Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Sunti


Bigfork, Montana....
    One afternoon last week I walked into a downtown gallery and found this monk meditating over in the corner......except that this is not a monk, nor is he meditating.  Instead, he is a sculpture by Sunti Pichetchaiyakul, a wonderful artist from Thailand.....(but Sunti looks like a young and handsome Native American).

Sunti began sculpting when he was four years old.  Clay and wax is like an extension of his body.  This sculpture is one of many monks he has completed, each sculpture greatly revered in his home country.  It is made out of fiberglass and is accurate down to finger and toenails....and individual hairs.  Under that robe is a complete body.


You can click on the photos for a larger view.

On his website HERE you can see other examples, his process and technique, as well as the lifesize bronzes of Native American chiefs.  His wife and business manager says he works constantly.  This one sculpture took him a year to complete.   Dedicated to his art at the highest level of quality, he not only does the sculpting but, unlike many other sculptors, he does the casting as well.  Once cast, he then paints it and adds each hair.

He was just completing a full size standing piece of Gerald Ford to be displayed in Michigan, done with the permission of Betty Ford.

He must be a patient man because he spent 15 minutes of his day helping me pronounce his name.....JUST his first name....the last one I wasn't even going to try.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Chandlery, 8x10


Painting in Montana hasn't worked out quite the way I planned so I'm posting this one from a year and a half or so ago.  The setting sun cast a warm glow over the front of the boat supply store down by the wharf and I actually sat on the curb with my legs stretched out, pochade in my lap,  to paint it.

It is water soluble oils on Bainbridge board coated with three coats of gesso each side.  Then I make a slurry out of some sort of blue and red with traditional thinner and tone the board and let it dry in advance of painting.  This is done to 20x30 inch sheets which are then cut up.  You can see this color showing through and becoming part of the sky.  I use water only to clean my brushes, then wipe them out well.  Water soluble linseed oil is the thinner and the board does a nice job of soaking up the extra oil so subsequent paint layers can easily go on top.

Great for fast sketches, I've done twenty and forty minute nudes with it and liked the results.....also light and easy for travel or painting those coffee drinkers in your favorite bistro.