2012 Regional Artist Project Grant - Recipient

I am very pleased to announce that I have recently been awarded a grant from the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County to purchase new studio lights and materials to build new studio equipment such as a new model stand and storage racks!  These Regional Artist Project Grants (RAPG) are awarded annually to qualifying applicants to provide financial support for projects that will advance the applicant's career in demonstrable ways.

Britek Halogen light set, including boom, 2 stands, and three adjustable lamps!

All recipients are required to spend all project funds by December of 2012.  So, I dutifully purchased the above beautiful set of three Britek Halogen lamps, soft boxes and stands (including that awesome boom) right away.  I have been trying them out for both lighting my subjects that I choose to paint, as well as using them to take more professional photographs of my artwork.  Using these lights to photograph my work has made my least favorite aspect of being an artist a much more palatable chore!  Next will come the building - of storage racks and a new model stand.  My models will no longer have to pose on the floor or propped up on a hobbled table!  Thank you to the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, especially Jennifer McIntyre who works tirelessly to continue this wonderful opportunity for our area artists.  I very much appreciate the support and it will undoubtedly go far in advancing my efforts as a fine artist.  

The Regional Artist Project Grant is funded and administered by the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County.  This project is supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.  The program is operated in partnership with the Franklin County Arts Council, Johnston County Arts Council, Vance County Arts Council and Warren County Arts Council.

Better Photos & closer details.

 Threshold, oil on panel, 64" x 48", 2012

Threshold, detail

Threshold, detail

Threshold

Threshold, oil on panel, 64" x 48", 2012

As a figurative painter, it is pretty hard to avoid painting a female figure or two or twenty.  The nude is an essential component to the study of representing the human form.  Here is my most recent attempt.  

 detail - Threshold

At first, my intentions were admittedly simple.  I wanted to represent the female nude figure with dignity and respect.  There are so many images (including within my own oeuvre) that show women as objects of desire, as sexually available.  This has become a prevalent practice even or especially in advertising.  Let's face it, sex sells.  But aren't we capable of showing women as more than that?  Am I capable of reclaiming the female nude (please pardon the potentially dated feminist speak)?  Over the course of this painting I started to doubt the validity of my intentions.  Who am I reclaiming the nude female figure from?  Male artists?  Well sure, there are plenty of over sexed images of women painted by male artists of past and present - but so is true of female artists (again I am not discluding myself here).  Alternatively, there are also fantastically painted female nudes that ooze humanity, dignity and create empathy within the viewer, painted by some contemporary artists such as Daniel Sprick, Richard Maury or Catherine Prescott.  In the end, I'm not sure where this painting lands.  Is this a successful painting despite the vacillating ideas present between strokes?  If you hadn't read all this, would you more likely be questioning the validity of some woman walking to the porch in the buff?  Questions just raise more questions. 

The Skeptic

The Skeptic, oil on linen on panel, 20" x 16", 2012

Perhaps this is a better photo?