James Bas, is the sexton at the church my wife and children attend.  He had a magnificent face, reminded me of the portraits by the great 19th century Russian painter Ilya Repin, and I asked him to pose in my studio.  Last night I finished this portrait of him in the 2nd of two sitting totaling 4 hours from life.

Day 1 (2 hours)                                                                           Day 2 (2 hours)

These two new paintings will be included in the "Hard Times: An Artist's View" exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in New York from July 29th through August 18th.   The exhibition will include paintings by Burton Silverman, Harvey Dinnerstein, Max Ginsburg, Steven Assael, David Kassan, Mario Robinson and others.
I'll be in attendance at the panel discussion and reception on July 29th.  Panel discussion starts at 7pm with reception to follow at 8:30pm.  Hope to see you there.

Entrance to Highway 1, 30" x 30" oil on linen canvas, 2010
Fall Tilling, 34" x 40" oil on linen canvas, 2010
Color Study for Fall Tilling, 8" x 10" oil on linen panel, 2010

Give Us Our Daily Bread, Color Study for Fall Tilling, 8" x 10" oil on linen panel, 2010

Salmagundi Club
47 Fifth Ave
New York City
tel: 212-255-7740
salmagundi.org

Last night I gave a portrait demonstration for the Central Coast Art Association at the Youth Center in Monterey.   I was a little edgy because they gave me only an 1 1/2 hrs to complete the demo and I generally like closer to 3 hours to complete a portrait sketch.  To compound my situation, they had a guest speaker prior to my demo which gave me even less time.  Fortunately, her speech was short and I delved quickly into my demonstration after a short introduction.  I painted fast and it reminded me of the late great John Buscema's quote when asked how he drew so quickly, "I move my hand faster" was his answer.  So I moved my hand quicker.  Would have liked to have a little more time to work on edges and some of the subtle transitions but I think it turned out fine, for what it is.  Below are a series of photographs from last nights portrait demo, courtesy of Edi Matsumoto.

Completed demonstration of John Turek completed in three 30 minute segments.	I painted this version of model John Turek a few days before the demo in preparation for the demo.  I had a full 3 hours to complete this.

I've been bringing a model into my studio once a week lately.  Fellow artist Dwight was willing to pose and I completed this oil wash in a few hours last week.  This technique is one I have students work in on the first day of my portrait workshop.  I've scheduled a 2-day Portrait Workshop in Monterey June 14-15 (details within Events/Workshops).

Completed in 3 hours.

Dwight came back this week and I completed this second head study in a limited palette in opaque oils.

In progress.

Just completed "Portrait of Bill" to be included in the upcoming Hard Times exhibit.  For up to date news on the development of this important exhibit, participating artists, venues and more, please visit the web blog below:
http://hardtimesart.spaces.live.com/


"Portrait of Bill" 36" x 24" oil on canvas (2009)

"Hard Times" is the name of an upcoming exhibit I'm participating in, that will travel to various venues throughout the country.

"Twilight in Santa Cruz" 24" x 36"

Detail to "Twilight in Santa Cruz"

Participating Artists

Steven Assael   Garin Baker   Warren Chang   Sean Diediker   Harvey Dinnerstein   Jeffrey Hein   Max Ginsburg   David Kassan

David Linn   Mary Beth McKenzie   Denis Peterson   Mario Robinson   Burton Silverman   Gary Ernest Smith   Trevor Southey   Justin Taylor

Dates and Places of exhibition

Bus Stop, 16" x 26" oil on linen canvas (2009)

These pictures are from my portrait workshop earlier this week at Wave Street Studios in historic Cannery Row in Monterey.  The facilities and atmosphere contributed to a wonderful experience.  The stage lighting was perfect in isolating the light upon our models and allowing almost individual lights for each participant.  Most of these pictures are from the 2nd day, where I completed a demonstration in oil of first time model John Millman.  My thanks to Victoria for arranging this workshop and Rhett for allowing us to use his fantastic facilities.


Front row: Aida, Warren, Erin, Colleen.   Middle row: Yolanda, Brittany, Nicole, Mary, Lucie, Karen, Joan.
Back row: John, Derek, Kevin

Photo courtesy Karen Garnett.	Photo courtesy Karen Garnett
The completed demonstration (approximately 3 or 4 hours)

That's me demonstrating with the funny white hat.

These photographs are from my landscape workshop this weekend.  On Saturday we painted at the Carmel Lagoon.  It started as a glorious morning of sunshine but by the afternoon the fog rolled in changing our light dramatically.  On our second day we painted at the Carmel Mission.  After two days of plein-air painting, I think we all were exhausted but it was a good feeling of exhaustion.  A feeling of a hard days work and braving the elements.

	Carmel Lagoon, 11" x 14" oil on panel Completed in plein air in 2 1/2 hrs.

At the Carmel Mission	10 minute demonstration.
Carmel Mission, 12" x 9" oil on panel

Film makers Paul Boczkowski (Director) and Marie Wainscoat (Producer) have specialized in filming artists from the Monterey Area.  They have captured priceless footage of Monterey artists since 1993 starting with their documentary "Longtimers: Senior Artists of the Monterey Peninsula". 

This lecture took place on January 11th at the Pacific Grove Art Center.

The film of my slide lecture airs on the local public television program "Life in the Arts".

I made a limited run of 25 DVD's of this film.  It runs 55 minutes and includes footage from the lecture along with images of my best paintings and historical references.  If your interested in obtaining this higher quality copy of the slide lecture, please send a check for $15.00 (includes shipping) to: Warren Chang 824 Lottie Street Monterey, Ca 93940 SOLD OUT!