River of Blood- Sugary Blood!

Battle at the Red River, 16x20, oil on linen, © 2016 Richard J. Luschek II

The recent theme for my work is kids at play- and more specifically memories of my own childhood, so they are about a young Richard Luschek at play. The above painting is an attempt to move away from the emphasis on the word still in still-life and focus on adding more life. I decided I needed to step up the game in realism, not so much in execution and technique but thematically. My focus is still on design and the visual abstraction but the mood of the painting has to feel like a child at play.
I discussed the development of this idea in an earlier post based on the following set up. It felt stiff and not very real. It actually was separated into two different paintings.

This new direction resulted in my studio becoming a bit of a construction zone as I built some sets for my still life arrangements. I bought fake flooring and base molding, and made any props needed to give this a feel of being on the floor in the corner of the room.

After a week of arranging the stuff I felt the center of interest was weak. I needed a strong diagonal leading into the picture. The idea of using Red Pop just happened. I cut some red paper into a puddle shape to get a visual idea and it all started to fall into place.

This is a photo after my first day lay-in. I poured red pop on the table and painted it as quickly as I could as it would slowly run off the edge and out of the set up. I was spending too much time cleaning up red pop. I tried to level the floor but the pop would find a way to run away or just slowly evaporate.

I decided I needed a something that would give me the look of liquid but not move. I thought I could paint it on the floor, but color and transparency were an issue. I finally decided that I could use the recipe for fake blood: Corn syrup and food coloring. The recipe for red pop is not that different- it was just too wet. I mixed up my concoction and drizzled it in to place. I had to use a brush to mold and shape the puddle into shape. It eventually set up and I had my stationary puddle. The only issue was that it would get a skin on it over time and wrinkle. I would just brush water on it to flatten it out and reactivate the liquid appearance. 

I eventually had to scrape the corn syrup up and clean the area adding real red pop to the scene again to finish the painting. The spill was the most difficult area of the painting. I repainted it for a few days  till I was satisfied.

So this is the start of my new plan to blog more. If you follow this blog you know I have said that before, but this time I discovered there is this cool app on my phone that will remind me to post. Its called the calendar app, I highly recommend it.

Time To Put On A Show!

After some reflection, some depression, some self flagellation and a round of the typical New Years promises, I have decided that I need to step up my game. While I feel like I am improving as a painter, the subjects and compositions have gotten stale and safe.
In December I started setting up a still life but it just was not making me tingle. I had a discussion with my friend Joe Slucher. While looking at one of my struggling still life set ups, he mentioned that it seemed forced, "Did your mother let you play with your toys at the table?"

The rough idea was there, but it was obviously not working. His comment was like an creative wedgie for my brain. It got me thinking about the realism of the subject. I am painting these scenes of kids playing- really memories from my childhood. These scenes of the 'kid version of me' need to be more truthful. How do kids play? More specifically, how did I play, and how can I create good design out of that?
Kids play on the floor. Kids are messy, nasty creatures. If you have boys you can't have nice things.
I am still pretty immature like most artists I know, but I forgot what its like to play. What did 8 year old Richard play like? Oh, I know what you're thinking- "He played beautifully and brilliantly!"

Starting from scratch, I split this still life into two set ups. In order to do this, one of the issue I had was that the backdrop is not big enough and I'd like to have the option to work in a corner, which allows for various planes of value. Also, I needed an area where I could set up on the floor if needed. I had a small sheet of plywood on the walls that I could paint for back drops but it was not good enough. I had to go bigger.

So I built some walls in that spot. I thought about using drywall, but figured plywood would be more sturdy and could be moved to the other side of the room if I wanted.

I glued and screwed these flats and used joint compound on the seam. The side wall is just screwed so I can move it if I want. I added some old picture rail I found to the top and curtain rods on hooks so I can add fabric to any scene. I wanted a wood floor and found that you could buy sample boards of Pergo (fake wood flooring) for $5 a board. I added the base molding and had a faux corner of the room set up on which to assemble my scenes. One added feature I never thought of was that the back of the side wall now gave me a place to store my stretcher bars in an upright and organized fashion.

To the right I have another set up on top of my file cabinet that needed some work too. I decided to make a mini corner of the room even though this is a higher straight on view.
I built the small corner for the top a while ago and just needed to add base molding and a floor- all of which is loose and can be removed. The nice think is that later on I can repaint the walls a new color, paint the molding, change out the floor or even add carpet. 

I then was thinking it would be nice to have an outlet or light switch to add for more options.
I drilled out the rivets on an outlet and switch, then sanded them down till they were flat. I added some tape on the back to clean it up and I have flat set decorations.

They could be added to any scene. Here I even plugged an old cord- after cutting off the tines a bit.

I used some wax to stick the light switch to the wall in my other set up.

I am pretty excited about these new 'stages'. I look forward to working on the paintings for the next few weeks.
More about these paintings coming soon.

A Study in Orange

If you asked me to pick my least favorite color, of the primary-secondary groups, I would probably chose orange. Well, the idea started with an old Cincinnati Bengals hat I found in a box of stuff I got from my parents house. I used to wear this hat when I was in grade school. So as this developed the orange spread. I did like that there was a system of various oranges working throughout the setup. I spent a lot of time designing the placement of the Doritos. More than a few got removed and eaten.

Since I have done more than a few Cincinnati Reds paintings, I thought a still life with themes of some fans enjoying a winter game would be a fun change. While neither I nor my family were huge sports fans, I do have some good memories of the family sitting around in the house during a wicked winter watching the Freezer Bowl, the 1981 AFC Championship Game between the San Diego Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals. One of the last really exciting seasons the Bengals have played in. I will probably call this painting The Freezer Bowl.

I wanted it to have a retro feel, so I collected items that pretty much fit that theme. Not sure how accurate all of the items are, but close enough for this painting. I thought a blue table cloth would be a good compliment to the all the oranges. The orange crush was found unopened in an antique store. The liquid had turned brown with floaters so I had to dump that out and add some new orange drink.

Set up with blank canvas.

My first day lay-in went pretty well.

Freezer Bowl, Day one lay-in.

After painting on this for a few days I decided that the background was a bit boring, so I added a screen next to the set up to cast a shadow. This helped in a few ways, but mainly it took emphasis off the football thus strengthening the center.

Freezer Bowl- about Day 4.

As I pushed towards the finish I realized the black of the hat was too strong so I forced it a bit lighter than it was in nature. It ended up making the hat look fuzzier. I softened a lot of the sharp edges and made sure the "visual punch" was in the center of the piece. I had hoped to finish the painting before the remaining Doritos got stale, but turns out that happens pretty quickly.

Freezer Bowl, 16 x 20, oil on linen, ©Richard Luschek 2014

A creepy new friend.

I have really been wanting a Mannequin.
I don't mean the 80's movie starring Kim Cattrall, though it was pretty awesome. Honestly I think I liked the sequel a bit more- but I digress.
I have been looking for a poseable manikin for the studio to use for doing portrait work or to set up if I need to do fabric studies. It is tough to get any model to pose for long periods of time, so it is useful to have something to dress in the costume.

The full-sized wood ones sold at art supply warehouses are pretty expensive and can run up close to $1000. I figured I could make my own or find something cheaper that I could make work. Even an old department store mannequin could be used somehow.
There is a local fellow that has a great suite of warehouses full of antiques. He has some great stuff and I am often dropping in to look for still life objects or for stuff I need to fix my 100 year old house. I called him and told him if he didn't already have something to be on the lookout. He just called and said he had found me a creepy dude. It is an old medical mannequin, and was not really in great shape, but the price was right.  I spent a day and an evening getting it fixed up. I built a new hip, made a wooden foot and fixing up some of the joints. The other nice perk is that I can practice my CPR technique.

I still need to fill the chest and stomach areas somehow, the light patches on the arms and legs are spots where you can practice giving the doll injections. They were missing in a few places so I sprayed expandable foam then trimmed it smooth.

The fancy new wooden foot I made out of a piece of 2x4

My next order of business it try to make it so I can set a pose. The joints are pretty loose so I can't lock a pose yet.

As it stands he is just a creepy fixture sitting in a chair in our basement. It freaks my wife out every time she goes into the basement.
I will probably be dressing this fellow up like a Knight Templar for a painting I am working on. Look for more photos of my new creepy friend in the future.