Day 41 Deadline... Painting Finished? No.

Sorry it has been over a week since I posted.  At this point the painting should have been finished as today was the deadline - November 1.  Fortunately there is a little bit of leeway for me to finish it a few days late.  At this point I had to make the decision to paint much longer days to insure I'd finish the commission on time.  I've been working from about 9AM until around 2AM each day until the painting is finished.  Though I'm not as exhausted as I was during the last commission I'm certainly not as used to this long schedule as I was before.  Not to mention I gave up coffee before I began this second painting so things are a little more challenging.  Only another week to go.  Wish me luck.

Painted in a quick figure of Jesus on day 27.  

Day 68

I just wanted to make a quick post to tell everyone that I'll be posting some high quality shots of "The Damned" painting tomorrow.  I took some photos of it with photographer Darren Penrod this past Friday.  I have a pretty good overall photo, which I haven't been able to take until now due to the enormous size of the painting in the small studio I paint in.

We are still piecing together a VERY large, high quality photo of the painting.  Darren shot the painting in 21 pieces which we are assembling in Photoshop.  He put the tripod in one spot shot one at 7ft, one at 4ft and one at 1ft then we moved the camera two feet to the right and repeated the process.  It's hard to imagine, I'm sure but in the end the file will have little or no loss of resolution.

So stay tuned, tomorrow morning I'll post an overall shot and I'll have some close ups to show as well.  For now here's another shot he did of me working.

Working on one of the small figures in "The Damned" painting

Day 64

12:01 PM

I finished up painting around 3AM last night.  I finally started to paint in some of the little people in the background on the right side.  In all I probably painted in at least 100 little people.  It's funny because I used to have a body of work that centered on little people in these huge apocalyptic skies and landscapes in the mid 90s.  I started working on them in college at the encouragement of my art professors who found no merit whatsoever in the beautiful large figurative pieces I was working on at the time.  Funny how I remember one of them telling me in a critique, "You'll never make it as an artist painting traditional figurative paintings."  Yeah, right..

I digress..

The painting looks great with the little people.  I'm going to add more after today but I wanted to wrap things up to have a professional photographer shoot it this afternoon.  I've had an impossible time photographing the painting because of my lack of experience, equipment and the size of the room I'm trying to paint this in.  After today you'll FINALLY get to see what this painting looks like for me.

Anyhow, I have to go.  We need to move some things around to start photographing.  I'll be posting them next week for you.  I'll also be starting the Final Judgement!!!

You'd think I'd be rejoining after finishing up such a large project, but I'm only, barely, halfway there....

Day 63

10:40 AM

Back to painting after a busy morning.  Poor Alexei woke up numerous times last night with a fever.  He's been battling the flu so he's asleep on the couch.  Fortunately his temperature is coming down but he isn't eating or drinking anything but Gatorade.

After a whirlwind morning helping Rebekah to organize the house I'm back to resume work.  I've been looking forward to today's work for some time.  I have to put in a bunch of little people in the background.  I didn't want to do much of this until I finished the larger figures throughout the painting.  Now with that finished I can have a little fun.

I just found a video my daughter filmed of me from my phone.  I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the work on the demons being roughed in.

1:38 AM

Getting to bed a little early tonight.  Last night was a little too late.  Once I go past the 3:00 AM window I'm in trouble the next day.  Fortunately I had a great day painting today.  I painted four figures.  Tomorrow all I have to paint is the snakes crawling up the leg of "Sloth."  After that I have a few adjustments to some of the figures.   After that I am going to do a lot of fill in with smaller figures in the background.  I'm really excited to do this because it has been almost 20 years since I did paintings with little people.  This is an opportunity to show off a lot of ideas I have very quickly.  I've done enough studying torture for this reference, the past few weeks that I am ready to move on to something a little less gruesome.  I am painting a Crucifixion for a church next week and somehow that seems serene.

I filled in an area on the right side of the painting with a "Catherine Wheel."  I have a figure chained to it and he is being turned upside down in the flames.  Envy is also painted.  I'm looking forward to a few hours extra sleep tonight.

Good night.

Day 62

11: 58 AM

I'm back to working on the center of the painting.  I have one single figure left that I need to work on and then I'm shooting over to the right side again.  I'm feeling healthy today but getting up to get the kids to school this morning was not easy.  Alexei woke up around 5AM with a fever.  I don't even think I had fallen asleep yet after getting to bed at 4AM.  Milla burst into the room this morning to wake me up.  I don't think my eyes even focused until a half hour later.  I'm not exaggerating.  All I could see was a cloudy mess.  After a strong coffee and a shower I'm ready to attack this painting with all I have.

I have some unfinished figures there that will be the bulk of my work today.  One is for the deadly sin of Envy.  Normally this person is shown in freezing cold ice.  Since that's a little difficult to show (she's surrounded by an inferno) I am taking a more emotional approach with a little bit of visual help using the color green (green with envy etc.)

I am also painting out two figures that were skewering a woman and using one of them to operate a "Catherine Wheel," a medieval devise used to break a human body.  It will find a nice home in this painting.

Off to paint more maiming, torture and sinister things.  Wish me luck!


3:19 AM

Finished with another day.  Time to rest.  My eyes are not doing too well.  Had a great night painting. I spent the day listening to "The Fountain" soundtrack.  I really love the music.  I decided to watch the movie while I worked.  Very strange film yet really sad and depressing.  I don't know if it was that or the creepy demon I was painting this evening but my stomach has been in a knot all night.  Feeling really anxious.  I am not sure if it is a combination of the imagery or the pace of things but this is becoming a recurring feeling.  Anyhow, that marks another day.  I'm feeling pretty good that tomorrow just might be the end of the large figures.  See you then.

This is what 2 months of sleep deprivation looks like.  The canvas behind is what you get for it.

12:13 AM

Getting ready to dive back into painting again.  I had to take care of some art marketing materials I'm sending out.  I'm enjoying a nice plate of Eggs and Ful for my midnight breakfast and I should be good for another 3 hours tonight.  I needed a little boost for this evening so a cup of Starbucks Verona and a Vivarin and I'm ready to rock and roll for another late night.

At this point I am thinking I can wrap up most of the large figures by the end of tomorrow's session.  This would allow me Thursday to do just small people everywhere.  Friday I'll get some great shots with the photographer.  Well, my food is getting cold.  Time to eat and work.

Day 61

2:16 PM

I'm having a great day today.  I was able to get right back into the painting after dropping my children off for school.  I finally wrapped up all the figures on the left hand side.  More specifically, I finished painting the deadly sin of "Greed."  The punishment for all eternity is to be boiled in hot oil.  I went a step further as per my client's suggestions to have one of the people in the tub slithering out to reach into a spilled pile of gold.  This area has the feeling one might have after being slowly stewed.  There is a very subdued, surrealistic feel to the characters, like overcooked pasta.  The creepiest part is the demon that is watching over the pot.  He is disgusting and has a deranged, almost amphibious face.  This is the demon that made my son cry in the sketch stage of the project.  It's just disturbing.

Well, onto the middle of the painting.  Soon my children will be home from school.  Have to keep moving. I'll be on this another 12 hours today.

2:24 AM

Good morning, everyone.  Sorry it has been a few days since I posted.  Things have been more busy than ever.  After another week of sickness I'm finally feeling like I'm out of the woods again.  My nose isn't stuffed up and my energy is back.  Having little or no problem staying up these days even without coffee.  I'm getting sick of drinking it again.  It happens every so often.  I'm usually a slave to drinking it but I think after this long my body is adjusting to the schedule.  That's good because I still have another painting to do yet by mid March.

Feeling great and anxious to bring "The Damned" to the finish line this week.  I have about another 4-5 figures to finish up and then I have some revisions to a few of the characters for the client.  I'm also feeling really great after this weekend now that Rebekah has totally redesigned my studio and I have new large strip of track lighting to work by.  The lighting is so much more diffused now and it is so easy to work.  I never had to worry about lighting so much in the past but due to the size of this painting I had to use 3x the normal lighting in my studio so that everything could be seen while I am working on it.

In any case, wish me luck.  I have my good friend Darren coming this Friday to professionally shoot the painting.  I can't wait to share the shots.  The ones I post here are just from my iPhone and not very accurate in terms of color and contrast.

Anyhow, I have to get to bed.  Need to get a few hours in to recharge.  Take care.

A shot from the bottom left of the canvas at the end of Day 61 (unless you count the fact that I'll be back on the canvas again when I wake up in four hours)

Day 56

1:41 AM

Finishing up another late session.  After three days of good health my immune system is under attack again.  I can feel a cough settling in my chest and everything in my body is starting to ache.  I have no time to rest so I'm loading up on Airborne again.  Every time I have a major project the late hours and no sleep do a number on my body.  My mind wants to continue but it is a struggle.  

I have been focusing on the left hand side of the painting today.  There are a number of figures in the mid-ground that I was able to paint in today.  If I have a good day tomorrow I'll be able to finish the rest in that area. 

Not feeling really well right now.  Hopefully some rest will help.  Good night.

Day 54

1:57 AM

Sorry it has been a few days.   I've been working nonstop the last five days on this painting and my last entry for this year's Art Renewal Center competition.  I finally finished up my painting of "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist."  It turned out incredible.  Between this schedule and adding an additional painting, I've been getting even less sleep.  The payoff is that I'm doing the best painting work of my life.

I finally kicked the sinus cold I had since Christmas.  It never fails this time of year.  With a hard painting schedule without sleep a cold likes to stay around much longer.  In addition I almost got hooked on Afrin during that time and I had a few extra days of sinus problems before everything went away.  I know Rebekah will be disappointed with me but I will not be joining her addition!  Lol.

Anyhow, I'm feeling great again and I'm going to start working out again starting tomorrow.  I don't know if it is the duration of this project but staying up is becoming much easier.  I haven't even been drinking coffee at night because I am having problems going to bed, even if my nights are ending at 4AM.  I started taking Melatonin to sleep and that seems to be helping satiate the problem.

Looking forward to a big week with the painting.  I am hoping to wrap up all the major work, work on a few adjustments requested by the client and bring this thing to the finish line so I can start the next painting "The Final Judgement."

I worked on this little area of the bottom left corner tonight.  It is for the sin of GUTTONY.  The historical depiction of this in hell is to be force-fed rats.  The bodies are contoured and elongated adding to the mannerist feel of the overall painting.

Day 49

11:35 PM

I'm sitting here, ready to paint for another session fighting some really nasty fatigue.  For me it's just about the worst feeling I can have - trying to get back to work after falling asleep.  Unlike some people I can't stop.  If I do, fatigue sets in and I'm asleep in seconds.  I'm not the kind of person that can nap either.  Instead, I do all I can without stopping.  This isn't because I don't love sleep.  I LOVE TO SLEEP.  I just believe my purpose to paint is more important than sleep.  When I have a deadline like this project it is only logical that my normal system of work is ramped up with more intensity.  Four years ago I had to pull off a 14 panel "Stations of the Cross" commission in only 4 months (including getting compositions ready, hiring models, posing and delivering the finished product across the United States in time for lent).  I've also painted 22 portraits in 48 hours of continuous painting without sleep back in 2010.  For me it's about the thrill of what is possible when you push yourself to the limits.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to do it again with these enormous commissions.

When I reflect on that success in my personal and business life, this uneasy feeling in my stomach, my burning eyes that won't focus, and the nagging conscience in the back of my head that keeps telling me to call it a night doesn't seem to affect me the least bit.  With that said it's time to get back and paint until dawn.

Here's an iPhone shot of the devil from last night.

Day 47

2:01 AM

Just finishing up another night of painting.  Things went very well.  I finished the devil and a three headed dragon monster he is riding on top of.  Looks very disturbing.  Rebekah refuses to look at it every time she visits me in my studio.  I'm glad that part of the painting is finished.  I can retire the ladder until I have to finish an area on the left side of the painting which has a temple structure that is burning.   After the devil I painted in a large scaly rat coming out of a hole and eating a human.  I also roughed in another tortured figure and two demons around him.  These should go very quickly tomorrow.  As for tomorrow I'm moving along the bottom of the painting to a section that has one of the deadly sins of Gluttony.  The picture is a very obese man being force-fed rats by a demon.

See you tomorrow.

Day 46

I tried to finish the devil last night but I wasn't feeling well enough to make it past 2AM.  I'm digging in again to finish him.  I finally moved my lighting above so I have more space to move in my studio. I've never had to juggle so many chairs, stools, ladders and tables.  Normally, even with a larger painting I'll use a chair and a table.  With all the area to move around this painting it is easy to get cluttered.  Today should be some of the last ladder work I need to do.  The devil is at the top center.  As of this point I have all but his face and the faces of the dragon he is riding finished.

Now that I have decent light I wanted to share a photo so you can get an idea of the scale of this painting.

Day 45

12:56 AM

I'm still sick as a dog but soldiering ahead.  So much head congestion I feel dizzy.  Normally this wouldn't be a good time to be on a ladder but I have no choice.  I am working on the devil tonight.  I had to go to bed early last night.  Trying to nurse this cold but it isn't letting up.  Lots of nausea today as well.  Sadly my Rebekah is sick with the same cold.  I couldn't think of a person I'd rather be sick with!

Anyhow, I just wanted to check in with a gratuitous selfie from on top of the ladder.  I'm near the ceiling tonight until I finish this devil.  Things are really looking great.  I finished the largest cluster of big demons on the bottom and they look really disturbing.  I can see the end in sight.  Lots of work to go yet, though.

Ladder work tonight.  Have to finish this devil.  

Day 43 New Years Eve

12:21

Back to work today on one of the central demon clusters.  Having to sit on a table to work.  I don't know if it is the cold I have or not but my back has really been hurting the past few days.  My head feels like 100lbs and my energy is low but nothing is going to keep me from getting a good days work in.  I didn't get to work too much yesterday on "The Damned."  I have another commission for a life sized "Crucifixion" that is due for a church in Ohio by Lent.  Now would be a good time to start!  I spent the day working up an incredibly dramatic composition and the rest of the evening building a 4ft x 8ft panel for it.  I puttied it and came up to my studio to work.  I'll gesso it every hour or so and by the morning it will be ready to paint on.  I will be juggling both paintings for the next few weeks.

Anyhow, here is a shot of the painting as of December 27th.  I've worked my way to the left side of the painting along the bottom.  I'm working on the larger demons in the middle.  You'll see a lot of areas that are more white or blurry.  Those are still in the sketch stage.

Day 41

12:23 AM (next day)

Finishing up after just over 12 hours of work today.  I'm going to bed early tonight.  I've been feeling very sick, mostly sinus congestion all day.  My back was hurting earlier in the day but I worked through it.  I had an awesome day of painting, however.  I finished another two full bodies and three heads near the bottom of the painting just to the left of the photo below.  Everything is working out well.  I have 21 more full figures to finish.  At this rate I should make it under my desired timeline of the next 7-10 days.   Hopefully a good night's rest will help me beat this cold.

11:54 AM

Woke up pretty sick this morning - sinus cold.  The last two nights I've been having trouble getting to sleep after working so long.  This is weird because I'm usually exhausted when I'm finished painting.  I've even started taking Melatonin but the last two nights it hasn't helped.  This schedule is getting the best of me.  At least the holidays are over so I'm happy to have an even longer, uninterrupted schedule.   Fortunately, I just had a nice morning coffee break with Mrs. Armusik and I'm sitting down again to paint.   I just thought I'd post a shot my daughter took of me and about 1/3 of the painting as of Christmas day.

Day 40

11:24 PM

Happy holidays, everyone!

First, I want to apologize for not posting any shots of "The Damned" in progress since day 16.  I am at a critical point in the project and I want to make sure that my client sees the painting in progress before I announce it on social media, a courtesy they most certainly deserve.

So, what have I been up to for the last three weeks?  Work, what else?  In truth, the painting has been going very well.  I've been pushing the boundaries of my normal style to allow for more surrealism and mannerism into the figures in this painting.  The effect is really dramatic and unsettling.  I've been working quicker than I normally do in painting the figures but even so it takes me an entire day to paint 1-2 bodies.  Fortunately, I've finished about 2/3 of the over 60 large figures in the painting and I am hoping to finish the painting in the next 7-10 days, provided the work I've completed is approved.  Being able to finish such a large painting in under 50 days would be an epic feat to say the least.  I've given it everything I have the last three weeks working as late as 4AM and getting up at 6AM to get the kids ready for school.

The last three weeks has been coffee, Visine, Airborne, exercise, paint...repeat, but I think you're going to really love the results.  Feeling exhausted at the moment and fighting off another cold.  It's my bodies way of saying I need to get a little bit of sleep so I'm signing off.

I'll be posting in the next few days or so.



Nightmare on Day 33

I guess it was inevitable that I would be thinking of this subject matter in my sleep.  I painted all night until about 3:30AM and proceeded to go to bed.  Alexei crawled into bed that night with Rebekah so it was the three of us.  I fell asleep almost immediately due to exhaustion.  Within 20 minutes I was screaming in my sleep.  It was one of those terrible dreams where you can't cry out for someone.  I was being possessed by a dark cloud forcing it's way into my ribcage.  Rebekah was in the other room about 15 feet away.  My attempts to scream in my dream were apparently real.  Poor Alexei was crying and Rebekah woke up very upset as well.  Scared the hell out of me.  I'll be glad to move onto the "Final Judgement" painting in January.

Day 16

2:55 AM  (Day 17)

I had a really great night of painting this session.  Seven more hours of work primarily in the middle of the eastern portion of the canvas.  Here I have a scene with a landscape of impaled figures in the distance, primarily in silhouette.  To the right and more in the mid ground I borrowed an element from Hieronymus Bosch's "Christ's Descent into Hell."

My client is looking for a more surrealistic approach to the landscape and some of the figurative compositions.  I've always admired Bosch's work and this will work nicely for some of the small clusters of figures.

Before tonight's session

Painting impaled bodies in the distance

Got the middle of this area roughed in.  Looking to move onto the red abyss that is solid red tomorrow.  

A little detail of the field of impaled bodies

Things are going well even though I have only three more weeks to finish this.  I am hoping once I feel 100% better I'll be putting in triple time on this painting - especially once it is time to start working on the figures, of which there are over 50.  Though the size of this piece is sometimes daunting, once you stand back and think, "I haven't done a thing all night on this," the painting is progressing now that I have more than two weeks to look back at.  I feel a lot better now than I did the day I committed to this project.  There's something about being in the middle of a strange new project that is far more comfortable than speculating how things will go.  More tomorrow.  I need sleep.  The kids will be up in three hours.


8:58 PM

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post anything last night.  I was only able to work a few hours before this head cold put an early end to the night.  I'm feeling a little better tonight so I'll post more in a few hours.  This is where I am at the moment, on the east side of the painting in a distant field of impaled bodies.

Day 14

2:20 AM

Had another good painting night even though I'm sick again.  The cold has moved up into my sinuses and I'm taking Airborne to keep it from getting worse.  Had to go to a concert for my girls this evening so I didn't get started until later in the day.  Another six hours of work on it today.  I spent this evening working on the left side of the painting, getting the bottom jaw of the wolf fish roughed in, a few bodies, a cavernous landscape in the mid ground and some flames in the lefthand foreground.  Overall I'm happy with where it is going.  Once I rough in enough of the foreground I'll start working on figures.  I see lots of great potential for strong expressions and emotions in this piece.  I'm also going to be buying a video camera so I can start to film some of the work on this painting.  I'm getting a lot of requests to show techniques so I just wanted you to know you can look for it soon.  If anyone has any questions about anything FOLLOW the blog and comment!  Thanks very much for your support.  Good night...

Worked on the bottom of the wolf fish, roughed in the flames and some of the background caves and stones

This shot is a little closer to the color and contrast.  This painting is so hard to shoot because of it's size and how it fits in my studio.  I'll be working on some of the figures soon.

Days 12 & 13

Day 13

1:11 AM

Though I woke up sick this morning I spent most of the day working on this painting.  The longer I worked the better I felt.  I had to take Airborne and I tried to drink lots of fluids and homemade vegetable juice to kill this thing quickly.  At the moment I'm feeling really great and I would really like to paint for a few more hours but I should sleep just to be sure.  I was able to paint almost 12 hours today.

I spent the day working on the nebula of fire behind satan, who is in the center of the painting.  I also painted in some of the fiery clouds to his left and I started painting the large wolf fish that has several bodies in his fiery mouth.  My client loves the work of Hieronymus Bosch and Dieric Bouts.  I wanted to draw on the use of animals found in their works to enhance the terror of the scene while marrying the painting to a certain tradition of hell paintings.  I have another pass on the fish yet but this is a pretty good start.  I'll be working on satan too once I get more of the sky and landscaping in.  My plan is to move onto the figures once the scene looks the way I have it in my mind.

Time for bed.  I'm hoping to wake up feeling better.  Too much to do.

The colon on this one is terrible.  I apologize.  The reds are much more subtle behind the devil.  The top and the left are a little more representative of how it looks in person

My "wolf fish" - I worked on the top of his.  The inside of his mouth will be on fire and two bodies will be burring in the fire.  I have another pass on him tomorrow to push out the highlights.

A quick overall shot.  Not the best since the left side is glared out by light.  As you can see at this point most of the top and the middle have been roughed in so far.

Day 12

I apologize for not posting last night.  I thought I my nose and throat were getting agitated by the amount of medium I'm using on this piece for the background.  It never bothered me before but I never work on areas this large at one time.  Though I made efforts to ventilate the room with two fans my throat was still bothering me.  I got in six hours of painting nonetheless and went to bed at 11PM only to wake up in the middle of the night to a sore throat and a cold.

Day 11

8:04 PM

Worked much of the day today on the background in the upper right hand quarter of the painting.  I had my intern working on building up the preliminary layers on some of the demons and the victims in the bottom of the painting.  Things are going well but it's still amazing to see how many hours of work only amount to a portion of this painting.  It's unbelievable, but I'm growing more excited about it the more I work on it.  There is so much potential to add little elements throughout the landscape.  Looking at a lot of Bosch to influence these little scenes.  I may work on it more tonight but here's where it is for now after a full day.

I worked on some of the distant fires burning among ruins in the  middle of this picture.  The right side is still the rough in.

Some of the figures in the bottom middle getting a rough layer of flesh tones to build things up for later.

Day 10

2:54 AM

It's been a few days since I have been able to work on "The Damned."  I had to finish up two other paintings I was commissioned to do for a church in Pittsburgh, PA.  I painted a large painting for them in 2011 and earlier this year they commissioned me to do two side panels to turn it into a triptych.  I also had to build custom frames for them.  Fortunately my art shipper arrived ahead of the snow storm and they were safely delivered to the church.  Here is a mock up of the images as they will appear:

The life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.  The triptych will be over 6 ft. x 12 ft. when installed.

Tonight is the first session that shows a little more of a finished layer to the painting.  Up until now everything has been the rough in process.  I have to admit that it is different for me painting on canvas like this.  I stopped painting on canvas back in 2001 when I began building my own wooden supports.  I'm still not much of a fan of the tooth of a canvas.  It requires a lot more work when building up the layers you need and the level of detail can't compare to the smooth surface of a panel.  It remains to be seen whether I'll evolve over the course of these paintings.  Maybe I'll have a fresh approach to my other work.  Who knows.  I am also pretty amazed at how much paint I'm using.  I might also attribute that to the rough texture of the surface.  In any case, here is a before and after photo following tonight's session of about 4 hours.  Now that I'm finished with my other commission the days will be much longer.  See you tomorrow, or, today.  Happy Thanksgiving.

(Before) - part of the background with just the rough in from last week

(After) - worked on an area about 5 ft x 3 1/2 ft tonight.  Painted a distant fire glow behind some ruins.  I'll bring more detail in during the next session