Merry Go Round

Merry Go Around 8x8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel
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For this tromp l'oeil painting I started with a sepia under painting using a mixture of black, burnt umber and white. The mixture of black and burnt umber was about 50 percent each then I added the white accordingly to the value needed. I made sure that there were no hard edges in the sepia areas so that there would be a high contrast between the bright colors of the merry ground’s horse and the soft edge of the background. When this layer was dry I painted over the top with the bright “candy” colors that you see in carnivals. Lastly I worked with the contour and shading of the horse’s mouth in order to fool the eye and play with the illusion of the head popping off the page. The masking tape also helps with the illusion of the colored layer tape on the top of the sepia layer.

I had captured this image last year when the carnival came on Northern Virginia and up until now was not sure would be the best way using the image. I wanted to give a nostalgic feeling to the painting by using the sepia color under painting technique.

Grapes in Glass 2

Grapes in Glass 2 8x8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel
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The earliest murals of trompe l'oeil art that exist can be found in the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum and have been dated back to the first century A.D. After becoming part of the rich culture of the Greek and Roman Empires, trompe l'oeil art all but disappeared during the Dark Ages, not to resurface until the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

My interest in t trompe l'oeil has re-emerged I have add a contemporary twist by giving the illusion of a ripped photographic fragment taped to the top of a blurry image of the same objects. I have been really excited about the idea of placing one image over the top of another and having the top image be a fragment of the first image.

Spring Robin by Dennis Crayon

Spring Robin 8x8 by Dennis Crayon Oil on Panel

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I saw a robin in a tree the other day. It reminded me of my grandmother who tried her best to make sure she saw her first robin each spring in a tree. She believed that it would bring good luck if the first robin she saw was in a tree. I later decided to make it a Trompe l’oeil painting of a torn photo.

Trompe l’oeil - A French term literally meaning "trick the eye." Sometimes called illusionism, it's a style of painting which gives the appearance of three-dimensional, or photographic realism. It flourished from the Renaissance onward.

Please let me know if you like the Tromp l'oeil effect I really enjoyed doing it and have just started a second painting of grapes in a glass only this painting will all be in color