"Spence" An oil portrait

It's been a while since I painted a portrait.  This is from a snapshot I took of artist Chris Spencer of Locke, CA.  On this day, Spence was 'holding forth', as he often does, in front of Al the Wops.  Spence is not only a gifted artist who has made Locke his home for more than 30 years, but he is also one of those 'characters' that you run across now and then and who stay with you forever after.  I've had a lot of fun painting with Chris in Locke and the Delta and I've always enjoyed his outrageous (and insightful) take on life. 

I'd prefer to paint from life, but sometimes - often - that isn't possible.  I liked the photo and so I decided to try it.  It's a fairly large portrait - 16" x 20".   The compostion was difficult because of the hand, which I considered essential to the portrait.  It forced the head to the left of center, just the opposite of what I would normally want with the head also facing to the left.  As a result, the painting may be crowded on the left side. I'm not quite sure.  I've considered cropping closer (into a square) to see if that helps and I've tried it on Photoshop, but for now, I'll just let it sit for a week and then decide if it needs to be fixed is some way, or if it's ok as is.

Spence    oil on canvas   16" x 20"



Spence in Black and White  

Spence   Oil sketch on canvas

My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art

A great print experience!

I've never pursued the idea of selling prints of my artwork, but the concept got a significant boost the other day.  As an experiment (and at the request of two buddies) I sent off for a variety of prints using one subject photo.  I choose iPrintfromhome.com on the recommendation of a friend, and I'm glad I did. I new venue for my work might have opened up. 

My friends wanted prints of a Model A that I had done using a great old truck that I photographed at the Amador County Fair.  The painting is a small 8" x 10" oil on an Ampersand panel.  I liked the painting itself...and the color range from very dark to stark white made it a good test run candidate.  I ordered a 8x10 photo print lustre finish, a 9x12 inkjet lustre print (an upgraded process) and a 9 x 12 giclee on canvas (unstretched).  I was able to easily crop the photo of the painting on the firm's website to accommodate the slightly different size ratios.  The costs were very reasonable and the service was prompt and the prints were delivered impressively and securely packaged.  Honestly I'm blown away by the quality of the prints.  All of them are just great....and the prices for the work are very reasonable.  I'm delighted with the the whole process and the end result.  No, I'm not on the iPrintfromhome.com PR staff.  I just appreciate good work and value.  A few times I've commented on products and services that in my opinion, deliver what they promise and make the artist's life a little easier and more fun.  I'll try to do that more in the future, but for now....iPrintfromhome.com gets a California Painter Thumbs up!

Here are the sample prints l to r.  Photo print, 9 x 12 giclee (unstretched but with 3" canvas all sides for stretching. Can also be glued to a panel, of course), and the 9x12 inkjet.  

My Art Site: Bruce Hancock Fine Art