When I first developed this website to offer my skills as a traditional artist for hire never did I imagine that I would be asked to collaborate on a film!   So then I was very pleased to accept the commission of a billboard design which will be part of the closing shot for a film called Fate.  The film is a production made by Transcendent Films, a UK television and film production company based in Spain. 

 

 

The film is to be entered as Chapter 4 of an ongoing film-making contest being sponsored by Canon USA and Vimeo called Beyond the Still.  Each contestant is required to create film chapters based on the final still image of a previous film-maker’s chapter.  Each month a winner of a chapter is chosen with seven chapters planned to complete the contest.  I am, of course, very hopeful that Transcendent Films Chapter 4, Fate, is chosen to be the winner.  Not only will my art work be part of the winning chapter, but as my billboard is the final still in the film it will automatically be included in the beginning of all entries for chapter 5! 

 

 

It was the director Kris Koster’s idea that the final still image of this film be of a retro-styled billboard.  I was asked to create the billboard which would include a portrait of the young boy chosen to act in this chapter.  Using photos of the boy then it was a bit of a challenge to make, as the director required, this sweet boy look mischievous and even a bit sinister, all while keeping the wholesome tone of dental hygiene and the retro-style.   Below are my first attempt at the portrait, trying to be faithful to the photos, and also the final version as per the director’s suggestions.  The portrait was done by hand using acrylic paint and pencil on Bristol board.  The billboard background and text were made using Photoshop and and final version of the portrait was then added.

This month’s chapter contest has closed as of midnight last night.  Within a week the film should be available for viewing.  I’ll keep you posted on the results and add will add the still to this post when it becomes available.  Good luck to Kris Koster and to all the other collaborators of Fate.  I am very honored to have been a part of the team!

Postscript – 5/5/10:  The film has been released online at Vimeo and here it is:

The Story Beyond The Still: Fate from Kris Koster on Vimeo.

To make sense of the complete short feature made to date you can view this and all prior chapters at Vimeo using this link:   

http://www.vimeo.com/groups/beyondthestill/videos/11445196

For more information and to see all chapter winners and finalists go to:  http://www.vimeo.com/groups/beyondthestill

Trancendent Films has already done well in the contest to date.  Their Chapter 2 entry, The Mob, was chosen as one of the top ten finalists.  To find out more information on Transcendent Films Spain visit their website:  http://www.transcendentfilms.com/canonvimeo.htm

 

 Kathleen Benton

 

© 2010 All rights reserved You Can Hire an Artist

 

All comments are moderated.   Only comments expressed in English will be considered.  Please allow twenty-four hours for your comment to appear.  

This day in history is also the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519) and Thomas Hart Benton (American, 1889–1975).  Little else will align these two artists.  Born almost four hundred years apart, their styles are naturally quite different.  Leonardo, working at the center of his art world at the same time of Raphael and Michelangelo, strived in his painting for classic beauty, proportion, and composition.  Thomas Hart Benton, on the other hand, eschewed the art worlds of New York and Paris for a Midwestern regionalist life and subject matter and worked in a decidedly mannerist style.  Leonardo was probably a homosexual and Thomas Hart Benton was a documented homophobe.  I wonder how an astrologist would work out all these contradictions. 

Here are examples of each artists approach to myth:

 

 

Apple of Discord, 1949. Tempera glazed with oil on gessoed mahogany panel, 33 ½ x 43 ¼ inches, Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

Leonardo da Vinci, John the Baptist (with the attributes of Bacchus), c. 1513-1516. Oil on canvas, transferred from panel, Louvre, Paris, France

Thomas Hart Benton, Persephone, ca. 1938, Alternate Title: Rape of Persephone, Tempera with oil glazes on canvas mounted on panel, 72 1/8 x 56 1/16 inches, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri

 

For more scholarly information on Leonardo probable homosexuality and an extensive bibliography for further reading click here.  For more on Thomas Hart Benton’s life  and views read his biography at The Artchive.

Kathleen Benton

 

© 2010 All rights reserved You Can Hire an Artist

 

All comments are moderated.   Only comments expressed in English will be considered.  Please allow twenty-four hours for your comment to appear.  

 

 

If anyone takes the suggestion and makes their own drawings please share them with me; I might add it to the portfolio!

- Kathleen Benton

 

(Click on images to enlarge and read details. Click again to return to page.)

 

 

© 2010 All rights reserved You Can Hire an Artist

 

All comments are moderated.   Only comments expressed in English will be considered.  Please allow twenty-four hours for your comment to appear.  

 

 

 

The opening reception for Small Gems:  Arts for Giving at Blue Door Gallery in Yonkers revealed a wide variety of items at affordable prices.

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Door Gallery director Arlé Sklar-Weinstein in red.

 

 

 

Musical Gallery Manager Martin Gewirtz provided piano standards to the delight of the attendees.

 

 

 

 

Barbara Sfraga displays her Earth Jewelry.

 

 

 

My paintings at the exhibit.  From left to right:  Gomphrena, Artichoke, Mushrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arts and crafts of many styles shared the space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy customer Golda Solomon.

 

 

 

© 2009 All rights reserved You Can Hire an Artist

 

All comments are moderated.   Only comments expressed in English will be considered.  Please allow twenty-four hours for your comment to appear.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come shop for holiday art gifts in Yonkers!  My paintings will be included in a group show at Blue Door Gallery.  I will be attending the opening reception so do come by and say hello.

Small Gems:  Arts for Giving  

December 12, 2009 – January 2, 2010

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 12, 2009 from 2:00 – 5:00 pm

 

 

© 2009 All rights reserved You Can Hire an Artist

 

All comments are moderated.   Only comments expressed in English will be considered.  Please allow twenty-four hours for your comment to appear.