CRAIG CULLY

This was a picture I snapped from the Lore Degenstein Gallery group exhibition "Catalyst" that featured a few of my paintings along with some work by artists I was asked to select who had had an important impact on my career. I chose a number of artists and while not all could particpate, I was so delighted that they brought in the painting "Spoons" (the couple on the bed to the left) by Dan Dalman. I posed for this painting when I was an undergrad and sepnding time in Dan's studio confirmed to me that I wanted to make a go of being a painter. He also taught me so much about how to function in a studio and how to paint during that time.

Two paintings in my ongoign fox hunting series

48" x 35" oil on panel

A studio shot of a large painting in-progress from the fox hunting series.

I'm excited to announce that I have recently opened and "stocked" my Etsy shop with a fresh batch of the "Lilliputian" paintings.  Check it out

https://www.etsy.com/shop/Gertudes?ref=hdr_shop_menu

I've been working two self-portrait paintings recently trying to develop a less "fussy" appraoch than I typically use in my work. I'm trying to find a balance between the realization of "finished" image and the retention of more "expressive/painterly" marks. I'm seeking to have the image emerge from the paint, but not entirely. I used to do an assigbnemtn wiht my students in figure drawing classes I called "Excavating the Figure". The idea being that the marks take prioity and that the figure is somehow dug up or unearthed form the marks. This is what I'm looking to acheive in part. I want the image to emrege from the paint as if it were w new born taking a first breath and suddenly it is alive to all. I'm looking to the work of Alex Kanevsky and Ann Gale to help instruct me. Anyway, here...

I've been working for several months now on the lastest in my series of annual Birthday Portraits, an ongoing series of works, one produced every year since turning 40. This one os more somber than previous paintings. this past year or so I've been thinking more about the perpetual slide toward the inevitable end—mine, and that of others including my two sweet basset hounds Bertha and Gertude. My posture here is not so much one of confrontation as directness. I wanted to depict an image of myself as staring straight forward, looking past the viewer into some further distance. While there is a suggestion fearlessness, ultimately the dwarfing of the figure through distortion makes gives the appearance of being somewhat child-like—innocent or naive perhaps. Anyway, this is a big painting for...