Danville Fine Arts Faire, June 2010

We were asked to be the feature square this year in Danville. Mostly this means it was our turn to have the pole position at the corner closest to the rest of the art and wine festival, but we decided to make use of that position to do a larger square--roughly 10 ft. by 20 ft., though we didn't intend to fill all 200 square feet completely. The theme for the five paintings was Meeting the Masters, and all five artists chose masterworks by famous painters and sculptors. Three of the five painted different images from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, another did Vermeer's Girl in a Red Hat, and we interpreted Gian Lorenzo Bernini's baroque statue of Apollo and Daphne.

In the Greek myth of Apollo and Daphne, Apollo taunted Eros (Cupid) for playing with a bow and arrows, which Apollo viewed as a big boy's weapons and not fit for a little kid to use. Eros retaliated by shooting Apollo with a golden arrow, causing him to fall in love with the first thing he sees. He then shot Daphne--a nymph and daughter of the river god Peneus--with a leaden arrow, which caused her to spurn all lovers, including Apollo. Apollo chased the chaste Daphne, who ran until she was exhausted, at which point she begged her father to open the earth to bury her or to transform her form. He changed her into a bay laurel tree (source of culinary bay leaves). Apollo embraced the tree and promised that since he couldn't take her as his wife, he would keep her leaves evergreen and use her branches to crown leaders.

In our painting, we attempted to skew the image of the sculpture so that it looked like it was standing upright. We added a splashing wave to represent Peneus transforming Daphne, and changed the marble statue into the colors of living flesh (and leaves).

The original image (before skewing).

Cheryl works on Daphne's face on Saturday. This task proved difficult because of how tilted her face is and how much it was stretched when the picture was skewed.

The beginnings of Daphne's face.

Daphne looks like something from and Edvard Munch painting.

Once again, Wayne works on leaves.

Daphne is starting to look a little more human with hair around her head.

Wayne works on the transition between hair and branches.

Cheryl paints Daphne's torso.

Daphne's upper half.

The view from the side.

When we quit for the day on Saturday, we had completed Daphne...or so we thought.

Sunday morning: Cheryl is unhappy with Daphne's face and tries again with the eyes.

Cece consults on what's wrong with the face (aha! The nose!).

Cheryl starts work on Apollo while Wayne fills in a background shade.

The view from the top--she has a REALLY BIG arm.

Cheryl adds Apollo's hand.

The painting from the base with a small splash of water.

Wayne fills in the streamside rocks and vegetation while Cheryl paints Apollo's arm.

Almost done: Cheryl fills in a bit more of the background.

Wayne and Cheryl do their best Apollo and Daphne imitations with a quickly pulled weed filling in as a laurel branch.

Wayne and Cheryl with the finished painting.

The finished painting.

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