New painting for Texas Art Gallery's Fixed Price Draw event on November 7th

Indian Maiden, 12X16, Oil on linen panel

I painted "Indian Maiden" for the Fixed Price Draw at Texas Art Gallery on November 7, 2008. What is a fixed price draw, I hear you asking (well maybe not out loud)? It's really simple. The painting is offered at a show with a box next to it. Every painting in the Draw has a price clearly marked next to it. During the Gallery draw event, everyone who shows up, gets to walk around enjoying the paintings and deciding which they would like to take home with them. You add your name to the other names in the box for the painting you want. At a designated time the gallery gathers all the boxes and selects the name of some lucky collector who then can then buy the painting. This can be a good thing and a bad. I've seen people put their name in many boxes just hoping to take one of their favorites home, and been selected for every painting they applied for. Of course they have the right of refusal if they get in over their heads. I've also seen many disappointed collectors go home empty handed. It just depends on lady luck. Fixed price draws are a very good way for people who don't necessarily have deep pockets, to be able to compete on a level playing field with those collectors who do. Ann and I have gotten a several paintings this way from painters who's paintings are so in demand that often times they are still wet when they're sold!

I painted Indian Maiden after going to an Ojibway PowWow in Minnesota this past July. I caught this beautiful girl in a quiet moment between dances. I wanted to paint something that had a timeless quality. The photos of Edward Curtis came to mind and I decided to paint her portrait in a sepia tone. The paint in the background is quite thick and textural, much like a stucco wall. This works well to set off the more controlled paint on her face. Otherwise the painting would, for me, have been too bland. My favorite part of this painting is the where her hair is in shadow on the side of her head and the individual hairs which are lit up by the sun (above and to the left of her ear). This really gives the feeling of the strongly lit scene which was infused with sunlight.