Setting Up at Bass Hall

I spent this morning at Bass Performance Hall.  The moving company arrived with our display walls and paintings.

After some concern that the display walls were too large to fit through the double doors, the movers managed to get them inside.

Paula Kornye Tillman set to work deciding where each painting would hang.

Marshall Tillman hung the paintings for us, with some friendly help from Carey who works at Bass Hall.  (Marshall and Carey went to high school together and hadn't seen each other in 30 years).

The paintings are now in place and ready to be seen during this weekend's performance of Giselle by Texas Ballet Theater.

Thank you Paula and Marshall for creating such a wonderful display!

Paintings at Bass Hall

These paintings will be on display this weekend in the lobby of Bass Performance Hall.  The kind folks at Texas Ballet Theater have invited me to display some of my Fort Worth paintings this Friday, Saturday and Sunday during their performance of Giselle.  It is such an honor to partner with our city's world class dance company.  See you at the ballet!          

"Evening Light on Bass Hall"   36x27   Oil

"Dress Rehearsal at Bass Hall"   28x22   Oil

"Last Light on First Methodist"   24x18

"Practicing for the Nutcracker"   14x11   Oil

"Roger"   24x30   Oil

"Duet"   36x24   Oil

Dancers

I'm currently working on a couple of paintings of Texas Ballet Theater dancers.  The larger painting is just about finished and I've started the smaller one that I also hope to complete in time to display on Saturday for Gallery Night.

Ballet Duet In Progress

On Fall Gallery Night, some of the dancers with Texas Ballet Theater (including Allysin Hsieh, the lovely subject of my painting below) will be across the street from Galerie Kornye West at Winslow's Wine Cafe.  They will be in costume promoting the Ballet and their school, as well as selling tickets for their upcoming performances.

I will be showing a couple of my ballet paintings at Winslow's, including the one above that I just started (the pressure is on to finish it!).  I'll be doing "double duty", spending time at both the gallery and the cafe.  Hopefully I'll see some of you at one location or the other!

The Originals in 3D

These four amazing dancers are the subjects in my recently completed painting, "Dress Rehearsal at Bass Hall."  When I photographed them at the rehearsal several months ago, they were hard at work and I didn't have the opportunity to talk to them.  But yesterday I had the privilege of meeting them at the studios of the Texas Ballet Theater.  Thank you (from left to right as they appear in the painting) Lainey Logan, Allisyn Hsieh, Jaclyn Gill and Michelle LeBoeuf! 

Texas Ballet Theater Dress Rehearsal

"Dress Rehearsal at Bass Hall"   28" x 22"   Oil

Back in February I had the opportunity to watch a dress rehearsal of the Texas Ballet Theater in Bass Hall as they practiced for their upcoming performance.  I started this painting shortly after that experience and posted about it here.  Earlier this week I put the finishing touches on the painting.

Finding Inspiration

Today started out as one of those uninspired days when I wasn't pleased with the progress I was making with my painting.  (My wife tells me "wasn't pleased" is a gross understatement.)  After lunch I Googled some inspiration ~ the ballet paintings of Edgar Degas ~ which gave me the idea to add more figures to this canvas.  Something about these figures at rest in the background, in contrast with the dancer practicing in the foreground, feels right to me.  Once again I'm excited about this painting and eager to continue working on it.