“Companions” 20 × 16 inches, Oil on canvas
This is a handmade, original work of art NOT A PRINT and NOT AI GENERATED
FREE SHIPPING Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks This ships from San Carlos, California (The San Francisco Bay Area). I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This is a crossover piece. It connects my long-standing interest in handsome, bearish men with the questions about aging and relationships that I’m exploring in my newer work. I still enjoy painting these bodies, and I’m particularly interested in what happens when I put two people together.
One man stands close to us, while the other sits behind him in a white undershirt and blue trousers. The standing figure overlaps the seated man, connecting them through the composition even though they look in different directions. Their bodies occupy different amounts of space, and that difference gives the painting some of its movement.
I’m interested in couples or companions. There’s an allegorical aspect to this for me: thinking about my own aging and what long-term, or even short-term, relationships mean at this age. The physical appeal of the figures and these more personal questions exist together. This connects with the sleeping companions I’ve begun exploring in my subway drawings. I’m also reusing elements of this painting in another drawing, with a self-portrait as one of the “characters.”
The handling is closer to my alla prima and imprimatura approach. Broad strokes establish the light and rounded forms, and a few crayon lines still show through the layers. Warm reds and oranges in the skin play against the cooler whites, gray hair and blue trousers. The quieter brown and gray surroundings give those colors room to work. I like seeing the individual strokes as well as the bodies they describe.
Compositionally, I wanted movement rather than two figures neatly contained within the rectangle. I’m taking a page from the Impressionists’ and photographers’ playbooks by cropping the figures or letting them kiss the edges. The foreground man’s hair reaches the top, his legs continue beyond the bottom, and the seated figure presses against the left side. Those close edges make the space feel occupied and keep the eye moving between the two men.
“Companions” 20 × 16 inches, Oil on canvas
This is a handmade, original work of art NOT A PRINT and NOT AI GENERATED
FREE SHIPPING Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks This ships from San Carlos, California (The San Francisco Bay Area). I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This is a crossover piece. It connects my long-standing interest in handsome, bearish men with the questions about aging and relationships that I’m exploring in my newer work. I still enjoy painting these bodies, and I’m particularly interested in what happens when I put two people together.
One man stands close to us, while the other sits behind him in a white undershirt and blue trousers. The standing figure overlaps the seated man, connecting them through the composition even though they look in different directions. Their bodies occupy different amounts of space, and that difference gives the painting some of its movement.
I’m interested in couples or companions. There’s an allegorical aspect to this for me: thinking about my own aging and what long-term, or even short-term, relationships mean at this age. The physical appeal of the figures and these more personal questions exist together. This connects with the sleeping companions I’ve begun exploring in my subway drawings. I’m also reusing elements of this painting in another drawing, with a self-portrait as one of the “characters.”
The handling is closer to my alla prima and imprimatura approach. Broad strokes establish the light and rounded forms, and a few crayon lines still show through the layers. Warm reds and oranges in the skin play against the cooler whites, gray hair and blue trousers. The quieter brown and gray surroundings give those colors room to work. I like seeing the individual strokes as well as the bodies they describe.
Compositionally, I wanted movement rather than two figures neatly contained within the rectangle. I’m taking a page from the Impressionists’ and photographers’ playbooks by cropping the figures or letting them kiss the edges. The foreground man’s hair reaches the top, his legs continue beyond the bottom, and the seated figure presses against the left side. Those close edges make the space feel occupied and keep the eye moving between the two men.
