On Figurative Art and Painting People: Chalk Walk

Congratulations to Ron Gallo (rongallo.com), whose figurative art has been recognized in the PleinAir Salon, a monthly art competition with many categories in which to enter your art.

Ron Gallo on His PleinAir Salon winner, “Chalk Walk”

I’ve always enjoyed observing and painting people, especially people in groups. The way they relate to each other, the engaging variety of their shapes and sizes, facial expressions and body language have forever fascinated me. Yes, I have to admit, like so many other artists, I’m an incurable people watcher.

My home is in Sarasota, Florida, where there is an annual event known as The Sarasota Chalk Festival. The festival hosts world famous pavement artists who travel thousands of miles to create beautiful works of art on many of the streets, which are only open to foot traffic. My first visit to the festival resulted in the taking of hundreds of reference photos which were used for my painting, “Chalk Walk.”

The biggest challenge in preparing for the “Chalk Walk” painting was editing my reference material; with well over 200 photos to choose from it was a bit daunting, but after a few intense hours I was able to cull it down to a manageable lot from which I made my final selections. To be safe, I also included some “back up” choices to resolve any unforeseen layout/design problems that might materialize (as they usually do and did).

I had a pretty good idea of what I thought the final layout would look like, but as we all know, design is often an evolving process and I did make many changes.

Although the execution of the painting was fairly traditional, there were a few things I wanted to be mindful of. From past experience I knew that when working with so many figures – many in brightly colored clothing – color harmony was a real concern. Thankfully, I was aware of the pitfalls of assiduously trying to change a color that I thought was not working. Instead I found that often just changing the value of the color, not the color itself, was all that was needed.

Making sure that the all of the figures, especially their faces, had compatible light sources was something I did early in the selection process but somehow it was overlooked in three of my final selections. A few of the photos were taken as much as two hours apart and I now realized they did not match. Luckily, I had my “back up” choices and substitutions were quickly made.

Head sizes were my final concern. Altering positions of figures in a group – front row to back – can cause problems with perspective, as well as head size; again, minor adjustments were made. The final drawing was done in segments, which allowed me to facilitate any last minute changes.

After the final drawing was completed I let it sit overnight and reviewed it again in the morning with “fresh” eyes, then transferred it to a double primed #13 Claessens linen support, which was mounted on a birch panel. All of my preliminary work paid off, “Chalk Walk” was a joy to paint and was completed in about 12 five-hour sessions. My choice of oil paints were primarily Winsor Newton and Rembrandt, applied with an assortment of bristle brushes – Langnickel, the early Utrecht 209 series, and Robert Simmons, all filberts.

Ron Gallo On Entering “Chalk Walk” in the PleinAir Salon:

I had never entered the PleinAir Salon before and after reviewing some of the past award winners was truly inspired and impressed by their beautiful work. I found the PleinAir Salon’s entry process easy to navigate and am pleased that I finally stopped procrastinating and did enter. Recognition for one’s work is a wonderful motivator and very often a catalyst for success.

More Figurative and Narrative Art by Ron Gallo

About the PleinAir Salon:

In the spirit of the French Salon created by the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, this annual online art competition, with 11 monthly cycles, leading to the annual Salon Grand Prize winners, is designed to stimulate artistic growth through competition. The competition rewards artists with over $33,000 in cash prizes and exposure of their work, with the winning painting featured on the cover of PleinAir Magazine.

Winners in each monthly competition may receive recognition and exposure through PleinAir Magazine’s print magazine, e-newsletters, websites, and social media. Winners of each competition will also be entered into the annual competition. The 12th Annual Awards will be presented live at the Plein Air Convention & Expo in May 2023.

The next round of the PleinAir Salon has begun so hurry, as this competition ends on the last day of the month. Enter your best art in the PleinAir Salon here.

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