A friend from High School reached out and asked me to do a painting from some photographs taken at her son's wedding. The painting will be a gift for their first anniversary. There were a series of photographs as they walked by a fence line with longhorns in the background. My idea was to stretch out the picture plane to a 12" x 24" and show more of the fence line and longhorns in the background with the bride and groom in the foreground. I combined several images to get the composition that I wanted, removing the barrels and rearranging the location of some of the cows. I was also able to show the entire train of the gown and more cows that way. This was a very enjoyable portrait as well as challenging to get the joyful expression of the groom just right! I love the colors and textures of the cows and the Texas landscape in the background. The light reflecting on the barb wire was also really fun to recreate.
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This commission was for a local who wanted a painting of his truck with himself and his dog to use as a Christmas Card. I started with a blue underpainting because it was a white truck with a snowy background. I then added the darks, and I decided to detail the wreath on the front of the truck. I then began working on the headlights, bumper, and hood. I wanted to capture the rusty patina. The background was filled in and the last part I did was the portrait of the dog and owner. This was a challenging commission and a lot of fun! Portrait commission with process photos, first I used an overhead to do the initial drawing. With a portrait and trying to get a likeness, this is the best and quickest way. I wanted a bright underpainting to show some of the personality of the subject. I love the hot reds and pinks with the cool blues and violets, and how the color peeks out in the face and hair. I blocked in the hair mass before I went back in and broke up the outline and added the smaller hair strands. Finished painting at the end!
Vintage airplane painting that I did for a client. He owns the airplane and restored it himself. The building in the background is where he and his wife were married! This type of plane takes off and lands on grass, so he wanted a grass background. The size is 24" x 30" acrylic on a gallery wrapped canvas. See the slideshow for my process pics. I really enjoyed this, it was definitely a challenge for me! This was a cool opportunity, my painting was purchased for a limited edition run by the art website Ecstase. I painted this small painting several years ago for an artist friend as a tribute to the first astronauts. I love that it is having another life! It's been a while since I last blogged. There have been quite a few changes going on! First and foremost, my husband and I have relocated to our dream destination, Prescott, Arizona. I am currently teaching here and finishing up my Master's in Curriculum. Completely changing our lives has been kind of crazy, but we absolutely love it here. If you are not familiar with Prescott, it is a medium size town surrounded by pines, mountains, high desert, and a wonderful community in northern Arizona. We couldn't be happier to be here! I have also been accepted into a great gallery downtown on the square. I have taken some time to update my website, including a new "press" section. I am looking forward to doing a lot more art after this last semester of grad school is finished. This change of location is really inspiring and I know it will have a profound effect on my work. Here is a link to the press section of my website.
http://lesliematiacio.weebly.com/press.html This post really shows how much an painting can change from beginning to end. I was inspired to paint a portrait of Tom Petty after learning of his death this past week. I wanted to paint on a large piece of cardboard, 22 x 28. I like the cardboard for several reasons. The texture is different and the color is a beautiful mid-tone brown that looks great with the darks and lights. I started with a very basic outline and then filled in the darkest values. I also used a wallpaper scrap for the vest, as it was a brocade pattern. You can see the reference image that I used was a Rolling Stone cover from 1991. The other thing that I wanted to emphasize was the negative space around the hair. I used titanium white in the background to play against the texture of the hair. I also mixed transparent yellow oxide for the additional skin tones. So at this point there is not really a lot of detail on the face. Here you can see the photo reference. I love how the face is really starting to glow. Quite a bit of the cardboard is still showing through, but being enhanced by the beautiful yellow tones. At this point the only colors I have used are Mars black, Titanium white, and the Transparent yellow oxide. The green vest is wallpaper, glued on. The finished painting. I have added Dioxozine Purple and Phthalo Green.
Glorious Ford, Acrylic on Canvas, 20 x 20. I am so very pleased to be the Guest Artist at Gallery 195 in Boerne this month! Boerne is a wonderful arts community with plenty to see and do along the Hill Country Mile. I was also very excited to have my painting featured in the Boerne Star and on SA Living on WOAI San Antonio! The Hill Country Council for the Arts Boerne Bierfest www.hccarts.org/boerne-bierfest
is taking place on April 1st. As part of the festival, they are having an art competition and auction. The entry must include a beer stein. I was inspired by the old Blatz beer truck. The first step was to put a bright yellow on the canvas. I chose yellow because I knew the beer stein would be yellow. The photo reference was black and white, so I had to imagine the color. This painting will be for sale at the Boerne Bierfest on April 1st! See photos for progress. Christmas in Comfort is a wonderful street art festival with music, food, and a parade. I had the opportunity to set up and paint during the day at the 8th Street Market. When I saw the reflections of the palm trees in this sweet 1953 MG, I just knew I had to paint it. I prepared the canvas and the initial drawing at home and then set up and finished the rest of the painting live in Comfort. A selection of my painting are currently for sale at the POP UP GALLERY in the 8th Street Market in Comfort, TX, until January 1st, 2016. |
Leslie MatiacioI live in Prescott, Arizona with my husband and two dogs. I love to paint live. Archives
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