Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Portrait of Randy and a landscape of the Mad by Andrew Daniel

"Portrait of Randy Stadler Solving a Sudoku"
Oil on Canvas 12" x 9" by Andrew Daniel
In the collection of Randy Stadler

This is a portrait I created, of my Brother in Law Randy Stadler. He posed twice during Christmas vacation over the course of two evenings after our daughters had gone to sleep. He is a master of the Sudoku, as well as a fan of the greatest Beatle ever, John Lennon, as evidenced by his t-shirt.

There were so many  challenges in this piece that were new to me. The t-shirt portrait, the reflected scene in the window, the face turned away from the viewer and the glasses. I just kept putting paint down and hoping for the best. As a teacher friend of mine Josh Arbaugh is fond of saying.... "It's time to step out of the comfort zone, and into the learning zone!"

"Mad River in Blue Lake, CA"
Oil on Baltic Birch Panel 8" x 10" by Andrew Daniel
 This painting is available in my online shop.

John Crater and I tried to escape the coastal fog by heading into Blue Lake for some paintings of the Mad River. Instead of the fog, we were accompanied by a frigid North Wind. John loaned me his fingerless gloves and we joked of getting hypothermia!  That day the fall earth tones were uniformly muted. It was a challenge make the space believable and the canvas interesting for me. But no day spent outside painting is a wasted day!

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