Sunday, June 22, 2014

"MFA Portrait Class"



 My MFA portrait class ended last week.

(All acrylic on 16" x 20" canvas!)

I am pleased with them all. Some are unfinished.  May leave them that way.  I do have a few favorites.
Very excited about working more on the last portrait of woman.  When I took that photo I even added a few leafs from an overhanging plant in my studio!




















Me, saying goodbye to Turner's "Slave Ship!"  One of my favorite paintings!

15 comments:

  1. These portraits are ALL wonderful but I have to admit I have 2 favorites... the first, is the blue painting and the second the yellow face and background! FANTASTIC... Please do more portraits!!! and congratulations Michael on saying goodbye to "Slave ship"!!

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    1. Thank you Hilda! I so appreciate your very kind words. You are such a talented portrait artist and compliments from you are very worthwhile! I may continue doing some portraits. I am thinking with quite a bit of artistic license. I so love Turner and "Slave Ship!" Take care my friend!
      Michael

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  2. Hilda's right. All of your portraits are wonderful. Your colors are surreal and bypass the hang-up of realistic skin tones. I should take your hint. Happy painting buddy. Sorry you and your Turner and you will be separated. --till your next session.

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    1. Hello Linda!
      Thank you so much Linda! I know how much wonderful work you have been doing lately on portraitures so I very much appreciate your grand comments! Interesting you mentioned the skin tones. I was the only one in the class not painting in the actual flesh colors. Not sure why I didn't but I so enjoyed having fun with these works. I so like to mix art work with art fun! I have never been one to "stay on task" per se. You are right I will certainly visit my Turner buddy's work when I return. Thanks so much for so much buddy!
      Michael

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  3. Incredible work on ALL your portraits Michael!! I love in particular the expression in the yellow painting, combined with line. You produced an incredible body of work during this class, highly productive! I hope you will be back to visit the "Slave Ship" painting and to paint more portraits!

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    1. Hi Celia! Thank you my friend. Always so very nice to hear from you! I am so happy you like my work! I am glad you like the yellow piece. For some reason as i was painting I decided to make it a monochrome type wash! I am so happy when I get an idea and go with it! I did seem to get a lot done in the class. I think because I simply stopped working on a piece when it felt right to stop. I will definitely get back to the MFA soon either to take a class or a fun visit!
      Sorry Italy didn't go through to the next World Cup round. Surprised and happy that USA is still in it! I so enjoy World Cup Soccer. Not only is it an exciting sporting event I find it so worthwhile for its international cultural benefits! I love hearing the sports casters from all over the world.
      Again thank you for so much support Celia!
      Ciao!
      Abbracci!
      Your USA and all the other countries also soccer routing art buddy!
      Michael

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  4. Hi Michael, I LOVE all your portraits and as Celia mentioned - you have produced a great body of work just from this class alone! While I love all of them, I think the blue face is my favourite. I love the expressions you have caught on all of them - hard to pin down what it is about them but it is very appealing and gives a sense of gravitas which I love.
    How wonderful to be able to take classes at such an esteemed establishment where you are so close to your favourite artists' works you can practically breathe in their creative genius while you paint!!
    Have fun with the final touches!
    Your art cobber, Wendy!

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    1. Hello World Traveler!
      Just finished reading about your i pad adventures on your blog. I will respond soon!
      Thank you Wendy! I so appreciate our art blogging friendship!
      Sorry that Australia hasn't been doing so well in World Cup Soccer! Do you follow soccer? I only follow World Cup and Olympic Soccer. Not that interested in the professional leagues.
      I am so happy you like my work. Thank you Wendy for your very kind words. Mean the world to me! I worked very hard in the class but I also played very hard! I so like to take a few or even more artistic leaps even when doing "representational" pieces. I also love the expressions in the work. I am glad you noticed!
      I am thrilled to take classes at the MFA. I think if the same classes were offered at any other venue I probably wouldn't be to excited. I like the way you described being so close to such famous art works. When I am in the various galleries enjoying the art I always picture the artist working on the piece I am with. Almost takes my breath away when I am standing by a Van Gogh, Rembrandt, El Greco, Monet, Manet, and on and on and on! So very fortunate!
      So please keep us posted on your upcoming adventure!
      Your So Happy To Have The Best Art Blogging Buddies!
      Michael

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  5. A stellar group of portraits, Michael! I must admit, I am envious at your bold use of color and the strength of your brushwork. Your style is so delightfully distinctive. My favorite is Male Face on Yellow - that one really grabs my attention!

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    1. Okay Susan! I so love your "Stellar" description!!!! So off the chart wonderful! Thank you for writing such very kind words my friend! I am thrilled you like my use of color and brushwork! Your noticing my style and liking it makes me very happy! Thank you again Susan! I am glad you like the yellow work. I too like that one a bit more than the others and I very much enjoyed painting it! You are a great artist Susan and positive comments from you certainly make my day! Oh, just checked out your latest work. Love the very large black dog! So very good! I will comment on you blog ASAP! Your beautiful distinct style is certainly all over that great piece!
      Take care Susan!
      Your so happy art buddy!
      Michael

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  6. Great job on all of em Michael. what a wonderful learning experience. My fav is the blue face and the female portrait . awesome.

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    1. Hello Sally! I am thrilled that you like all of them buddy! Thank you! Yes, it certainly was a wonderful learning experience for me. I have taking charcoal, and drawing portraiture classes in the past but this is my first using paint! Hoping the next class is a life painting class with a model. I am glad you like the blue one. I so much enjoyed painting that one. Love just using blues and greens. The last female portrait is nowhere near finished. I am hoping to use the photo I took as a reference and use some very unusual colors!
      Thanks for the awesome comment!
      Take care Sally!
      Michael

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  7. These are all so good, Michael. I think you are good at painting people because you like people. I really like the yellow portrait especially. You caught something very keen in that man. What a beautiful Turner painting. You are so lucky to being able to spend time with it. Congratulations on the wonderful work. You should be proud.

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    1. Hi Celeste!
      How are you! So very good to hear from you again! I am so glad you like these pieces! I do like people! Love the fact that you wrote that! I so enjoyed the class. I loved examining the various models' faces and figure out how to render them. A few of our fellow art bloggers mentioned liking the yellow piece. I found that model to be very interesting in both appearance and personality. I am so glad all that came out in the work. You are right I am so very, very fortunate to be able to take classes at such a wonderful art museum. I am always thrilled walking through the galleries amongst such great art! Ahhh! Thank you so much for your wonderful words and great support Celeste. I so appreciate so much!
      Thanks buddy!
      Michael

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  8. Nice collection of portraits, Michael!!! Your color choice makes them so vibrant and different. I hope you are going to continue with them.

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