Jan 2 - The Commission of Aikido Continues

The aikido painting continues, and now I know that there will be six seated figures, all friends from the mats of various dojos.

Symbolism abounds here, as our teacher Ace Atkinson is overlapped by the founder of aikido. Rowdy is painted against a lighter, more ethereal wall, and our current aikido friends flank me on either side (that's going to be me second from left).

Now that I've solved the issues with who's where, I can come back and paint in the mats, and detail out the rest of it. Note that I put the Japanese socks on O Sensei (the older man in the foreground), and I had to photograph Alberto's foot to get that part right. Fun how references are needed and found as they occur.

On other news, we are going to be adding a second livestock guardian dog to our critter list--another Tibetan Mastiff, like our Seiko. This pup is a male, and is coming from Shadowmear Tibetans. Here's his puppy picture-- I am fairly certain his name will be Shadow, following the "oh" sounds for most of the dogs here (Seiko, Onlsow, Qso)

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Dec 24 - Aikido Commission for A Present

On the next pass for this 30 x 40 inch oil, I've placed the midtone greens on the tatami mats and the deeper shadows behind the row of figures. I'm working out just how many people will be behind the two figures, and as I figure it out, more and more of the burnt umber/ultramarine blue shadows are cut in, leaving the seated figures in place.

As I mentioned yesterday, the fun in this work is that the people behind O Sensei will be my friends--Ace Atkinson, Steve Barbosa, Ron, Katz, me and of course Rowdy, who passed away this last year. She'll be on the far right, sitting slightly out of line with the rest of us, signifying her not being "with" us, except in spirit. The fellow receiving the art is none other than Alberto, who is still working on his master's in Spanish Literature and doing aikido, even teaching their kid's classes. Alberto just passed a major test on his way to his black belt last weekend.

On Alberto's hakama (the traditional black leggings/skirt aikidoists wear), I've depicted the speed and motion by lost edges. This gives life to the image, and creates a passing moment in time. Losing edges helps to create the feeling that this is an unfolding moment of action, rather than a static, freeze-frame moment.

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Dec 23 - An Aikido Christmas Present

My spouse asked me to do a special painting for his office as a combined Christmas/Birthday present, and how better to share with him what I love by painting something he loves?

Here is the first design for the 30 x 40 inch canvas. The subject is the martial art of Aikido, with O Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, the founder, performing the art. The fun will be that the other people in the painting are all ones we both know, including the man receiving the art from O Sensei.

The design is one of a top-weighted dark area with the lower area of the mats illuminated by natural light. At this stage the painting only shows the value structure (small light, large dark in midtones). I plan to share this with you through Christmas, with a break of one painting done on location, and continue with it after Thursday.

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Color System information can be found HERE.
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