Brendan Corey Dunn

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Recent Illustrations

These are a few recent illustrations. The first one is a mock beer label that I did in Illustrator CS5. The second is a mock sign that I also did in Illustrator CS5. I used charcoal for the third image.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Lummi Island Stream

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Greve in Chianti, Italy

18 x 24

Oil on Canvas

As we walked in the Tuscan hills around Greve in Chianti, we stumbled on this tree at the bend of a gravel road that meandered through olive groves.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Collergnone, Italy

8 x 10

Oil on Canvas

The small borgo of Collergnone sits at the long slopes of Sibillini mountains, which are tall, majestic, and rugged. On this day, however, I turned my back to the mountains and painted the irresistible red poppies in a field facing the nearby town of Amandola.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Camaldoli, Italy

Oil on Canvas

8 x 10

Camaldoli is a small town in the Casentinese Forest, which is about 50 kilometers east of Florence. Actually, it’s probably not accurate to call it a town: it consists of a monastery and another building with two inns and restaurants. Anyway, the forest is extraordinarily peaceful and quiet, and the air is sweet and clean. One morning, I woke to birds chirping, stepped outside, and saw these red geraniums in the window of our inn.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Montalcino Streets - Italy

Oil on Canvas

8 x 10

Before Montalcino wakes, the streets are a quiet maze, free of people and cars. The buildings cast interesting shadows, and the morning sky has slight orange haze.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Kaikoura Coast, New Zealand

8 x 10

Oil on Canvas

These are some rocks off the coast just south of the small town of Kaikoura, New Zealand. As I painted, I was in good company: throughout the day, a pod of at least 300 dolphins repeatedly swam up and down the coast as they hunted for fish.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Marlborough Sound, New Zealand

8 x 10

Oil on Canvas

This is the view of the Marlborough Sound as seen from the delightful town of Picton, the port for the ferries between the South Island and North Island of New Zealand. This was a perfect day with peaceful water and comfortable temperatures. Most importantly, there were none of the sandflies (New Zealand's version of mosquitos on steriods) that often plague me during outdoor painting trips in New Zealand.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Wall Island, New Zealand

8 x 10

Oil on Canvas

Painting on the Tasman Sea is a challenge; the wind and rain moves in fast, and the tidal changes are rapid and large. So it was important to paint quickly when doing this view of Wall Island in the Tauranga Bay on the west coast of New Zealand.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Ruby Island, New Zealand

6 x 10

Oil on Canvas

This is a quick plein air painting of Ruby Island, "The Peninsula," and Mt. Brown as seen from Millenium Park on Lake Wanaka.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Lake Wanaka, New Zealand

Here’s another quick painting. This one is of the view from Roy’s Bay at Lake Wanaka, New Zealand.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Walter Peak, New Zealand

This is a quick “plein air” painting of Walter Peak and the Queenstown Gardens as seen from the beach at Queenstown Bay. The conditions were the windiest that I’ve ever painted in; about every 5-10 minutes or so, I had to stop painting and brace my easel and palette so they wouldn’t blow away. The joy of these outdoor paintings is the people who stop by to see what you’re doing. On this day, the visitors included a Brazilian sculptor, an Australian who once biked from Washington to Virginia, and a woman from Dunedin and her artist mum.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Palm Tree

I recently painted this palm as practice for a larger commissioned piece. This is what I’ve learned about painting palms. First, I try to truly see and capture the direction in which each individual frond is moving. Second, I pay attention to the direction in which the leaves on each frond are moving; of course, I don’t try to draw each and very individual leaf that exists, but I do try to capture the major sections. Third, I try to see and capture all the unique colors in the palms; there actually are a lot of different greens (yellow-greens, orange-greens, white-greens), as well as browns and oranges. Fourth, after I paint the palm, I add the light sky around the palm. Finally, I re-touch the palm as needed and work it into the sky.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Coconut

This is the coconut that I’ve used for art lessons. I use it to emphasize the importance of truly seeing the object that you are drawing. When asked to draw a coconut, a lot of people initially draw a blob. But once people really take the time to look at the coconut and mentally measure both the angles and lengths of its lines, they are able to draw it realistically. To get people to truly see the coconut, I recommend that they do the following: (1) trace its outlines with their eyes before they begin drawing; (2) compare each line that they see against an imaginary horizontal and vertical line and then draw the precise angle that they see; (3) compare the length of each line that they are about to draw against a line that they already have drawn; and (4) verify that different parts of the coconut properly line up with other parts of the coconut, e.g., make sure the left tip of the coconut is a bit higher than the right tip of the coconut. It’s amazing to see how these simple tips quickly improve a person’s ability to draw.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Kapoho

At the southern end of the Big Island of Hawaii, there is an area called Kapoho. All that you hear is the never-ending sound of blowing wind and crashing waves. When you look out, all that you see is water and clouds as they blow in toward the island. It’s one of the few places where I truly feel as if I’m at the edge of the world.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Mauna Kea

Mauna Kea is a special place. It began to form over a million years ago. Now it's over 33,000 feet when measured from its oceanic base, which makes it taller than Mount Everest. And millions of years from now, it will slip under the ocean. Mauna Kea also is a place of tremendous historical and cultural significance, so much so that I won't even attempt to describe it in this blog. All I can say is that I feel privileged to have had the fortune of trying to paint it. I have not done it justice. But some day I will.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Speed Painting

Speed painting is a great way to loosen up. At a recent workshop, instructor Liz Wiltzen had her students paint a live model in about 20 different poses. The poses lasted between 30 seconds and 20 minutes. After each pose and quick painting, we wiped our canvases clean and started over. The above painting is the only one that I kept, and I kept it only as a reminder to do this exercise often. Because we worked fast and did not plan to keep what we produced, we didn't care whether each painting was a success and we didn't worry about wasting canvas. As a result, we didn't fuss; instead, we just painted and painted, and we produced some lively and spontaneous images. I highly recommend this exercise if you want your paintings to be vibrant and fresh and if you want to practice a lot without burning through too many canvases.