New DVD "The Essence of Still-Life" Now AVAILABLE!

My new instructional DVD "The Essence of Still-Life" is now available for sale on my website.
Here is a short preivew:


For more information, and to purchase, please visit:
http://www.siegelfineart.com/htmlSite/video.htm

Value Does All the Work!

"Value does all the work, Color gets all the credit." Perhaps you've heard that saying, and it's true! Here in a painting of mine, with a few modifications. First, I just took out all the color to show the value of the painting. This clearly shows the design and structure of the picture, which can still be seen from a great distance. The next image shows the painting if I were to keep all the color, but paint them all at the same VALUE. Notice how the design is virtually gone, and from across the room, it would be almost impossible to see what it is. The final image shows how there is indeed no value left in the previous image. Although we jump into painting wanting to have fun with color, all is for not if you don't have strong VALUE.

OPA Western Regional this October!

Please come to Gallery 1261 in Denver for the OPA Western Regional.
My painting of John Tucker will be featured!

New Still-Life DVD, coming soon!

I have completed filming my newest instructional demonstration on the STILL-LIFE. Students often ask how to take a painting further, so I decided to do a full 2-day demo on this one. It will be about 5 hours long, and come as a 2-disc DVD boxed set. Stay tuned for the upcoming PRESALE offer!

Here is a still-shot from the video, showing the nearly completed painting.

Portrait of Mr. John Tucker: Capturing the Sitter

 Greetings to all.

This week I put the finishing touches on my newest work "Portrait of Mr. John Tucker." John has character written on his face, and it is no wonder. He worked in the Disney Animation Department during their heyday in the 1990s, and looks himself as though he could play any number of charicaturesque roles. With so intriguing and expressive a look, I felt compelled to have John sit for me in my studio.

Capturing the sitter means many things to the painter, and is ultimately what a portrait is "about." The technical and intellectual demands of painting (i.e. brushstrokes, colors, values, light, shadow, logic, etc.) are all just the means of capturing the intangibles that are at work behind the surface. These might include the model's gesture, attitude, expression, and other such mysterious offerings.

With this portrait, the focus was on the expression in his eyes, the heavy tilt of his head, and just his strong presence. He takes up more space on the canvas than some of my other portraits, with less background surrounding him. This makes him slightly more imposing, which to me goes along with his stance and attitude . His clothing adds design to the canvas and flavor to his character.

Ultimately, such a personal portrait is centered on the expression and countenance of the subject. The use of heavy and expressive brushwork helps tell the "story" written on John's face. For another subject, I might have used much more subtle strokes and variations, but again, I was really after John's expressive qualities. His slightly veiled eyes show some mystery to his character and the viewer is left to fill in that mystery.

Looking closer yet, we see how abstract the brushwork is that, from a distance, reads like flesh and bone, light and shadow, and perhaps a glimpse of something more.

"Pearlescent" Framed

Close-up from a New Portrait

Just wanted to share a close-up of a new portrait I have been working on. It is still in progress, but getting there. The model for the painting has such beautiful translucent, yet colorful skin. Let's just say it put the "complex" back in "complexion!