DUANELANCEFILER

PAINTINGS # 2

 

Commissioned/Gifted Art Pieces

 

Painting # 6 – “Introducing Filer/Palmer” (Oil based interior/exterior paint on Home Depot 4ft X 4ft plank of cheap wood) - “inspiration envisage conception” – My son Lance was the first person to request a special painting; he wanted something to go in his law office.  He gave me a copy of his business card with his and his partner Justin Palmer’s logo and names splayed across.  I then asked each of them to name a couple of the attorneys who inspired them as well as their favorite colors.  Since I knew I would be doing more writing on this painting than anything I had done to date – I envisioned that a dark walnut type stain would hold up good as a backdrop for written words and painted letters. This painting took some time, as it was time consuming to trace various colors around each word so they would stand out.  Per their request, I painted the names Leo Branton, Bayard Rustin, Thurgood Marshall, Johnnie Cochran, Neil Papano, Anthony Filer, Kelvin Filer, Della Thompson-Bell, and Erica Walker.  I then painstakingly covered up each name, law symbol with scotch tape and newspaper- did my drip thang – and then the coatings of clear satin.  The walnut background with the colored letters on top – IT JUST MAKES THE PAINTING & ALL THE COLORS POP!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting # 7 – “Kreeger” (Oil based interior/exterior paint on Home Depot 2ft X 4ft plank of cheap wood) -“inspiration envisage conception” – My beautiful niece Kree asked me early on for a painting – and to just wing it.  This painting was her birthday present.  “Kreeger” – her nickname- is a 3rd year law student. So I painted a lady justice holding the scales of justice- the lady a brown lady with a huge afro type kinky hairdo similar to what Kree and other black women (I love the natural look) are wearing nowadays.J.  I painted some flashy eyelashes on the E eyes representing Kree’s open-eyed and exciting manner in which she views the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting # 8 – “ Lovely Arinn” (Oil based interior/exterior paint on Home Depot 2ft X 4ft plank of cheap wood) -“inspiration envisage conception” -  My beautiful daughter Arinn – just thinking about her and all she does was inspiration enough for her painting.   I got a couple of matted brown flower pot bottoms and screwed them into the wood.    I then copied pictures of a young and present day Arinn – and after writing/painting some education symbols (Arinn is a dedicated teacher) around the picture……….I positioned the pictures from young to old.  I covered the essentials- did a little drip action – and finally covered the pictures with about 5 coats of satin to protect.  I think it came out pretty good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting # 9 – “Brynne is In” (Oil based interior/exterior paint on Home Depot 4ft X 4ft plank of cheap wood) -“inspiration envisage conception” – My niece Brynne – my brother Kelvin’s other daughter and Kree’s sister- has always encouraged me in my writing and painting – and we like to say we are “kindred souls” because we both like music and art and old school entertainers so much.  Brynne is a recording artist who goes by the stage name “LeiLia” so I definitely wanted to feature that name.  So I got out my round glass table top and traced a circle on my 4ft X 4ft piece of wood.   My envisage was to make an old school album sitting/spinning on a record player (yes…this is how we played our music back in the day.)  After painting MUSIC and other music symbols around the album – I drilled a small hole in the center of the album and stuck in a silver bullet/like pellet to look like the spindle on a vintage record player.  I then painted Leilia where the names went on the old albums; covered and did some drip.  Brynne - Let the music begin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting # 10 – “For Della” (Oil based interior/exterior paint on Home Depot 4ft X 4ft plank of cheap wood) -“inspiration envisage conception” – My beautiful sister-in-law Della was next up.  She informed me she really likes this artist named Walfrido who did seascape type paintings.   I have to admit I wasn’t aware of his paintings – but once I googled him I immediately became a fan!  Walfrido Garcia, of Philippine descent, is a fantastic painter who paints brilliant pictures featuring colored skies, volcanoes, fluorescent blue seas and orange popping skies.    I looked at some of his paintings – and decided to use the round glass table top to center the painting………..hoping to make it look like we are seeing the painting looking out from inside a huge, round brown cave -looking outward.  I played around with various colors, and thought adding a volcano would look nice.  I’m not a schooled/learned artist – so this took some time….but I did my best.  I love Della’s unique name – so I added that on the outside and added some silver push-pins into the name to give it some pop and glare. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting # 11 – “Dedicated to Anthony Squire” (Oil based interior/exterior paint on Home Depot 4ft X 4ft plank of cheap wood) -“inspiration envisage conception” – My younger brother Anthony “Squire” Filer is an attorney who has overseen the L.A. County Community Legal Service/Legal Aid office in Downey for over 25 years.  Anthony is an artist himself- he does all our family videos and family albums and captures/records all our family and friends’ gatherings/graduations/ etc….so I was glad to do a painting for him.  He wanted a copy of the logo he invented to be featured- as well as some of his favorite quotes from folks he admired.  He used legal themes quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. (“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”); Thurgood Marshall (“None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps; we got here because somebody….bent down and helped us pick up our boots”); and Maxcy Dean Filer (our dad – “Never, EVER, give up!”)  Similar to Lance’s paintings with a lot of words – I used a walnut rub as a background, and then painted on the logos and other legal symbols.  Because there was a ton of writing, I just used different color oil based markers for some of the writing- and painted around some.  I also tried something new……I purchased a wood burner and wood burned in “Anthony Squire Filer- Attorney at Law” and some other words.  I couldn’t get the wood burn to pop out as much – so in some places I went over the lettering in black ink.  I finished it off by highlighting the “SQUIRE” middle name in golden push pins; covered up the essentials – did some drip – and Anthony’s was done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painting # 12 – "Kelvin (Say Hey for Uncle K)" (Oil based interior/exterior paint on Home Depot 2ft X 4ft plank of cheap wood) -“inspiration envisage conception” - Have I mentioned how blessed I am to have such wonderful brothers and sisters – and how we all get along?  Maxine is the oldest; then me; Kelvin is next; then Stephanie; then Anthony; then Dennis – and Tracy is the baby.  Kelvin, Anthony and I have played on softball teams; 6 ft. and Under basketball leagues; and today we play poker regularly with a tight knit group of the fellas we’ve known since the 1960’s and 70’s.  Dennis is a little younger, so he doesn’t hang out with us much – be we 3 Filer boys are on the scene for concerts and all sorts of activities.  Kelvin is a Superior Court Judge in Compton….so you knew he had to have a painting to hang in his office or jury room  “Inspirational envisage” – Kelvin loves license plates- so I painted various car license plates he’s had over the years……..and I featured the Lakers colors of purple and gold throughout the painting.  I even screwed an actual Laker’s license plate holder onto the bottom right of the painting.  Kelvin one year actually was noted as “Laker Fan of the Year.”