Woman with Fishbowl: #2, in progress

I've been working on a painting of two artists, twins, in their studio, which is coming along quite well, but have put it aside for a couple weeks to spend some time on a simpler composition of a woman holding a fishbowl - a narrative theme that has recurred in my paintings several times over the years.

Woman with Fishbowl: #2

in progress, oil on linen, 17" x 15"

The background is all that's left to do and my main decision now is what colors to paint the stripes on the upper half of the wall: in light reds or in pale ivory tones. The lower half will be white wainscoting. I'm also toying with the idea of adding a cat - Mr. Epps - in the lower left corner. He's not in the original drawings. Will see. 

I tried a number of colors for the blouse, beginning with blue. As a complementary color to the orange color of the fish, a blue should have created a lively energy, but all the ones I mixed seemed flat instead. Greens and purples were no better, and a dark grey, while seeming hopeful, also didn't work. When I finally tried red, it immediately felt right. The quiet harmony of the orange against the red suited the mood. 

Here are two earlier paintings on the theme:

Woman with Fishbowl

1997, oil on linen, 18" x 18"

Private collection, New York

Claire

1980, oil on masonite, 3.5" x 4.5"

Private collection, Connecticut

Mr. Epps made his first appearance in the above painting, being Claire's cat. Meanwhile, the fish has grown over the years.

Playing with Mr. Epps

Playing with Mr. Epps

10" x 10", oil on linen, 20177

A recurring narrative in my work involves one of two cats: Mookie, a grey tabby, and Mr. Epps, a black cat. Mookie belonged to my son for eighteen years; Mr. Epps to someone I knew in my 20s who had named him after Preston Epps, the bongo player. 

In the drawings for this composition, I was thinking to use Mookie, but when I painted the woman's dark dress I thought the counterpoint of a black note worked better then a grey note.

The composition is based on a triangle - a classical solution that helps creates weight and solidity - and I went with a background of light muted warm tones to further enhance its strength. The ball is the only bright color, and is echoed by the dark red of the chair upholstery and the light red of the horizontal line dividing the upper and  lower sections of the wall.

Playing with Mr. Epps (drawing #3, final)
10" x 10", pencil on paper with pastel tone on reverse, 2017

Besides changing the cat from Mookie to Mr. Epps, the only other significant change from the final drawing to the painting was eliminating the treat on the table top and giving the woman a red ball to hold ... and having both paws on the table instead of one.

Playing with Mr. Epps (drawing #2)

7 1/2" x 7 1/2", pencil on graph paper, 2017

Playing with Mr. Epps (drawing #1)

6 1/4" x 6", pencil on graph paper, 2017

Molly

I've finished another cat painting ... a grey tabby as they usually are.

Molly

7"x 4 1/4"     oil on linen    2015

An outwardly simple composition, but I enjoyed working with the different juxtapositions of dark notes, light notes, and reds.

Woman with a Grey Cat

I'll be opening an exhibition at the Adelson Galleries Boston this Friday, February 6th. The reception will be 6 to 8 pm - all are welcome - and the exhibition will run until March 15th.  After, it will travel to the Adelson Galleries in New York, opening there on March 24th and running until April 25th.

Here's a link to the e-catalog:  AVS Exhibition

At the end of December, I finished another in my series of cat paintings:

Woman with a Grey Cat

11 1/2" x 9 1/2"     oil on linen     2014     

Private Collection, California

This composition sets the energy of bright red and green complementary colors against the balancing dark notes of the sky, skirt, and cat, while the underlying structure plays the diagonal of the figure against the counterpoint of the second smaller diagonal of the skirt and cat. All looks simple enough, but it was an interesting image to paint.

The idea came from a quick sketch done in November:

Woman with a Grey Cat, initial sketch 

ca. 5" x 4 1/2" pen on paper 2014

Woman with a Grey Cat, drawing #2

6 1/2" x 5 1/2" pencil on graph paper 2014

Sleeping Cat

Sleeping Cat

6 1/2" x 4"    oil on linen    2014
Private Collection, California

I've wanted to paint this image for some time, making several drawings on the subject since June. The composition is a simple complementary harmony of the figure's warm golds and reds juxtaposed with the cool blue and green outside the window, and all built upon the darker notes of her skirt and the cat.

Below are photos of three of the drawings, in reverse chronology.

Sleeping Cat, drawing #5

6 1/2" x 4"     pencil on graph paper w/pastel tone on back     2014

Sleeping Cat, drawing #4

6 1/2" x 4"     pencil on graph paper      2014

Sleeping Cat, drawing #3

6 3/4" x 5 1/4"      pencil on paper     2014

Private Collection,  Massachusetts

Mr. Epps

I've finished a painting of a woman with a black cat. The colors are an analogous harmony of blues that are enlivened by the warm notes of the woman's face, her hands, and the cat treats on the napkin.

Mr. Epps

16" x 12"     2014     oil on linen

This composition worked out surprisingly quick with only two drawings: the initial quick sketch and then the final.

Mr. Epps, initial sketch

3" x 3"     ink on paper     28  September 2013

Mr. Epps, final drawing

16" x 12"      2 January 2014      pencil on paper

The red, green, and yellow lines visible in the above drawing delineate various sections that I find useful and always put into at least one of the drawings for a particular composition. The red divides the picture into halves with their related diagonals, the green into thirds, and the yellow marks out the "golden sections" and their diagonals. While I don't adhere religiously to any mathematical system, I find the last one especially interesting.

The "golden section" is based on a ratio that was first described ca. 300 BC by Euclid. It has been found in nature and has been used by many artists and architects in a search for harmony and balance. The same ratio exists between successive Fibonacci numbers. Now commonly called PHI (φ), the ratio is 1.618. In the drawing above, the horizontal yellow line just below the woman's lips is placed at .618th of the height and it gave me two diagonals. When I was looking to place the woman's arm, it seemed to work best when its angle followed one of the diagonals. I'm amused by how often lines and placements in a composition feel right when there is a relationship to φ.

Once I began work on this painting, there were only a few changes to the image. The woman's hair was shortened. The cat changed from the grey tabby that I usually paint, to a black cat I knew a very long time ago, named Mr. Epps.  All in all, it's not very often that I go from start to finish with so few drawings and changes along the way. Got lucky this time.

Below are two older cat paintings with the grey tabby, Mookie.

Woman with Grey Cat

6 1/2" x 5"     2013     oil on linen

Private Collection, Massachusetts

Woman with Cat

9" x 7"     2001     oil on linen

Private Collection