lagoarthurstudio 8/11/14 lagoarthurstudio 8/11/14

Face Off Heavy Hitters

The most happening place to be last Friday was at the Principle Gallery in Old Town Alexandria for their annual alla prima portrait "Face Off" featuring gallery heavy hitters; Mia Bergeron, Elizabeth Floyd and Cindy Procious.

What is that you say? You didn't know about it? Well I guess that just proves you're not as cool as me. Luckily I am feeling generous today and will give you this brief little wrap up.

Veteran Face Off champions Mia Bergeron and Cindy Procious went toe to toe with a new tenacious challenger, Elizabeth Floyd over 3 hours with plenty of breaks in between for schmoozing and attending to their adoring fans. It was obvious early on that all of them had a good likeness of the model, Mr. Franco Landini, who is the owner of several Old Town restaurants including Landini Brothers and is something of a local celebrity.

Events such as these at the Principle Gallery always attract the hippest artists from the local painting scene. Besides my fabulous self in attendance were Jonathan Linton, Rena Selim, Susan Gallagher O'Neill and Abigail Davis Muncy.

Honestly, next time you should really just come see it for yourself. But until then you will be able to watch it on Youtube and I will post that link here when the Principle makes it available.

lagoarthurstudio 6/3/14 lagoarthurstudio 6/3/14

Technique Tuesday: Dirty Brush Holder

I came across this Technique Tuesday "hack" recently when I discovered the amazing alla prima portraits of Felicia Forte on Instagram. A student of hers brought her a bag of dried beans one day and suggested that she use them to hold her dirty brushes in place while painting. I saw that post and said "Eureka!", most probably out loud, and then ran upstairs to my pantry where I had stored many bags of dried black beans (a must in any Cuban American kitchen). I chose to use an old but cherished mug which features a ghosted image of my Mom and son as my new dirty brush container. My Mom was the one who taught me how to make black beans the traditional way--so it seems only fitting.

lagoarthurstudio 8/19/12 lagoarthurstudio 8/19/12

Women Painting Women "Face Off"--Taking Names and Kicking A$$!

"Veni, Vidi, Vici" was the apparent motto for Mia Bergeron, Rachel Constantine, Cindy Procious & Terry Stickland this past Friday night when they came to town to show off their mad painting skills during the Women Painting Women "Face Off" at the Principle Gallery. The WPW ladies were set up in the middle of the gallery and painted from the same model with periodic breaks from 6:30 - 9:00 PM. I'd like to tell you that I took copious notes to share with you about their alla prima technique but that would be a lie as I spent most of the time two fisted, juggling my camera and glass of wine. And in complete disclosure, me and my homie arrived half an hour late so we didn't get to see their initial block-ins. But I can tell you that by the time we arrived they all already had really strong starts on their paintings and it only got better from there on out.

On a personal note I want to thank Mia, Rachel, Cindy, Terry, Alex & Diane for a great GNO (as well as my homies Dana, Tricia & Liz)! And thanks to Michelle, Clint & Meghan at the Principle Gallery who really know how to throw an awesome opening.

Here are some pictures I took from that night. If any of them are blurry, blame it on the yummy chardonnay.