don't forget

Hanging today at Grateful Head.

2010-11-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

I'm getting everything ready for my show on Wednesday at Grateful Head. Paintings go up today and will be until at least next months. Come have a glass of wine with me beween 7-10 on the 10h.

my first time using oil.

2010-05-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

When I was home in Saskatoon I took the opportunity to purchase some oil paint as I had nothing to work with acrylics wise. I bought five colours; black, white, light yellow, blue and crimson. I really enjoyed being able to work the paints and create more texture. I wished at the time I had a few more colours to choose from, but having a limited pallet helped with making the results more interesting and took the pressure off of me trying to make something too true to life.

500 days of bummer.

2010-04-25T21:54:00.001-07:00

I sat around this evening and tried to get over my fear of sketching. Here are a few terrible Iphone pictures of my pencil party. Maybe I'll take real pictures of them in better light... someday.
James. Pika. Tyler (and some girl). David. Myself.

Can't take pictures of paint drying.

2010-04-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

I have nothing to paint on. why does everything look flat and dull?

why does everything look flat and dull?

Sadies.

2010-04-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday I had an opening show at Sadie's Diner. I'm very happy with how the opening went thanks to Katie, Al and everyone who helped run the bar. Here are a few shots of the art in the Sadie's space, believe it or not, it was pretty busy and I felt odd taking pictures of the ones in the front room. I suppose I'll shoot them when I go to take them down. I'm satisfied with this series and am trying to take a little break before I start working on my paintings for Grateful Head in the late summer (Jesse Crowe is still serious). I have a couple of paintings for that show so far, but I think I want to add a few drawings, illustrations/water colours (maybe?!) to fill things out and capture the fashion side of what I'm working on with my hair photos. After that there is Talk of a Halloween show with Joey Dammit... so I have a few things on my plate. I'm hoping to be able to adjust to the different styles I'm facing in the near future.

2010-02-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

This is what I'm working on for the Sadies show. The painting of Jen, the girl with the wine glass I love and I'm really into. The other one I made into something I like but was more of a struggle and had to charge styles halfway through. I'm excited to work on some bigger pieces and shoot some of the subjects for the soul purpose of painting them. I need some ideas though! Excuse the super bad photos. yikes.
Also, a bit of the process.

No camera, no updates.

2010-01-29T07:01:00.000-08:00

Hi. I realize it's been a long time since I've updated anything on here. This time it's not really my fault as my camera has been sick and had to go away for a while. In the time since I've posted last I've had a few successes and a few failures in my work. The painting below I was working on didn't turn out as planned and I'm not sure if I'll use it for anything. I learned a good lesson about trying to add too much detail to something that should have remained soft and simple. I was right off of painting the highly layered DDay Lewis painting and couldn't switch styles to adjust. I had one more great fail after that one which was never photographed and is now in the garbage. Seriously, how does a sexy woman end up looking like Peter Sellers?
After that hilarious discouragement I went on to paint a very cute and simple painting of Takara and myself for the Valentines day show at Sadies Diner. Which brings me to the subject of Sadies and how the lovely Katie has offered my a show for April and May! I'm very excited as I think my work lends itself best to salons and diners as it tends to have a certain sweetness which is often not found in galleries. My show is going to be called "You're the cream in my coffee" after the wonderful Ruth Etting song of the same name. I want the show to mostly showcase people in the morning or enjoying their favorite drinks. I'm trying to keep it soft but not as illustrative. I've finished one painting so far of Jen Kim and a glass of wine. I've started the drawings for Michelle sipping a soda and Diana
After the Sadies show I'll continue to work on my 2008/09 hair paintings for my show at Grateful Head which seems to be turning into a yearly BBQ. "Jesse Crowe stays serious" will be the sequel to last years "Jesse Crowe gets serious". As for next year I'm hoping to maybe show off my hair photos from 2010 if I can?!
These are pictures from my phone, they are terrible.

2009-12-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

This is the painting I'm working on now. I'm feeling stuck as it's from a black and white picture with very little contrast and I'm not sure how to create detail from an undetailed photograph. This is what I have so far. I'm liking the skin on the face and the body is coming along, the hand I like the shape of but I'm not really happy with anything else. Hopefully I finish this soooooon and I can move on.

Painting one for the Joey show.

2009-11-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

These are some of the phases for the Daniel Day Lewis painting. Sorry about the bad lighting on the last ones, I couldn't find a good place in my tiny apartment to shoot.

I'm an idiot.

2009-11-23T08:57:00.000-08:00

I dragged my computer all the way to work to update this thing, and of course I didn't upload the pictures of the finished Daniel Day Lewis painting. I'll put them up tomorrow I'm sure. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I really wanted to challenge myself to paint in a more formal manor. I Still want to continue to create the more illustrative pieces for hair book slash show thing, and also want to keep my style on the things I'm going to be working on for the 2011 show I'm having with Joey, but want to continue with darker, richer and bigger works. This is a tough thing for me because I've been working with the same sizes and in the same style for so long. I'll continue to post my progress as much as I can with no home internet...

Check one two

2009-11-11T13:52:00.001-08:00

This is a test from my phone. Hello?

Last night.

2009-11-11T08:50:00.001-08:00

Finally caught up. This is what I worked on last night.
I'm pretty happy with it at. I haven't painted really in a few months so it took some strong will to even start. On that note, I need new brushes that aren't water logged and bent.

drawings and practice.

2009-11-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to keep practiced up with some drawings, some I want to make into paintings, some are for fun.

Catching up.

2009-11-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd play catch up. These are all paintings I worked on for a show I want to have when I make my book (or have a photo show if a book isn't possible). The one of Anthony and the one of Zoe I really like. Andrew, James and Scotty I may redo though they have grown on me. All three of them were a serious struggle to finish. I had to fight with proper expression and not over layering the skin. Most of them were done a few months ago.

Giving this place a use.

2009-11-10T11:51:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been failing to update this blog and feeling like it has almost no point. Today I'm going to give it one. I've been working slowly towards having a few shows and one of them I have slowly been creating is a book of portraits loosely based on the personal style of my friends and the styles I've created for them. The photo blog of that is here and I intend to use this blog to keep in check as far as progress and practice. I'm also working on another show for 2011 with Joey Dammit. Here I'll post everything from band things to sketches to motivational speeches.
Good Luck Jesse Crowe.... that's me.

twinsies.

2009-04-02T22:09:00.001-07:00

Jesse Crowe gets serious.

2009-03-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

Some key photos from my summer show.

New work/Old work.

2009-03-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a few themes. One is to go alone side my photos of hair styles I've taken and the other is of people in the city who's music I enjoy. Here are a few of those.

These two were ones I never posted from my summer show that I really like.

It's been a while.

2009-02-19T23:04:00.001-08:00

I promise, since more people may stumble on this on this little page of mine, to update it with pictures from my summer show and of my last fifteen or so works. I don't know why I've been so lazy...
Love,
Jesse Crowe.

let's update!

2008-03-12T16:58:00.000-07:00

yes, let's.

soon enough.

2008-01-29T13:36:00.000-08:00

sorry for the lack of posts, I have four new things to go up but ALAS, no computer to camera cable. awesome right?

twins and lilian.

2007-12-19T07:41:00.000-08:00

I took a picture of the twins with better light this morning.
also, this is a painting of my friend Ian.
I don't know if I really love it, but here it is anyways.
ha ha ha.

twins.

2007-12-19T06:10:00.000-08:00

yesterday I painted these twins I've seen around.
hopefully once there's some natural light I'll get a good photo of the end result.
enjoy.

catch up.

2007-12-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

I guess this is the closest I'm getting to an online portfolio these days, so I'll play catch up with a few things I've liked over the six months.
ok?
ok.
I swear I'll get organized after a while.
-Jessica Upton Crowe.
(Romano, october 07. Spencer, october 07. Blayne, december 07. Prince, june 07.)
(Twin series 1-3, july 07, Alex Gray, spetember 07)