So I’ve decided what the next thing I’ll do with my recently finished painting, “Birds,” will be. I’m going to convert my large studio space into a gallery and hold 3-hour viewings, open to the public, over 4 Sundays later in the year.
I’ve also decided to make various-sized prints on metal of the painting in its entirety as well just certain cropped portions of the painting. The painting is so large, being 2 meters x 3 meters, it isn’t a realistic acquisition for most people. I think prints in various sizes and cropped in differing ways will make the imagery of the painting more accessible and diversify what it can offer, visually and spatially.
At the viewings, I plan to offer the prints exhibited on movable walls. The painting will be available, and will be the focal point of the show, but I don’t realistically see myself selling it out of my studio during this exhibition. I just want to share. (Empty gallery space shown in image below of the woman on swing).
I’ve posted examples of what some of these cropped prints of the painting could look like, but I’m happy to take suggestions as well. And Instagram is cropping my cropped images here, too, so the framing isn’t quite accurate. Check my FB page for more accurate images.
I actually enjoy the preparation, production and lead up to putting on an exhibition. And I enjoy promoting and organizing and setting up the exhibition itself. It’s a lot of work, and showing in this environment will be a first for me, but I’m game.
Those of you who are interested will be hearing more about this in a couple of months, but in the meantime, I’m going to get the prints into production and am happy to take suggestions for crops or just a mention of the ones that work for you.
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#exhibition #exhibitionspace #openstudio #artiststudio #painting #contemporary #collingwoodstudio #melbourneartist #australianartist #paintersstudio #painter #melbourneexhibition #fineartpainting #women #birds #narrativepainting
I made this painting back in 2014, long before any of this Covid stuff came down. But I was thinking then about our obligations to ourselves and our community, and the resistance many people have for vaccinations in general,
and titled the piece “The Good Samaritan,” referring both to Dr Jonas Salk (shown here), credited with the polio vaccine, and to the public for taking it up. I’ve thought about this painting a lot during this past year and a half. With all the debate going on about the Covid vaccines, I like this title more than ever.
“The Good Samaritan”
2014
Acrylic, Charcoal & Collage on Canvas
20” x 28”
Available from Kenneth Paul Lesko Gallery
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#painter #fineartpainting #figurative #vaccination #ᴠᴀᴄᴄɪɴᴇssᴀᴠᴇʟɪᴠᴇs #goodsamaritan #jonassalk #melbourneartist #americanpainter #australianart #collingwoodartist #doctor #child #childrenshealth #publichealth #getthejab
My website www.aubreyrhodes.com has been updated! And now it features my latest painting, “Birds.”
A new page has also been added to the menu and features process photos of this 3-year journey. You’ll find a page titled “Birds” in the menu list.
I’ve also added a section about some of my thoughts about the painting as I went and where its inspiration came from. That can be found on the Artist Bio page.
I’ll be arranging public viewings of the painting in the near future, so stay tuned!
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#aubreyrhodes #fineartpainting #contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #narrativepainting #figurativepainting #socialjustice #women #womenempowerment #femaleartist #portraitpainting #portraitdrawing #australianartists #australianpainter #melbourne #melbourneartist #collingwoodartist #americanborn #birds #doves #whitedoves
It’s not all work, work, work in the studio all the time. Invited some munchkins in for some fun on the swing.
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#studiofun #artistslife #artistmom #painter #paintermom #largescalepainting #girlpower #womenempowerment #womensrights #swing #momlife #workingmother #birdsofinstagram #birds #australianartists #portraitpainting #melbourneartist #collingwoodartist #australia #artiststudio #secretpeek #behindthescene
I discovered that my phone does this cool “aggregate” thing where it collects all the photos on my phone with a certain face or image. I stumbled upon it while taking photos of my latest finished painting, and I’m impressed with how this feature can be used to show the #paintingprocess People have asked for a full photo of the finished painting. I may post some this afternoon, but I’m kind of holding off thinking I should wait for the proper photo shoot happening this Friday, but we’ll see. For now, the process collected ...
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#painting #painter #largescalepainting #faces #women #womeninart #portraits #illustrativeart #narrativeart #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart #socialcommentaryart #birds #doves #nature #humannature #studioprogress #artiststudio #behindthescene #creativeprocess #australia #australianartists #melbourne #melbourneartist #collingwoodartist
Constructed on March 6, 2018 and completed on May 9, 2021. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet that this painting is finally done. Something that has taken me a third of my daughter’s lifetime to complete. I’ve scheduled a professional photographer to come in next Friday and photograph it properly for print publications and competitions, etc. Until then, I’ll just sit and stare at it and think about all the long days and late nights that went into this ... 3 years it took me. I haven’t worked that long at something since graduate school 15 years ago ...
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#largescalepainting #painting #contemporaryart #contemporaryartist #painter #femalepainter #australianpainter #australianartists #narrativeart #socialart #artiststudio #artiststudiospace #finishedpainting #womeninart #women #birds #doves #champagne #cocktail #femalearchetypes #melbourneartist #collingwoodartist #australia #epic #existentialpurpose #humannature #tookforever
School holidays for my 9 year old means I get a studio partner! I love having her in the studio with me, but I find it best to save the work I really need to concentrate on for when I’m back to solo studio time.
So instead of working on my massive painting today, I experimented with some drawing ideas while my daughter painted. I might not have ended the day and turned off the lights feeling productive and accomplished, but I did feel like I learned something all while spending quality time with my littlest love ❤️ #lovetheday
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#art #drawing #charcoaldrawing #charcoalart #whimsical #illustrativeart #narrativeart #australianartist #collingwoodartist #melbourneartist #experimenting #artstudiolife
Exploring #newdirections in the studio.
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#painting #contemporaryarts #australianartists #collingwoodartists #androgynous #women #nostalgia #memories
#Lights on, #lightsoff
#Lighting changes everything and brings paint to life. Three years in, and I’m almost finished with this painting. I played with the lights tonight, off ... on ... off ... in my studio and made my #ghosts come alive ❤️ so close to being done with this one ... hard to believe ..,
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#studio #progress #paintingprogress #largescalepainting #studiolighting #artist #painter #womenempowerment #humannature #melbourneartist #collingwoodartist #australianartist #melbourne #australia #painting #sundaystudio
I’ve been trying not to post, lately, too many photos of the large painting I’ve been working on for the past few years. I’m in the final stages of refining and correcting now, and differences in the overall painting are hard to see on a screen and to a general audience. I’m afraid I’ve been boring, posting about this one painting so often. So I’ve tried to hold back in hopes of sharing an image of it finished.
But ... 😂 ...
I want to put the Christmas tree on the wall where I have been painting this painting. So I moved the painting to the wall opposite. In the 2 years I’ve been painting this, I’ve never moved it to work on it in another light. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I don’t know why!
I prefer not to work in direct light. I find the challenge of making colors luminous in darker light (without making them garish) an ambition worth pursuing. If done right, the colors will “float” on the canvas when lit in certain light.
But when I moved this canvas to the other side of the room under direct light, the effect was incredible! All those hours, days, months, years of layering faint, thin glaze over thin glaze, seeing such slow progress, are finally paying off! Those colors! ❤️
Of course, this painting is not finished. I’m now working from right to left back over the painting, fixing, correcting, balancing out the colors and contrasts. But I had to share this because I think this is a difference you can see!
#painting #sundaypainting #women #portraitpainting #largescaleart #largescalepainting #studioprogress #artiststudio #birds #doves #cocktails #humannature #civilrights #progress #australianartists #melbourne #melbourneartist #aubreyrhodes
It’s come down to this. The two of us having a face off. She’s the last of the birds. And once shes’s done, it will be time to tighten the painting as a whole. Getting close now ...
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#lastbirdstanding #inthestudiotoday #painting #paintingprogress #artiststudio #behindthescenes #largescalepainting #painter #melbourne #australia #collingwoodartist #doves #birds #women #melbourneartist #aubreyrhodes
In times like these, what else can you do but get weird? Well, I was already weird, but anyway ...
#apainterslife #adayinthestudio #insidetheartiststudio #meta #womeninart #ingridbergman #largescalepainting #portraitpainting #women #people #laughing #smiling #lips #paintingprogress #process #processpainting #coverart #morethanapainting #cover #face #melbourne #australia #artist #art #mowmow #australianartist #melbourneartist #aubreyrhodes