welcoming fall...

(figure collage / promo art idea... )

instruction, collaboration, illustration, portraits, commissions, etc : jamesmorren at gmail dot com
 

works in progress, spring figure studies

Mary Anne (24 hrs in...)

Freddy (as John the Baptist)

(both color pieces) oil on board, 18"x24"...

(pieces are gonna be used in a series of paintings I'm developing over this up-coming year... hopefully... :) )

lost at twenty

(another throwback: self portrait, oil)

the watchman

Jimbe figure study, oil on panel, 18 x 24

... I posted some the progression of this dude in an earlier post. Since I am now abstaining from most social medias (for various reasons, primarily "focus!"), I feel inclined to make another post that directs viewers to the exact image - also I am so grateful to be painting the figure in proper color (after 3+ years studying in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts methods through GCA & my own grasping). Thanks (again!) to Will St. John & Colleen Barry for guidance. 

winter scene, progression from block-in

(still a work in progress, would love to correct some errors I already see... gotta wait till the next storm...)

Jimbe figure study in progress

details of the under-painting above... back in the figure room at GCA; below, a good display of the progression of studies, from Diana's drawing the figure (right), to my grisaille under-painting, to an eventual color study (by Raina Dai) below...

... (update) before I put in a color tone / background, here's the dude with a color pass in the studio: 

...

Jimbe figure study... / 'The Watchman" , oil on board, 18 x 24

(will upload a better (non-phone) pic ASAP)

happy new year & sending off some old landscape studies

getting ready to send off two landscapes, both painted on location last summer ; "Scorched Pine, Estes Park, CO" & "Oak overlooking the Hudson River, Yonkers, NY ", oil on board, roughly 12" x 9" each... below is a detailed graphite & chalk study of the dying Pine tree that is featured in the "Estes Park" painting (from the sketchbook)...

...

 details of evening lit "Pine" ...

Looking forward...

Jamal figure study; new work in progress

detail of 'Jamal', my first time using charcoal since... high school, I think.

...then onto a color pass, here's a detail of the portrait in progress, oil over the charcoal on panel.

…more progress down the torso, trying to keep my "shadows warm, transitions neutral (cooling?), local colors chromatic (warmish?), and high-lights cool", in accordance with the laws of the "flesh-ball", pictured below (a new concept introduced to me by Colleen Barry) : 

... and wrapping up - the full figure,  before the final touches:

Raven figure study

oil on canvas, 14 x 26 

some plen air art on view in Rye, NY, September 21st into October

I am looking forward to participating in a lil silent autction up in Rye, NY with the Rye Arts Center this fall.

I'll have the above alla prima piece I made earlier this year in Maine, up for auction in their gallery, as well as painting a another piece on location, for the auction, the day of the auction - October 3rd. If you are in the Rye area, check out the painters around the town! Thanks for the invite, Rye Arts Center & Jim Langley! Here's more information: http://ryeartscenter.org/?page_id=5539

studio painting in the works

started working on a new studio painting, here's some beginnings… and then some studies of the subject & muse, Renata:

(grisaille early stage…)

(UPDATE: filling the figure out before background...)

 Coming up for Air is a tenative title... w/ graphite figure study; would it be lame to include fish or squids? lol...

 At Rest #1 (study), oil

At Rest #2

some recent (and old) landscape studies...

All painted on location, "en plein air"...



 Old Barn, White Mountains, 8 x 10, oil on canvas 2013

 Hudson Palisades, 10 x 8, oil on canvas, 2014

 Oak study against Palisades, detail, oil on panel, 2014

 River water, NH, graphite and chalk on toned paper, 9 x 12,  2013

 Hastings-on-Hudson Parking Lot, detail, oil on canvas, 2014

 Where We Used to Smoke, detail, oil on panel, 2014

Winter Bridge, Hastings, 10 x 8, graphite and chalk on toned paper, 2013

Jackson falls, river study, 2013 

 Smiths Point Cove, quick alla prima on Vinalhaven Island, ME, detail, oil on panel, 2015

 Watertower, detail, oil on panel, 2014

Winter Palisades, 6 x 6, oil on panel, 2013

 Winter Palisades sketch, graphite on paper, 2013

Frozen Hudson, 2013

 Salamander and Pine Log, 9 x 12, oil on paper, 2013

 Cherry Tree, detail, oil on panel, 2013

Londonplane Tree study, graphite on toned paper, 2012

Pigweed study, 8 x 10, graphite and chalk on paper, 2012

Pine Study, 9 x 12, graphite on paper, 2013

Moscow landscape study, 8 x 6, oil on canvas, 2013

 St. Petersburg landscape study, 6 x 8, oil on canvas, 2013

Crabapple sketch, 2011

Forest Interior study, detail, oil on canvas, 2013

Mulberry Trees, graphite on paper, 2011