Discussions with Mark Norseth

A recent commissioned piece awaiting framing.   The pose and format were suggested by an earlier piece of the subject’s mother, done when she was about the same age, and for which this is a companion piece.

Rebeccah was a great subject and  a joy to work with.  Smart, funny, and headed for a career as a writer I’d say. Having endured a dozen sittings, I promised her family that Rebeccah would always retain a certain insight,  the model’s point of view,  into the portraits she’ll see in museums.

R.D.  Pastel on paper,  22 x 19″

This is a plug for my upcoming two-man show in Honolulu at the Academy Art Center at Linekona.

Entitled “Double Vision”, the show is the work of myself and my friend Roger Whitlock, an esteemed local watercolor painter.  We’ve been selecting subjects and painting together for over a year, with the intention of showing our renditions of the various subjects side by side.

Double Vision will be having an opening reception on March 26, at the Academy School at Linekona, 5-7 PM,  on the second floor gallery, a perfect venue for a show of this size.  Guests are welcome, and we are anticipating a healthy sized crowd.

Two of my 12 watercolors follow.  I’ll see if I can get images of some of Roger’s fine pieces as well. 

It’s a crazy week, finally preparing for a watercolor show at the Academy School where I teach figure painting and drawing.  More on that soon. I’m taking a break from getting show preparation done, mostly repetitious but necessary things,  and merely wanted to post something new to your eyes.  Here is a very recent drawing from the Life class.

Today, Monday,  kicked off with winter weather that changed dramatically about every twenty minutes.  Since my friend Roger and I had already determined to paint something this morning, we set up in the local beach park and I dashed  out the beginnings of this little piece, about 4 x 5″.

Long filbert brushes and three part medium, a combination I haven’t used in years. It felt very good to paint solely for personal satisfaction and let the hour go where it may. It’s as good a start to a very busy week as any I can imagine, and though this painting is not much in itself, it does reflect recent inner rumblings I’ve noticed about doing some pieces that are more in the line of  personal, painterly notes. Subjects of little grandeur or consequence that matter only to myself.  I might give it a little studio work on a rainy day from memory…

A very quick post…the winds have died down, and I was able to work for almost 2.5 hours developing the painting this morning.  The conditions were near perfection, everything was dazzling.  I worked on the foliage in the trees, which are gorgeous this time of day.  Cerulean and Cad Lemon with a touch of Cad  Orange or Indian Red seemed to hit the mark.  Everything else was moving like crazy, and it was intoxicating.  The lavender greys in the shadows are beginning to develop as I lock on to the colors, and the shapes they create with the light are gorgeous.