More Recent Paintings
I've recently started painting again through taking of courses. These have been for my own amusement.
My wife loves having orchids around the house. This particular specimen caught my eye. It belongs to the Phaenopsis family. That's my title for this 12"x12" gallery canvas. Phaenopsis. I'm not entirely happy with it as the paint has been applied a bit too thinly. The point of view and the composition work well for me.
I met Judy in a class at a local Art Society where I have been a member over 40 years. She has strong features, shows leadership and epitomizes the best of contemporary womanhood to me. I worked from one of a series of photos she provided me with and gave it a trace of a smile. Her natural hair is a little less orderly than I have depicted, but she accepted it as an appearance she would like to be remember by.
My son and daughter-in-law are both sailors. They no longer have a boat, but sail when they can as crew and follow the sailing world closely on the internet.
On a visit to the National Portrait Gallery in London, England one specific portrait stood out for them – an oil on canvas portrait of William Dampier (1651-1715) by Thomas Murray painted circa 1697-1698.
William Dampier was a British pirate, explorer, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. His naturalist explorations are said to have influenced Darwin in his development of his proposition on evolution. Dampier's life and times are chronicled in a book A Pirate of Exquisite Mind by Diana and Michael Preston published by Viking Canada.
After seeing my Velazquez painting (shown under my Mitchell Collection), they asked if I could make a copy of the Murray painting of Dampier. You see my efforts attached on a 30inch by 24inch canvas, developed from the rather poor reproductions I could find on the internet. I took the portrait one step further by adding his left-hand hovering over the Globe. See if you can find a sly reference I included to his three-time circumnavigation.