Author: jeremysutton

Posted on

Degas Performance

 

Performing as artist Edgar Degas in a historical “tableau vivant” at the de Young and Legion of Honor Museums, San Francisco, July, 2010. The painting you see me working on, Dance Rehearsal (shown below), is an original composition inspired by the compositional approach and style of Degas.

Video length: 1 minute 8 seconds

Dance Rehearsal

2010

32″ x 30″, pigment, acrylic and pastel on canvas

This painting is inspired by Edgar Degas’s wonderful paintings and drawings of dancers. It was created as part of my tableau vivant portrayal of Degas at the de Young and Legion of Honor Museums in celebration of the Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay and Impressionist Paris exhibitions. The painting and the dancers you see depicted are based on photos and sketches I made at The Ballet Studio and the Chamberdance (Academy of Ballet) in San Francisco. I performed with members of the Ballet School at the de Young Museum and with members of Chamberdance at the Legion of Honor Museum. This painting was the featured case study in my DVD-ROM Post-Print Painting The Sutton Way, now available as a download.

I am fascinated by Degas’ use of dramatic cropped imagery, his depictions of dancers in off-performance moments and the thoughtful construction of his compositions. I constructed the composition of this painting with the thought in mind of “how would Degas have portrayed these dancers?” That led me to include part of the piano accompanist and the teacher. It is not based on any single Degas work but more his overall approach to depicting his dancers. Degas experimented with different media and new technology, including photography, and would have loved the digital tools of today!

To learn more about the process of researching and developing this painting please read the article I wrote for the April 2011 issue of the Digital Paint Magazine.

Here are some photos of the Degas performances:

Renee, Peri and Nico, from the Academy of Ballet, being painted at the Legion of Honor Museum

Drawing Peri

 

Sketches of Peri and Nico

Drawing Nico

Drawing Renee

Sketch of Renee

Nico, Peri and Renee enjoying the artworks I just createdof them

Degas and his traveling art kit!

Sketching from the wings as Chamberdance perform in the Florence Gould Auditorium

Sketches of Chamberdance made from the side of the stage

The view from outside the de Young Museum (photographer Steven Somerstein) as I sketch Amanda and Mia

   

Sketches of Amanda and Max

Enchanté!

Talking with an enthusiastic audience:-)

Sketch of Mia

Painting dancers at the de Young Museum

One of the sketches made at the de Young

Drawing Joey

Here are close up shots of the final painting:

Acrylic paint applied with use of a painting knife onto thebow at the back of one dancer’s dress (above) and onto the swirling fabric of another dancer’s dress (below).

This section of the painting (above)shows where I used scumbling and glazing techniques.

Notice the difference in reflectivity between a region of the painting where I applied a gloss gel (above) versus a semi-gloss gel (below).

Thank you to Renee Baldocchi of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco for kindly inviting me to participate in these wonderful artistic collaborations at the de Young and the Legion of Honor Museums. Thank you to Renee’s colleagues at the museums, Cynthia and Andrea and the rest of the staff who helped make everything run so smoothly. Thanks to the fabulous dancers Mia, Amanda, Max (de Young, July 30), Peri, Renee, Nico and Chamberdance (Legion of Honor, August 1), Emily, Lisa, Rachel, Andrew, Pemberly and Joey (de Young, August 13), and all their teachers: Henry and Charles from the Ballet Studio and Richard, Zory and MaryEllen from the Academy of Ballet. A big thank you to Peggy who tirelessly helped me carry Degas’ not so light traveling art kit and kindly documented the whole creative process, as you can see from her wonderful photos shown here.

Posted on

“Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg



“Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg
2010
Mixed media on canvas, 54″ x 36″

This portrait is a tribute to the legendary baseball player Henry Benjamin “Hammerin’ Hank” Greenberg who played with the Detroit Tigers and, later in his career, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. During the 1930s Greenberg endured anti-semitic cat-calling from opposing team members and the crowds, reminiscent of the racially charged abuse directed a decade later against Jackie Robinson. Like Robinson, Greenberg’s exemplary skills on the field won over many. In 1934, when Greenberg played on the Jewish New Year and helped clinch the Tigers 2-1 pennant victory against the Red Sox, the Detroit Free Press ran “Happy New Year” on its front page in his honor. Greenberg, in his last year of professional baseball, met Jackie Robinson, who was starting his career in the major leagues, and encouraged him. They shared a common bond overcoming prejudice on and off the ball field. Greenberg was a five times All Star, twice named the American League’s Most Valuable Player and elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956 and into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

This portrait was exhibited at the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California Gala on June 13th, 2010, where it was signed by Shawn Green who received the first Hank Greenberg award that evening. Here are some pictures from the event, plus some details of the painting.


Other baseball legends I have painted include Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson.

Posted on

The Speech


The Speech: Portrait of Barack Obama, 2008, 38″ x 57″, mixed media on canvas

On August 28, 2008, I was watching on TV then-Senator Barack Obama giving his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Invesco Field, Denver, Colorado, as he was nominated to be the first African-American Presidential candidate. I was so moved by what he said that I took photos of my TV screen as he spoke to use as reference for a portrait. This painting is the result.

Posted on

Oxford Internet Institute Talk
Portrait of Dame Steve Shirley



I created this digital sketch portrait of British IT pioneer, businesswoman and philanthropist, Dame Stephanie “Steve” Shirley, in a talk / demo I gave at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) in 2008. Dame Shirley is a 2018 honoree and recipient of one of the Computer History Museum Fellow Awards. The recording of the 2018 award ceremony, including a video from Dame Shirley, can be seen here.

“Jeremy is a true artist and made it a painless process,
indeed wholly pleasurable and great fun!”
~ Dame Steve Shirley




Viewing my portrait of Giles Henderson, the Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, at the time.


Two part video recording of my talk.



July 2008

Posted on

Happy Feet, Happy Paint

3 minutes 27 seconds

Video of live painting performance, Happy Feet, Happy Paint

Herrang Dance Camp, Sweden

July 2008

Three minute portrait of Lindy Hop teacher, performer and inspirer Dawn Hampton created live in a cabaret at the Herrang Dance Camp, Sweden. I used improvised painting materials based on what was available in the camp workshop, which was house paint on board. The music is Opus No. 1, performed by Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra.

Video length: 3 minutes 27 seconds

Posted on

San Francisco Heart

 



San Francisco Heart, 2007
57″ x 38″, pigment print, acrylic paint, paper (“Chine collé”) and metal leaf on canvas.

 

Homage to my adopted home of San Francisco. This mixed media collage is based on sketches I made, and reference photos I took, of the city at different times and seasons. I captured aspects that were meaningful to me and represent my experience of this special place.

This original one-of-a-kind artwork is available for purchase.

This design was used as inspiration for one side of my Large Heart Classic San Francisco that was displayed in Union Square, San Francisco, in 2011, and is currently in the Visa headquarters a few miles south of San Francisco in Foster City, California.

Posted on

Antonio Stradivarius


“Antonio Stradivarius” by Jeremy Sutton
36″ x 100″ (approx.) inkjet print on canvas bonded to dry wall


The painting in Chenery House, San Francisco, next to the swimming pool.

This painting was a commission originally created for art collector Bob Pritikin’s “Violin Room” in the West Wing of his Chenery House mansion in Glenn Park, San Francisco.

Posted on

Oxford Internet Institute Talk
Portrait of Ted Nelson

Internet pioneer Ted Nelson, who coined the term hypertext, was my portrait subject for this talk / art demonstration at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), August 2007, shared here in three parts.


I start with a traditional analog pencil sketch The traditional media sketch of Ted Nelson is completed with acrylic paint.


I dive into a digital painting of Ted, comparing the process to the traditional portrait just completed. The highlight of this session was at 23 minutes into this video when Ted performs a fabulous rendition of the song “Mack the Knife” in German followed by a song I am not familiar with Russian!!


Completion of the digital portrait plus a spontaneous singing contribution at the beginning of this video from audience member (and my first boss) Tim Cook!


If you want to learn more about Ted Nelson this video tribute by computer pioneer Alan Kay is worth watching.


August 2007

Posted on

Leonardo da Vinci

This portrait was based on a da Vinci self-portrait combined with some of his notebook sketches and writings. I created this using Corel Painter on a Mac with a Wacom tablet. If your interested in da Vinci please join in my da Vinspiration! evening celebrating his genius on May 2nd, 2019, the 500th anniversary of his passing.