B.B. King

Graphite on paper:  12 in. x 9 in.

New prints

I have some new prints now available for purchase at my online shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JeffRodenbergArt

"Flying High Again"

Acrylic on canvas:  20 in. x 30 in.,  completed December 2012

To me, nothing says "Happy Holidays" like Ozzy Osbourne with bat wings.  I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Elvis and Dylan prints available

I now have prints available of my Elvis and Bob Dylan paintings.  Prints can be ordered here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/JeffRodenbergArt

"Two and Fro"

Graphite on paper: 10 in. x 8 in.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience:  Mitch Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix and Noel Redding

"Honky Cat"

Acrylic and glitter on canvas:  24 in. x 24 in.

Elton John painting, completed October 2012

Beatles Prints now available!

Limited Edition prints of my Beatles painting "Yellow No. 9" are now available in three sizes:

22 in. x 12 in. (55.9cm x 30.5cm)print on paper (Edition of 100)
27 in. x 14.5 in. (68.6cm x 36.5cm)print on paper (Edition of 100)
30 in. x 15 in. (76.2cm x 38.1cm)print on canvas (Edition of 30)

Total of 230 prints available, priced to sell. When they're gone I won't have any more prints made of this image, so if you're a Beatles fan (or a Jeff Rodenberg fan) you can order prints here: 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JeffRodenbergArt

"Save me"

Acrylic on canvas:  24 in. x 18 in.

Aretha Franklin "Save me" by rodenberg

Untitled, Acrylic on canvas:  20 in. x 16 in.

This is a painting I did in November 2011.  I apologize for my lack of posts lately - I'm just finishing up a painting of Aretha Franklin that I've been working on since June.  For those of you that don't know me I've been home with my twins since 2008, and they are really keeping me busy this summer.  They'll be starting kindergarten in September (yipee!!), so I'll have a lot more time to paint and post updates this fall.

"Eruption"

Acrylic on canvas:  24 in. x 48 in.

Here's my Eddie Van Halen painting, on the largest canvas I've painted so far.  I wanted the focus of the painting to be his famous "Frankenstein" guitar, so I kept the rest of the painting more muted and less detailed.  The painting was done primarily using only reds and greens.  The image itself was created from about 4 or 5 different reference photos.  I've used what little brain power I have left to figure out how to add audio to my blog, so now you can listen to some music while looking at my artwork:

The Who 5:15 print now available

A limited edition of 200 prints is now available of my painting from The Who's "5:15" video.  Prints can be ordered here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/95864370/the-who-quadrophenia-limited-edition?listing_id=95864370&listing_slug=the-who-quadrophenia-limited-edition

I'll only be printing 200 of these ever, at any size, so once they're gone they're gone.  I'll be adding prints of some of my other paintings in the next couple of weeks as well.

Thanks for your interest and support!
-Jeff

E.V.H.W.I.P.

This is my Eddie Van Halen work-in-progress painting.  I saw Van Halen live in 2007 and have to say it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen.  My ears were ringing for weeks afterwords though.  I'm hoping to have the painting finished by the end of April--I'm happy with how it's coming along,  but this guitar is going to take quite a few more hours!

New website

I spent some time last month creating a website that is now live.  Check it out at http://www.jeffrodenberg.com/

2000 Light Years From Home

Acrylic on canvas:  32 in. x 16 in. (81.3cm x 40.6 in.)

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the Rolling Stones, so naturally I wanted to celebrate by paying tribute to one of their least popular albums:  Their Satanic Majesties Request.  This is meant to be sort of an "evil twin" to my Beatles painting, contrasting the happy Beatles with the angry, scary, dangerous Stones.  Regarding the original album photo, Mick Jagger said, "It's not really meant to be a very nice picture at all.  Look at the expressions on our faces.  It's a Grimm's fairy-tale--one of those stories that used to frighten as a young child." (New Musical Express, December 1967).
I had some fun hiding the song titles from the album in the painting-- see if you can spot them all!

The Who 5:15 video update

I was just asked to remove my 5:15 video from Youtube, as it will be premiering next week at www.vevo.com.
I'd love for everyone who is interested to see the video, so please check back next week.  Thanks for your patience!!

5:15 follow-up

Talenthouse just posted a nice follow-up interview on their website regarding The Who video contest.  If you have a few minutes you can read the interview here:   http://blog.talenthouse.com/2012/02/02/brushing-up-on-5-15-the-whos-music-video-winner-jeff-rodenberg/

The Art of Music

Here is the information for the Art of Music show.  I will have two paintings for sale there:  "Yellow No. 9" (The Beatles) and "Voodoo Child" (Jimi Hendrix).  You can see the dates and times for the exhibit below, or at www.flowartspace.com

Wednesday, February 15, 5 - 7 pm
Thursday, February 16, 1 - 7 pm
Friday, February 17, 1 - 9 pm
Saturday, February 18, 1 - 6 pm
Tuesday, February 21, 1 - 7 pm
Wednesday, February 22, 1 - 7 pm
Thursday, February 23, 1 - 7 pm
Friday, February 24, 1 - 9 pm
Saturday, February 25, 1 - 6 pm
Reception February 17, 6-9 pm

"Behind Blue Eyes"

Acrylic on canvas: 24 in. x 36 in.

One final post for 2011.  Thank you Pete for all the wonderful music that has brought so much joy to my life.  The past couple weeks have been busy with the holidays and the kids off of school.  I'm looking forward to 2012 and have many ideas for paintings I'd like to do in the coming year. I wish everyone peace, happiness, and creativity in 2012.

Upcoming exhibition

Two of my paintings (Jimi Hendrix and Beatles) have been selected for the upcoming exhibition "The Art of Music" at Flow Art Space in Minneapolis.  The exhibit will run from Feb. 15 through Feb. 25, 2012.

I won!! Thank you The Who!!!!

The Who and Talenthouse have announced that I won the "5:15" video contest!  I am so excited and honored to have been chosen.  I'm a big Who fan, so this is really a dream come true.  I persuaded my son to pose for this picture with me and the remnants of my painting.  I bought that shirt for him three years ago and he's still growing into it.  Thank you to The Who, Talenthouse, and everyone who has supported me.  I intend to make the most of this opportunity-- 2012 is going to be a great year!

Quadropheniart

Acrylic on canvas: 24 in. x 24 in.

Here's a closer look at the painting from the video in my last post.  I had the foresight to take a photo of the painting before I destroyed it in the name of art.  The painting depicts the four personalities of Jimmy, each represented by a member of The Who:  A tough guy (Roger), a beggar/hypocrite (Pete), a lunatic (Keith), and a romantic (John). You can watch the video of this painting being created in my previous post, if you haven't seen it yet.  Now stop reading my blog and go buy the Quadrophenia album.

The Who "5:15" video

This is my entry in The Who's contest to create a music video for the song "5:15" from their Quadrophenia album.  You can vote for my video through November 18 at http://www.talenthouse.com/creativeinvites/preview/a334120b18ef4bf35a307b50d5027d02/336

Thanks for your support!

Pete Townshend work-in-progress

It's been a while since my last post-- time flies when you're having fun. I thought I'd share a little bit of my working process today.  I had an idea to do a close-up portrait of Pete Townshend in black and white with the focal point being his blue eyes.  I started with a 24" x 36" canvas with three coats of gesso.  I had two reference pictures I was working from (see below).  I started by sketching out the features with black acrylic.  After filling in the darkest areas with black I mixed up 5 different shades of gray and began building up the values and textures.  I continued building up layers of paint and added blue to the eyes.  I still have some more work to do on this one, and I'll post the finished piece soon.

"Desolation Row"

Acrylic on canvas:  16 x 20 in.

Being from Minnesota I felt compelled to paint Bob Dylan.  I've never been a huge Dylan fan, but I have to say that I actually enjoyed listening to his music while I worked on this painting.  I wanted this piece to look somewhat bleak, so I limited my palette to blue, black, red and white.  And if you look closely at his sunglasses you can see a reflection of the Duluth lift bridge-- a tribute to Bob Dylan's birthplace and one of my favorite places to visit.

Rocky

My Rocky painting will be on display at the Hopkins Center for the Arts through September 4 as part of the Salon 300 show, so stop in and take a look if you get a chance.  There's a lot of nice work on display from  Minnesota artists.

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

Acrylic on Canvas: 32 x 16 in.

After doing so many realistic portraits I felt like doing something a little more colorful and fun.  Originally I had Paul in front, but I decided to add some green to his jacket to give it more ambiguity, and to create a sense of tension, as if John and Paul are competing to be in front.  And George is trying to nudge his way forward too, while Ringo looks content to stay in the back.

"Guitar Man"

Acrylic on canvas: 18 x 18 in.

"Guitar Man" is a Jerry Reed song that Elvis recorded in 1967.  It was a real struggle for me to capture the expression on this one.  Even now I'm not sure what he's feeling.  Is he angry, or is he sad?  I think there would be a sense of loneliness when you're as famous as he was--not being able to live a normal life and do the things that most of us take for granted, like going out to a restaurant without getting mobbed.

"Voodoo Child"

Acrylic on canvas:  12 x 14 in.

This was originally to be a 24 x 36 inch painting of Jimi playing his guitar.  I was about 5 hours into it when I suddenly remembered that he was a left handed guitarist, and I was painting him playing right handed.  My reference picture was backwards.  I didn't want to finish the painting knowing it was wrong, so I just cut my canvas down and painted the face.  It like how it turned out, but I'd still like to paint him with his guitar someday.

"Gonna Fly Now"

Acrylic on canvas: 32 x 16 inches

As an artist I push myself to do the best paintings that I am capable of, but it's hard for me sometimes to overcome feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy that I have.  To me Rocky is a symbol of believing in yourself and living up to your full potential.  This painting is a reminder to me to be proud, and to always do the best I can.  Also, I've been reading "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.  It's a great motivational self-help book for artists, or anyone feeling like they are creatively blocked.

"Mess Around"

Acrylic on canvas: 14 x 18 in.

I had fun listening to Ray Charles music while I painted this.  I was dancing around while I painted -- this one seemed to come really easily for me.  It started out as black and white, then I decided to add the brown.  I'm glad I did. I think the color really brings it to life.