May 16:"The Last Ride" by Alexey Steele exhibiting at landmark LA Cathedral

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Please join me to view my recent work

"The Last Ride"

celebrating THE RING CYCLE exhibit
at the landmark
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

"The Last Ride" by Alexey Steele 48"x80" oil on canvas

Reception with the Artists
organized by California Art Club
May 16, Sunday
5 to 7 p.m.
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

555 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
http://www.olacathedral.org/
parking is $5
RSVP 626-583-9009

"The Last Ride" detail

The painting is based on the theme and symbolism of a Valkyrie Ride, and raising a question of the human cost of the political decisions.

Undertaking a thematic multi-figure composition is a complex process involving multiple stages of working with live models and settings in order to achieve the desired level of realism.

Below are some photos taken during the process.

Special thanks to Esther de Jong, Tom Bunning, Sheri Hastings, Stephen Mirich and Daniel Pinkham.

working on the study with magnificent Esther, who was braving wind and cold

anybody who knows horses can tell how difficult to pull that one off is on a hot thoroughbred - second body flipped backwards across the front of a rider, thanks to brave Sheri, adventurous Tom for making it improbably work

since my color range was set for dusk we had enormously short window before complete darkness would fell

after having on-site color studies, we moved to the studio where I had to shift the entire color range to those studies

i bought in a local surplus store same uniform used currently and "put it through war"

before starting with Tom, we spent probably three hours making him up,
as I've never done make up before, this was like completing half of the painting
without ever touching it yet

then as everything is well prepped and the model is right in front of you - its "just go"

multi-figure work is always a team effort and with models like Esther and Tom you can do anything

The California Art Club is pleased to present this unprecedented display of artwork inspired by Richard Wagner's epic operas Der Ring des Nibelungen. The featured works in this juried exhibition were specifically created to provide a visual arts component for Ring Festival LA, the 11-week countrywide cultural festival that coincides with the LA Opera's first-ever presentation of the four-opera drama.