Dan Roberge Artist Blog
Painter Thoughts
New Dan Roberge Formal Portrait Oil Painting
Dec 30th
I just finished my new oil painting (18×24 on canvas board) of a beautiful model all dressed up in a formal white dress. Here’s a recent photo of it framed in gold. I like the skin tones of my portrait contrasted against the clean background because her hair and skin jump off the canvas. She really has beautiful eyes and I think I captured them favorably. I’m hoping to work with her again in another photo shoot real soon.
I entered this oil painting in the prestigious Portrait Society of America member competition at the beginning of the month.
Dan Roberge Oil Painting - Formal Female Framed
Tangent: My Vistaprint.com Customer Service Rant
Dec 14th
I recently printed mugs with an image of one of my paintings through the online printer vistaprint.com. I have to say that my experience with vistaprint.com started off great then went downhill. The site was easy to use and I found the mugs I wanted, then (because I’m an experienced and savvy internet user) I was able to upload my image, preview it, select my shipping options and checkout. Great, everything was as expected.
I received my mugs about 5 days later, but after opening the boxes I found a few broken. I understand that can happen during shipping so I fire up a browser and head to the website to get the vistaprint #800 number. What? Not on the homepage? First strike. I click on the Customer Service link, still no #800 number visible. I check the footer links – STILL no #800 number. Second strike. Now I’m 10 minutes into looking and starting to get upset. I’m clicking everywhere -help link, my account, – nothing! WTF? Vistaprint has really hidden any way for a new customer to contact them. They only offer email and then you have to click through all kinds of “topic” links. STILL NO #800! THIRD STRIKE.
NOW I AM STEAMING. I TRY THE TWITTER LINK AND FINALLY FIND A NUMBER TO CALL. I TALK TO THE REP AND SHE HELPS. Now I feel a bit better, but I’m still upset for the lost 20 minutes! Terrible website usability and a terrible customer service policy to hide the #800 number. I do not think I want to deal with vistaprint anymore. I’ll try Google and use another online printer next time. (my rant is over).
Finished new painting
Dec 10th
Hello, I finished my new portrait and I’ll have it up here pretty soon! I have to take a few new photos and then I’ll get it up here.
New Model Photo Shoot
Nov 14th
I just completed a photo shoot with a new model Friday, and I have to say I’m very excited with how the pictures turned out, very elegant and formal. I have a lot of poses to choose from for my next oil painting and the model was great to work with. I plan on entering my painting in the Portrait Society of America member competition in Dec. Deadline is Dec 10 so I better start ASAP.
I also plan to attend the Annual Member Conference in April in Washington, DC and bring my portfolio of paintings (at least what fits in my carry-on portfolio case. I’m going to paint this one on a gessoed canvas board so it will be portable and fit in my portfolio. Close to 700 artists attended the last one so I’m excited about that. Something to forward to next year.
Roberge Formal Oil Portrait Painting
Oct 11th
Here is another recent portrait painting (oil 30×40 belgium linen). I really liked the sitting composition, the striking contrast of her shirt and the leather chair, and the variety of values. I have to admit that I did struggle with the skin values a bit and ended up painting them 5-6 times until I felt they were right, but I had to put the painting away and come back to it a month later and start again with new eyes.
Recent Roberge Portrait Study – oils 9×12
Oct 11th
Here is a portrait study (oil 9×12) of an image from an art magazine (not my own photography). I focused the palette earth colors to try to match the values, like siennas and ochres with little else besides flake white and a bit of raw umber. Total time is about 4 hours split over 2 days.
Hello again from Dan …
Aug 31st
The last blog didn’t start off so well … mostly because I felt I didn’t have the time to comment. This time I intend to share artist and painting topics.
As always, visit my painting portfolio and let me know what you think: http://www.DanRoberge.com/gallery.php