This web site features the art of Live Event Painter Jeremy Sutton.
I created this collage as a memorial tribute to my dad who passed away in December 1988, the year I moved to live in the USA. It was published in my book Painter IX Creativity: Digital Artist’s Handbook as the case study demonstration example in the collage chapter. Included in the painting as a texture is his last letter to me.
Island
2006, mixed media on canvas, 36″x 36″
“Island” is part of the “Cityshapes” series of paintings, a collaboration with modern dancer Tiffany that explored the shapes, textures and forms of San Francisco. This painting depicts Tiffany dancing on the small island at the Yerba Beuna Center in San Francisco.
2006, Mixed media collage on canvas, 34″ x 56″
Renel Brooks-Moon is the announcer for the San Francisco Giants baseball team, the only female announcer in the Major League Baseball, and former KISS FM radio personality. The portrait shown in this photo at Renel’s birthday party was created as part of my San Francisco Bay Area Women of Style series (an ensemble of seventeen portraits) that was exhibited at the Nordstrom San Francisco flagship store couture department in 2006.
Renel and I with her portrait at her birthday party
I have been working on Renel’s portrait for many years, periodically revisiting it and adding, for instance, her latest Giants’ World Series rings!
Pigment ink and acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 40″, 2006
This portrait Mr Giles Henderson CBE, BCL, MA, the former Master of my alma mater, Pembroke College, was presented to the Pembroke College Art Collection on June 23, 2006, and now hangs in the Henderson Building in the new section of Pembroke College on Brewer Street.
Showing my Mum the portrait in the Henderson Building.
I studied Physics at Pembroke College from 1979 – 1982. The painting, an example of my collage portrayal approach to portraiture, captures many aspects of Gile’s life, both personal and professional. Included in the painting are views of him working at his desk in his capacity as Master of Pembroke College, his beautiful dog Ellie, the college crest, the Pembroke Chapel Quad, and his family on the occasion of being presented with the Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.
The digital painting part of the creative process was created using Corel Painter and a Wacom tablet on a Macintosh computer. I then printed the digital painting out onto canvas and worked into it with acrylic gel medium and paint. The final portrait is an original mixed media artwork.
Here are pictures from the unveiling of the painting in the Master’s quarters during the Gaudy (alumni reunion) Tea Reception, June 23rd, 2006.
swooosh!! the cover comes off….
The Master contemplates the painting.
Pembroke alumni Fiona Wailes-Fairburn, Kate Hall-Tipping and Member of Parliament Kevin Brennan discussing the painting.
2006
Denise Bradley-Tyson
2006, Mixed media on canvas, 34″ x 51″
This portrait was created as part of my San Francisco Bay Area Women of Style series (an ensemble of seventeen portraits) that was exhibited at the Nordstrom San Francisco flagship store couture department in 2006. At the time this portrait was created Denise was the Executive Director of the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), a museum she helped launch and establish.
Denise is now Founder and CEO of Inspired Luxe. On her Inspired Luxe web site Denise shares an inspirational blog post, “Chanel’ing” Iris, that I highly recommend reading. It addresses the topic of personal style and applies equally to art making as well as to fashion.
38.5″ x 38.5″, pigment ink print with acrylic paint on canvas
This painting is inspired by the vibrant, soulful and beautiful music of the late great Ray Charles.
This portrait was created as part of the Legendary Mayors of San Francisco series that was displayed at Chenery House, San Francisco. It is currently displayed in the Law Offices of Mayor Alioto’s daughter, Angela Alioto, opposite the Transamerica Pyramid that Mayor Alioto was so instrumental in supporting. Thank you Angela for your help with sharing your memories, photos and other documents relating to your father, that were used in this portrait.
The MayorTakes a Long View
There are always some who complain that any thing built in San Francisco since World War II (or World War I, or the earthquake and fire, or the Mission Dolores) has been disastrous. And there are always others who applaud uncritically every tasteless plunder of the city in the name of business since any of those eras.
But, happily, there has to be a middle way – and there is in San Francisco. Here, I think, there is development with a difference – development that attempts to balance all of the complex claims of aesthetics and the better urban life with the claims of commerce. No one is selling out to freebooters in San Francisco.
SPECIAL
This portrait is a tribute to the amazing achievements of the legendary baseball player Willie Howard Mays, Jr., nicknamed “The Say Hey Kid”, who played with the Giants in New York and San Francisco, and then the Mets in New York. With thanks to Barry Bonds and Willie Mays for their generosity in allowing me access to their archives and photographs for the purpose of creating this tribute, and for Willie Mays in making time to sit for his portrait (the live portrait is integrated into the collage in the upper right corner). This artwork was displayed at the George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, as part of their 2005 Art of Baseball show, along with my portrait of Jackie Robinson (also see portrait of Hank Greenberg).
This sketch of Barry Bonds was created from life using my favorite water-soluble Caran d’Ache crayons on white cartridge paper. Thanks, Barry, for being a great portrait model!
2005, pigment ink and acrylic on canvas, 50″ x 30″
Other baseball legends I’ve created portraits of include Barry’s godfather Willie H. Mays, Jr., Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg.
Mayor “Sunny” Jim Rolph Jr.
2004, pigment ink and acrylic on canvas, 50″x 74″
This portrait of the longest serving Mayor of San Francisco, ‘Sunny’ Jim Rolph, is part of my Legendary San Francisco Mayors series. It commemorates the life of one of the longest serving mayors of San Francisco who oversaw the recovery of San Francisco following the great earthquake and fire of 1906. He was instrumental in San Francisco hosting the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), a world’s fair that celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal and the city’s post-earthquake reconstruction. The centennial of this exhibition is currently being celebrated at the de Young Museum with their exhibition Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
