It's art! Not brain science...I mean rocket surgery....I mean...

"Beach Scene #2" Oil 20"x 16"

Hello again all you New Haven artist readers. Please pardon my absence these past few weeks. I've been very busy with painting commissions and...well.....life. But enough about me, let's talk about this new painting, shall we? This painting represents a return to a subject matter that I absolutely love in painting. The human figure. Particularly woman and children. Capturing them on canvas doing simple everyday things. For me these are subjects that are most interesting. Children tend to be very animated and spontaneous. There is never any false pretense with children, just honesty filled with life and innocence. I also enjoy painting images of woman doing the everyday things that you might see; waiting for the bus, window shopping, conversing with friends (don't you hate it when people say "conversating". The word is CONVERSING!!!) To me women have much more interesting postures when doing these everyday activities. There is also more variety with each individual; hairstyles are very different, etc. I sort of departed from these favored subject for a while to create smaller, faster and less complicated images to broaden my ability to paint a variety of subject matter. I feel that I have accomplished that purpose,........for now. It is now time for me to get back to the subjects that I enjoy most. You'll see more of these kinds of painting in future blog updates with occasional paintings of other subjects I've worked on but never had the chance to post on line. Now moving to other things, you'll notice by the title of this entry that I've been pondering what makes a person a great artist. Does it take a genius to be a great artist? The answer to that is no. There are many people whom I do consider to be true genius's. For instance in the world of science there's Albert Einstein, George Washington Carver, Dr. Emmett Brown (inventor of the DeLorean Time Machine), and the late Jimmy Neutron. In the world of music there is Beethoven, Stevie Wonder, James Brown. Also Bob Dorough, George Newall and Lynn Ahrens the primary song writers for the School House Rock cartoon series. Also there are James Brown( yes I mentioned him twice). Other people on my list of brilliant minds are Jim Henson and Walt Disney. But there are also people in the world of visual art who were genius's, Sir Thomas Lawrence, James Whistler, Leonardo Da Vinci to name a few. But to truly be a great artist you don't need a brilliant mind. All you need to do is to be able to pick up a pencil or paint brush and create something. That's something even a small child can do. My 5 year old daughter is creating what I consider to be true masterpieces. No they won't hang in a fancy museum or art gallery and no they won't be selling for thousands of dollars ( like that kid in Great Britain, boy, compared to him I actually have to pay people to take my paintings) But to me my daughter's works are priceless. No you certainly don't have to be a genius to create good works of art. Take me for instance, I recently took an I.Q. test and found out that I have the I.Q. of a German Shepherd. No, not a person who herds sheep in Munich but a doggy German Shepherd. At first I was disturbed by this news but than I found out that German Shepherds are the most intelligent breeds of dog in the world. I felt much better. ( no offense to you sheep herders residing in Germany) Well I've rambled enough for today. I'll see you in my next entry.

Movin' on up!

"Party of Eight" 23" x 17" Oil on canvas Singing: Well, we're movin' on up (movin' on up) - To the east side (movin' on up) - To a deluxe apartment in the sky - Movin' on up ( movin' on up) - To the east side - We finally got a piece of the pie............. Okay, so once again I've made a reference to a classic T.V. theme song to set up the subject of my recent blog entry. The last classic T.V. theme that I sang in my blog was Three's Company so that people would " come and knock on my door" and check out my very first open studio event. In the past 3 weeks I haven't got much painting done, but this was for a very good reason........We've moved. We are still in New Haven of course {*see title above } but we've moved to a place with a better studio space. I'll have some new paintings to show and I hope to be much more productive in the new space. No we haven't moved to a deluxe apartment in the sky, but it is a lovely place. In the meantime I'll leave you with this to ponder; Fish do indeed fry in the kitchen, you just have to make sure that there is plenty of ventilation. Also beans certainly will burn on the grill if left unattended. Before I go here is my new art studio. TAAAA DAAAAAAA.

And now I will finish today's blog entry by singing the closing theme to The Jefferson's starting with that brilliant piano solo. (Da De Da Dum Dum Dum De Dum -Da da da dum da da da dum dum dum - de dum de dum de dum de dum de dum - Mmm- Mmm- Mmm-Mmm mm mm, Mmm mm Mmm mmm mmmm mmm - MMmm MMmmm MMmm MM mmmmm mm MMmmm mmm Mmmm mmm mmm mmMMmm Well, we're movin' on UUUUP.....................................................................)

"I have only one gear,........SLOW!!!"

"Mother and daughter" Oil on canvas 18" x 24"

For me a wild and crazy evening is watching old episodes of Bowling for Dollars on YouTube. I get sleepy at 8:30 p.m. I'm a 35 year old with the mindset of someone 25 years older. For instance how many people in my age range do you know who: 1. Has Bread's greatest hits on cassette tape and has been meaning to buy the CD format of the album for the past ten years. 2. Tells everyone in the car to shush whenever Roger Whitaker's song, The last farewell plays on the oldies radio station and then blast's the volume. 3. Hear's an old song by Nat King Cole and say's, "Boy that song brings back memories" only to hear someone else reply, "What are you talking about, you weren't even thought of when that song came out!" 4. Use the term "whippersnapper" for kids under the age of ten years old. 5. Use slang expressions from the 1930's like "Gee fellas, that sounds swell." It's seem's like I've always been an old man. This would explain why it took me a year in a half to finish this painting. What took so long wasn't so much going back to it again and again until it was perfect. It had more to with the fact that it was a very challenging painting and I was scared to finish it. So, I put in the corner of my studio space and pretended it wasn't there for a while. Deep down I knew I had to finish this painting but the problem was that I didn't know how. Finally, I got the courage to finish it and it turn out O.K. I had to step out of my comfort zone with this painting but, I discovered that by doing that, I learned a lot more. This reminds me that I must always push myself further in order for my paintings to improve. In the meantime, there are things that I'll never get used to, like text messaging. It takes me forever to write a simple message. Honestly, I don't know how these young whippersnappers do it. That's the other thing that bothers me, how does one drive whilst one is sending and responding to text messages. I don't get how people are even able to do both things at once. I always have to make sure that I'm sitting down somewhere whenever I decide to chew a piece of bubblegum. Well, I've rambled on long enough in today's entry. Stay tuned for my next painting; another beach scene.

If I were to star in a roller disco movie, it would be titled "XANA-Don't"

"Beach scene #1" 8"x 10" oil This is a small and quick painting that I did last year. It was based on a photo that I took whilst visiting ROCKY NECK STATE PARK. We visited the park 2 years ago and I just got around to working on paintings of scenes from that trip last year. I have more beach scenes from that trip in the works right now, stay tuned. The day we had taken this trip my family had also received an invitation to a rollerskating party with some friends of ours. We decided on taking the trip to the state park for a number of reasons. Among them, our daughter was still too young at the time to do any roller skating. Also, I couldn't find as much inspiration for painting in a dark skating rink. Third; I couldn't roller skate to save my life. I know that I would really enjoy rollerskating if I could actually do it. But this is how things would probably have played out had we gone rollerskating. The very moment that I get out on to the rink, I would fall and crack my head open. When the E.M.T.'s would arrive moments later to examine the extent of my injuries they would be baffled as they discover the substance coming from the hole in my head is actually egg yolk. "How is this even possible" they wonder to themselves. The write up in the Register a few days later would read: "Local starving artist loved by many proved to be a real egghead..............literally." And so to avoid all of that needless publicity we decided that the beach would be safer and more inspiring. Stay tuned for a few more beach paintings.

A free painting demonstration.

Commissioned Portrait Oil on canvas 20"x 16" Singer/ Saxophone player Louis Jordan said it best in his song from the 1940's Look out sister, look out. I'll quote him by saying, "I'm giving you knowledge straight from the shelf- This is some jive I've used myself - I've found it to be successful to a marked degree and I'm giving to you for free" And so this will begin the first of what I hope will be many more painting demonstrations in my art blog. This piece was commissioned by a relative as a wedding anniversary gift.

Step 1.
I first prime the canvas with white gesso and then I sand it down. I'll usually apply a minimum of two coats of gesso and sandpaper each coat after it dries. This make the surface of the canvas smoother and allows me to blend the colors with greater ease during the painting process. Then I begin the pencil drawing using the photo reference.

Step 2.
The finished drawing. You'll notice a brownish stain on the lower half of the canvas. No, that wasn't coffee that I threw at the canvas in a fit of frustration................not this time anyway. That was an earlier version of the painting that I started but then I rubbed it out because of composition issues in the drawing............at least I think that's what the problem was, I can't remember but, because oil paint is a very forgiving medium, you can make endless corrections any time you want.

Step 3.
Laying the darkest values in the face.

Step 4
Establishing the overall color and value of the face.
You'll notice that when your in the blocking in phase of a human portrait it can start to look kind of weird at first but it comes together in the end. Your basically building the likeness of the subject. A house, for instance, will look odd when it is still under construction, like wise with a portrait.

Step 4
Note to self : Make sure your camera is in focus before you upload the image to your blog page.

Step 5
Blocking in the hair

This is the way I lay out the colors on my palette. I learned to arrange the colors on the palette from when I was at PAIER college. I still arrange my palette in the same order.

Step 6
Blending the values of the face and hair.
Step 7
Blocking in the back using the same process in creating the face.
Note to self : Keep that camera in focus, your no Steven Spielberg.
Step 8
Blocking the flowers.

Step 9
Establishing the general color and value of the flowers. Step 10
Back to the face. I lay in more values to define the facial features.This is Jamie our cat seconds before I sprayed the daylights out of her with a water filled squirt bottle for nearly knocking over my paint thinner. " How many times does I have to tells ya' to stay away from my painting area ya' pesty varmint!!!!!!!!!!!??????"

Step 11
Working in the background. Starting with a dark, warm and muddy color in the lower half of the background and a cool blue color in the upper half of the background, I'll go back to these areas in phases, adding layers of colors and values until I have an idea of which direction I'd like to go as far what the background will look like. I had an idea of what would be in the background when I started but I chose to focus on the composition aspect of the background and then worry about the details later in the painting. Working further on the background.
Detail of the flowers getting closer to the finished painting.
Detail of the dress nearing the finish of the painting

Detail of the face after blending the colors and values to get the likeness. This painting took altogether a week to complete but I don't work on just one painting at a time. Usually I'll have a number of paintings going on at the same time and I'll go back and forth working on different ones at various stages of completion. I have the attention span of a gnat when I'm working on a painting so when I need to take a break from one painting I can go to another and then when I get tired of that one I'll go back to the prior one with a fresh eye.





The finished painting.

"Hey Chris, How did your art event go?"

"Old Wood" Oil on canvas

I'm back from a brief blogging hiatus. Last time we spoke I had announced that I was hosting a big open studio event. So you now may be wondering how it all went. Well........I didn't have the big turn out that I was hoping for but I'm very grateful to those who were able to attend. Out of 70 people I invited 4 showed up. Apart from the 4 visitors I had that afternoon, the studio was silent.............................Oh, wait there was one noise I heard, the sound of a lone cricket chirping in the distance. But I know it was busy weekend for many people and it was the first time I tried anything like that before so rather than be discouraged I tried to focus on the positive and use some of the lessons I've learned for the next time I host an open studio event. The first lesson that I learned from this adventure is that cheese and crackers can actually prove to be a very satisfying dinner...........two days in row.( next time I won't buy so much) The second lesson is to invite people individually rather than all at once. Meanwhile, my moms chihuahua, Mousie, the recently appointed CEO of Ferguson Art Studios was hard at work in her office having a Skype video conference with our frame supplier in South Carolina, Mr. Rufus Jenkins III, the president of Rufus Jenkins Fine Art Framers, Appraisers, and Barbecue Rib Supply Warehouse (a subsidiary of Christies Auctions). It appears that were some discrepancies in the billing and payment dept at our Studios that needed to be resolved. The discussions got a little heated and needless to say Mousie yet again lapsed into a poor grammar moment.

"Look Rufus! WE DONE PAID YOU YO' MONEY!!!....WE DONE PAID YOU YO' MONEY!!..."
"You know what Rufus.......I'm about hang up on you........................"

If three is company, more is an open studio event

"Three friends" oil on canvas 16" x 20"

(singing) "Come and knock on our door-come and knock on our door" "Take a step that is new-take a step that is new" "We've a wonderful space that needs your face and some paintings to view. Dee Dah Dee Dah Dah." Pardon me, but this is the first time I've actually sung in one of my blog entries. Aren't you glad you can't hear me through your computer. I figured the theme to Three's Company would be a fitting start for this blog entry because for the first time I'll be inviting people to my studio to see what happens behind the scenes. Also because I think the theme song to Three's Company was one of the best T.V. theme songs ever; but I digress. What I intend to do is set a day to invite a small group of people and from there I'll post my email address so that others who are interested can contact me to set up a time to come to see the studio. So, what can you expect to see at my very first open studio event. New paintings, paintings that are still in progress, and maybe a brief painting demonstration. Also there will be some light refreshments. This will be the usual open studio type of snacks like cheese and crackers and there will even be some expensive and fancy wines the names of which I can't pronounce. Actually, it won't be expensive wine; it will be one of those $7.00 bottles of wine that they now sell at Seven-Eleven...................Actually, it will be more like a very high end grape juice.............................Actually, it will just be regular grape juice. But, it will be one of the finest bottles of Welch's Grape Juice that money can buy.................................................O.K., it's only going those small children's juice boxes with pictures of Big Bird, Elmo and the Cookie Monster printed in on them. (artist's budget) Now you might be wondering who you'll see their. You'll see me. (sorry, but that will be unavoidable) You'll also get to meet my family.......I think. You'll also get to meet Meer The Pig, my 4 year old daughter's imaginary friend. (someone please tell me that that's normal for her age.) "How will the event end?" you may be asking yourselves. It might end with me doing a comedic prat fall over the living room couch. Followed by the laughter and applause of a live studio audience and then a closing title sequence. ( I admit, I probably watched a bit too much television when I was 5 years old) Look forward to seeing you. If your interested in coming please contact me at fergusonartist@yahoo.com I will fill you in on the details; date, time, location, etc. to anyone interested if you email me. Look forward to hearing from you.