portrait

Margaret Walker, African American poet

by

Margaret Walker (1915-1998) was a highly accomplished woman. She was at college student at the young age of 15 when she begin writing poetry. In 1936 she joined the Federal Writers’ Project in Chicago, befriending Richard Wright. BA from Northwestern 1935, MA and Ph D U of Iowa 1945. Her dissertation was published as a novel, Jubilee 1966.

margaret walker portrait conte
Dr. Margaret Walker, Conte pencil, 32 x 50 cm/ 12.5 x 19.5″ on gray pastel paper

Walker was the first African American poet to receive the Yale Younger Poets Prize, penning For My People 1942. She published This Is My Century: New and Collected Poems , October Journey and Prophets for a New Day .

In 1949 she joined the faculty at Jackson State College. She returned to the University of Iowa for her doctoral studies and received a PhD in 1965. In 1968 Walker founded the Institute for the Study of the History, Life, and Culture of Black People at Jackson State College.

As what became the Margaret Walker Center, she organized the 1971 National Evaluative Conference on Black Studies and the 1973 Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival.

In 1979 she published On Being Female, Black, and Free, a collection of personal essays, and Richard Wright: Daemonic Genius.

Portrait of María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick

by
María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick
María Eugenia Ignacia Agustina de Palafox y Kirkpatrick, 39 x 50cm/16 x 19,″ Conte pencils in white and sepia on gray pastel paper

This is an updated version of this Conte drawing. Eugenia married Napoleon Bonaparte in 1853 and was the Empress of France from 1853-1870 when Napoleaon was deposed. See my article about her at https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/the-kirkpatrick-empress-of-france/

Mona + X

by

My take on two famous portraits. I gave Mona a gaunt look with a square jaw. I interpreted the profile of Sargeant’s fabulous Madam X.

mona + x sm
Mona + X, acrylics on Canson 300# paper, 70 x 50 cm, 28 x 20″

#arte #art #artgallery #artlife #artworks #artistlife #proartists #art_spotlight #worldofartists #art_collective#arts_help #arts_gallery #spotlightonartists #artforsale #atelier #artistsoninstagram #portrait #acrylic_portrait #paintingoftheday #vermeer #caravaggio

Woman with a Pearl Earing

by

Vermeer’s Girl With A Pearl Earring inspired this painting. My reference reminded me of his fabulous and famous piece. However there are major differences. He bathed her face in light, but here it is gently swathed in shadow with highlights produced by the light coming from the side. The background is lighter and more varied than Vermeer’s traditionally dark surface.

Woman with pearl earring final sm
Woman With Pearl Earring, acrylics on Canson 300# paper, 70 x 50 cm, 28 x 20″

Young Woman Glowing Smile

by
Young woman pen ink sm
Young Woman, pen and ink

This young woman’s radiant smile comes from within. I sought to express it. In previous epochs a smile was impossible to capture as sitters can not smile for hours at a time. Look at Leonardo’s famous smile- captivating but hardly expansive. But with photography, art changed in many ways and the ability to study the smile is one such change.

This is a study for a painting.

Messing around with watercolors– Caravaggio by Ottavio Leoni, 1621

by
Caravaggio by Ottavio Leoni, 1621
Caravaggio by Ottavio Leoni, 1601 Watercolor

I painted this using Leoni’s portrait of Carravaggio. He was 31 at the time. He died 9 years later, a victim of his propensity for violence. Her revolutionized painting with his observation of the subject together with a dramatic use of chiaroscuro, intense contrasts of light and dark. This came to be known as tenebrism, where the darks are a dominant feature of the piece. 

Frank Zappa – portrait

by
Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa, Conte on mat board approx 24″ x 36″

Frank Zappa  (1940 – 1993) was a a composer, musician, songwriter and bandleader. Most of his music was rock, with a strong note of heavy metal. His lyrics satirized American cluture. He composed classical pieces and had them performed. He also wrote jazz and pop pieces such as Valley Girl.

He produced most of his 60-plus albums and is the one of the most innovative of musicians.