“Feeling Blue” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas. 24″x24″ Another portrait of Susan, composed using the assistance of Midjourney generative AI and Insight FaceSwap to substitute Susan’s features.
“Mikko holding Susan” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas. 24″x24″ Generative AI image using Midjourney with prompt: /imagine: a portrait of a mature Dutch woman with thick blond hair in 19th century dress, holding a bobcat, oil painting, 19th century american folk art, detailed facial features, symmetrical eyes –chaos 25 –ar 4:5 Then face-swapped in Susan’s face using InsightFace. Replaced the AI generated cat...
I modeled this portrait after one created by Mary-Jane Ansell, which won her a BP Portrait Award. Swapped Susan’s face, into the original, and painted a master copy in a less photo-realistic style, emphasizing expressive brushwork and more chiaroscuro effects. Here are the original and my version side by side. I admire Ansell’s composition, lighting and patient attention to detail. I’ll need to work on that. I paint very quickly and...
Inspired by the portrait “Lotti” by Louis Smith. I borrowed his pose and sitter’s costume and swapped in Susan’s face. This worked nicely because of the similar features of Lotti and Susan. Susan much more beautiful of course. Painted Alla Prima. “Dreamer” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on wood panel. 24″x18″
A portrait of my sister Elisabeth. She works in the vegetable garden and healing plant garden at Camphill Village, Copake, NY. Her community also raises cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, etc…. She is a soulful one and very much in touch with nature. Hands in the Earth. But she hates to be called a Farmer. “I am not a Farmer! I am a Lover and a Healer!” “I am Not a Farmer” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas....
A portrait of Susan wearing an oriental robe. She has been teaching herself Mandarin Chinese, which led to the title for this portrait. In addition to continuing to use Generative AI to assist with painting composition, I have been trying to combine realism with a more impressionistic rendering of clothing and backgrounds. Homage to John Singer Sargent. “Wo Yao Hanbaobao” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas. 20″x16″
Continuing to experiment with Generative AI and Face Swapping as a means of generating inspiration for paintings. Note the lace head-covering Susan is wearing. Something inspired by a Rubens? “Spacesuit” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas. 24″x24″
A wedding gift for my nephew Owen and his fiancée Dora. Generative AI used to compose the scene with the prompt: “an oil painting portrait of a happy couple in the style of John Singer Sargent, 19th century dress, background reminiscent of a gilded age mansion, detailed facial expressions, symmetrical eyes no moustache –v 6.0” Then swapped in the facial features of each of them to create my model. “Dora and Owen” (2024)....
Continuing to experiment with Generative AI to compose painting ideas using Midjourney. This time used a number of images instead of words as prompts. Photographs of the lilies in Lily Pond which abuts our home in the Berkshires, combined with photographs of Susan. “Lily Pond” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas. 24″x36″
Continuing to experiment with Generative AI to compose painting ideas using Midjourney. In this case my prompt was: “A 19th century clean-shaven Norwegian man with short hair dressed in a sailor’s smock, oil painting, self-portrait, in the style of Caravaggio, intense chiaroscuro, mysterious lighting, detailed face, symmetrical eyes –no beard, –chaos 25 –ar 4:5” “Self Portrait as a Seaman” (2024). Louis Cooper....
Art for Art's Sake
Self Taught, I am nobody .... nobody's perfect
“Feeling Blue” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas. 24″x24″ Another portrait of Susan, composed using the assistance of Midjourney generative AI and Insight FaceSwap to substitute Susan’s features.
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“Mikko holding Susan” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas. 24″x24″ Generative AI image using Midjourney with prompt: /imagine: a portrait of a mature Dutch woman with thick blond hair in 19th century dress, holding a bobcat, oil painting, 19th century american folk art, detailed facial features, symmetrical eyes –chaos 25 –ar 4:5 Then...
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I modeled this portrait after one created by Mary-Jane Ansell, which won her a BP Portrait Award. Swapped Susan’s face, into the original, and painted a master copy in a less photo-realistic style, emphasizing expressive brushwork and more chiaroscuro effects. Here are the original and my version side by side. I admire Ansell’s composition, lighting and...
Learn More
Inspired by the portrait “Lotti” by Louis Smith. I borrowed his pose and sitter’s costume and swapped in Susan’s face. This worked nicely because of the similar features of Lotti and Susan. Susan much more beautiful of course. Painted Alla Prima. “Dreamer” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on wood panel. 24″x18″
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A portrait of my sister Elisabeth. She works in the vegetable garden and healing plant garden at Camphill Village, Copake, NY. Her community also raises cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, etc…. She is a soulful one and very much in touch with nature. Hands in the Earth. But she hates to be called a Farmer. “I am not a Farmer! I am a Lover and a Healer!”...
Learn More
A portrait of Susan wearing an oriental robe. She has been teaching herself Mandarin Chinese, which led to the title for this portrait. In addition to continuing to use Generative AI to assist with painting composition, I have been trying to combine realism with a more impressionistic rendering of clothing and backgrounds. Homage to John Singer Sargent. “Wo Yao...
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Continuing to experiment with Generative AI and Face Swapping as a means of generating inspiration for paintings. Note the lace head-covering Susan is wearing. Something inspired by a Rubens? “Spacesuit” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas. 24″x24″
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A wedding gift for my nephew Owen and his fiancée Dora. Generative AI used to compose the scene with the prompt: “an oil painting portrait of a happy couple in the style of John Singer Sargent, 19th century dress, background reminiscent of a gilded age mansion, detailed facial expressions, symmetrical eyes no moustache –v 6.0” Then swapped in the facial...
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Continuing to experiment with Generative AI to compose painting ideas using Midjourney. This time used a number of images instead of words as prompts. Photographs of the lilies in Lily Pond which abuts our home in the Berkshires, combined with photographs of Susan. “Lily Pond” (2024). Louis Cooper. Oil on canvas. 24″x36″
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Continuing to experiment with Generative AI to compose painting ideas using Midjourney. In this case my prompt was: “A 19th century clean-shaven Norwegian man with short hair dressed in a sailor’s smock, oil painting, self-portrait, in the style of Caravaggio, intense chiaroscuro, mysterious lighting, detailed face, symmetrical eyes –no beard, –chaos 25...
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Continuing to experiment with generative AI (Midjourney) to help with inspiration and create compositions that I then paint in oils. Generative AI can generate surprising connections between themes and images that I suggest as inputs. I am still learning how to create the most useful prompts that affect the quality and direction of the lighting, the degree of detail,...
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I am experimenting with the use of generative AI to compose images that I will then paint in oils. It allows me to play with a number of ideas and create surprising compositions. I use a variety of sources and draw ideas from popular culture, other artists and my own images. I then use AI to assist with transforming a likeness to that of my model (typically Susan of...
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One of Suzy’s favorite artworks is Botero’s “Crying Nun” a work in pastel. I made a master copy in oil on wood panel, substituting Suzy’s likeness. Here is the result: “Suzy Crying Nun (after Botero’s Crying Nun)” (2023). Louis Cooper. Oil on wood panel. 20″x20″ And here is the original by...
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I took some time away from painting during Covid. Needed some time to digest what I was experiencing in the emergency room. Played around with computer language, microprocessors, encaustics, sticker art. Spent time cooking, hiking, sculling, splitting firewood and enjoying the outdoors. The World seems to have settled back to its chaotic old self and I felt it was time...
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I have been learning the Arduino IDE and Python computer languages and experimenting with microprocessors, servomotors, LEDs, soldered sculptures to create mechanical flowers that “bloom” in response to the human touch, electronic jewelry, etc… Mechanical Flower Edit this page
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Created a sticker for ZuZu inspired by Shepard Fairey’s Obama Hope poster and We The People Posters.
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I started from the same image of Suzy that I made into an encaustic. This time using oil on panel. I restricted myself to a very limited palette and worked to achieve contrast and a wider range of values than I typically have in the past. Oil on acrylic primed wood panel. Ground was then toned with Burnt Sienna Palette and Supplies: Cadmium Red MediumQuinacridone...
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My second experiment with encaustic painting was a painting of my mother Karin. Encaustic, paper, gold leaf and oil stick on R&F encaustic gessoed cradled birch wood panel. Palette and Supplies: Gamblin oil paints Sennelier Artist Oil Pastel Sticks Paper Gold leaf Enkaustikos Refined White Beeswax Enkaustikos Damar Resin R&F Hot Plate Intertek VT 1100 heat gun...
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Took a class in Encaustics at the Art Students League in New York. I had always been fascinated by the Fayum Mummy Portraits at the Met and thought that I might try out this ancient archival medium. They are paintings in pigmented beeswax which have a depth, texture and translucency due to the wax medium. Here was a corner of our classroom, Suzy on the right and another...
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Inspired by Caravaggio’s “Medusa” which was also a self portrait. Oil on acrylic primed wood panel. Ground was then toned with a combination of Hookers Green, Flake White and Chromatic Black. Palette and Supplies: Cadmium Red MediumQuinacridone RedYellow OchreRaw SiennaRaw UmberBurnt UmberViridian GreenHookers GreenUltramarine BlueFlake WhiteChromatic...
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Design for a personal weather-proof sticker for my brother’s birthday so that he can adorn the streets of New York with his own features and a peaceful offering of a thronabulax flower. Oil on acrylic primed wood panel. Ground was then toned with a combination of Gamblin Fastmatte Raw Sienna and Flake White Palette and Supplies: Cadmium Red Medium Quinacridone Red...
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Inspired by Rafaello Santi’s “Portrait of a Young Woman.” Thought to be his lover. Oil on acrylic primed wood panel. Ground was then toned with a combination of Gamblin Fastmatte Raw Sienna and Flake White Palette and Supplies: Cadmium Red Medium Quinacridone Red Gold Ochre Naples Yellow Raw Umber Burnt Umber Viridian Green Ultramarine Blue Flake White...
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Started a moody portrait of Susan. When it reaches the imprimatura, sketched in oil onto the colored ground, it usually takes on quite a haunting appearance. Susan said I should stop right there, and not change it any further. Oil on acrylic primed wood panel. Ground was then toned with Gamblin Fastmatte Burnt Sienna Palette and Supplies: Burnt Sienna Raw Umber Burnt...
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Found an antique sewing box in a small town in Virginia’s Smoky Mountains. Decorated it for my sister Elisabeth. Side View: End View: Other End:
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Inspired by surrealist artist Laurie Hogin Oil on canvas” Ground was then toned with mixture of chromatic black and flake white. Palette and Supplies: Quinacridone Violet Yellow Ochre Burnt Sienna Raw Umber Burnt Umber Sap Green Viridian Green Ultramarine Blue Flake White Chromatic Black Mars Black Galkyd Slow Dry Medium Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits Design was...
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A clementine – to sit on Suzy’s desk at work. Oil on canvas. Ground was then toned with burnt sienna. Palette and Supplies: Yellow Ochre Burnt Sienna Raw Umber Burnt Umber Sap Green Viridian Green Ultramarine Blue Flake White Chromatic Black Mars Black Galkyd Slow Dry Medium Gamsol Odorless Mineral...
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Funerary mask for Frieda, my parents’ beloved beast. Oil on cradled birchwood panel from “American Easel.” Ground was then toned with burnt sienna. Palette and Supplies: Quinacridone Violet Naples Yellow Yellow Ochre Burnt Sienna Raw Umber Burnt Umber Sap Green Viridian Green Ultramarine Blue Flake White Chromatic Black Mars Black Galkyd Slow Dry Medium...
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Oil on cradled birchwood panel from “American Easel.” Ground was then toned with burnt sienna. Palette and Supplies: Quinacridone Red Quinacridone Violet Cadmium Red Medium Yellow Ochre Burnt Sienna Raw Umber Burnt Umber Viridian Green Flake White Chromatic Black Galkyd Slow Dry Medium Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits Design was sketched onto toned canvas with...
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