Sorry to toot my own horn, but if anyone's in Nashville, TN next Saturday they should check out the SQFT gallery (www.sqftgallery.com) for a group show called "Let's Get Together". It's a show of artists from the East and West Coasts and guess who's one of the East Coasters?
My older sister.
But I'm in it, too. I have two paintings in there. They aren't D&D related by any stretch, but since I know that everyone here has incredibly good taste and a deep and abiding love of the arts, I felt that I would encourage anyone in the area to check it out, because school and a lack of funds prevents me from attending the opening on Saturday, February 3rd. An art opening, if no one has attended one recently, is a great way to start an evening in a hip town like Nashville. Complimentary wine and beer, snacks and some socializing. Good place for a cheap date before going to a concert or bar.
If you're like me and can't make it, you can check out the two I sent on my blog (http://jamesmkeegan.blogspot.com); but there really is a huge difference between seeing artwork on a computer screen or photograph and seeing it in real life. For example, the tungsten lighting on my pictures give the paintings a yellowish tinge that I can't quite correct. And the psychadelic intense red I like does not reproduce well.
Feedback is welcome, and anyone with similar stuff going on is more than welcome to post as well!
That's SQFTgallery in Nashville. www.sqftgallery.com
Director of Narrative
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Dude! I love your work and would love to see some of it firsthand. A couple of weeks ago I tried to find the post where you had linked to some of your artwork to show one of my friends some of your paintings and sketches, but I couldn't find it. Thanks for reposting your blog so I can show him. (I bookmarked it this time) The one I remember from then was the baby tree. I wish you all the success you are due!
On a side note...what is the best method to get good digital images of large works? I just shoot pictures of the paintings, but I don't get the best light, and I can't find anyone who makes really big scanners.
Edit: I just read your artist's statement from that show. The last line was golden.
James, I just went to your blog, nice paintings man. Pity I don't live in New York or I would go see the show for sure.
My girlfriend is a photomedia student at the art school here in Canberra, and she said that to get rid of a tungsten cast (or any cast - to make a painting look natural) you'll have to either get a very expensive filter for your camera or take out the tungsten globe and put in a daylight-balanced globe, which is also expensive but not as much as the filter. You could just whack the tungsten back in for the other poor fools when you leave the studio.
Don't know if that's helpful at all; she said you probably already knew this seeing as you know about tungsten casts.
By the way, did you know who else was a Taurus with the Chinese sign of the Ox? Adolf Hitler. Er... not that that means anything. Just saying :)
Thanks, guys. I may have to break down and just buy some daylight balanced bulbs soon. For photographing larger works, like Kahoolin's girlfriend said, daylight bulbs are the preferred. You want to get clamp lights, which are pretty cheap at most hardware stores and if you get two of them, you're pretty much all set for light fixtures while you work. You want to light it from both sides to get it nice and even; a friend of mine even recommends taping a piece of white printer paper over them to soften the light. A tripod can also make a huge difference when photographing them, since it's really hard to get a nice still shot with just your hands. They're also kind of expensive.
For some reason, my father would always remind me,"You know, Hitler wanted to be an artist. But when he went to art school, they told him he wasn't quite up to speed, so they sent him to architecture school. But they told him he hadn't taken enough math courses. So he decided to rule the world." Fortunately, he stopped saying that in favor of,"You know, Fellini started as an illustrator." A statement I much prefer. A few years ago, someone actually went through Hitler's art collection. And it was all really lame stuff, even if it was well executed. The standard male dominant mythological subjects, erotica, war paintings, etc. There's a great show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC right now of German Expressionists that's just amazing; if you want to see the art that Hitler despised and labelled as "degenerate" during the Weimar Republic, this is it.
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Director of Narrative
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By the way, did you know who else was a Taurus with the Chinese sign of the Ox? Adolf Hitler. Er... not that that means anything. Just saying :)
And a vegetarian. Then again I recently saw on a History Channel (or one of the numerous similar channels) where he was talking trash on one of his generals at a dinner and told someone else that it disgusted him to see that guy eating, and followed it up by saying, and I'm paraphrasing, "You know what they say about pigs - they eat their own."
Tennessee residents in the Nashville area; this is the last time I'll bother you. SQFT Gallery in Nashville, 61 Arcade Building, 6-9 pm tonight. Great way to start a date, score free beer and refreshments and check out some hip contemporary art mostly by illustrators.
Enough plugging. I won't resort to any more shameless self promotion until I have a portfolio of Dungeon and Dragon submissions ready.