This web site features the art of Live Event Painter Jeremy Sutton.
Meditation, 10 in x 14 in, ballpoint pen and 4B pencil on 140 lb 100% cotton cold pressed Arches watercolor paper
This sketch was made from direct observation of Rodin’s beautiful sculpture Meditation (or Inner Voice) in the Rodin Sculpture Garden at the The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University (Cantor Arts Center).
This colorful painting was created during a “Zoom-at-Noon Drawing Board” live streaming art session from direct observation of a still life arrangement using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the app Procreate.
This painting was created outdoors (en plein air) over a period of weeks in numerous sessions overlapping with the early part of the City and State “stay-in-place” COVID-19 orders, using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Procreate app. Every brush stroke was made without photographic reference, from direct observation, as I sat at the Palace of Fine Arts, a magnificent creation designed by Bernard Maybeck for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Maybeck was inspired by the ruins of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. A beautiful set of “ruins” that represent vanquished and mortal grandeur, this magnificent setting and architectural masterpiece was only intended as a temporary structure that would last 6 months. Instead, though, through popular demand it has endured. Now renovated and seismically retrofitted, it is one of the iconic “must sees” of any visit to San Francisco!
20″ x 40″, framed artwork, extended through use of the augmented reality free app Artivive.
“The Palace of Fine Arts was seen as the embodiment of Maybeck’s elaboration of how Roman architecture could fit within a California context. Maybeck said that the popular success of the Palace was due to the absence of a roof connecting the rotunda to the art gallery building, along with the absence of windows in the gallery walls and the presence near the rotunda of trees, flowers and a water feature.” And on the sign at the edge of the lagoon it further adds: “Maybeck also believed that architectural elements should come together like notes in a musical score, eliciting emotional responses from the viewer. He designed the Palace of Fine Arts to evoke the sadness and beauty of looking at a Roman ruin. If you visit the Palace repeatedly, you will notice that the mood is rarely the same; weather and time of day conspire to change the play of light and shadow over it’s surface.” explains Maybeck.
Further context is found in a wonderful article titled Joy in the Act of Drawing: Maybeck’s Palace of Fine Arts: “The Palace of Fine Arts was one of the principal buildings of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, which took place in San Francisco in 1915. The exposition celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal, and its main theme was the bond forged between the East and the West. Among the reasons that San Francisco was chosen over other West Coast cities was its swift recovery from the 1906 earthquake.12 The city’s resuscitation demonstrated its physical resilience and spiritual energy. Rebuilding the entire city in a very short period of time also demonstrated the business community’s ability to tackle large projects. However, some of the exposition’s events and projects were designed to convey a very different sentiment—the memory of a great loss and an appreciation of the fragility of human life and creation. A pavilion, designated to house an art exhibition, was to become a natural site to display melancholy, while the rest of the fair was to exude the optimism of industrial capitalism expanding around the globe, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bridging East and West.”
I repeatedly returned to the Palace of Fine Arts over a period of several months, always sitting in the same place at roughly the same time of day (late afternoon until sunset). I saw a different lighting and mood every time! Thus this painting depicts a myriad of moods, lighting conditions and skies. You can see that in the time-lapse replay. That’s the beauty of plein air painting over time and something that can’t be painted from referring to a single photograph. The more I observed the more I saw. There is magic in the air at the Palace of Fine Arts.
The Palace of Fine Arts signifies the rebirth of the City literally rising out of the ashes of the 1906 earthquake and fire, and saying “we’re back in business, come and visit!” Located at the edge of the lagoon (also designed by Maybeck as part of the installation), at the historical edge of the City (on reclaimed land). As the name implies the function, besides beauty, was to serve as an exhibition space for artworks from around the world (part of that space then became used by the Exploratorium for many years). As an interesting side note, because the First World War had just broken out in Europe a year before the show, the organizers assumed that many European countries wouldn’t be able to get their artworks to California. They therefore invited many additional Californian artists to exhibit. In the end the European art did arrive and they ended up with a much larger exhibition of art than originally envisaged!
For anyone stuck anywhere, quarantined, in a car, train or plane for a long journey, or just wanting their mind stimulated with something other than news, then I’d highly recommend these absolutely fabulously amazingly fascinating and interesting British (mostly BBC radio) programmes. You can listen to these anywhere anytime via the wonders of the internet! Have fun:-)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015sqc7
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006kkl
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnx3
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/player
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qpgr
And while not the BBC, the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are like TED talks on steriods!
https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures
Little historical aside: I actually became a physicist as a result of seeing Professor Eric Laithwaite’s talks in 1974.
https://www.rigb.org/christmas-lectures/watch/1974/the-engineer-through-the-looking-glass)
This live event painting conveys the excitement, energy and elegance of the inaugural launch and christening celebrations of the magnificent new Regent Seven Seas Cruises ship, the luxurious Seven Seas Splendor, at Port Miami on February 21st, 2020. Congratulations to everyone at Regent and all the staff and crew of the Splendor!
Using an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Procreate painting app, I created this painting live on board the beautiful ship, capturing the night in a single artwork based on direct observation. You’ll see in the time lapse replay video above that I started as a background with Art Deco inspired textures from the carpets and decor of the Splendor and then depicted scenes in the Constellation Theater and in the Splendor, Meridian and Observation Lounges. I painted a harpist playing in the Atrium and what unfolded on the main stage of the Constellation Theater, including the welcome from Captain Serena Melani, the world’s first woman to helm a new cruise ship at launch; the invocation by Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami; the christening by ship’s Godmother, Christie Brinkley; the bottle-breaking; and a wonderful performance by a fellow Londoner, Seal, which included my painting being displayed on the main stage screen behind him (shown in photo at the top of this page).
After this event my digital painting was shared electronically with the guests.
“Thanks again for your help with our event! ..Absolutely loved your digital interpretation of the night’s festivities.”
You can get a sense of the anticipation leading up to this launch from these articles:
Virtuoso’s ‘Why We Can’t Wait for Regent’s Seven Seas Splendor’
PR Newswire’s ‘Regent Seven Seas Cruises® Announces Christie Brinkley Will Serve As Godmother To Seven Seas Splendor™’
Here are a few more photos from the evening:
Painting Seal
Painting Captain Serena Melani
Painting in the Constellation Theater
Painting in the Observation Lounge
The bow of the Seven Seas Splendor with the Miami skyline in the background
Lizzie, 2022
Created from life as part of a presentation I gave at FOTOfusion 2020 using iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Procreate app.
At this event, the Red Slippers 2020 Gala, benefiting the Hope Solutions organization, I painted portraits of guests and depicted the scene as guests dined amongst the amazing collection of historical automobiles at the Blackhawk Museum, Danville, California. I used the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate app as my medium. My portraits were displayed on a 60″ LED monitor as I painted them. The scenic painting was included in the multi-screen slide show at the end of the dinner.
I painted this London-themed mural live at the Winter Lights 2020 festival in Canary Wharf, London, using the amazing real time Light Painting Software, Luma Paint, developed by Lichtfaktor (see their cool Luma Paint Tech Demo on YouTube).
Finally here is the whole 13 minutes painting process shown at real speed:
This painting is based on a photograph I took of musician Robert Dehlinger playing in his Alpha Rhythm Kings band at Club Deluxe in San Francisco. I used an iMac computer with Corel Painter 2020 software and a Wacom Intuos Pro pen tablet.
Hallie Plays Bach
2019
Acrylic on Canvas
48″ w x 72” h
This portrait of cellist Hallie Marshall-Pridham was created from life as she performed J. S. Bach’s Cello Suites at my Fall 2019 Open Studios Exhibition.