Grace Pennington

Larger than life…Giant Graphite Paintings Reflecting Colossal Personalities.

Grace Pennington — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:24:38 +0000

Meet Mary Gallagher Stout. A wife, a mother of two, an actively growing artist at the Lorton Arts Foundation, and a good mentor and friend, graciously posed for a new project that John Robert and I have been planning and collaborating over. The collection is called Achromatic Expressions. Achromatic means “free from color,” hence, the drawings and photographs of the collection are composed of strictly black and white. And the series of work will focus on the expressive individuality of people. This is the first of the drawings and contribution to the series. While Mary is a woman of many hats and roles, she also has a very animated and youthful personality that is reflected in this giant graphite painting of 40″ by 30″ .

Pursuing a great portfolio

Grace Pennington — Mon, 31 May 2010 00:29:39 +0000

Road trips. Done a few of those these past few months. During our honeymoon we traveled from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Grand Canyon and Sedona Arizona. Two weeks ago John and I drove out to Missouri to photograph our friend’s wedding. Aside from being contained in a speeding box of death for several hours on end till the next rest stop, traveling in general has always been my biggest time for inspiration and thought. I noticed the pattern after the last trip left me with more ideas for my portfolio projects. This is exciting for me for one reason. I’m learning how my creative juices start to flow. Not when I’m painting. Not when I’m lying in bed at night. Not when I’m taking a walk or relaxing by the pool, but when I’m driving (or riding in a car).

Through my ideas, I decided that my focus is going to be my portfolio. How is that new? Well, I’m stepping away from the commission side of things and my focus is not going to be on making money, but making excellent art. I think when staying within the “rules” of portraiture and “representational art,” I’m pretty good. But what about making something excellent? Having a body of work that is completely created from my little brain and hands versus the customer’s wishes and wants is kind of bazaar for me. It hasn’t been apart of the creative routine as much. At that point you’re not accountable to clients, but to yourself.

Seems like an exciting trip. Do I have what it takes to last the journey?

the quality of artist michelangelo buonarroti vs. contemporary artists

Grace Pennington — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:44:34 +0000

Lately, I’ve been doing some reading about Michelangelo. Apart from being one or the world’s greatest genius artist -as a sculptor, painter, architect, writer, poet- and other than his immense sense of detail, form, figures, proportion, anatomy, composition, lighting, structure, and deep meaning behind each work, what else can we learn from Michelangelo?

I’d like to draw your attention to his innate sense of materials. He was such a perfectionist, and that started with his materials. He would spend 6 to 8 months in the quarries picking out the perfect pieces of marble before he started any of sculpting. Could you imagine spending almost a year before you even start the art application process! You’re just trying to get the materials. The right materials.

He especially learned how important the right materials are when he was working on a sculpture and a black vein came through across the face of the Rebellious Slave. From that he realized that the marble slab he picked wasn’t large enough to work with and far from perfect. Usually he would carve and carve to mold the form, but with the slave, he ran out of room. What he learned from this he also applied to all of the huge projects he undertook later on, like the Tomb of Pope Julius II.

Also, with his first version of Christ Carrying the Cross, he discovered a black vein in the marble and quickly left it to start working on a new. He was nearly completed with the first Christ, but found the impurity and left it with no hesitancy. He did an entirely new marble statue because the first one had a large blemish!

So how does this apply to contemporary day artists? How often is it easy to just pick up a canvas and start painting? Do we even learn about what kind of linen, canvas, or paper that we’re using? Would we spend 8 months trying to make our materials perfect and lasting? Yes, it costs money. Yes, it takes time. I’m even wonder how much it even means to clients. Do installations and contemporary art have to be a good quality? Not really. Rotten vegetables, feces, old mattresses… come on… why do you have to really put energy and effort into your materials?

Um, maybe because it lasts… No one is going to remember your name unless you actually have work with your name on it. Seriously, why not use good quality materials and go through lengthy process to make sure that your artwork doesn’t dissolve into a million pieces or lose color or warp or crack. How important is it? Hmmm….

We live in this instant age. We want to create now. We want art now. Does it even matter how much time we put into our work?

You could say that it comes down to the branding of your art, not necessarily the quality. But for some people, like Michelangelo, his branding was his style and quality of art. He was known and will forever be known as the best. From the materials to the finished work, he gave every bit of his attention to the creation process. Instant art didn’t exist then, does it now? Should it?

Shout out your feelings and let me know your thoughts

Peace of cake.

Grace

burnt umber & grisaille grey wash for oil painting

Grace Pennington — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:46:42 +0000

Here is the long awaited photo of progress on the current oil portrait in process. It’s just a close up. (The whole painting will be revealed once it is complete.) Spencer is painted with grisaille gray underpainting. I changed some of his facial structure some. He looks older. He’s going to change so much as I add more layers and sculpt his face. Sculpture with paint. Haha. Also what you see there is the application of the 2nd layer which is the first layer of color. His hair has the complete second layer. One thing I’m being a little to cautious of is that I’m afraid to add too much color and what that is doing is making him look very pale. He looks washed out and almost dead at the current with the full 2nd layer of color. Kind of creepy. The gray undertone is coming through really well. I need to kick up the color. But I’ll talk more about that later when I can actually show you what I’m talking about.

The I applied the gray layer very thick for a wash. Don’t know why. I just decided to try it. Again, the more detail I start out with, the easier it will be to progress the painting, yet I find I’m still having some trouble. He looks older than he is and I’m dealing with those issues. The horse has the burnt umber wash. With all of that hair, I don’t feel that there is a need to have translucency in the skin.

But one thing for sure, he’s coming across with the sense of honor, bravery, and c0nfidence that I wanted. Bravo.

Constructive criticism is welcomed.

blessings,
Grace

Future Generation Art Prize

Grace Pennington — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:25:15 +0000

Have you heard about this? If you haven’t, here is your opportunity to get in on it. The Future Generation Art Prize is for all artists ages 18 through 35. You can submit any medium of art. The contest is founded by Victor Pinchuk who is also founder of the Pinchuk Art Centre, one of the largest contemporary art centers in Eastern Europe. Along with it, are mentors Damien Hirst from the UK, Jeff Koons from the USA, Andrea Gursky from Germany, and Takashi Murakami from Japan. 20 young artists will be selected for an exhibition in Kiev, Ukraine. The grand prize…well, you’ll have to check it out for yourself. Oh, by the way, there’s also five special artist awards as well. Hope you participate!
Are you excited or what? Show me your feelings and comment.
Peace of cake.

Grace

Spencer and Shania

Grace Pennington — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:20:32 +0000

I talked about Pennington Studio’s current project, Spencer and Shania, on the PS blog. Read up about it here and comment.

When it comes to the painting process. We made the canvas 46″ x 38″. I put eight layers of Golden Sandable Hard Gesso and two layers of Winsor & Newton Oil Primer. The sandable gesso allows me to smooth the gesso and prepare for even layers of oil primer. Oil primer helps the oil paint adhere better to the canvas which gives smoother, thicker layers of oil paint as it builds up.

Once the canvas is dry and complete, the first step to painting is the drawing. Every painting (or portrait if you will) starts with a good drawing. Don’t ever draw in pencil. The graphite will over time come to the surface of your oil paint and show through. Use colored pencil instead. The pigment from the pencil becomes one with the paint.

The next step for the underpainting, I’m doing a combination. I’m going to give the horse a burnt umber wash and the boy will have grisaille grey underpainting. Next week I will post the progression of the painting, and you can watch the progression. Slow as it may be, the beginning is the most important. The better the start, the easier the finish. No do-overs. That’s the goal, at least for this painting.

Keep painting.

Pennigton Studio

Grace Pennington — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:29:53 +0000

Art in the Garden was awesome. Pennington Studio is officially going and John Robert and I are very excited to be pursing our passions together for the first time professionally. We’re providing endless possibilities of custom portraiture including everything from the photography, artwork, and framing. I’ll be coming out with series of blog posts on our different but completely inclusive, combined services. You can read and stay posted here.

Art in the Garden Event

Grace Pennington — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:36:35 +0000

John Robert and I are kicking off the establishment of our collaborative Pennington Studio at our first show, Art in the Garden, at the Walney Visitor Center here in Fairfax County, Virginia. A percentage of all artwork sales goes toward the Walney Garden Guild to fund important park projects. We’re expecting good weather. Come and enjoy a nice relaxing walk in the park, look at the fine art, and have a picnic.

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Pastel Paper

Grace Pennington — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:14:13 +0000

Yesterday, I talked a little about pastel pencils. Now I’m going to take the time and talk a little about the pastel paper that I use.

Wallis Sanded Pastel paper is the first brand that I used professionally for my pastel portraits. It was great. I could achieve the smooth quality that I like in the painting. Of course I reordered it. After several frustrating pieces it came to my attention that the paper wasn’t responding the same. It was taking me longer to get the smooth finish that was crucial, and the pastel would not adhere well to the surface. I was referred to Uart paper by a fellow artist. The papers have different grain volumes that make a rough or smooth surface. 400, 500, 600, 800 — my favorite being the 600. Easier to blend with a good amount of grip.

Check them out and give the paper a try. Let me know which papers are your favorites and why.

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Firefighter Helmet Pastel

Grace Pennington — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:29:55 +0000

Pastels

The pastels I work in are the soft pastel encased in wood, forming the pastel pencil. Using a variety of brands – Derwent, CarbOthello, Conté, Faber-Castell, and Cretacolor – I get many different colors, which saves time with less layering. Although, I still have to work with what feels like a gagillion layers. So, minus a gagillion layers of just mixing and trying to find the right color match still equals a gagillion layers left of achieving the correct perception of depth. Phew! Ok, maybe not a “gagillion,” but is still a lengthy process making the larger pastel paintings take possibly months to complete. Because of the messiness that always accompanies pastels, I work from left to right almost completing the sections as I go. With all of the colors that I’m constantly pulling up, there are always at least 10 pastel pencils between my left hand fingers as well as a pile of the pastels in a tray connected to the easel for quick access.

Following is the progression of one of the pastels that exhibits extensive layering. Again, no stenciling, no grids, no projectors. Take note — these are just 9 stages. They’re not actually the amount of layers that are applied.

Stage 1:

A light sketch in a similar color that of the helmet. No detail. Just a map to figure location and position of the different parts.

Stage 2:

Applying the general foundation of the color, blocking the shapes in, starting in the upper left corner and working my way down. I chose a blue/black background, just using my artistic license, plus I think it will go very nicely with the red and white. It helps the helmet pop.

Stage 3:

Working my way over, blocking in more color. I haven’t applied deep detail yet. This whole helmet was a highly reflective object. Those yellow reflectors were really nice to have against all of this gray.

This is a man’s fire helmet and I decided that I was going to keep within shades of gray — no pinks, purples, or blues in the shadows!

Stage 4:

Aaaaaaaagh!!! The reflective surface of the medal was tough. It’s an eagle. Those tiny little black lines weren’t a piece of cake. Keep your pencils sharpened for tiny detail!! To a point! Look at those tight little stitches.

Stage 5:

Now I start really cranking out that detail. Scratches on the medal, more stitches, texture on the reflectors, dents, and scratches.

Stage 6:

Originally, the photograph didn’t have the yellow neck guard and strap coming down. I had another picture of it and brought the two together in the painting process.

Stage 7:

The badge’s perspective, stitches, texture, and depth took the longest out of the rest of the helmet. It’s the “centerpiece.”

The helmet is coming to life!

Stage 8:

More letters. The numbers start feeling like leather. The badge is almost finished.

Stage 9:

All that’s left is the last portion on the bottom and detail touch ups.

Completed!