"Southwest Art", April 2011

My work is featured in the "Artist to Watch" column, by Bonnie Ganglehoff. Here is the link to the article on magazine's website, Exploring the Human Condition

"Exploring the Human Condition"

That's the title of the article in the "artist to watch" column by Bonnie Ganglehoff, in April 2011's Southwest Art.

Bonnie wrote a beautiful article touching on my inspirations and journey to full time painter. Thank you Bonnie! There is also an ad for Peterson-Cody, the gallery in Santa Fe, NM, that is representing my work in the Southwest.

That's "The Ascent" and "Fast Lane" both available now at Peterson-Cody gallery.

The All Artist Spring Show will feature new works by Stephen Day, Michael Downs, Gordon Inyard, Jane Jones, Josh Moulton, Scott Paulk, Terry Strickland
April 1- 30, 2011, Opening reception April 1st, 2011

Underpainting Demo

Today, at the request of Forstall Art Center management, I did a free demonstration of under painting techniques using Gamblin's new FastMatte fast drying oil paint. It is an alkyd resin and linseed oil binder. The paint is designed to be used instead of acrylic for toning canvases or doing under paintings.

I set up a still-life of a clementine orange and red grapes. I have a set up made of foam core sides, black fabric covers the back and sides and a sheet of black foam core on the top. There is a hole in the top to clamp a light from above, this blocks the overhead studio lights.  This way the drama of a single light is not diluted by the studio lights.

 

I toned an Ampersand Gessobord with Fastmatte thinned with a mixture of Galykd and odorless mineral spirits. This mixture was drying very quickly even as I worked. It will be completely dry in 18-22 hours. I did a rub out or reductive value study, simply rubbing out the paint with a t-shirt scrap.

On a second panel I did a pencil drawing, then restated it in a permanent sepia Faber-Castell artist pen. Then I did a rub out painting on top of the sepia drawing, this time trying the paint with a mix of linseed oil and odorless mineral spirits. This mixture stayed wet longer and gave me more time to work the study. Using a sepia pen to secure your drawing works well with more complicated paintings.

Either one of these methods will dry quickly and could be continued in a day or two with full color. Here are a couple of other studies I've done at the local life drawing group.

 5-minute rub out gesture sketch

1 hour rub out oil sketch

 And here's one I did on the Women Painting Women on Expedition last November.

I'm enjoying this technique very much and find that if the study is pushed far enough it is beautiful even with out adding any color. It takes the place of doing value studies when used as an under painting and helps me resolves problems relating to placement on the canvas or value. 

Find out more about FastMatte at the Gamblin site.

"Let the Games Begin"

Here's a new painting from The Incognito Project, it's 14x23, oil on panel. The models are Birmingham friends of mine who had a fun time dressing up and sharing their alter egos with me last summer at the big photoshoot event at my studio.

 I have the best friends!

"Oracle" appears in American Artist's Drawing Magazine, Winter 2011!

 

(On the cover, "Eight Falling on Thirty" by Ian Ingram)

My drawing is included in an article titled Forming the Figure.

"Whether traditional or contemporary, realistic or abstract, an artist's choices concerning the model, pose, and form of a figure are guided by expressive purposes." 

by Ken Proctor

“Oracle” 22x30  Charcoal and Pastel 

Here is an excerpt:

"In our mythologized and ordinary era, how is it possible to revive a myth? To engage the modern viewer, Terry Strickland follows a proven strategy: Artist's as far back as the Renaissance, set historical and biblical scenes in present-day concepts, with the figures wearing contemporary clothing. Defying stereotypes about gypsyish fortunetellers, Strickland’s Oracle appears to be an ordinary, modern woman.

Clothing is a powerful symbol for an artist to characterize a figure.  A suit speaks of facts, a gown of glamor. But hidden or forbidden truths, as an oracle might deliver, come not from the exterior but from inspiration within, beyond everyday experience. To peel away the the outer, workaday world, Strickland posed her model stripped to a slip.  Symbolically stripping enables revelation. Like her slip, the oracle's skin is light and clear. Dark hair, stark shadows, and a dramatic lighting heighten her fair skin. The combined effect, rendered in a straightforward, realistic style, transforms an ordinary woman into an archetypal virgin-priestess.

Although it stretches the bounds of a contemporary setting, the oil lamp is plausible, familiar. Light is a powerful symbol-light shining out of darkness suggests mystical revelation. And who would seek the truth with a light bulb?  Fire is primal.  It's flickering fragility of fire suggests the tenuous nature of fortune and fate. Glass, the impossibly mysterious product of fire-hard as a rock yet transparent, with it's inscrutable lens effect. No wonder fortunes manifest in crystal balls. 

Whereas layers of meaning in collage depend on overlapping real materials, Strickland created a double meaning through conventional realism and a pose carefully constructed to occupy two layers of space. In a dramatically Baroque gesture, the oracle thrusts out her lamp. She appears to hold it with smoke to her nose and flame to her heart, calling to mind the legend of the Oracle of Delphi, which postulates that priestesses breathed intoxicating vapors to induce a trance. The lamp seems to project beyond the picture plane; the mesmerizing flame--the light of mystical truth--hovers right before our eyes."

Pretty cool, huh? The article in it's entirety is very thought provoking, siting Ingre, Degas, Chagall, Kokoschika, Modigliani, Diebenkorn, de Kooning, and Therese Bauer.

He put into words how I felt about the piece so well, concepts that for me were not so much conscious thoughts but feelings, and to know those ideas were experienced by a thoughtful and receptive viewer is wonderful for me!

The magazine is available at book stores now and through the website.

Here are other posts I've done about "Oracle".

"Photography for Artists" Workshop

Learn to Photograph the Model and Your Artwork

Great reference photos make for great paintings!

Various studio lighting situations with a live model will be demonstrated including highlight, reflected light and background light.

Also Covered: Equipment tips, basic color correction, sizing and composition using photoshop.

Don’t let inferior photos of your work keep you out of shows! 

WHAT: Workshop at Terry’s Studio

WHERE: 127 Heather Ridge Drive, Pelham, AL

WHEN: April 16, 2011. 9:30am-3:30pm, bring a sack lunch, drinks provided.

COST: $70.00, call 205 664-5331 or email strcklnd@bellsouth.net to register, class size limited.
See the photoshoot for my Incognito Project.
How to photograph your paintings.
Sign up for my monthly email newsletter.

2011 Portrait Cover Contest Winners and Honorable Mentions

Professional Artist Magazine has put the entire article on their website along with images of several honorable mentions, listed as standouts among the 1000 entries considered in the competition.

See the entire article by Louise Buyo here. 

The second place winner was Sara Scribner. Here's one of Sara's paintings from her website that I enjoy. I had the pleasure of meeting Sara at the Women Painting Women show in Charleston, SC, last fall at the Robert Lange Studios and seeing her winning painting in person!

 “The Shadow Obscures” Oil on panel 22x28 2009

The third place winner was Maayan Zari, a photographer from Jerusalem, Israel. This is another one of her portraits from her website that I enjoy.

Maayan Zari

I have subscribed to this magazine for years, I think it has much valuable info for working artists, motivational columns, info about networking, shows to enter and other opportunities including workshops.

You can buy the current March issue with my painting, "Voice of the Tiger" on the cover here in a down loadable digital pdf, for $3.95.

Art Calendar Magazine changes it's name to Professional Artist Magazine

"Voice of the Tiger" has won 1st Place in Art Calendar's March 2011 Portrait Cover Contest. It is featured on the inaugural issue of the magazine with it's new name.

One of my paintings was on the cover once before, in January 2006.

This painting, “Fledgling Portal”, (Oil on Masonite, 38”x53”, 2003, Collection of David and Nicole Holcombe), was the third in my "Awakening Series". I did a total of eight pieces that explored growing up and life transitions.

In “Fledgling Portal” a girl stands wearing fairy wings; she is loath to give up the playfulness of her childhood. Behind her is a drapery with aluminum foil stars as the real world beckons from beyond. The clown is a reminder of scary things from our childhood that make us wonder what frightening things await on the other side of childhood.

This Awakening Series is not merely about one stage in life. I began this series as I was contemplating making the transition to full time fine art.

The young people in these paintings are stands in for every man about to embark on a big change in life, moving from one "stage" (the drapery with foil stars) to a bigger world beyond.

Symbols abound through-out the series, "Jet City" for getting there fast, a clown for scary things unknown, a goldfish in a bag, maps, empty nests, fast cars, and big cities.

It's like most of my work which is about life transitions, "change" which is the only constant for each of us. All these ideas came together in a very unconscious way, a percolating of ideas, the process that I love about making art.

“The Quickening”
Oil on Masonite, 40”x61”, 2003, from the collection of the artist

A young girl on the brink of womanhood...she is confident as she faces the world with her steady gaze and calm demeanor.  The lily is a Christian symbol of purity often associated with the Virgin Mary, but before that it was associated with the goddess Aphrodite, appropriate for a coming of age young woman. There are storm clouds on the horizon, a sure sign of the turbulence that must accompany all life transitions. 

“On the Wing”

Oil on Masonite, 40”x61”, 2003, from the collection of the artist

A young man is called by a world that is at once exciting, frightening, and unknown.  The boy is sure and confident.  The nest can have two meanings, the masculine role of builder, or the traditional image of the empty nest as a home left behind.

“New Frontiers”
Oil on Masonite, 38”x53”, 2003, Private Collection

Growing up and leaving home...  the young man is wearing a child’s cowboy hat in answer to the question “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Fences represent those things that hold us back but also protect us from danger. The goldfish in a plastic bag is in a temporarily safe yet precarious stage in his life. All could be easily lost in one small moment of carelessness. 

  

“Make Way”

Oil on canvas, 42”x58”, 2004, Collection of David and Nicole Holcombe

Godzilla and the boy are rampaging through the city with complete and utter abandon. “Look to it well and say you are well warn'd.”~ Shakespeare

 

“Pin-up”

Oil on canvas, 42”x58”, 2004, Private Collection

“Pin-up”, shows an independent girl who will walk her own path even as she is tugged by pressure to conform.

 

“Full Moon Flight”

Oil on canvas,  52”x36”,  2004, Private Collection

The girl is going west, strong and armed for the future  with keys, a map for direction,  and a rabbits foot for luck. Her destiny is as yet undecided, and the Magic 8 Ball reflects the uncertain  nature of life with it’s answers of “yes”, “no”,  “reply hazy try again". Future loves are symbolized by the valentine and the king of heart’s that is hidden away.

 

“Smoke and Mirrors”

Oil on canvas,  42”x58”,  2005, Private Collection

Danger, temptations, free will, secrets revealed, and fire as transformation, the magician divulges nothing.


The following are screen shots of the March 2011 issue of Professional Artist Magazine on news stands soon!

A journey by sea and land, five hundred miles, is not undertaken without money. ~Lewis Hallam

Of course it was more like 1300 miles and not really across the sea but you get the drift. Yikes! These boxes are expensive but the paintings traveled well and arrived unharmed and safely delivered to Peterson-Cody Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico by FedEx ground.

The boxes are "Strongboxes" and can be purchased from Airfloat Systems. They have a liner that is as puncture resistant as 3/4 inch plywood and foam padding all around that  you can custom cut to fit the work.

The paintings were wrapped in Dartek film that I first learned about from the Mobile Museum of Art when they shipped one of my paintings back to me wrapped in the stuff. It doesn't stick to the varnish in my experience. It can be purchased from University Products.

I taped the boxes shut with EXTREME amounts of Scotch "Extreme Tape", loaded them in the back of my Mazda and headed off to the local FedEx office, where I turned them over to a very nice man and held my breath for the next four days.

Shipping work across country is not for the faint of heart!

What the Heck am I Trying to Say?

I recently re-worked my artist statement, a challenge for all visual artists, but an important process as well. If we, as artists don't know what we're talking about who does?

I thought it would be an interesting exercise to relate specific pieces to different parts of my artist statement to see where I'm exploring what topic. I've done it here with work specifically that will be in the Figurative Group Show at Peterson-Cody Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, February 2011.

Using the human figure and still life objects I consider intangibles, challenging myself to capture small nuance in relationships, life, death,  and love. Much of my work is about transitions, whether it is a midlife juncture or coming of age as a universal truth. These paintings are decisions reflected and possibilities contemplated. 

(As in "Near at Hand", I'm dealing with symbolic walls that can appear in relationships or in "On With the Show" I was thinking about the continuum of time, the birds are flying into and out of the painting suggesting that the show must go on, WE must press on, as surely as time passes this too shall pass.)  

 I’m intrigued by the idea of a work of art looking like an old master’s painting but with a contemporary edge, as an artist I want to be a filter for the time I live in. 

(In "The Ascent", the figures are very classically rendered however the ladder is a modern aluminum one, or "Call of Duty", which has the feel of a Renaissance portrait but the imagery from Superman comics, my red haired model in "Dreams of Flying" brings to mind a Botticelli Venus but with the addition of the airplane there is no mistaking her for one) 

I’m frequently inspired by fairy tales, superheroes, or works of literature, and reexamine them in a contemporary way. Mythical characters may become a device to explore our responses to modern day situations, for example Superman becomes a symbol for the mighty dreams each of us hold close to our chests. 

(As in "The Call of Duty" and "If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On" which has it's title from the first line of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night play)

Recurring themes, of flying and birds, have been turning up in my work, kind of a surprise personal imagery and that I was not conscious of adding. My paintings are so long in the works that I'm delighted when I discover a surprise such as this.