This is the completed portrait of the two sweet Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Jack and Henry. I included their portrait in the body of work that I submitted to the Delaware Division of the Arts for an Individual Artist's Fellowship grant. I also re-wrote my Artist's Statement to go with the application.
I read different styles of artist's statements and started to view mine quite differently. I began to analyze exactly how I paint. My influences as a painter are primarily the Post Impressionists, Toulouse-Lautrec and Cézanne. My sense of of color (plus a fondness for abstraction) certainly is inspired by them. I love to place some unexpected colors in my work to give them a bit of a visual shock that gives them an added vitality. To me, all those colors belong there. I want my palette selections to be harmonious but a feast for the eyes at the same time. I do believe that you can paint emotions and emotional responses. Animals have a story to tell and that is how I help them convey what they have to say. The entire Artist's Statement can be seen on my web site - bluezstudios.net.
To the right is La Clownesse Cha-U-Ka-O in Moulin Rouge, 1895, by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. I was so fortunate to see a large show of his work at the National Gallery in Washington, D. C. several years ago. It is quite startlingly to see the size of some of his work. They explode with energy and activity. It was also quite appealing to see all the redheads that he chose to paint. I'm sure that redheads were quite rare in that day and age. They still are - even now when you can be a redhead by choice. Women still choose to be ubiquitous blonds. Red hair had/and has the implication of being wild, dangerous and even mysterious.
This iconic poster, Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, from 1891 is most likely Toulouse-Lautrec's most famous poster. He is credited with revolutionizing poster art and it is easy to see why. This highly graphic image is so seductive to my fascination with graphic design. My background as a professional graphic designer has helped impart a strong graphic sense to my work. When I look at this poster, I am struck by how well all these elements are handled. There is so much going on in this poster but it all works. Your eye starts at the triple Moulin Rouge (the M leads four eye downward) through La Goulue to the centered dancing image of La Goulue to the silhouette of "the Boneless One." It is a classic "S" design. The outline of the lights plus the silhouette of the crowd keeps our eyes revolving in the center of the poster.The Toulouse-Lautrec images are files from Wikimedia Commons. The works of art depicted in these images and the reproduction thereof are in the public domain worldwide. The reproduction is part of a collection of reproductions compiled by The Yorck Project. The compilation copyright is held by Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH and licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.