NY Rangers Gearing Up

From the Studios of Garin Baker

"Rangers vs Flyers" Oil on Linen, 44' X 84" 2010

Carriage House Art Studios
September 12th 2011

Detail, "Rangers vs Flyers" Oil on Linen, 44' X 84" 2010

As a youngster I remember vividly climbing down the fire escapes of the old Madison Square Garden # lll, located on 50th St. and Eighth Avenue.  My Dad had taken me to see the NY Rangers play the Montreal Canadians for the last game of the 1968-69 season. The "Garden", we all know today is located on 34th St. and is presently under renovation and I can't wait to see what's in store.  Being a life long Ranger fan I have been to countless games and I'm always amazed by the spectacular energy and intimate atmosphere The Garden provides... compared to so many other arenas.  A couple of years ago I wanted to create a large oil painting of the Ranger Team bench. With all it's intensity in the midst of play as though you could see the game in everyone's face as they anticipated the action. I attended several games in 2008-9 season waiting for just the right moment, photographing and sketching.  I even got thrown out of a seat or two trying to find the best vantage point.  One day late in 2009 I was in Philadelphia. The Flyers are a huge rival team known as the "Broad St Bullies" and the Rangers were in town.  I asked a young artist and colleague whom I was visiting if he wanted to go. He could care less about my ice hockey passion,... so I stub hubed a great seat for myself,  just where I wanted to be and off I went.  Surrounded by Philly fans who kept asking why my attention was focused on the Ranger bench,  I had to play it off as to not get drenched with beer and went about my mission. The Rangers where loosing badly and the frustration in the team grew. But the score was the least of my concern as I have watched the Rangers get beat many times. Then all of a sudden as usually happens with Sean Avrey looking to spark his team mates, the moment for a striking painting had arrived.

The players... 

The Coaches...

The Fans...

The Full Painting...

"Rangers vs Flyers' 

Oil on Linen, 44" x 84", 2010 c.

The original is on view for The Grand Opening, September 17th, 6-9pm 

Highland Art Gallery

27 Olcott Square (Rt. 202)

Bernardsville, NJ 07924

  

Remembering 9/11

"September 12th",  

Oil on Linen, 34" x 48" 

From the Studios of Garin Baker
Carriage House Art Studios
September 11th 2011

 Paintings Currently On Exhibit.

"Club Fight", 34" x 84"

From the Studios of Garin Baker
Carriage House Art Studios
August 15th 2011

"Club Fight" Oil on Linen, 34" x 82" by Garin Baker, 2010

With a Grand Opening planned for September, Highland Art Gallery, now in it's new location in Bernardsville, NJ, will be exhibiting two large sports paintings I completed in 2010-2011.

The first one pictured above and detailed below is a scene I started back in 2009 when a long time dear friend invited me to a boxing match of a young fighter and golden gloves champ her boyfriend manages and trains. 

The Broadway Boxing Club is located in the basement of steak house restaurant on 42nd St. in NYC. Transformed from an old discotheque, still with the mirrored ball hanging in the center of the composition is this tight arena space.  Down a dark staircase, where crowds come from across the five boroughs of NYC to root on their neighborhood favorites. 

Stock brokers, celebrities and a regular folk are served up a good steak diner and drinks as they watch the evening's card, (a series of boxing matches in successive order, fly weights to heavy weights). 

I was captivated by this treasure trove of subject matter, exciting all my senses, compelled to paint for the next few weeks back in my studio from compositional sketches and literally countless digital images, working out and combining like a puzzle all the amazing elements into this multi figured composition, attempting to capture the energy and flavor of this amazing and interesting place with all its characters.  

In 2010 it was awarded Best in Show from the National Art Museum Of Sports and the original was exhibit there for almost all of last year and now back on the east coast and can be seen at Highland art Gallery along with a group of smaller works and the other sports painting I completed in 2011 entitled,

"Rangers Vs Flyers" that I will feature in my next post. 

Stay tuned. Thanks so much for taking the time to enjoy!

Max Ginsburg, "3 Days Revealing Realism" Workshop Dates Released

Announcements from the Studios of Garin Baker
Carriage House Art Studios
August 8th 2011

Detail, "Bus Stop", By Max Ginsburg

It gives me great pleasure to announce the dates for The Max Ginsbug's "3 days, Revealing Realism" Workshop here at my Carriage House Art Studios. Fast on the heals of the successful and raved about workshop here back in July by James Gurney,  I am so thrilled to have invited Max Ginsburg , who has graciously envisioned a packed filled weekend starting October 21st - October 23rd  of 2011,  including demonstrations and instruction for maximum of 15 participants in the considered focused study of the human form for 6-8 hrs each day.   Shared meals and accommodations are also offered for 3 beautiful days in the glorious Hudson Valley during the peak of the fall color season.  Carriage House Art Studios is located just 1 hour north of NYC along the Hudson River.

Please click the the flyer below for information on Pricing and how to Register!

Registration is on a first come first serve basis, limited to 15 participants.  $ 650.00 Payment is required in full in order to secure your spot and seems to be the fairest way to guarantee placement.  A few modest rooms are available on site,  in addition to an offered listing of recommended area B&B and inexpensive hotels.  All meals will be included and served on site as well as in general a focused yet relaxing, amazing and wonderful creative experience. 

For additional information and registering please e-mail Garin Baker at gb@carriageart.com  or go to: Carriage House Art Studios Atelier Site  and find out more about this workshop as well as all the other offerings.  You can also call me at my studio # (845) 562-7802.   I'd be happy to answer any questions about your interest.

"Cross Roads" By Max Ginsburg.

Also incredibly grateful to share news about a most beautifully appointed, with the most amazing reproductions, the New Book "Max Ginsburg Retrospective",  which will soon to be available at major retailers.  Undoubtedly copies will be signed personally by Mr Ginsburg during this Workshop. 

I was thrilled to be asked and add my comments in the 'Tribute from former students" section, paraphrasing and briefly quoting,  "I first met Max Ginsburg at the High School of Art & Design.  What I, and many other students, discovered was to alter the course of our lives.  In a relaxed manner, Max would walk around instructing with warm stories and lessons about color harmony, cools, warms, and the perceptions of simple shapes to see complex elements.   As an Artist, Teacher and Mentor,  Max is a testament, passing the torch, towards the greatest of human achievements.  His paintings speak to a language of human dignity and struggle.  A Masterful Realist, stroke by stroke, through his work and his life he offers the most relevant truth, honesty and real beauty to this world".

Garin Baker.  

http://www.maxginsburg.com/

LA County Fire Dept. Mural In Progress, #1

From the Studios of Garin Baker
Carriage House Art Studios
August 4th 2011

Detail, LA County Fire Department Mural, 10 ft high X 25 ft Long, Artist, Garin Baker, 

With all the sketches and preliminary renderings approved,  I've been working in my studio on this large scale Mural, 10 ft. high by 25 ft. long, which will eventually be installed in a new Fire Station in Santa Clarita, California in 2012.  This project started back in 2009 when I was first contacted as a finalist by the LA County Arts Commission.   Invited to travel and spend a week with the firefighters and in general learn as much as I could about their heroism and daily activities.  Seeing first hand the amazing bravery and sacrifice having been commissioned to do several painting after the events of  9/11.   The painting below,  completed in 2002, entitled "September 12th", was used on the NYC Police and Fireman's Memorial web site, and several reproductions hang in fire stations and police precincts thru out NYC.

"September 12" oil on linen, 36" x 58" Garin Baker

So with exhilaration and excitement I went about returning to my studio to create renderings and sketches expressing the story of the cross trained LA firefighters, paramedics and rescue workers, who in relationship to "incidents", that they call huge fires, which can at times destroy thousands of acres, homes and people's lives in Southern California.

Blue print architectural layout of wall space available for mural.

Given the parameters of the project, which is funded by a percent for art program administered through the Arts Commission and tied to the construction of several newly needed fire stations in Southern California,  I wanted to create a heroic scene expressing and showing the rolling California landscape, dotted with perfect suburban homes on the left and to the middle and right of the composition, using the road as a fire break, the amazing firefighters and other heros who protect it from ranging winds that swirl down the canyons, sparking huge destructive fires, "sometimes" a natural occurrence.  This was described and witnessed by many a firefighters I spoke with during my visit.  The imagery and scene I invented from many different pieces of sketches and photo reference is shown in the approved renderings below.

Preliminary rough compositional study 

Scaled Rendering black & white charcoal on canson paper completed in studio,  38" x 89", 2010, Garin Baker.

Working on Large 12 ft. rolled canvas, I prime and hang in my studio using a rolling system to work from right to left.  My mural palette below is filled with alkyd enamels in coffee cups set in a large plywood surface that has been a useful simple tool and method I have used on many a project and shows the years of spill over and mixing surface I use with large chip brushes to block in my murals.  The paint stays wet so I can work in a similar fashion as I do when working from life and on smaller easel works. 

Mural Palette.

NY Studio/mural wall with LA Co Mural in progress July 2011.

Detail area 2, LA County Firefighters Mural in progress, Garin Baker, 2011

Over the next few weeks and months leading up to it's completion, I will post more progress images as well as our trip and full report and images, in early 2012 to Los Angeles,  for the install and unavailing.

"Goin back to Cali.... really think so. 

Amazing Painting by Belyukin.

From the Studios of Garin Baker
Carriage House Art Studios
July 27th 2011


I was recently hanging out with James Gurney who knows way to much for one individual but gratefully he turned me on to a wonderful blog site entitled "Inspirational Works of Art". (http://inspirationalartworks.blogspot.com/)  
where I came across this amazing painting.

"White Russia in Exile", by Dmitri Belyukin, 1994

Now you might think this is a early 20th century political propagandist painting and although it has tons of references to a sympathetic view of exiled Russians who were deposed after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 but it was completed in 1994 by Deitri Belyukin. 

What I found so amazing beyond the powerful subject was the composition and handling of such a complex scene of figures in an atmospheric setting. The inventive way the artist has used, without discernible obvious perspective solutions, the layered aspects of building groupings of figures moving into the distance that allow you eye to travel through the image experiencing the poses and characters in his human narrative. Looking closer as the figures recede into the mist during their morning commute, I am amazed how he uses a harmony of color and handling to capture this complex configuration. Not an easy task and aware to my core and knowing how difficult it is to compose something this layered and interesting. This artist in my opinion demonstrates the highest of abilities and skills that many including myself admire about contemporary realism.  This work has captivated me and raised my excitement towards doing work that is as well realized.

This inspirational blog site is chock full of works of all kinds and times and I urge anyone who's on their own personal quest never to be satisfied to search out works that shake you off you comfortable creative perch nudging you to go beyond what's popular in all our attempts at being "successful" and paint what excites you finding your own personal and compelling voice. 

Notes on Drawings #3

From the Studios of Garin Baker
Carriage House Art Studios
July 26th 2011

15 min pose "Sara" Vine charcoal on newsprint, Garin Baker, 2011

This technique is great fun and starts with applying vine charcoal over the entire surface of the newsprint paper. I like the rough marks the edges of the charcoal makes on the paper but some like to smooth it out with a gentile cloth rub.

3 min poses

Starting with the lighter lines beneath, when looking closely before the outside contour lines are drawn is the "gesture drawing" that I described in Notes on Drawings #2.  In addition the lighter area is pulled out using a clean kneaded eraser.  It's only then that the darker contour lines are discovered and applied when feeling the form and perceiving the edges, from the interior proportions outward using thick and thin variations reacting to the strength and turns of the form in the shadows side or against the light edges.

Repetition and an unsatisfied diligence is key towards developing over time and I recommend a figure drawing class or workshop at a minimum of 3 hrs a week as a priority.......... especially when our busy lives get in the way.

Underlying Gesture drawings. 1 min.

Again, a good gesture is key, that all else is built upon. If it's not right all the rendering in the world won't improve it.

2 mim poses

2 min

5 min   7 min

Standing pose, 20 min

This 20 min pose captures the gentile juxtaposition of the upper torso anchored with the weight on the leg in back with the front leg relaxed. This subtle pose capturing a real sense of volume and weight is worth pursuing in your studies. 

I hope that these "Notes on Drawings" have been helpful and although academic in nature and basic in delivery are some of the issues I've been offering in my drawing workshop over the past few weeks.

And over time I have seen real growth among several students willing to do the exercises and stumbling as we all do to find our own answers which inevitably present a list of new question.

No matter how frustrating and discouraging the task at hand.....  keep drawing from life.

The benchmark for which all else will improve!