.  I had a chance to speak with both artists for well over a half hour each and both of them were very pleasant and also very forthcoming in giving advice and sharing their working techniques. 

I spoke with Peregrine at the very beginning of the night and he was very nice.  He has just arrived in from England the day before and I explained how to get to the Museum of Fine Arts and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museums and also supplied my advice on which paintings he had to see if he visited them.  His son was also accompanying him and was very pleasant.  For some reason the English accent is more impressive in person if that makes any sense and I have to admit I was amused when he made a referral to the television as the "tellie".

Peregrine was kind enough to share with me his working process and gave me some really strong encouragement to keep plugging away at my art and to never stop painting.

I waited patiently for Joseph Lurusso to finish talking with collectors.  After all they pay the bills and I'm just a lowly admiring artist.  When Joe seemed to be free I introduced myself and explained that I and expressed how much I love his painting style.  He asked me my name and if I was collector (I hate when I have to explain that I'm not) and I explained that was not a collector but that I painted as well.

 Joe immediately seem to warm up to me and asked me if there was any questions I had for him.  I of course asked him about his working process and how achieves the warm and loose feelings to his paintings.  He explained that most of his work is in the beginning stages; composing the painting and a great deal of time is in the creation of the underpainting.  He then provided me his business card and explained that on his web page there is a time-lapsed slideshow of his painting process which I had already seen prior. He then explained that he then goes back after the underpainting is dried and then works mostly in thin glazes and layers them on top of each other and the sometimes he also paints opaquely as well.  He walked me around to a few different paintings and explained how they were painted and his thought processes. 

I like to think that both he and Peregrine enjoyed the fact that there's an artist at the reception and that they get a chance to talk to another artist instead of just collectors, but then again they also need to mingle with the collectors.  When I go opening receptions, I always wait until the artist is free and also that there doesn't appear to be any collectors nearby waiting to speak with them.  I never monopolize the artist and I'm always alert to fact that if there is a collector nearby that seems to be waiting that I step back and allow that networking to happen.  

I didn't take photos with either artist unfortunately this time around because the gallery was still packed with collectors when I was getting ready to leave and I didn't want to be a strange, star-struck art geek so I opted to ditch the photo session but I'm positive both artists would have kindly obliged.

Joseph Lorusso & Peregrine Heathcote Opening Tonight

I'm really excited about the opening for Joseph Lorusso and Peregrine Heathcote at Newbury Fine Arts on Newbury St. in Boston.   I missed the last opening for both artists and I'm glad to finally get a chance to meet and speak with them tonight.  I'm bad about posting photos but I'm hoping to post photos here of the event but life takes a lot of time out of the day and updating the blog seems to take the back burner to everything else.

New Watercolor Portrait of Sebastian Kruger

"Mr. Kruger" ~ Rick Mercer

I painted this watercolor portrait of Sebastian Kruger last night.  I was originally going to sketch it as a caricature or "Kruger-ized" portrait but I decided to go with straight-forward portrait.

 I don't think it came out too bad considering I only spent a couple of hours on it.  He looks a little bit like a comic book villain to me in this painting but that was how he appeared in the photo reference.

I think I needed to create a little more depth in this piece by perhaps layering in some more dark values and working up the middle values but I'm still satisfying with it. 

Art Renewal Center (ARC ) is must see

"Empire" ~ Julio Reyes  (Won Best In Show ~ ARC Salon 2009-2010)

If you are an artist, collector or even just someone who like to look at art then visiting the Art Renewal Center's website is a must-see!  This web site hosts some of the finest images done by the world's best artists.  The Art Renewal Center (ARC) is most famous for it's annual ARC Salon art competition and the ARC has the winners and honorable mention's art work posted on their site.  You can also purchase copies of the ARC Salon catalog which contains all of the photos of the winning artwork.

Julio Reyes won Best In Show for ARC Salon 2009-2010 (see photo above) for his incredible and masterfully depicted "Empire" painting.  Please stop by Julio's web site to view more of his amazing works.  He is just one of many artists that I aspire to be some day. 

Visit Julio Reye's web site at: www.julio-reyes.com/

There are lots of informational technical articles, atelier listings, search the ARC museum, purchase hi-resolution prints of the artwork, listen to podcasts and much more on their site.  If you feel so inclined and think your painting skills are masterful and you think you have what it takes then you can also sign up for the next ARC Salon competition.  I still have a few more years before I'm even close the the caliber of the artists who enter this competition but that day will come.

You can visit the Art Renewal Center by going to: www.artrenewal.org/.