Revisited Fox Skull with Oils

There are times I don’t want to overwork a drawing and when i was working on this sketch I felt it was time to be finished. Several months went by and I kept glancing over at it feeling it was in need of some TLC, if you know what I mean.

 

It was calling out for some attention. I decided to glam it up and make it a little more than a sketch, so I added some gold oil paint to two of the teeth. Because this piece is on watercolor paper, the paper provides a harsher texture to lock in liquid. So naturally the oil overlaid on the teeth isn’t smooth. I intended for it to be, but I actually found that it gave it more character like this. What are your thoughts?!

Elderly Eye Study

Through my work I have noticed some things I really am not proud of. It is okay to admit this as artists to our audience in my mind because honesty is art. I mean its all there laid out on the canvas for you to see. We are waiting for your judgements, opinions, criticisms and overall reaction.

 

I am not happy when I look at the body of work I have focused on in the last year that it is all the same age range of models. I am limiting the wisdom of someone much older, someone who has seen much more life and experience. And the amazing thing is, with visual art this requires no words. A persons skin shows a story, it shows the paths we have taken; evidence of a life lived.

 

This made me want to start sketching wrinkles, it pushed me to draw weathered, older figures. This piece is one of my studies of that. It seems to me a figure such as this tells much more of a story than a young model. Though young models provide beauty, they do not reach the depth of what something like this can, its truth is a visual image, raw and uncensored. It forces you to keep looking into the wrinkles and follow the lines, each line an experience and as such is marked as history.

Piece Information:

Graphite on Smooth Bristol

6×8 inches

For Sale: Contact Rashelle Stetman via phone or email for pricing

970-367-3683

rashellestetman@gmail.com

Point Gallery Photo Shoot With Lauren Berley

These last couple years I have been working with Point Gallery in Denver, CO. I had a solo exhibition and was part of three group shows. In addition to showing work I built some really amazing connections like the photographer of this shot, Lauren Berley.

 

While Lauren was working with Point too, she was at the gallery many times when I would pop by and we all decided to have a shoot over the work I was creating for my series I spent the last year on, Untold Stories.

 

In this shot we were contemplating framing options for “Like a Bow, Her Gaze Pierces”. Thought this was such a cool shot and wanted to share it, also it helps the viewers that have not yet made it out to a show understand the scale of these current works.

 

 

Nostalgia Kicks in to full Affect as I look Through Pictures of my Exhibitions over the last year

This was the group exhibition at Abend Gallery in Denver. This was the proudest moment of my career yet. Showing with Abend Gallery was such an honor and it really pushed me to build stronger work, take chances and believe in myself more.

 

The support of the gallery was such an inspiration, it is how it should always feel. To be asked to show with the other artist in this show “Edge of Realism” was absolutely insanity. They are artists I have looked up to for years. One of the artists name, Johan Barrios is one of my favorite artists, I got to see his work in person for the first time! It was so moving I almost cried. Work that can stir up emotion inside oneself is the work that will always stick with me and provide something more than an image, its more real than that. It’s an experience, it is a moment in time you and the work build a relationship. Opinions are formed and observations surface as you gaze around this new piece of someone else’s world. For me, seeing the other work was the most amazing part of the evening. It will forever be in my mind.

 

Not only was the work absolutely breath taking, the support that night was tremendous. So many of my inspirations in the art world and outside showed to come view  Edge of Realism. This special friend of mine, has seen my work from the beginning as she works at the business I get prints made. She has always been so supportive and positive, always providing feedback and ideas. I have a huge level of respect for the people who follow my work and aren’t afraid to tell me what they think about my work-for real, like the 100% truth. There is always room for improvement, so I want to know where.

 

This night meant the world to me, it was a monumental moment in the beginning of my career as a professional artist. If you get a chance to come check out a show, please come say hi!