Exciting Commission for LS Art Teacher, Beth O'Malley!

Years before I was an art teacher, I worked in the art department in film and television. I had left film for stability and time to work on my own personal artwork, and teaching ended up finding me. I never lost my connections and friendships with those that I worked with in film though, which is how I was hired for this project.    

 

Yes, when I worked in the industry, I would regularly paint portraits for film and television, and I had also been hired several times to paint portraits for theater performances as well. Now, my commissions are typically private, meaning I don’t get to show those paintings in a public way as I was able to with this one. This commission was by far my favorite, especially since I am a HUGE Steve Buscemi fan!    

 

When I was hired, I was hoping I would be able to work directly with Mr. Buscemi, but the project was filmed in Atlanta. The project’s graphic designer created a mock-up for me to work off of, while the Art Director and Director gave me other historical references to look at as a guide. I read the book by Simon Rich, that the show is based off of as well in order to get a true sense of the look.  

 

This was tricky since I work in oil paint and the medium takes time to dry. I only had 3 full weeks to work on this painting and was going to the Midwest for the second week to celebrate Thanksgiving. This meant that I had 2 weeks to build the canvas with the exact measurements of 39.5" x 54” and finish the painting. A painting this size usually takes me a minimum of 2 months in order to allow each layer to dry before starting the next one. In order for me to complete this project I had to make a lot of shortcuts. For instance, my underpainting was done completely in acrylic paint and was in purple and pink shades, this allowed for me to adjust all of the major proportions of his face, body, hands and background in block colors, while creating a warm base for the transparent oil paint to lay over. I finished my first complementary color oil paint layer over the entire piece at the end of the first week before I left for Thanksgiving which would allow for all the major blocks of color to dry. The final week was spent painting layer upon layer of detail work, which really makes the painting come to life.  

 

It was surreal because it was covered so much! Usually my paintings are just in the background and never mentioned. In this show, I was able to see it in the trailers, it was shown in the first episode, and is supposed to be mentioned in another episode as well. Yet, the artist in me wishes I had more time to work on it, because when I see it, I see a lot of the flaws that I never got to tackle. Either way, I am proud and grateful for the opportunity.