D. Cheifetz Newsletter | 8.15.18 | Di in Light Air
Sent: 8/15/2018 2:49:58 PM


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Image 1630631 Dear Subscribers, Greetings! This is what happens when I don't write a newsletter for over a month. A long ass newsletter. Brace yourself. New painting: An extremely rare portrait commission. Rare because the constraints of a commission can potentially be in conflict with the creative freedom I require to produce my best work, and thus, not something I want to put out into the world. However, when I have completely free reign over a commission (as in this case), it is no different from my normal process. Well, no different but with one major exception: the commitment to pursuing a more precise likeness. Here is the beginning stage. You'll notice the loose grid which helps me get things started more efficiently, while still relying on the proportional judgments of my eye. Image 2810531 Next stage. Still pushing the features back and forth, searching for correct proportion. You'll notice that at the time of this photo, the eyes appear slightly "wall-eyed". For those without experience with drawing/painting, you'd probably be shocked at how slight a deviation in proportion it can take to make the most absurd and distracting errors, lols. Image 2810530 Closer. I'm laying down juicy strokes with as large a brush as I can stand. I do this in order to make sure that I'm making intentional progress. Image 2810528 When the proportions of the face are close enough, I expand to the rest of the composition. I start experimenting with broken color in the face before committing to any refined details. Image 2810527 I start reducing brush size as necessary. Image 2810529 I'm refining the features while trying to retain saturated color. Image 2810525 The face is slowly improving, and I like where it's heading. Image 2810524 Between the progress shots above and below, I reach a turning point. I posted this statement on Instagram: Image 2823636 I recently posted about the unexpected benefits of an unintentionally protracted painting process that has become common for me these days. And so, the theme continues. This portrait has turned a corner. I thought I was approaching a finish, but then yesterday I realized that in order to satisfy my own evolving expectations, I had to take it to another level of refinement, and so a new can of worms has been opened. I'm coming across technical urges that likely would not have occurred to me had I been able to paint at a quicker and more desirable pace. This is pretty cool. #painterthoughts #tinyassbrush - @davidcheifetz And so I was committed to more refinement, and the likeness continued to improve: Image 2810526 In these progress pictures, the work represented between each step increases exponentially. At this final stage I made many tiny adjustments to get the likeness to where I wanted it. But of course, a portrait painting is more than likeness. I struggled for this to be bold yet soft and colorful yet accurate. There was always something to be tweaked. Finally, I was happy with the result. And the finished painting "Di in Light Air" (9x12 oil on panel, sold): Image 2791758 This is a special painting because Di is my awesome sister-in-law. She runs Breath of Fresh Wear , a blog dedicated to her exploration of all things sartorial. _____ Contemporary Realism Image 1435589 September 1, 2018 Gallery 1261 Denver, CO The biennial Contemporary Realism at Gallery 1261 is happening next month! I will have these two paintings in the show: Overgrowth Overgrowth The Mages Flame The Mage's Flame _____ RUBICON Image 2824724 IX Gallery is the first online-only gallery dedicated exclusively to contemporary imaginative realism. IX has been running physical events for years, but this particular online venue is a new thing. The new exhibition RUBICON is now live! I've got 4 works in it, including the recent "Prey, Grace". From the website: Abend Gallery showcases some of the finest realist painters in the world. For RUBICON, David Ethridge (curator/owner of Abend Gallery and director of Gallery 1261) has culled a selection of those galleries' finest artists and turned them loose in the world of the imagination. Mia Bergeron * Greg Block * David Michael Bowers * Gordon Brown * David Cheifetz * David Gray * Dana Hawk * Ron Hicks * Quang Ho * Kieran Ingram * Marshall Jones * Shana Levenson * Alexandra Manukyan * Kevin Moore * Per Elof Nilsson Ricklund * Dave Santilanes * Daniel Segrove * Adrienne Stein * Mark Tennant * Nicolas Uribe * David Uhl * Michael Van Zeyl * John Wentz * Anna Wypych * Elizabeth Zanzinger * Zack Zdrale Prey, Grace Prey, Grace Genesis Ex Tempore Genesis Ex Tempore Fire And Ice Fire And Ice Protector Protector I especially like Nicolas Uribe's painting in this show. Check it out! _____ You might remember some progress shots of this. I was working on a large abstract painting last year before moving from Seattle to Olympia. Well, I finally unpacked it and took a good photo. THAÛMA POUR "THAÛMA POUR" (oil on panel, 30x30) My gallery assistants helped me hang this up. Image 2824602 _____ For the love...How long is this newsletter going to take to write? How "meta" of me. PODCAST APPEARANCE I appeared on the awesome John Dalton - gently does it... podcast again. It is episode no. 111 . I'm featured in his "ask an expert" segment and I talk about how to light a still life. The start of my segment is at 1:10:40 but the whole episode is a great listen. Image 2824620 _____ Also there's a new art/painting podcast called Waiting To Dry (hosted by fellow oil painters) that I'd like to mention because I've been enjoying it and I keep getting very nice shoutouts on there. Probably because I pay off the hosts. Check out episode #18 Carole Gray-Weihman "Rosemary of Palette Knives" and episode #30 Bryce Cameron Liston "Beer With A Side Of Cantaloupe" . Image 2824634 _____ WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT PENDING Image 2824640 I've been on hiatus from teaching/travel for over a year due to childcare logistics, but I've got a workshop coming up in LA. Details very, very soon. I'll send another newsletter blast for that. _____ JUST SOLD: Nomad Nomad _____ Thank you for reading! See you in a month-ish. -David Forwarded here by a friend? Like what you see? Subscribe to this newsletter. Image 2617325 Image 1888790 davidcheifetz.com Image 2617335 Image 2253128 Sent from: {{FASO_DOMAIN}} {{AM_COMPANY_NAME}} {{AM_COMPANY_ADDRESS}} {{AM_CSZ}} {{AM_COUNTRY}} Artful Mail by FASO Learn More about ArtfulMail unsubscribe from this newsletter