The Little Man

My daughter, Lydia snapped a great picture of Levi, my grandson, as he was looking out our kitchen window. "What a great subject for a drawing or painting" I said to myself. So here it is. Seven inches square on Arches hot press block, all in Winsor & Newton burnt sienna with #6 and #3 Kolinsky brushes.

Waiting for the J train

In November of 2009, while in NYC for my MFA, I grabbed a photo of this young lady waiting for the train. Tired and cold, she looked like an Ellis Island immigrant.


I'm enjoying working in this loose/tight style. I'm open to any suggestions or any photos you want to toss my way for portraits. I've got a lot of ground to cover these next 50 weeks.

A year of portraits...

It's been 6 months since I graduated with my MFA. And sadly it's been at least that long that I've failed to pick up my pencils or watercolors. I've never been one of those artists who just draws all day long... I need a project with deadlines and some accountability. So I either go for years of counseling to dig into my past and find out why, or I just give myself a project and give myself a reason to keep my feet to the fire. Call me a coward, but I chose the project.


We were visiting friends last week, and I was talking about this with their daughter, Rachel– a lovely, gifted young lady who has the makings of fine photographer. She was pouring out the same lament to me, that working full time has kept her from challenging herself more. So, right there at the dinner table we committed to posting a piece a week on our respective blogs. She will post a photograph, I will post a portrait. If you ask me, she got the sweet end of the deal, but if keeping my commitment makes her better at her craft, then I'm up to the challenge.


Since I've never done a portrait of my youngest daughter, Emma, I decided that would be a great start. For those of you who may not know, you can click on the image for a larger version.

So here's my first of 52 portraits. I ask you, dear reader, to prod and push me as well. And please encourage Rachel as she endeavors to grow creatively.

Portrait Portfolio

Two years ago I taught an evening illustration class at Paier College of Art. One of my students, Magge Gagliardi, is a very talented young illustrator. I am pleased to say she is planning on getting her MFA from University of Hartford. Last night, while having dinner with our family, she offered to take samples of my portraits to a gallery where she is showing some of her work. I decided to put together a flash presentation of portraits... a single place where I can direct people who want to see the work.

Gertrude Ederle, America's Girl

After each of our sessions together in the MFA program, we are given an illustration assignment. Normally the theme of the assignment is based on the location we have just visited. However, with our summer sessions in Hartford, the assignments take on a whole new flavor.

Murray Tinkelman gave an excellent presentation of American illustration in the 20th century. During one of his lectures, he told us we needed to pick an illustrator from 1900 to 1950 who was included in his presentations. He told us to choose a publication from that era as well as a person who was famous at the time. We then had to create a cover featuring that person in the style of the illustrator of our choosing.



I chose to emulate C. Coles Phillips. He created a style called the "fadeaway girl" that was more than a gimmick. He used the Gestalt principle of reification, also known as closure, where the eye will perceive a whole shape in an incomplete space by filling in the missing information.

The more I read about Getrude Ederle, the more I became fascinated with this strong, independent young woman (much like my wife and 4 daughters!) who was bound to not only swim the English Channel, but to also break all previous records in the attempt.



I took some liberties with the English and French coast lines in order to create the watercolor portrait of Ederle in the Phillips style. I then ran the scanned image through the color halftone filter in Photoshop to simulate the screening and muted palette that would have been used in publishing in the 1920s.

Breaking Free

With each trip we take as part of the MFA program, we are required to create an image based on the place we last visited. Our March trip to San Francisco was especially important to me. It inspired me to start this blog, to create and experiment, to develop a new portrait style, and most of all freed me to return to watercolor and graphite.

The first lecture in SF was given by Kazu Sano, an extremely talented and prolific illustrator. When I saw the portrait that is pinned to the wall above the cage in my image, I was inspired and challenged to push my portraiture. He also talked about creating an image a day, which spurred me on to do the same.

The left half of the image is entirely digital. While the likeness of me is accurate, it is stiff and without expression. The chain morphing into butterflies is an obvious metaphor for this newfound, or rather re-found communication. I look forward to what is ahead.

Maple Man

What a great week it has been here in Hartford. First of all, getting back together with so many creative folks is electrifying. Second, to be under the tutelage of two illustration greats like C.F. Payne and Gary Kelley has been such a privilege. And third, I feel like I've really hit my stride. So much has seemed to come together in these past four days. It has also encouraged me to put this style to work for the Lady Who Swallowed a Fly book that I comped up last year. And best of all, I'm having a ball. What's better than that?

While we're revisiting...

Took Q's input about pulling back the color in the background on the image of Riley.

Liyah One More Time

Your comments are truly helpful and welcome. Taking one more shot at the image of Liyah, I desaturated the color, darkened the background a bit so that the face stood out more, and added a little color to her lips and cheeks. Still a moody piece, but a far cry from the murderous first attempt from a couple weeks ago.

Riley

Since deciding to work together with Ken and Lois Wilder I feel that rush like when I used to be a bike rider... when you come downhill and keep your cadence as you go up another. Having their photography, and the heart that comes with it, available to me has been a blessing and a half.

So ends my third week at this blog. I am so pleased with the progress from that first lip-biting shot with the lupe on my desk. So much more to learn...

More Color Adjusting

While I'm in this color scheme frame of mind, I thought I'd play with the image of the Thai farmer. Unlimited possibilities.

Liyah Revisited

Now that I've done a few of these images, I'm understanding more and more the impact of color. I know that sounds like a "duh" moment, but I was so caught up with working the new style that I didn't think so much about what a slap to the eye that red can be. I've had a number of comments about the image of Liyah. Sure, if I was illustrating an article about someone who had been murdered or their heart broken, the original color scheme would work well.

Thank God for Photoshop. Since each of the images is built in layers (pencil drawing, watercolor, photo) I can go back in and play with the hues. What a huge difference.

Keep the comments coming. Like I said, I can get a bit myopic (a sophisticated way to say "blind"). Your feedback has been helpful.

Thai Rice Farmer

Yesterday I visited Ken and Lois Wilder and we discussed how we might work together. They shared some of their photos with me, especially portraits.

Last year, Ken went to Thailand and shot some wonderful images of people working in rice paddies. I fell in love with this image.

First collaboration

One of the joys of being in a creative field is the friendships that grow with other gifted folks. One of these friends is Ken Wilder. Ken is a great photographer who works in concert with his wife, Lois, who is a fine artist.

Ken and I have breakfast every Thursday morning, and this past Thursday we decided to try a joint effort combining his photography and my portrait experiments. So, this is the first of hopefully many Wilder/Tuttle images. This is a portrait of one of Ken and Lois' granddaughters.

Dandelions

Okay... enough with the portraits. Playing with watercolor, photos and 3D. Click on it to see more detail.

Alayna

Finally, a portrait of my oldest daughter. The last picture I drew of her was over 22 years ago. Bad daddy!

I tried a different paper for the pencil work. Not very happy with it... I had less control and it made the image too blotchy. What I do like is the very directional swash of the paint and the addition of the typographic swash. I also tried to keep to a much more limited palette than with the previous portraits.

Now, off to work on some more marketing materials...

Donna

I've loved the photo of my wife, Donna, that this image is based on. The setting, however, left a lot to be desired. So, why not create a portrait?

Because of the tedious nature of the way I used to handle traditional work, I ran from it. I may not settle on this approach, but what I love is the ability to create an image in less than a day... and be happy with it!

I know when I started the Masters program I really wanted to mix traditional and digital media together, but wasn't quite sure how. I'm enjoying this immensely.

Took some photos of my oldest daughter, Alayna, over the weekend. She spent the day with us while her husband, Ryan is in Germany. Apply this approach or discover a new one?

Liyah

Here's portrait of Natalie's friend, Liyah. She sang with Natalie on Tuesday. An incredible voice!

I'm enjoying this portrait style. Will keep playing and experimenting... maybe even incorporate it into my Masters thesis.

Natalie at The Space

My 18-year old daughter, Natalie, is a very gifted musician. I went to see her play last night at a venue in Hamden called The Space. I was blown away at how much she is maturing as an artist. Her song writing has improved greatly, and she always shines playing live.

I really liked the style of the piece I did of Lydia last week and decided to try it with a photo of Natalie. I think I'm on to something. I like it anyway.

Lydia

Decided to experiment with mixing several different media. Took a photo of my daughter Lydia, created a small pencil drawing to keep the lines fairly coarse. Scanned the pencil drawing in, ran it through a couple of filters in Photoshop (underpainting and poster edges), scanned in some watercolor splashes, and went to town with layering and masking. I really like the effect. Need to try it with other images. Would love some comments.