Stained Glass Lovers
Posted by Tim OBrien at 11:15 am on July 1st
Final art
It's a common occurrence; go on vacation and get calls for work. Not just calls but good calls. Time, a long time client seems to be the most common vacation call.
Years ago I arrived at Eagles Mere, PA to start a week long vacation. I turned around and left without unpacking for a cover. I've also missed Time calls while out of town.
I have learned to bring supplies with me and try to accommodate my clients while chilling out.
Some may ask my I would not just say "I'm not available". I actually can have a better time knowing I'm plugged in and needed. It's soothes a deep, career-long insecurity. Maybe one day I'll get over it.
This year's call was from Time and it sounded like it was a job I could start in the Vineyard and finish at home.
The assignment was to paint a stained glass window of a couple either in an embrace or more and a spot of a book in a window.
The article, out this week, is about a few Christian groups/churches that advocate intimacy plus frequency for married couples. From the article:
" Genesis, chapter 2 verse 24, says a man "shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." But how liberally to define cleave? That was the very special Bible query the Rev. Stacy Spencer and his wife Rhonda took up last month with 252 married people at their New Direction Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn. And the Spencers' answer was ... encouraging. Does frequent sex have a place in marriage? Yep. Oral sex? Read the Song of Solomon 2: 3 for assurance. How about role-playing? One participant expressed a yearning to see her husband dressed as a police officer. The Good Book offers no specifics on that, so Stacy Spencer allowed that it was up to the woman, "as long as you're not lusting after a particular officer. Jesus talked about spiritual adultery, and that could be spiritual adultery. But if it's just a generic cop, go for it."
Superior sex can be difficult for some couples to discuss with each other, let alone with their pastor. But having taken on almost every other aspect of their congregants' lives, churches oriented toward young adults and Gen Xers have begun promoting not just better sex, but more of it. Well, not just promoting it but penciling it in. When New Direction launched its "40 Nights of Grrreat Sex" program, the Spencers gave participants daily planners. A typical week is marked "Sun: Worship together"; "Mon: Give your wife a full body massage"; "Tues: Quickie in any room besides the bedroom"; "Wed: Pleasure your partner"; "Thurs: Read 1 Corinthians 7--How can I please you more?"; and so on. New Direction is not the only church promoting a frequent-sex regimen. In February, Paul Wirth, pastor of the Relevant Church in Tampa, Fla., issued what he called "The 30-Day Sex Challenge." The program featured an extensive questionnaire, a Bible verse a day and the assumption that participants would engage in some kind of sex each night."
Doing this job on Martha's Vineyard required me to go to Chilmark library and do some sketches. I was sent some reference of couples and when downloading them, it looked like I was a perverted New Yorker downloading racy photos while on vacation. I hunched over the laptop probably drawing even more attention to myself. I imagined the embarrassment of being sent out of the building, surely making it to the local paper.
My sketch was good I thought but there were some questions coming back. Not as smooth as I had hoped. Addressing those comments, I came in closer with another couple and I think it was a better read and less like an Abercrombie & Fitch ad.
In the end my revised sketch was approved and at home I did the art and spot very quickly. <a href="http://www.drawger.com/tonka/index.php?section=comments&article_id=3806" target="_blank">I had done this kind of thing before for Time so how to do it was not difficult.</a> I will tell you that when I finished my sketches that day in the library, we headed off to Menemsha and the Dock and I ate a dozen oysters on the half-shell.
A quick sketch of a young couple. Perhaps being in the library made me put underwear on them.
Approved!
close up
Closer. The trick of doing stained glass is a breeze and it means the drawing an painting can be imperfect, that a marker can be used to draw the line around the pieces of class, and a small shot of lead at the joints makes it look real. Also, making the glass color shift slightly and change texture add to the trick.
Now the book was SOOO easy. I doodle books every day while on the phone. I like the way they look open and doing this piece was fun. The type was not.
Martha's Vineyard 2008
Posted by Tim OBrien at 5:50 pm on June 24th
The house from the back
For the 14th year in a row, Elizabeth and I started our summer by going to Martha's Vineyard. The location of our honeymoon, this spot in Chilmark is really breathtaking. For the past few years we have gone with our friends and their kids so it's a really fun time. Eddie Rosenstein, who is a documentary film maker, (look for his series on the History Channel on the Sand Hogs) is a great cook and does his magic in the kitchen each night. Randi Blanco is fun and athletic and game for any adventure and their kids Isaiah and August are great and together with Cassius, have a great time.
I spent quite a bit of my time working on art in some way. First, I took a job while I was there from Time.... more on that later.
I created a trompe l'oeil on the ceiling of the main house. A few years ago the old ceiling was damaged and a plank had to be replaced. I was asked to try to make this stark white plank fit in the room again. Some of the family wanted a match of the wood there already and some wanted a look at blue sky. I had no opinion either way but thought of a solution when I was asked to come up with an idea myself. One idea was to have a broken board up there with some light shining through. This was passed over after I saw a window there that looked great and would be a good model for a relica of sorts up there.
Here is the ceiling before I began. I just washed one side...(thanks to Peter Darling for the step ladder)
Ready to work
Plotting it out
More plotting and fretting over the finality of it all.
I painted this very quickly but it had to be in layers, so I started in gouache to get 'close' to the value and color. The good thing about that is that it dries instantly and had tooth enough to draw on.
First pass and it's looking okay.
I drew on some grain with colored pencil.
Time to move to the other side. I was stuck for a while because I couldn't find a ruler. I had to make one out of a piece of cardboard.
I realized that the light would almost always come from the bottom left so I painted it with that lighting situation.
Time for the oil paint. I would glaze several times over the left side panel to try to match the color and depth of the ceiling wood. The window and sky were something I pondered for a while. Should I do puffy "O'Brien" clouds or clouds I think of when I'm there. I opted for light, wispy ones.
I had to be careful with all sprays and paint to not get in on anything near it.
Back to the window. It was HOT up there and very difficult to paint on that odd angle. Luckily for me, the look of this lovely camp is kind of rustic. Edges COULD be a bit wobbly.
The payoff was getting to remove the tape.
Here is the window. Small flaked chips of paint are seen as are rusty hinges and a hook/question mark below.
The vacation itself was needed. I was overworked and so was everyone else, including Cassius. I ran two long runs to Vineyard Haven, ate great food and laughed hard. I did have a few drinks here and there, I won't lie.
The boys walking the road
New dog Luka is still a bit of a city girl.
Now this is an air pump!
Vacation is a time to try out how good you are at balancing on a bike rack. Eddie was the best on this day.
We had just left the pub.
Luka and Elizabeth
Cassius turned 8 and a half on the 18th.
We love the Vineyard in early June because no one is there yet. Solitude.
Catch of the day is actually lobster bait. Menemsha Dock (where Jaws was filmed)
The boys love crabbing. The funny thing was I went to the fish market and asked Stanley for some scraps and he gave me a big hunk of Tuna and some swordfish. I had paid handsomely for the same stuff the night before!
I have this routine that I started not long ago of painting on the hands of kids with gouache and watercolor. They all have elaborate requests and it's really fun...for a while.
Peter DeSeve was orphaned at Chilmark Store. He had JUST done that piece too. Pity.
Cassius learned and loved to Boogie board!
A reminder of the home falling apart at home
A view down the beach at the cliffs.
Beach combing is important work
No one wanted to leave.
So, another year and a great visit to paradise. I love it there and of course doing a job for Time and a sketch for another client made me feel so able to live anywhere.
Elizabeth is a busy NY City Executive Art Director and that health insurance is mighty sweet as well. Back to Brooklyn...until
Eagles Mere!
Tim Russert
Posted by Tim OBrien at 6:11 pm on June 13th
Tim Russert
1950-2008
I am so sad at the sudden passing of Tim Russert. Decent.
He just seemed so decent. Smart, and genuine. If he asked someone a question he drew out a serious honest reply because he was so earnest and honest.
I painted his portrait a few years ago for Irish American Magazine.
Hard to imagine it is he who passed before big Russ.
Death out of order is illogical and unfair.
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Posted by Tim OBrien at 10:58 pm on June 11th
Final art
Recently I was asked to do the cover of Thomas Hardy's 'The Mayor of Casterbridge. It's the story of the rise and fall of a man named Michael Henchard. At the beginning of the novel, Henchard is a volatile, twenty-one-year-old hay-trusser. He gets drunk at a fair and sells his wife and daughter to a sailor in an auction, which originally began as a joke, turns serious. Upon realizing that he has sold his family, Henchard searches for them to no avail, and takes an oath to give up alcohol for twenty-one years. Years later Michael's wife, Susan Henchard, and her daughter began a search for Michael Henchard, who has become the mayor of Casterbridge.
The novel proceeds as many soap-opera-like events unfold. An unfavorable trait Henchard possesses is not letting go of past mistakes. Although he tries to atone for the past indiscretions, fate always seems to catch up to him. These factors and others contribute to his downfall.
Covers of this sort are usually skimmed from existing art and are merely cropped. Effective, they don't however deal with the text apart from having the same general feel.
I at first, hoped for an image not unlike the painting by Rembrandt Peale of Rubins Peale with a geranium.
After some roughs, I did a drawing that ended up looking like Brian Rea, who I hoped would model for it if it were approved.
The other sketch I liked was a profile. I saw him as frozen in his dejection and in the rain.
The Profile was approved. My drawing was of an English looking man with cartoonish featured. Sadly, with some minor adjustment, I can appear cartoonish.
The usual cover
I thought this one would be perfect for Brian Rea. I wonder if he would have said yes.
This is the approved sketch
The Peale painting. It's a beauty.
Tim O'Brien is a model I frequently use. He's always available.
Leyendecker again
Posted by Tim OBrien at 10:00 am on June 10th
here are a few parts of his works on display...
While there is still time, I want to urge those who can, to visit the Society of Illustrators to see the J. C. Leyendecker exhibition at the Society.
I attended a luxurious dinner the other night hosted by the Society's Judy Francis Zankel. This event put the Society and yours truly in the New York Times' society pages.
Putting on my vic-president hat for one moment, I was asked to again, alert those who can, to attend an evening lecture on
Wednesdays, June 11th, at 6:30PM at the Society of Illustrators
"An Evening with Bunny Carter"
Alice Carter chairs the Illustration program at San Jose State University
with a direct line to Industrial Light & Magic and other high end
animation studios. Her students are a who's who of that market.
Bunny authored the essay for the catalog of "Americans Abroad: J. C.
Leyendecker and the European Academic Influence on American
Illustration".. That show will be on display the night of the lecture.
This is a rare opportunity to Q&A with a special woman.
Terry Brown, Director Emeritus, will moderate the evening in his best
James Lipton "Actor's Studio" manner
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Again, this show is stellar and worth the trip.
Stay cool.
You see, there are PEOPLE and then there are ILLUSTRATORS. We are ILLUSTRATORS.
Robert F. Kennedy
Posted by Tim OBrien at 9:57 am on June 6th
I am fascinated with the Kennedy family. Perhaps it's because I was born into the void of JFK's assassination and then lived through the sorrow of Robert's.
I find RFK to be the most interesting and complex Kennedy. The transformation from the tough US Attorney General to the lost soul after JFK's death and then the re-emergence of as a beacon of hope for an end the the war in Vietnam and perhaps ending real problems in this country, is a story that speaks to me.
How does one rewire their brain and 'reboot' a life to follow a new path and act on one's deep held dreams?
This speech from the Citizen's Union on December 14th, 1967 has always given me goosebumps. It's quick and to the point and amidst the eating of food and the clinking of plates, Robert turns this crowd's attention to what this country should see.
As he speaks of the young 'negro', I am thinking of a 7 year old Barack Obama, who just captured the Democratic nomination almost 40 years to the day after Robert F. Kennedy's assassination the night he won the California primary. RFK died on June 6th, 1968.
Obama, as fate would have it, will also accept his party's nomination on another fateful day - the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial.
This coincidence of the calendar underscores the way in which Obama's candidacy symbolizes a step toward resolution of the shattered dreams of mid-1960s.
I wish more politicians were as honest and focused on telling America what it needs to hear rather that what it wants to hear.
Well, this is clearly a day to announce our choices. Like my friend Anita, I would like to reveal our new dog, Luka.
She's a 5 month old papillon.
We are in full training mode with a cage, treats, we-wee pads, the whole deal.
I saw her several days in a row before I decided to go for it. Cassius, my dear son, has been begging for a pet forever. He misses our late dog Busker who was mine for 15 years. He talks about her and pines for her even though I don't think he can remember much about her. He was 2 when she died.
My friends here on Drawger have been dealing with the sad loss of loved pets lately. I know how that feels.
Busker still holds a high mark for a pet around here, but Luka is SO much like Busker. This is why I chose her. She is calm and sweet and a great companion. She sits in my studio most of the day and chews stuff and then get agitated....OOOOPS! Time to take her out! Down the stairs to the back yard and ....YES!!! GOOD GIRL!!!
There is a lot of that going on.
Anyway, here is Luka. I wanted to call her Radar, Cassius wanted Coco and Elizabeth wanted what Cassius wanted. I offered a compromise of Luka. We made a deal.
She looks like a little deer when she sleeps.
I know...what kind of tough guy am I anyway?
J.C.Leyendecker
Posted by Tim OBrien at 12:33 pm on May 22nd
Last night I went to the opening of one of the best exhibitions the Society of Illustrators ever mounted. The work of J.C. Leyendecker is featured and it's an amazing collection.
I think Judy Francis Zankel, past president and Terry Brown did a stellar job putting it together and it is presented in such an elegant and accessible way. The value of the work is such that a guard has even been hired while this show is at the Society.
Several months ago I took over Museum chair from Anita Kunz. She was the chairman when this show was put on the schedule. Deciding where to take the work on our walls is a daunting task. A museum chair must work their way though countless proposals and hopefully only mount shows that are the very best work and showcase both contemporary and important vintage images. The work in this show has raised the bar for both.
I walked through last night with a respect and knowledge of Leyendecker, but never did I have him on my radar as a personal influence. Perahps this will change. The paintings look wet, as if done yesterday. The ridiculously confident parallel brushwork and abstract assembly of background and foreground was a revelation to me. I stared at one part of a painting for quite a while trying to recognize that the reason it looked so great was that it was probably painted in minutes yet looked so assured.
This is one you all have to see.
From the Press Release:
“Americans Abroad: J.C. Leyendecker and the European Academic Influence
on American Illustration,” on display at the Museum of American Illustration
at the Society of Illustrators, May 21-July 12, 2008.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – –
The Museum of American Illustration at the Society of Illustrators presents “Americans Abroad: J.C.
Leyendecker and the European Academic Influence on American Illustration.” Opening
May 21-July 12, 2008, the exhibit showcases the history and art of Leyendecker and other American
Illustrators whose studies in London, Munich and Paris were influenced by the traditional teaching
methods of the European Academies in the 19th Century.
Ralph Stanley
Posted by Tim OBrien at 10:02 am on May 19th
Here is the cover as it ran
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Tyler Darden of Virginia Living magazine. He's the very talented art director who has won a pile of medals and awards most notably with our very own Sterling Hundley.
I jumped at the chance to work with him. He wanted a portrait of legendary Blue Grass musician, Ralph Stanley.
In 2006 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. Stanley's work was also featured in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, in which he sings the Appalachian dirge "O Death". With that song, Stanley won a 2002 Grammy Award in the category of Best Male Country Vocal Performance.
Here is a piece of the reference. Ralph is an older man now so the work in this was idealizing him just slightly and also Ralph does not smile.
The interesting thing about this assignment was what I thought it was going to be and how it turned out.
I was thrilled to be called by Tyler and after getting some reference shots produced a sketch. His reply was to draw his own sketch that was slightly different but not all that different. I was initially confused and maybe even a bit tweaked. I thought about it a bit and contacted him about the awkward nature of being given an assignment then being told how to draw it out. He was so nice about it. He is actually a very talented artist and his sketch was quite nice.
Once I got over the fact that his sketch was better, I had a blast.
I think I assumed that the art director who worked with Sterling and allowed such free-formed images would let me just go with it. Expectations are sometimes the wrong thing to hold onto. I ended up loving the image and really enjoying working with Tyler. He's a prince.
Here is the sketch I did. It's a digital sketch with a feeling for how the final would look.
Here is the sketch by Tyler Darden. I know what the design does; how it moves his hands up and creates a better vertical rectangle.
Here is my final artwork.
Close
The tiny brushstrokes describe the surface, hint at his age, but the lighting on his face is soft. This way, he looks elegantly aged but not haggard.
Here is the reference I shot of me holding my axe.
One day, when I'm gone, there will be quite a pile of reference of me in all kinds or positions and situations.
Also I have a huge collection of annoyed photos of my wife Elizabeth. I usually hit her up for modeling for me about 11 PM on short notice. She is beautiful but when asked to suddenly pose, she is not amused.
The Vulture
Posted by Tim OBrien at 9:14 am on May 15th
This is mostly a drawing and then an airbrush toned oil painting afterward.
For a job last week for Fortune, I was asked to paint a vulture about to swoop down on an unsuspecting Wall Street below. The AD said that they were envisioning a Gotham City version of New York; darker and even distorted.
I love jobs like this and I needed it too. I love doing portraits but I think I had done almost 20 in a row.
What came to mind was the work of Barry Jackson. I loved his work from the 1980's though I have no hard copies of any of it, but work off of memory.
The assignment, "The Vulture" refers to how the private equity firms that will thrive in the year ahead are those that know how to profit from others' misfortunes, swooping down to pick over the bones.
Fortune is great to work with.
My thumbnail. I always trust my initial designs. Usually.
A sent sketch
The think that was requested that I had to deal with was the inclusion of a person with a briefcase coming out of the stock exchange. The scale would make that a tough thing to do. I had to shift things and use a LONG shadow to make that tiny figure have more of a presence. Very clever!
