Buried on Page Five is a 24x18 oil done from life. I think of it as a modern day tronie.

First you’re probably wondering just what a “tronie” might be. A “tronie” is a genre painting done in a portrait format. It’s a term used to describe some 17th century paintings. Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is a tronie. Vermeer’s painting was not intended to be primarily a likeness of a particular person but rather a depiction of a type. We don’t know who the girl with the pearl was and neither did Vermeer’s contemporaries.
Many of Rembrandt’s self portraits are really tronies; Rembrandt dressed up, sometimes sumptuously, sometimes in exotic garb and painted himself, not as a portrait but as a “type.”  Famous master artist was one of his poses (that he wished to be the truth rather than a pose); swashbuckler military man was another.
Rembrandt, Vermeer and their artist contemporaries had the opportunity to paint secular subjects for sophisticated collectors. These collectors wanted beautiful paintings and the human face and form was considered one of the most desirable of subjects…thus the tronie.
Today, no collectors ask for tronies.  Artists still paint them but we call them “head studies” or “figurative works” or we don’t categorize them at all.
To see some beautiful tronies that are simply called paintings visit Carolyn Anderson’s website.
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  1. Bonjour chère amie,

    Un somptueux portrait... J'aime son allure absorbée dans la lecture de son journal... Une très belle peinture. Je suis admirative également par le merveilleux travail de la lumière.

    Il est juste que les Maîtres nous offraient des portraits et autoportraits incroyables... Ils remplaçaient nos photos d'aujourd'hui...

    Gros bisous à vous.

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  2. Very interesting, Shirley. I was unfamiliar with the term. This is a wonderful painting! Look at the delicateness of the paper edges and the beautiful light on his face and tie!

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  3. Good morning Shirley! Very informative! I love this painting! So much wonder! I have to mention the power and beauty of the edge of the newspaper! Nicely done! Another gem my friend! I love your work! Happy Thanksgiving! Michael

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  1. Please Notice that Ear!

    She's a little elf working for Santa, making those toys. 

    Actually she one of the wonderful models who pose for open studio at Warehouse 521. I painted her just a few weeks ago at the Warehouse. She came to us complete with neck bow, green pants, pointed hat and wait for it... pointed ears!!!

    Now that's a model who takes her modelling assignments seriously.

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  2. Coffee Bean Alchemy by Shirley Fachilla.
    This guy is making one great cup of coffee, something he does very well.

    During a workshop several years ago, the instructor mentioned that he was going to be a workshop student himself in order to learn about composition. I was really surprised: first that an instructor was still taking instruction and second that this particular instructor thought he needed help in design. I thought he was already very good at that essential skill.

    Later I realized that he must have wanted to take something he was good at and become even better.

    So often we artists focus on what we do badly when maybe we should also spend time improving what we do well. 

    Just think of some of the famous artists whom you admire. Chances are you love them because of certain things they do extremely well. For instance, I don’t love Vuillard for his drawing expertise or even for his color sense, wonderful though it often was.  I love Vuillard because of the way he used pattern to shape and inform his paintings. I don’t know of another painter who is his equal in that regard.  I doubt if we would remember Vuillard if he had not been able to manipulate pattern in such unique and interesting ways.

    There’s also a side benefit to polishing a skill rather than always plugging away at problem areas. Doing something well feels good; doing something even better should make a person feel great!

    And feeling better right now? That would be a very good thing. 
    Stay safe.


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  3. Dear Santa, an oil painting by Shirley Fachilla 

    Every year Santa comes to the open studio at Warehouse 521 to pose for us painters. 

    It’s especially nice of him to come at his busiest time when he has so much to do. And though it may seem otherwise, posing is no easy task especially when you must keep a happy spirit throughout. Our Santa manages to be happy cheerful, patient, generous and kind the whole morning through.

    Thank you, Santa.

    And thank you, Jeanie of Warehouse 521, for another year of painting pleasure.   

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  4. Pieces by (clockwise from left to right): Susan Harlan, Janet Garner, Shirley Fachilla, Mike Martino and Topper Williams.

    So many ways now to send an invitation; I won’t bore you or confuse myself by listing them. I don’t know if it’s too early for this particular way (the blog way). But I’m excited so I’m doing it!

    Susan Harlan, Topper Williams, Mike Martino, Janet Garner and I are having an art show and sale. It’s a one day affair in Susan’s historic barn behind her lovely house.

    Our show is Saturday, September 30th from 10 in the morning to 8 in the evening. 

    The address is 1312 Lewisburg Pike, Franklin, Tennessee.

    We think the show will be especially interesting because our art is so diverse. We are all two dimensional artists, but that’s where similarities end. We use different mediums, work in different sizes and often tackle different subjects.

    This is your invitation to join us on the 30th. You'll see art, hear music and have drinks and munchies to keep hunger away. 

     Please fit us into your Saturday plans if you can. We’d love to see you sometime during that last day of September.

    And by the way, the barn inside is just the greatest. 
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  5. Iris with Flowers - oil - 18x14 - by Shirley Fachilla

    The band Barenaked Ladies made it big; but bare naked ladies in art have a more checkered past.

    Sometimes they’re in; sometimes they’re out. Medieval artists almost never saw the unclothed so almost never painted them; later Renaissance painters joyously celebrated bareness, reprising myths galore to lavishly illustrate.

    Today bare naked ladies, and to a lesser degree bare naked gentlemen, are the way artists learn their craft. Drawing and painting the nude not only teaches human anatomy but also how to really see and reproduce what we see on canvas and paper.

    Sadly the products of all that study, drawings and paintings of the nude, are not a staple of art galleries or shows. Occasionally they find a place on the walls, but it’s a hard-won place.

    So I was truly surprised and delighted to learn my latest bare naked lady did find such a spot in one of my favorite juried shows, the Laumeister National Exhibition at the Bennington Center for the Arts.  It makes me especially happy and honored to know noted artist Calvin Laing was the judge of selection and will be the awards judge as well.  

    To see all the paintings in the show click on this link. (And by the way she’s the only bare naked lady around.)

    P.S. Please if you can save the date of September 30th.  I'm having a show with friends. More later.
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    1. Shirley, congratulations on another winner! I will be going to see your work in Bennington soon with my artist friends. I shared your work on my Facebook page today.

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    2. Interesting that we don't see as much nude paintings anymore. A bit late but congrats on getting a naked lady some attention ;)

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  6. Queen Anne's Lace (detail)


    That’s how I’m feeling because NOAPS (National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society) interviewed me for a post in the official NOAPS blog. Called Figures with a Story, it concerns my process but it’s mostly about my paintings.

    What artist doesn’t like to talk about painting in general and their paintings in particular! In my case, Patricia Tribastone made the talking easy. She’s the blog director and author. Because she’s also an artist, she brings a special understanding to her articles. I enjoyed the interview and getting to know Patricia a bit.  

    If you've got a second, do read about me and my paintings.

    Thanks so much, Patricia and NOAPS. 


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  7. It was raining, very hard. We were outside with our easels, palettes, hats and assorted paraphernalia. Thankfully there was also a porch otherwise we could have never delivered on our given assignment: to produce a “concept” painting.  

    This was the last day of a Marc Hanson workshop, and this was to be our last painting. Marc is a landscapist who produces gorgeous poetic paintings chock full of concept. He was trying very hard to help us do the same.  

    My concept? The title tells it all. Everything in and of this little shed (with the exception of the cylindrical birdfeeder hanging from a hook on the left) is crooked. This is both its charm and its imperfection.

    Sometimes I can start with a concept and sometimes the concept, the real point of the painting, only shows itself midway through. Sigh.


    P.S. According to marketing people, one should never apologize for failing to post on a regular basis. I have not posted for more than a year on this blog. I think that deserves a mention and an apology. I hope to do better. 

     P.P.S. The upper left corner of the painting caught all sorts of reflection. Photographing paintings can be maddeningly difficult. 

    The painting: Crooked or the Charm of Imperfection is an 11x14 oil done in plein air by me, Shirley Fachilla.
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  8. A Stroll Beside the Louvre by Shirley Fachilla

    This little trio should be arriving at The Salmagundi Club in NYC any day now. It’s one of my favorite paintings, and I guess some jurors at the fabled club liked it, too, for it’s has been juried into the club’s annual Non-Member Painting and Sculpture Exhibition.
    I’m very honored and quite thrilled by my painting’s inclusion.
    Salmagundi is one of the oldest and most respected art organizations in the country; it’s housed in a beautiful, historic brownstone located on Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village. Some of our country’s best artists have been members, artists like Tiffany, N.C. Wyeth, Childe Hassam, William Merrit Chase.
    The Non-Member Painting and Sculpture Exhibition runs from July 18th to July 29th.

    If you can, stop by the exhibition promises to be great, and the Salmagundi itself is an experience!

    P.S. Christine asked about the "engagement activity" in my prior Ordinary People Exhibit post. Christine's question was quite some time ago!!! But here's the much delayed answer:
    The activity was a large journal where exhibit attendees were asked to write the story they saw in an exhibit painting. Obviously, the answers were varied, and none were wrong! It was a neat activity. Perhaps something to try in your own exhibit?  
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  9. The image is the official invitation to that gallery reception this Thursday. During the reception, the curator promises to have an "engagement activity" to enhance the gallery experience for those in attendance. She says viewers will be able to finish the story of each work. An interesting premise I think.

    Perhaps more about this later...

    For an electronically challenged person (like me!), the above image was a bear to transfer from an attached file in an email to... well... to the image you can see here! Maybe next time I'll remember what I did this time and manage to do it quicker!
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  10. Ordinary People...that’s the name of the show down Columbia way. My paintings will be with works from a bevy of wonderful artists. There’s DawnWhitelaw (portraitist and landscape painter extraordinaire), JohnWilkison (signature member of the National Watercolor Society), Margaret Dyer (Georgian creator of glowing pastels) and Edie Maney (maker of abstracts that suggest the figure). 

    I can't wait to see what artists Helli Luck, AJ Holmes and Anne Carothers have brought to the show as well.

     Oils, pastels, watercolor, photography… lots of different media, lots of different approaches to ordinary people for no two of us see in exactly the same way.

    It would be delightful to see you at the reception on Thursday, November 5th, from 5 to 8 at Pryor Art Gallery, 1665 Hampshire Pike, Columbia, TN. 

    The show runs from October 27 to November 23rd.

    Pryor is on the campus of Columbia State Community College. It’s in the last building on campus fronting the highway when coming from Columbia.


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  11.  So Ready to Party is an 10x8 oil done plein air by Shirley Fachilla.
    I find California artist Tim Horn to be a very different sort of landscapist. His paintings have such a crisp contemporary edge. You would never mistake one of his pieces for a 19th century work; both style and subject (even when it’s a cowgirl on her horse) shout “now.”
    So I was delighted when the Chestnut Group invited Tim to give a workshop this fall. I was even more delighted when the workshop began because I felt I spoke Tim’s language.  He said many things that I have been thinking but hadn’t put into words. And his emphasis on composition and color is where my art has been going (at least, I hope so!)

    One of Tim’s favorite subjects, vintage cars, was not on my radar. But following his example, I decided to give it a try. I must admit I mostly wanted to paint this orangey red Jeep because of those fairy lights draping the building behind. But once I got started, the car showed me its personality (I saw it as basically a party animal) and it became the star of my piece.   
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  12. A Flora for a Roma is a 14x11 oil done from life by Shirley Fachilla.

    Inside every rectangle is a square. Well, of course, you can find many squares. But the one I’m referring to is the square whose sides are the same length as the short side of the rectangle.
    As illustrated by the dashed line inside the rectangle below:



    This sort of square is called a rabatment. Why this lesson in geometry?
    Simple. If you put the major elements of your painting within the rabatment, you will have taken a big step toward a good and interesting composition. Cassatt used rabatments as did Winslow Homer and most especially Degas.   Rabatment explains some of Degas’ most elegant designs, those wonderful ballet studio paintings where empty floor space takes up a third or more of the canvas. 

    Elements outside the rabatment often lead the viewer’s eye into the square and should be secondary to those contained within the square portion. There are many interesting things an artist can do with rabatment. With A Flora for a Roma, I’m just beginning to explore.

     


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  13. A Bermuda Shorts Day is an 18x24 oil painted from life by Shirley Fachilla. 
    On September 14th, I'll be teaching a one day workshop focusing on composition. When I began gathering my thoughts on this enterprise, I thought it would be very straightforward. I wanted to emphasize how easy it can be to achieve a painting you like (and might want to frame) when painting either in plein air or painting the figure from life in an open studio... easy if you pay attention to composition issues before you paint.
    Of course, it won't always result in a painting you'll be proud of (too many other factors can intervene), but sometimes it does. And when it does, it feels very good. For instance, the guy shown above was painted in a morning in an open studio. He won a Meritorious Entry in the latest Richeson75 Figurative Annual Exhibit which made me quite happy.
    Anyway, after I started planning and thinking, my lesson started expanding exponentially. I still plan to lay out my thoughts on quick composing whether in the field or open studio. And we'll practice what I'm preaching! But I do plan to include more, for the more I thought, read and looked, the more I realized just how truly vital good design is. Now I'm convinced that an artist's approach to composition is a big factor in that artist's style, and the effectiveness of that artist's message.
    I hope and think our little group will have a very good and informative time discussing and planning good design. And I'm going to try to give everyone take-home thoughts to explore long after our day is done.
    Here's a full listing of the day-long workshops sponsored this September by the Chestnut Group, here in Nashville. You just might find one or more that appeal.
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  14. Passage Through St. Lazare is a 24x20 oil by Shirley Fachilla.
    I’m very proud to have work in the exhibit Portraying the Human Spirit at the Bennington Center for the Arts in Vermont. It’s a juried show of only 26 paintings which will be on display at the center from August 2 through December 21. I’ll quote the center on the theme of the show, “Our goal in jurying Portraying the Human Spirit was to find portraits that were more than portraits…”
    Each artist was asked to do an audio for their work explaining process, inspiration, etc. For me, the audio may have been more difficult than the painting! However, I was delighted to have the opportunity to put into words what this painting meant to me. Finding those words? Definitely, a challenge.
    A bit about the Bennington: This year, the venue hosted the national juried show of Oil Painters of America, and every year has an invitational wildlife art exhibit that is probably the very best east of the Mississippi, perhaps the very best nationally.
    Again I’m so honored to have work at the Bennington in such a meaningful exhibit.

    Here’s the link to the show.
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  15. Improbable Painted Daisies is a 20x10 oil done from life by Shirley Fachilla.

    Actually I don’t know if the flowers were really daisies, much less the painted daisy variety. I found them at the grocery store and couldn’t resist the color combination of deep purple petals and neon green centers. I also loved that they were so perfect… well except for the one that I almost beheaded. That one had to be included in my painting in all its imperfection.
    This particular still life let me utilize one of the perks of painting on an untoned white canvas.
    See that sort of luminous red and blue in the middle of the vase? Using oil you can only achieve that sort of color if you are floating a transparent oil color (in this case permanent alizarin for the red and a combo of blues for the blue) on a white, untoned canvas. The white of the canvas shows through the transparent paint like the white of the paper shows through a wash in watercolor. But with oil, the color keeps a very high degree of saturation (definition found in ArtfulDefinitions). 
    Every once in a while, I have the opportunity to make use of this little trick. I love the look it gives.

    On the subject of still life (which rarely comes up in this blog), Brian Sherwin has something interesting to say in one of his latest ArtEdge emails. I think I may agree, at least in part, about the value of symbolism with still life though I do think his symbolic examples may be too straightforward. Personally, I find a great deal of very subtle whimsical symbolism in Carol Marine's little still lifes (whether or not they include her porcelain pig). How about you?
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  16. The last painting I did in the Max Ginsburg workshop on day five.

    I made a surprising discovery during Max Ginburg’s workshop, he paints like Carolyn Anderson. If you’re familiar with the work of both, you will realize that I’ve just made a rather amazing statement. For though both are primarily figurative artists, their paintings look nothing alike.
    Carolyn’s are sometimes close to abstraction; Max’s are sometimes so polished and finished they might be mistaken for reality.
    Both say that they are always drawing as they paint. And both work in the same intuitive way with a bare minimum of any sort of measuring. Instead they rely on the angles and relationships between shapes to get proportions right. Both strive to capture the gesture and to do it without losing the accuracy of their drawing. (much easier said than done and so important when painting the figure.) They both correct throughout the painting process and are always adjusting and refining brushstroke by brushstroke. 

    Their method allows for precision with fluidity, accuracy with freshness. 
    It’s what I also strive to accomplish. I'm just so lucky to have found two such different, yet similar, masters to inspire me.     
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  17. My work from the first day 
    I’ve just finished a wonderful learning experience, a five day workshop with Max Ginsburg right here in my home city of Nashville, Tennessee.
    I knew Max was an amazing draughtsman, and artist friend Mike Sowers had told us that he was a good teacher. (Mike had taken a workshop from Max at the Art Students League in New York.) So I had high expectations, expectations that were not only met but exceeded.
    Max’s work ethic astonished. We started early; we stayed late. Jeanie Smith, the creator of  Warehouse 521 Max’s venue in Nashville, brought in lunch and Max proceeded to lecture during lunchtime! He did demos for us almost every day, but the demos were quick so we would have time to paint and learn from his lead.  And he brought a stack of his beautiful little paintings for us to learn from as well. Some were quite finished and polished; others were very painterly.  All were gorgeous.

    More about what I learned from Max in my next post. Some of that learning was quite surprising!  
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  18. Sun and Shade is a 12x16 oil done in plein air by Shirley Fachilla.

    I think cows, bovines, cattle (whatever the proper term might be) are one of the most appealing animals on the planet. They move with a kind of grace that is just a bit awkward like human teenagers at the gangly stage. And they socialize together for snacks and naps sort of like kindergarteners. They look out at the world with their big long-lashed eyes, taking in everything with a mixture of curiosity and innocence.
    These attributes make them wonderful subjects for paintings as well as the fact that they often stay still for rather long periods of time as did these belted bovines who posed so nicely for me one glorious sunny day.

    Yes, I definitely should be a vegetarian.  
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  19. All Her Worldly Possessions is an 18x14 oil on linen done from life by Shirley Fachilla.

    I am very happy to report that All Her Worldly Possessions picked up an Award of Merit in the NOAPS International Online Exhibit for the spring of 2014.
    The exhibit features 150 paintings with work from Russia, Canada, Japan, British Columbia (I have not listed all the countries) in addition to, of course, the U.S. And though this will sound even more braggy and boasty than I’ve already managed, the figurative work included in the show is, in my opinion, particularly outstanding. I am honored to be with so many wonderful artists.
    I am also delighted that my painting was done completely from life because that’s the kind of painting I enjoy most.  I need the push of a deadline (the pose only lasts for a few hours) and find that painting from direct observation can (if I’m lucky) give my work a freshness and immediacy that I can achieve in no other way.  

    A word about show judge, Cheng Lian: he is a National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society Master who does a lot of portrait and figurative subjects. He was both the judge of selection and of awards which makes it very much his show. Often these two functions are performed by different persons. Organizations tend to look for a big name to choose the award winners while leaving it to others to select the pieces for the show from all the submissions.  
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  20. Old Teapot, Old Rose, Fresh Pears is a 9x12 oil done from life by Shirley Fachilla.

    It’s an old-fashioned, tried-and-true still life subject, flowers, fruit and teapot. But that’s not what I mean by losing my edge. (Not that I’ve ever been very edgy.)

    Edge is a sort of technical term for artists.  In a painting, where one value meets another, where one color meets another, there’s an edge. As you can tell from the definition, paintings are made up of a series of edges. A primary trick for representational artists, and for many abstract ones, is to make those edges mimic three-dimensional reality, to create the illusion of depth, form and weight on a two-dimensional surface.

    Edges can be soft, can stutter and break or simply disappear entirely. The hard edge (sharp and well defined) is the easiest to create and the one to use the least.

    I’m thinking a lot about edges these days because I just attended a Carolyn Anderson workshop and toured a Joaquin Sorolla exhibit, two masters of the edge. They each succeed at creating beautiful edges in completely different ways which gives me hope that I may find my own way to make wonderful edges. So I came home and made a still life, a still life that is all about the edge, when to hone it and when to make it vanish.



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