Ready. Get Set. GO!

Tags

animals, art collector, fairy tale, fairytale, fantasy art, gallery, illustration, imaginative realism, mouse, nature, oil painting, painting

Since I’ve been so busy for the past few months with commissions, I had to put aside some personal work. It was weird going back into this painting after several weeks. Since I was about halfway done, I was able to jump in on the fun stage right away (bringing it to life with highlights and such). So it felt like I knocked out another painting in several hours a couple weekends ago! She is available for sale for $425 (framed). If interested, go to https://www.artsy.net/ix-gallery/artist/gina-matarazzo

So now I have to keep the ball rolling and produce as many paintings as I can by November for various galleries and shows I’ve committed myself to. Time to hunker down. But it’s super awesome – I couldn’t be happier about it!

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this sketch. It’s the newest painting in the works, still in the early underpainting stage, though. I’m super excited to be able to dedicate all free time to it!

Preliminary pencil sketch by Gina Matarazzo

I’ll be posting the work in progress on Instagram, so check those posts out too.

So far I seem to be on schedule with everything. Let’s see if I can get this painting done by the end of April!

Ready…set…go!

A Magnificent Slumber – Newest Painting

Tags

dragon, fantasy, fantasy art, gold, illustration, imaginative realism, oil painting, original art, treasure

“A Magnificent Slumber,” Oil on gessoboard, 6″x6″ by Gina Matarazzo

Finished this up for IX10 for next week! Do you remember the drawing time lapse from several weeks ago?

It’s hard to tell if this little dragon’s dreams rival his reality. But if you believe the myth…

“Dragons steal gold and jewels, you know, from men and elves and dwarves, wherever they can find them; and they guard their plunder as long as they live (which is practically forever, unless they are killed)…”

– Thorin Oakenshield in “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien

Now Thorin goes on to say that they don’t really enjoy their hoard of gold really, but I think this tiny fellow is doing a good job of it. And he has an ample life with which to practice his joy. 😉

I’m so glad I finally had a reason and the time to do this little scene. He’s all framed and packed up and ready to go.

Still have to mat up some new drawings and do some miscellaneous prep for the show, but I’m almost ready! Can’t wait! Wish me luck!

New painting: A Residence of Resonance

Tags

bunny, fantasy, fantasy art, guitar, imaginative realism, IX10, nature, oil painting, original art, rabbit, traditional art

“A Residence of Resonance,” Oil on gessoboard, 8″x10″

Imagine the hum of the breeze and soft sounds
as she breathes peacefully and safely
in her secret space below the trees.

My cats always seem to find exceptionally wonderful places to sleep. And you can tell because when one finds a good spot, the other takes his or her place if he or she gets up for one reason or another. It stands to reason that this phenomena is not limited to cats and dogs – am I right? Of course I am! I love to imagine all the wonderful places animals have created for themselves under the earth and inside trees. I like to leave colored bits of fabric and string in the yard to help birds and squirrels make warm and cozy nests for themselves and their kin. If only I could see inside their nests!

I’m so excited to be able to show all my new paintings this year in just a matter of two weeks! WHERE DID THE YEAR GO!???? This painting will be available for sale, framed for $600. I’ll have prints available, some books and drawings too. So if you’re there, be sure to stop by and say hello!

Get your tickets for IX10 for October 18th-22nd!
Info here: http://imaginativerealism.com/registration.html

Violeta, Before Triumph Original Painting

Tags

chihuahua, dog, fantasy, illustration, imaginative realism, oil painting, original art, painting, traditional art

“Violeta, Before Triumph,” Oil on gessoboard, 8″x10″ by Gina Matarazzo

 

In a daring and bold move unsuspected by her critics, Violeta elegantly and gracefully prevails, restoring the honor of her mighty and noble family. What sort of action this was, she did not divulge to me, but rest assured that it was most spectacular!

Fair Violeta will be exhibited at IX10 in October and will be available for sale, framed, for $600. I had a lot of fun working on this one. And check out the excellent frame, I have for her…

I thought the frame was so perfect, that I didn’t do the usual “painted frame” border around it. I love painting fanciful borders, but sometimes I opt out for certain reasons. Sometimes due to the previous comment and sometimes due to the size of the painting. For smaller paintings, to maximize painting space, I’ll exclude a border…but usually make sure I have lots of fanciful details to compensate. I am excited to be working on the two paintings I am currently involved with, but I’m looking forward to working on something larger too. I have vague ideas but nothing concrete yet. I have plenty to keep me busy until IX10. I still have to frame everything officially (the above picture is not real…I just threw her in the frame to take a quick photo), make prints and postcards and such and organize myself.

On a side note, I’m looking forward to being a juror for this year’s “Phillustration” show at the Philadelphia Sketch Club. It’s a wonderful show and PSC is a fine institution with lots of art history. Art can be submitted now until October 15th. There are cash prizes and there is a nice opening to attend if you get accepted. Here’s the prospectus if you are interested and pass along the info to anyone you know who might be interested in entering! Click on the images below to view submission guidelines.

 

The Power of Pictures & Time Lapse Update

Tags

dragon, drawing, fantasy, fantasy art, illustration, imaginative realism, pencil, study

It’s surprisingly fun to look at the progress of my own drawing. Ha! I really can’t wait to start painting it. I mentioned in my last post that it’s an idea I cam up with a few years ago. Sometimes ideas need an incubation stage. I think I wouldn’t have liked this idea as much had I tried finishing it before. Or is that just what I tell myself for procrastinating on it? Ha! I am trying to make more progress on my other painting I’ve started before starting this one. So I’ll do a color study at some point and then start this one. I’d like to get it done in time for IX10, but I might be pushing it. I still have a lot to do for it. I’ll know better in two weeks if it’s even a possibility.

On another topic, I was looking through all my Instagram pictures I’ve taken over the past few years, and it reminded me of how memorable pictures are for me over everything else. I’ve never had the greatest memory my whole life. I’d study for a test, pass the test and boom! — most information was gone within days. If I don’t use the information, I lose it. It’s probably the same for most things with me, but sometimes something triggers recall of a particular memory. When I look at pictures, I’m instantly taken back to what was happening in the photo and what was going on in my life. That’s why I like Instagram so much. Since you can preview everything as picture uploads, it’s all good memories. You don’t have to sift through comments and things or anything weird that someone posted on your wall like on Facebook. I guess I’m fairly “picturecentric” to coin a phrase, though, since I make pictures too. Although I guess pictures make everyone remember stuff. I guess that’s why everyone is so hell bent on taking pictures with their phones while cool stuff is happening. Maybe they’re secretly all worried they’ll forget all the good moments without having pictures to back them up?

Next week I’ll post the finished painting of “Violeta, Minutes Before Triumph.”

Stay tuned!

Work in Progress Time Lapse

Tags

pencil, pencil drawing, work in progress

 

 

So I’ve had this idea for a few years now, but never had a valid reason in my mind to bring it to life. It’s been in a brainstorming list on my phone for a while (still is) and made it into little thumbnail drawings in my sketchbook several times, but I’ve always passed on it. There’s a call for tiny dragons on Art Order for a new book, so I figured, what the hey. Gives me an excuse to paint it and maybe I’ll get in the book. And if I don’t, well, I’ll have another painting for IX in October. The only problem now is, will I finish it for the deadline? I suppose so.

So here’s a time lapse gif of the work involved in getting this idea figured out. It’s not finished yet, but I thought I’d give y’all a sneak peek before it’s finished. Those flat discs will be coins. I gotta make up all kinds of fake antique coins. Eep. I’ll update this to the finished drawing next week.

Have a great weekend!

 

Video and Sleep

It is no doubt that I’m overworked. But the weird thing is, the more I’m working on, the more I get done. And the more I’m working on, the more ideas I get. I like juggling things. It’s really hard being creative sometimes in your free time when you have a creative full time job. And vice versa, really. Some days I don’t get enough sleep because I’m working late on a project or I might be in bed, but thinking about working on a project I’m excited about and have a hard time falling asleep. Or sometimes I just crash at 10pm on the sofa because of the aforementioned. When I have goals, I am overly dedicated to them. If I don’t have any real goals, I’ll work slow and not get anything done. It takes a while to learn that about yourself. And yet, as I’ve probably said before, I’m a lazy person in a workaholic’s body. I would LOVE to laze about and relax and take naps all the time. The main problem with that is, if I let myself get too relaxed for too long of a period of time, I’m afraid the lazy person in me would never want to work again. Does that make sense?

Anyway, in between working on other things, I posted a video on my website this week that I’m very excited about. I co-created it with my brother, who composed a beautiful original musical score for the project. It’s purely delightful! It’s only two and a half minutes long, so take a look/listen! It’s kind of a visual journey of my artistic vision of late. I thought it would be a good introduction to my work for my website and wherever else for people who aren’t familiar with my art yet. And if anyone needs original music for a project, Chris is available with reasonable rates. You can contact him at cjmatarazzo(at)yahoo.com for more information.

Go check out the video here.

Hope you liked it!

Off to finish a freelance project and hopefully to bed at reasonable hour. I’ll let you know how that worked out.  😉

Wilhelmina, in Reverie – New Painting

Tags

bird, birds, bunny, cat, fantasy, fantasy art, imaginative realism, nature, oil painting, original art, process, rabbit

“Wilhelmina, in Reverie” (Oil on gessoboard, 11″x14″)

Above is a scan of the finish of “Wilhelmina, in Reverie.” I learned a lot while working on this painting. I’ve been using walnut oil as a medium for the past few paintings instead of liquin, which is a medium I have always liked and have used for years. I wanted to try it because I thought it would dry less dull than liquin does. (When oil paint dries, depending on what your mediums are, it will dry to a dull finish, so that you can’t really see the true colors/vibrancy of the paint. At which point, to continue painting, you need to “oil out” the area to restore it’s luster, which means you apply more medium to the surface.

I just found walnut oil to be too thick and slow drying. I don’t like using extra sicatives like cobalt dryer to speed up the drying. I’m not a health nut, but it just smells so “chemically” like it will do real harm to your brain. Now that I’ve gone back to liquin for the Chihuahua piece I’m working on, I feel like I’ve been reunited with an old friend! It’s so light and thin and quick drying, and when it’s dry it’s not tacky, so it won’t attract additional dust.

Working full time and painting at night, I need to be able to paint any time I sit down at my easel. And since I’m tired from working all day, if I have ANYTHING to deter me, it will encourage me to be in bed by 10 and I’ll never get anything done! It was good to try something new — I used it for a few paintings, but as of now, I’m officially back to liquin. Although I might try linseed oil again in the future. Matt tells me to try it again (I used it when I first started oil painting in high school). He likes it. We’ll see. Experimenting is always good. But I want to enjoy working with liquin for a while.

Anyway, Wilhelmina will be going to IX10 in October and will be available for sale there.

And now to work on some sketches for a while and off to bed. Have a great weekend!

New Art Show via IX Gallery

Tags

art, imaginative realism, imaginativerealism, ixarts, ixgallery, oil painting, original art, painting

Happy to share that a couple of my pieces are now available via the IX Gallery Inaugural Show that runs until August 14th. This is a real treat! There’s a lot of beautiful art to choose from if you are so inclined, so check it out!

Featuring over 50 artists and nearly 120 works of art, IX Gallery’s first show is now available for viewing at www.ixgallery.com!

Linda Adair • Samuel Araya • Julie Bell • Shaun Berke • Brom • Armand Cabrera • Jeremy Caniglia • Dan Chudzinski • Kinuko Y. Craft • Felipe Echevarria • Bob Eggleton • Craig Elliott • Jody Fallon • Scott Fischer • Teresa N. Fischer • Marc Fishman • Annie Stegg Gerard • Justin Gerard • Donato Giancola • Lars Grant-West • Rebecca Guay • John Harris • Michael C. Hayes • James Herrmann • Richard Hescox • Stephen Hickman • Greg & Tim Hildebrandt • Greg Hildebrandt • Luke Hillestad • Patrick Jones • Rich Klink • J. Anthony Kosar • Jota Leal • Vanessa Lemen • Don Maitz • Gina Matarazzo • Matt Mrowka • Aaron Nagel • Tran Nguyen • Ryan Pancoast • Lucio Parrillo • Colin & Kristine Poole • Colin Poole • Mark Poole • Rob Rey • Tooba Rezaei • Forest Rogers • Laurence Schwinger • Dave Seeley • Hajime Sorayama • Matthew Stewart • Bryan Mark Taylor • Vince Villafranca • Chet Zar • Dariusz Zawadzki

 Here’s the press release if you want more info… IX-Gallery-Press-Release-6-9-17

Art in Tradition

Tags

art, creating, painting, sketches, tradition

A year ago today, we were vacationing in England. One of the many highlights was seeing tons of famous art in many of the best museums in London. While we were there, it struck me that one of the things I love about drawing and painting traditionally is, well… that it’s a tradition that is hundreds of years old (and more if you include primitive art). By taking up a pencil or paintbrush and pushing it around a surface, I am connected to a wonderful part of human history — one that creates and celebrates and does not destroy. A part of history that leaves something positive behind for the future.

One day in particular, we were in the National Gallery and I ambled into this small room not paying complete attention, and upon the wall in low light was a large Leonardo da Vinci cartoon (a cartoon in this case is a full-size preparatory study for a painting). I turned around, looked up and it took my breath away. The emotion was part awe at the beauty of it and part reverence toward his reputation and influence. I’ve always LOVED his drawings. Seeing his sketchbooks in person is always a real treat when they are on display, but there was something more striking about such a large drawing. There was such a PRESENCE about it. Maybe it was because you could see the presence of his hand in the strokes or maybe it was the sheer reality of the work involved in planning a painting that struck me too. As you can see by my new drawing below, I also create preliminary drawings for paintings. So you see, I can say that I have a few things in common with DaVinci! (Indulge me). And that connects me to a tradition which is pretty, pretty cool.

Here’s a new one in the works…

Random thought of the day: I think I’m going to start using “cat” to refer to certain dudes from now on. I like when people used to say that.