Strangeways double

Bit of an 'all in the family' moment last night at the Alice Advocate Art Awards:  Bean won the Stories sectional prize with Almost Once

And I won the Faces prize with Watching the Slow Dissolve

Really lovely comments from the judges too, which we both very much appreciated (and it was only then I think I noticed the commonalities in theme between both pieces:  the whole transience thing of Keats and that mob:  I'm sure someone could have a field day analysing that . . .).

Fantastic and scary:  not sure which one of us will look most rabbit in the headlights when the photos come out: it'll be a close thing.

studies in tree climbing

been a while

backs of heads and necks

 Still not quite sure about the left side of Hannah's neck, on reflection, so there may be a bit more gentle shaping happening there, but I'll wait for a bit I think.

Dodgy lighting (ie fluoro, not the painting of the light - though I do find it impossible to paint red landscapes for some reason)  makes the sky darker than it is in the last Skyline I'l finish before the Olive Pink show (bump in on Wed and Thurs, hanging Thurs after work, opening Fri at 6.30), as again, painting without daylight (roll on summer please).

portrait finishing

This one's nearly done, then one more before I let myself get back to the fire dancer (I should also really get my head back around the three small tree climber ones for Mbantua, but that might be a bridge too far: while I want some free wall space in the studio for new work, there's only so much I can/will do with a 'work' approach to what is, essentially, something that isn't work [though at the end of a long day, try telling that to my arms, back, feet, eyes, brain]).

Quite something the difference little things (mouth placement, eyelids) make to both the likeness (well yes) and the mood/attitude (from really rather miserable, to what I wanted, which was more contemplative with a bit of forbearance on the side).  I've been particularly enjoying the skin tones here, though they don't come across  very well in these pix.

at the river III

Last of the series, till the Todd flows again . . .

fire dancer x 2

experimenting with monotone against colour, and still not sure which composition works best, so playing with both.

moving on

 Finished.

 Started

Spot the missing foliage.

three's almost done

which is just as well as I need to upload an image in a few days for the entry (having a go at a Perth based portrait comp to begin with my forays out of state).  What's left to do here?  Some highlights, bit of a play with necks/shirt collars and that's about it.  Phew.  Thought the triple portrait of the siblings was a push - duh - (three portraits take three times as long with three times three as many decisions about colour, form etc so it all works together), but three of the same person seems to have even less room for manoeuvre (could I pretend it was different people?).

And yes, reverted to the asymmetrical arrangement (another duh moment, working out if I leave space between them the awkwardness of the image overhanging the edge and butting up against another image is gone).

The lighting is a bit dodg as, joys of winter equinox, I do my last couple of hours work with the daylight flouro, so any photos are not the greatest.

Also been spending the bliss of free time/hols in setting up some online stuff:

• sending 15 of my fav portraits to Portrait Artists Australia, as they accepted me as an exhibiting member  (though not holding my breath for when they put me on the site): http://portraitartistsaustralia.com.au/
• and uploading a portfolio of finished work on Redbubble: http://www.redbubble.com/people/alstrangeways/portfolio  mainly to force myself to get a bit more organised with the digital side of things, and so I can order cards/postcards/t-shirts etc.

Looking forward to messing around with some more experimental stuff now Peter's nearly there.