Crow

This another piece from my current show.  If you would like to see more visit www.danejefferson.com

Here is one of the last paintings I've completed. This painting took a while. I used more glazes on this painting than I ever have before and this technique will serve me well on a painting I'm currently working on. I thought the perspective lines on this gave it pretty dynamic composition. I went a while without seeing this painting and then owner was nice enough to let me come by and photograph it. I was pleasantly surprised. It's weird to work so hard on something and then wish it farewell the moment it's done and sometimes before the paint is dry. I thought it looked good in the space and I'm glad I took the time.

Some of my first paintings

Here is the first painting I did after graduation. It is also the first painting I sold to someone that wasn't a friend or family member. I sold it to family in Norway. This painting along with the one below I painting in the hallway of the apartment I lived in. It was kind of tough because I could only back up about 5 ft and these paintings are about 4 ft wide.
This is the second painting I did after collage. It was part of my first show and I there are still large parts of this painting that I'm quite proud of. My mom bought it so I get to see it anytime I go home. This is nice because so many paintings get shipped away and I never see them again. I'm not sure I should care but when you invest so much into something it would be nice to revisit it from time to time. Something they taught us at the Illustration Academy was to not get attached to your artwork. If you get too scared of messing something up you'll have a lot harder time improving. Nothing like throwing a piece of art across the room and against the wall, after you spent the last 50 hours driving yourself crazy to get it the way you want it. And that my friends is a run-on sentence.

Hey guys! It's been a while. Here is a painting that I have started and will finish one day. I hope to get back to it by march. It's about 4 x 3, maybe bigger, I can't find the measuring tape.

It's a mixture of oils and acrylic. There were a couple of oil washes thrown in there. enjoy

This is my blue ox. There are many like it but this one is mine. enjoy

This is one of my favorite compositions.

This is a photo of this Coney Island painting when it wasn't finished and then I finished it, and sold it with out taking another photo. 'Cause thats how I roll. Sorry I haven't posted as much lately. I've been working 6 days a week. I got some stuff in the works though.

This is about a 4ft circle, maybe a little larger. I made the canvas by attaching wood to a circular metal joint. My dad is a welder and he had some. It's like angle iron except in a circle. Then I stretched the canvas and so forth. I think they sell pre-stretched canvas like this now, and maybe they did then too, I don't know. Anyways, I painted this thinking I would never sell it and it was gone in days.

So here is painting that I was focussing on the sillouette. the background is flattened out and many of the shapes are pretty flat.
This painting was a lot of fun and went fairly fast.

This is a portrait I did and it's about 4x3. I'll just say this. Doing a portrait of a baby is not easy.

This another painting I did while living in Jersey City. It was commissioned, but I got to choose the subject matter. So, here are some men floating in murky water, its a theme that keeps come up in my paintings.

This is the painting I've been working on. I finished it last night and delivered it this morning. I posted some progress photos of this one earlier. It would be under "in progress". I think I may just post it back with the others as well.

I painted this when I lived in Jersey City. It was so long that when I was painting it, it went from one wall to about 6 inches behind the loft my bed was on. It was a good time for painting. I averaged about 1 large painting a month when I lived there.

I started this painting about two years ago and finished it in the last year sometime. I really like painting dark murky water. This is probably the sixth painting that has this same water in it. It's a painting of Mao but it doesn't have any intended political meaning. I find the less I talk about a painting the more someone might like it. So, I'll shut up and let you take what you like from it. I will close in saying that this painting is not showing praise to Mao. I was mostly concerned with captureing a man swimming in dark deep waters and I wanted for him to look all alone. Being that it is Mao, it lends itself to all sorts of interpretation. The stoty I have been told about the origins of the photo was this, He was swimming across this River "maybe the yellow river" to prove how strong and healthy he was. I don't think the majority of the Chinese population could swim at the time, so such an act would prove this point.

Project in progress

This is the finished painting



This is where I am so far with this painting. This painting is pretty far out of my comfort zone. I don't usualy paint architecture, flowers, and landscapes. I'm happy with how this is coming out so far. It's taking longer than I thought it
would but I've got to place where this painting is fun and I can spend hours on end carving out this scene and doing it justice.



This is the layout I came up with for the painting above. I guess I should give some back ground info. This is a comissioned painting and these churches are in the Ukrain. It's 4 x 3 and I did an acrylic underlay with oil washes, glazes and straight painting on top of them. This layout was down in Photoshop useing the three photos I was given, aka the photos you see below.

Paintings I did for the GAWL charity art auction

I was reluctant to do this painting for several years but I like how it turned out.





This is one of the largest paintings I've done and it's also one of my favorites, and sence it's never sold I must be alone in that opinion.