Steeler Still Life - The Lights

One Still Life of mine that just won an award as well as gotten many positive comments from viewers is this one:

“Mini-Helmet, Commemorative Edition”, 10x14 inches, oil

The reason that folks like this piece (even if they don’t care for the subject) is the quality of the light. It’s luminous.

Luminous light like this happens in reality when a highlight hits a subject that is on a dark background, and the highlight is so intense that the light “spills” over the edge of the subject and softenes the subjects edge. The light that spills over the subject is then diffused onto the dark background making it lighter. The overall effect is one of a soft glow, with a hard light in the center.

The main area of light “spillage”.

Luminous light like this happens in oil paint when you avoid putting down a hard-edged daub of white paint while ignoring how it affects the surrounding areas. Those type of highlights work only on certain objects, like on a porcelain vase for instance.

I believe this luminous effect is acheived most pleasingly in oil paint, much more so than any other medium - Part of the reason I’ve been in love with oil paint for over a decade.

In actuality the light wasn’t all that intense when I set this scene up and lit it in my studio, but I knew it would make a pleasing effect when I rendered it properly in oil. Besides, true artists never merely copy their subjects. They always impart their own feelings into their work by whatever means they can.

2011 The Year That Was

2011 Was a rather memorable year for me. I enjoyed a good amount of quality time alone in my studio in front of my easel, met some great folks at a few opening receptions I attended (not to mention through Facebook), and even picked up a couple of awards along the way too. The best of those awards was the first place award I earned in an annual juried exhibit of area artists which had around thirty paintings on display.

                Me with my award-winning original oil painting "Packard" - May 2011

Even better than the awards however, is the fact that seven of my original oil paintings were sold in 2011. That's more than any previous year, and to me, an encouraging sign which has me fired up big time to keep painting as much as possible in 2012!

                   "Later That Day" 5x7 oil on canvas collection Ms. Carrie Hutsko.
                    The first of seven original oil paintings that sold in 2011.

Another great thing that took place in 2011 was the feature article I received from a local newspaper. That article dovetailed perfectly with the opening of my solo exhibit of about thirty oil paintings in July. What a great experience to have a writer come to my home and interview and photograph little old me! An additional bonus was having two of my oil paintings shown in that article as well.

Feature article from June 29, 2011 showing the two original oils “Morning, Drayton Hall” and “Lilly Mesmerized”.

Here is the full “Lilly Mesmerized” painting:

                                       12x24 inch oil on canvas of our cat, Lilly.

I did this painting on short notice over the summer after hearing about an August exhibit which had cats as the theme. There were over 35 paintings in that exhibit, and my painting won the People’s Choice Award, and was chosen by the organizers of the show to be featured on promotional posters advertising the exhibit.

That solo exhibit in July was the best however. It was through that exhibit that I sold six of my original oil paintings. One of which was purchased by HBO star and Pittsburgh native, Joe Manganiello! Joe loves the Steelers, and so do I folks, ...so do I.

2011 - A memorable year indeed!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Another Award!

THANK YOU to everyone out there who voted for my painting in the “Hello Kitty” fine art exhibit in Sewickley, Pennsylvania.  With your help my painting has won the People’s Choice Award!

                   “Lilly Mesmerized” 12x24 inches, oil on canvas

In a non-juried exhibit such as this, that is a huge honor - there are many super paintings in the show, so I appreciate it! The exhibit runs until the end of August.

What a year so far! This is the second award I’ve received in four months. Read my April 18th post for information about the previous award-winning piece.

A thousand Thank Yous my rich American friends!

JoeWinklerArt.com

My Prized Packard!

Last Friday was the reception for an annual exhibit I participate in with the artists of Upper St. Clair, (which is a large suburb of Pittsburgh). It is a juried show and we hang approximately twenty-five to thirty-five pieces.

This year I submitted my oil painting “Packard” and it won first place!

The juror this year was artist, Steve Leonardi. I was told by more than one member of the group who were at the judging that my painting was well above others in his subjective criteria of things like, composition, technique, color etc... Really made me feel proud to hear that.

I enjoy looking at old cars and whenever there is a classic car show in the area I shoot as much photo reference as I can.  In this piece I cropped in close on the very lucid and becoming hood ornament of an old Packard car. I intentionally wanted a lower point of view to pump up the aura of the subject and make it seem even larger than it is in reality, so as to give it more impact.

Also when painting it, I removed all background distractions which helps to focus the viewers attention on the reflections. Overall I believe it is a successful piece because of two things: the contrast between the sharp edged subject against a very soft background, and the fact that a large single image, that has various details within it, is more powerful than a composition filled with details all over the place.

While putting my time in working on-site at the exhibit, which is in a fashionable Galleria mall in the area, folks would come up to me and ask “How do you paint metal so well?” I never have a graceful answer in person, but the answer is, I wasn’t painting “metal”, I was just painting “shapes”.  As in every other subject under the sun,a subject should be thought of as nothing more than a bunch of shapes. Ever read the book, "Drawing On The Right Side of the Brain"? Well all right then.

It’s the job of the artist to take those shapes and arrange them in a way that conveys a subject convincingly through the manipulation of values, colors, size relationships, paint texture and all the rest of it.

Next up for this painting (if it doesn’t sell in the current exhibit) is a fun event called ART ALL NIGHT.

JoeWinklerArt.com