Freshen up- with a portrait

The final in a series of "freshen up" portraits. Here you can see the new life brought into old memories, with a new "do" to go with it!

The old has become new!

Here is another example of taking a dated photograph and creating a fresh, new portrait. We all have photos that are dated; portraits seem to avoid this. Museums are full of historic portraits that seem as fresh today as contemporary paintings. This set includes the charcoal sketch along with the subsequent pastel portrait. She is a beauty, no doubt.

I am enjoying a wonderful commission to bring afresh memories somewhat faded by painting fresh portraits from old photographs. This one is of Crawford (who lost his baby teeth a few decades ago). Directing Crawford's eyes to the viewer and updating his wardrobe add to the portrait's charm.

Sprinkle & Ravi

Kim, Drew, and I had the privilege of attending Foudners' Weekend, a spectacular apologetics conference in Chicago held by RZIM (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries) recently. We were guests of Bill and Kristina Bradford, and had a wonderful time of great fellowship, sound teaching and news events on the topic of defending Scripture, and even a wonderful art exhibit by local Virginia artist Mark Sprinkle, including "Well Worn". I was so inspired hearing about the work RZIM is doing around the world that I am hoping to band with other artists to create paintings that will give Americans not only the chance to hear the Word, but to see it at work also.

Equine Painting- "Three for the Show"

My latest equine painting is "Three for the Show", a follow-up to "Loser Buys Dinner" (see April post). My goal in this piece was to capture the strength and vitality of the beautiful horse by making use of bold color and intuitive "motion sketches" depicting the horse's movement. The painting was begun with an ink drawing using a quill pen, then color was laid in using a palette knife. I finished the painting with various detail using a sable brush. It is quite different painting heads less than an inch in height compared to painting life-size as I do with my portrait work.

If you're interested in purchasing a print of this work, visit my website and click on the "Prints" link. To purchase the orginal, contact my studio directly. I have already begun ideas for my next equine paintings. If you have something in particular you'd like to see- drop me a line.

Cate

Cate is the youngest of the six children of the Hazel's in Virginia. I have painted Caroline, Raleigh, Lucy, Elizabeth Rose, and John prior to Cate's! Walking into the Hazel home is like walking into my own mini exhibit! I am honored and privileged to have worked with such a kind and delightful family. Cate was no exception to the Hazel tradition, as she exhibits the bright and warm Hazel smile.

The first of my portraits was of Caroline over ten years ago. About a year ago Caroline suffered a fall from a balcony in a bizarre accident at college, and is now working through paralysis recovery. Our hearts and prayers go out to her and her family as they walk through this trial. It has been nothing but encouraging to see the Hazels surround her with great love and help, and it certainly isn't surprising to see such love from this family. Thanks for the pleasure of painting your children.

Ned

Ned is handsome young boy in North Carolina. I had painted Ned's brothers a few years ago, and Ned's portrait completes the set. All three boys are charming, full of personality (yet each is very different from their siblings), and their parents are a delight to work with. This combination makes for an enjoyable experience for me, and this results in a great portrait. Thanks, Ned, for being such a good sport (and thanks also to Will for his help at the sitting).

Chester

Chester's portrait is the second for a family in Middleburg, Virginia. I had painted his sister a couple years earlier. Chester's sitting involved a balance of photographs and dispensing Goldfish crackers and Cheerios via one of his toy trucks. I have learned over the years that a good portrait starts with a child that is at ease during the portrait photo session. I have also learned that it is often up to me to make this happen, and this often results in my getting down on my knees and making a game out of our time together. This may involve play acting with Beanie Babies or Webkinz, making funny noises or jokes, counting fingers, or telling stories (i.e. whether it be me or the child telling them varies!). At the very least, it gives me more to recollect as I paint the portrait in the studio. Chester's portrait is a great example of the personality that can come out in children when we take the time to meet them at their level.

Anna Parker

Anna Parker is a young lady with an infectious laugh and sense of humor, yet who has a regal sense about her. That was the concept in my mind as I painted her portrait, and I am thrilled with the result. She has eyes that seem to look beyond the obvious. You have her attention (or she has yours) one moment, and the next moment she's gone. This was another situation of having a client (Anna Parker's mother) that placed her trust in me, giving me the chance to see Anna Parker for myself, painting her as I saw fit. It is both exhilerating and scary at the same time, yet her mom and I agree that the portrait captures her well.

Down in Greensboro, North Carolina, I have had the pleasure of painting Carter Reid and Andrew. What initially was a commission for a pair of Head & Shoulders Pastels was joined by a delightful composition of Carter Reid in his pajamas with his buddy Curious George. The boys are handsome, no doubt, and their parents are crazy about them. One aspect I appreciated about painting for this family was their willingness to depart from the normal expectations that usually exist for portrait style and format. All three portraits are distinct- Andrew's has the full background, Carter Reid's pastel is a vignette, and Carter Reid's oil is a horizontal portrait, in pajamas. Their mother was taken by a previous portrait I had done of a pair of twins in pajamas (see here for image). The portraits complement each other beautiful while each standing strong on their own. It has been a delight working with this family, and I look forward to future opportunities as these boys grow up.

Ed Cashman

This posthumous portrait was a collaboration with Ed's wife and widow, Sue. From conversations with Mrs. Cashman and also with other relatives, it was clear that Ed Cashman was a man of great integrity, a witty sense of humor, and a loving, compassionate heart. His children and grandchildren tell of his sweetness. As with all portraits, knowing my subject's character and a little bit of their background results in a greater depth of passion in each stroke I paint. Ed is a man I would have liked to have known personally. Thank you, Sue, for the privelige of getting to know both you and your husband.

It is amazing how many good painters there are out there. I try and keep up to date with what my peers are doing via various art magazines (my favorites are American Art Collector and Fine Art Connoisseur). The June 2008 issue of American Art Collector featured Jeremy Lipking. The detail of his painting "Skylar" that was featured on the cover and shown here reveals what a marvelous touch Jeremy has. One thing that Jeremy does that separates him from most good artists today is his ability to paint edges so wonderfully. He knows how to see and use the soft edges to truly achieve a sense of space. This ability also holds his paintings together so well. Many artists' paintings today lack the overall compositional strength that Jeremy's have because they have all kinds of hard edges throughout their paintings. This creates an unnatural sense because our eyes don't see hard edges except upon what we're truly focusing on. All else belongs to the periphery, and thus have soft edges.

Jeremy paints from life and thus he knows how edges truly are. Many artists rely on photographs, and without the awareness of edges in nature, create paintings that lack "life" since they don't move past the mechanical recording of a camera. How refreshing it is to see Jeremy's beautiful work!

Caden's Sitting

I just returned from a sitting in Denver with a new young friend of mine- Caden. Caden's parents, Mark and Alden, have selected me to paint their oldest son, and we are off to a great start. True to Alden's promise, Caden was full of energy, never a dull moment (or a still one, for that matter!). Fortunately, cameras only need a fraction of a second (1/6oth in this case) to capture a scene, and that was enough for us to come away with a number of great options for Caden's painting. He is a very sweet boy, ready to make a game out of anything (golf, baseball, bowling- all were part of the in-between-photos time yesterday). I really loved how Caden greeted me when we first met: he and his dad Mark were coming in their house where I and his mom Alden had been waiting, and without missing a beat, Caden says with a big welcoming grin "Hey Mr. Tim!" It was like he had known me his whole life; no doubt I felt instantly welcomed and we hit it off great. I can't wait to get started on his portrait. Here are a few more candid pictures from our sitting:

In the Studio- painting "Hadley"

This is the third of the three portraits I've been sharing this month. This painting is of Hadley, the oldest and wisest of the three. Hadley is an exquisitely beautiful young lady, one who I knew my own daughter would be best friends with if they knew each other. Her eyes take it all in, and seem to have depth of a Caribbean sea.

If you take a look at the portraits I painted of Hadley's brothers Charlie and Matthew, you'll notice, as their mother did, that there is kind of a progression of the stature of the portraits, from Matthew's simple and plain background to Charlie's full-painted background and now to Hadley's Three-quarter Figure sized portrait. I thought this would be more interesting and fun (yes, I do have fun when painting) to paint each portrait differently without varying the style. Hadley's portrait is larger (20" x 24") than her brothers'.

I like Hadley's pose, especially that of her hands. And yet, I kept the focus on her eyes and face by painting the rest of the portrait loose, including her hands. This seems to me more akin to our natural vision, for things fall out of focus as they move concentrically away from our fixed point of attention, in this case Hadley's eyes. Though I enjoy some paintings where all is as tight and detailed as can be, but that is not how we see, and thus the viewer's eyes jump around a painting from one detailed point to another. More on this later. For now, let's enjoy these three wonderful portraits for a wonderful customer and new friend of mine.

In the Studio- painting "Charlie"

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I am painting three beautiful children for a Maryland family. The second portrait is a pastel on paper of Charlie. Both Charlie's and Matthew's are pastel on Canson paper, each 16" x 20", which is an ideal size for children's portraits (adult Head & Shoulders are more comfortable on a 20" x 24" or 20" x 28" sized canvas when painted life-size). Charlie and I had a couple sittings to capture his true personality. I learned a long time ago that, when painting children's portraits, I'm not painting necessarily what I see, or even what the camera sees, but I must paint what the mother sees in her child. I recall one portrait where a dozen people had seen a portrait on my easel, each commenting that I had "really captured to a 'T'" a child's likeness only to have the mother say upon her first view "That's not my child!" I realized then and there who my true audience is when it comes to children's portraits! Stay tuned for more on the portrait process.

In the Studio- painting "Matthew"

This is the first of a number of entries that will feature what's happening in my studio. This portrait is a pastel on paper (Canson Mi Tientes) of the youngest of three beautiful children I'm painting in Maryland. Matthew is sweet and inquisitive. Unlike his siblings' portraits, I decided to keep his background simple for a look of innocence. I really like the result.

Though at any given moment I have a plethora of ideas swirling in my head, on my easels I usually only have a few works at a time that I'm working on. I like to devote my time completely to pulling a painting together, for my work is more the result of a series of solutions to "problems" or better said, "challenges". The first challenge is to somehow transport the wonderful imagery in my mind to the blank canvas before me on my easel. Most artists will agree that this is one of the most intimidating points of the painting process- starting with that big blank nothing to begin the something that we have painted so beautifully and perfectly in our minds. Somewhere, between the nothing and the- hopefully- beautiful result an amazing process takes place in the artist's mind. This is what I absolutely love and thrive on as an artist. I love it. I love the challenge, even the struggle. I am not trying to conquer the canvas, but instead seek to display its potential.

Outdoor portraits and color

There are two things I love most when painting: painting outdoors and seeing color. The two go hand in hand, like cookies'n'cream, butter and lobster, and popcorn and a movie (I must be hungry). My father, Bill Chambers, often reminded me during my training years that portraiture was the most difficult of art careers, but also the most satisfying. Well, I haven't experienced anything more challenging than pulling off a portrait with good color. It's a challenge to get all the color relationships right. Actually, truth be told, it often seems impossible.

When I studied with Henry Hensche during summers on Cape Cod, I was always amazed at how he would use the entire palette to arrive at beautiful- and accurate!- color every time. He didn't follow the trend of reducing his palette to five or so colors. He didn't follow a formula in his head. He looked. He compared. He scanned. He responded to what was in front of him. His teacher, Charles Hawthorne, taught his students to "get the spots right, and then all else, including your drawing, will be right." Simply said, and best done simply, but most difficult to actually accomplish. Gotta love the challenge, though!

"Joshua & Cayla on Bald Head Island" by Timothy Chambers; Oil on Linen 40x60

Clayton Beck's values

Clayton Beck III, a friend and esteemed peer of mine, creates remarkable paintings. Every time I look at his work, I wonder how he pulls off such beautiful work with such efficiency. I feel that the struggle I go through with each painting is part of the process, and yet I look at Clayton's work and think- "This is just simply beautiful!"

Clayton reveals a little bit of his secret on his site (www.claytonjbeckiii.com) on his Instructional Pages. We are both teachers, and I know that understanding values is one of the crucial requirements of producing a good painting, and yet it is consistently one of the areas that many students fail to grasp. However, Clayton sums up the value process well:

When trying to get a grasp on values, the first thing that you want to understand is the limits of edge and value.

Where is my HARDEST EDGE?

Where is my SOFTEST EDGE?

Where is my LIGHTEST LIGHT?

Where is my DARKEST DARK?

The answers to these questions will help you to organize your work into something that may not be so overwhelming right from the beginning. Once I have a few of these anchor points, I no longer feel lost and I can start my work with some confidence. I no longer feel that my subject has me lost and I feel I can begin with a clear path in mind. All work should begin with some sort of plan.

I encourage my students to ask the same four questions before they lay one stroke on their canvas, and then again as the painting develops. Knowing the answers to these questions is a definite step towards achieving a balanced painting, and avoid running out of values before we're done. Maybe, just maybe, then we'll someday be able to paint like Clayton.

Above image is a detail Clayton sent me of a recent painting demo.

Cecilia Beaux and relationships

Portrait clients sometimes are faced with the dilemma of whether to have a multiple portrait (say of a mother and child or of two children) painted or to go with two separate portraits, one of each individual. Thus, I am often asked what the aesthetic difference is between the two. The answer is simple: a multiple portrait is about relationships.

During a recent visit to Philadelphia I took in the Cecilia Beaux exhibit. I was mesmerized by the wonderful display of her work, taking in as much as I could, though for me there's a point where I just can't take any more, similar to enjoying only a few Godiva chocolates at a time. Ever since I saw Beaux's portrait Ernesta with Nurse years ago I've been taken by her amazing work. Of all painters, Beaux is one of my top ten- maybe even in the top five. She paints with such confidence, as we can see in her strokes. Yet, she also displays the sensitivity of Mary Cassatt, as you can see in the picture of her painting Mrs. Stedman Buttrick and Son John.

Can you feel the pride, love, and even the amusement the mother has for her little boy? You can also sense the boy's playful sense of surprise and intrigue with his mother, as well as the security that children have with their mother (ask any dad who his child looks for when they've just gotten a boo-boo, even if Dad is standing right there, ready to help. It's still "Mommy!? I'm hurt! Where's Mommy?" Dad: "Hey, I'm here. What's wrong?" "...Mommy!" Dad: "(Sigh)...She's upstairs.").

Beaux takes a mother-child portrait from a simple record of persons to a sharing of a wondrous eavesdropping of joy, and does so with no apology of craftsmanship. I know without question that this portrait elicited much more response from visitors to the Buttrick home than would one of a more proper (i.e. staid?) pose and composition. If, for instance, the mother had been looking at the viewer instead of leaning back to take in her son, we would have lost the obvious expression of love, and instead, as a viewer of the scene, would have assumed (and hoped) that such a love actually existed.

What a great portrait!

Welcome!

Welcome! If you're here, you've most likely crossed paths with me at some point, and even then, most likely with a palette in one hand and brushes in the other. This blog will focus on my current work and musings, and will feature photos of works in progress and of others' works that inspire me. I'll share what goes through my mind as I'm working on each piece, and also we can discuss what it is about others' works (not just paintings, either) that cause for inspiration.

Enjoy, and your feedback is always invited.

~Tim

New Equine Painting

I am making my entry into the world of equine art with "Loser Buys Dinner". The painting is a result of my wife Kim's prompting, as she entered me into a fundraiser in Middleburg, Virginia. We have been praying that I'd find an avenue to create non-portrait works, and since we live in "horse country" Kim said "Tim, here's your answer to prayer. Now paint me a painting of horses. Now, git!"

The painting is nestled in a tray (part of the fundraiser motif), in partnership with The Potomac Gallery of Leesburg, Virginia, who dressed up the tray with ornamentation and then leafed it in gold. Needless to say, it was the hit of the fundraiser.

Welcome to our new family blog!!!

Hey GP's*, sibs, and friends! We are excited to use this blog as a way to stay in touch with you, or better, for you to be in touch with us. We love you dearly, and it means a lot to us for you to share our lives with us. So, we are going to do our best to update this blog at least a few times a week with news and pictures of daily happenings. Just a few minutes a day and you'll be up to speed with us. All of us here on Tea House- i.e. Tim, Kim, Drew, and Chloe- will take part in writing the blog, so you'll get as close to personal as you can without being here in Virginia, enjoying our home and family on Tea House.

You know you're always welcome, and we miss you dearly. You've been or are where we are in terms of raising kids, loving amidst the busyness, feeding the dog (someone did feed the dog today, right?...). Well, as long as you're there, and we're here, please stay in touch by visiting regularly. We suggest you visit with your morning coffee or your evening tea.

Oh, and please do post your thoughts! We'd love to hear from you as well. Also, you can subscribe (don't worry- there's no cost or strings attached) to our blog by clicking on the "Subscribe to: Posts" link at the bottom of this page. You'll be notified when we update our blog.

Love you-
Tim, Kim, Drew, and Chloe!


*GP's? GrandParents!