Blocking things in...

sigh-update added a link to my new blog.

2010-05-02T18:39:00.000-07:00

I feel so good. I really do. This week was nice and next week promises to be better.

I discovered Dr. Heinrich Wolfflin's 5 sets of opposing traits this semester and it really struck me how useful they could be this week. The Apollonian versus the Dionysian.

1. Linear vs. Painterly
2. PLanar vs. Recessional
3. Closed vs. Open
4. Clarity vs. Relative Clarity
5. Multiplicity vs. Unity

and here's a drawing from this week that has nothing to do with that whatsoever...

check me out on my new blog: NEW BLOG

Still Sketchin"

2010-04-26T06:22:00.000-07:00

Dammit. This place is getting too quiet. Well, I am still drawing all the time and sketching and making crap. I figure I must be getting closer to that 10,000 bad drawings mark. Here's some pages from my sketchbook.

Oh yeah it's ME!

Here's a charcoal drawing from Bruce Samuelson's class. I'm tentatively calling it "Crucified".

"Beautiful Dreamer"

2010-03-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Well, my first book titled "Testimony" is finally fully realized. The softcover turned out amazing, and I'm awaiting the hardcover proof. It's one thing to have all of the completed images and print them as a mockup, but it is such a surreal experience to hold the final, professionally printed book. I'm giddy with anticipation for the hardcover. There will be copies of the book, softcover and hardcover, available at PAFA's 2010 Annual Student Exhibition.

The image that I'm posting is a preliminary drawing for my second book, tentatively titled "Beautiful Dreamer". The images will be portrayed in black & white with very little color. Isolation and loneliness and the effects of leading a loveless life are the themes of this book. Originally titled "Good Morning, Goodbye", the idea focuses on a young woman who longs to love and her mental stability from lack of love. While the book is still in it's preliminary stages, it is proceeding very nicely. Once I've finished some more drawings and get my hands on a better camera, I'll post some more images. Enjoy.

Testimony Is Coming In 2010

2010-02-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

End of the Semester

2010-01-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm half way through my first year of studio already--time is just flying by! I've been working really hard and hopefully getting something done...here are some of the projects I've been working on...some of these are just quick studies, and the rest are longer projects most of which are in progress...

Time to post I suppose

2010-01-09T22:43:00.001-08:00

So I've basically gone a semester and a summer without updating ... but I'll make this a short one. Basically in my studio I've been focusing a lot on drawing, with a couple small paintings on the side. My main subject has been the figure, sometimes going into a more abstract area that I would like to explore more..

Graphite:

Charcoal:

And two very lonely paintings ...

It Has Been a Long Time

2010-01-06T13:52:00.001-08:00

It has been too long since I posted anything for the blog. Here are a few quick paintings that I have been working on over my winter break. The two paintings of oranges are both one session paintings. (approx 3 hours) The kitchen painting was done in approx. 9 hours and is a lot larger than the other two.

I was trying something a little different with these paintings. I used a limited palette composed mainly of earth pigments and one or two prismatic pigments. Unfortunately, the picture quality is really poor.

Still Life, Winter Landscape

2009-12-26T23:43:00.001-08:00

Its been awhile since I have posted anything. But Once again I bring some recent work
of mine. The hardest part of the winter break is over, Christmas. I will now be producing more work and posting it all to my viewers. I hope you enjoy.

This is my most recent study, done as of tonight. I spent on average 3 hours on this piece.
I am happy with its current level of progress and will be finishing it up within the next few days.

(9x12 oil on canvas)

This is a landscape painting done a week ago at my friend Jane Winter's house. I have never painting in the snow before. I will say this, its quite a challenge. One that I would like to attempt again.

(9x12 oil on panel)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-20T09:06:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the horrible picture quality, but Merry Christmas to my fellow bloggers and visitors! May you all have a blessed and peaceful Christmas. See you all in January!

"Testimony"

2009-12-02T07:42:00.001-08:00

A small preview of the book, entitled "Testimony", that I'm currently finishing up. These are images four, five, and twenty-two from a total of twenty-two images painted in watercolor. Each image is 7 and 7/16" by 10 and 3/16".

Sculpture Session II

2009-11-07T14:43:00.001-08:00

Here is a four foot sculpture that I am working on in one of my classes. This is my progress after two sessions with the model.

Charcoal Figure Drawings

2009-11-05T17:46:00.000-08:00

More Studio Work and More Studies

2009-10-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

This is an assortment of a bunch of stuff I'm working on in my studio as well as some class work.

These are just some studies I've been working on in the cast hall while sitting in on Peter Van Dyck's interior painting class...

This is a still life painting that I'm working on in my studio...

Quick 2 hour still life study...I've been trying to work on capturing the color of the light...

This is the final stage of my first painting from Scott Noel's class...it was a four week pose.

This is my second painting from Scott Noel's class...this is just after one 3 hour block-in.

This is an interior with still life that I'm doing on the 4th floor as a homework project for Scott Noel's class. It's actually pretty large--28'' x 40''. It's the largest painting I've done since last year and the biggest project that I'm working on this semester. This is just after one 3 hour block-in session.

This is a small graphite study that I'm doing in my drawing studio class...it's actually just a preporatory drawing...hopefully I'll be starting to work in silverpoint soon on the final drawing.

This is a very small study of a crumpled up paper towel still life that I'm doing in front of the windows on the 10th floor...I'm going to be starting a larger painting of the same subject soon.

Study of the same subject by night...

Trompe l'oeil painting that I started in the cast hall...it took me several tries to get an arrangment that I was happy with.

This is the final set-up...it's not finished yet, but at least it's getting there...

Interior first pass and charcoal 40 min

2009-10-16T16:11:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the cell phone pics again. I will try to get some better pictures next week with the family camera, mine is still broken. Starting to get somewhere with these paintings though.

Four Foot Sculpture II

2009-10-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

I decided to take the Large Scale Figurative Sculpture class again.

Last year, I regarded my sculpture simply as a study. I tended to put more emphasis on the anatomical issues, rather than the life and movement of the piece. Although I learned a great deal, the sculpture turned out rather stiff.

Last Year's Sculpture

This year I plan to concentrate on movement and aesthetic appeal of my sculpture. If I see my work as more than just a study, hopefully it will look and feel more like a solid sculpture.

Step one (after finishing the armature) is the bulk up stage. This is my progress after one session.

For obvious reasons, the model cannot hold this pose, so I greatly exaggerated the twists and turns of the model's body. It will be interesting to see how well I can turn a simple pose into a more energetic and graceful image.

Interiors and portrait sketches in oil, charcoal figure sketches

2009-10-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

Camera is broken again. Back to cell phone pics. Sorry about the quality. Pictures are in reverse chronological order...today's stuff is on top.

Starting off the year...

2009-09-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

With sculpture and still life. I'm finding that having an anatomy reference handy is helping me with figure open studio to make sense of what I'm seeing in the model. That, and everything in the cast hall.

Also to start out the year, setting up a fairly complex still life that I hope to keep simple.

That's all for now...

Charcoal Figure Drawings

2009-09-28T17:14:00.001-07:00

Studio work and various studies

2009-09-27T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hello folks!

Well, I think it's high time for a new post from me. I have just finished my fourth week as a third year student at PAFA, and the time just seems to be flying by! I now have a studio at school, and I've been working hard to get a lot of projects up and running. At this point, I am still mainly working on smaller pieces, studies and that kind of thing, but I've got a ton of ideas for more major projects which I'm hoping to start soon.

First, a picture of me in the really huge mirror in my studio...I meant to take more pictures of my studio, but I keep forgetting...I'll try and post some soon though.

This is my life painting from Scott Noel's class...I've been working on it for two weeks, and I have two more weeks on it. We've been focusing on the "inside/outside" problem...dealing with the issues of depicting a space with light and atmosphere, and contrasting the bright sunlight outside with the dark interior silhouettes.

This is a still life I was working on, trying to explore these same issues. I set up the still life in front of the window, looking out onto the convention center. Only I didn't key the painting right intially, so the still life doesn't hold together as a shape against the window.

I decided to try painting the same set up again approaching it differently. I began by massing in the shape very tonally, trying to really hold a clear silhouette of the objects against the window. This shot was taken after about 30 minutes of blocking in.

More in progress photos...

This is the "final" stage of the painting...there's probably more I want to do with it...but I was mainly looking at it as an exercise, so I'm not sure how much farther I'll bother to take it. But anyway it's very interesting to contrast it with the first attempt. This second one took less than four hours...it's amazing how quickly things can come together if you just get the bigger issues right.

I've been doing alot of quick interior studies in the cast hall...these are two I'm working on now...both at varying stages. Again, I'm trying to stay very concious of my shapes and the design of the painting. I'm particularly excited about the second one...I like how simplified I've been able to start it and I'm really interested in the idea of making the floor one of the main compositional interests...

Here's a still life that I've started in my studio...this is just after one or two sessions...so still pretty early on...

A rough block-in for a portrait study of a friend who agreed to sit for me...this is just about an hour of work I think...

A study of skulls in the glass cabinet in the cast hall...this one to two hours of painting...again I like how simplified it is.

This is the trompe l'oeil painting that I've been devoting much of my time to over the past few weeks...this is what it looked like probably in the second week of school or so...the ribbon and key are the only areas that I'd really started to define...the rest are still at the rough block-in stage...

Then I really got down to business and spent about a week just painting the cracks...also I worked on the lettering on the paper...

This is the stage it's at now...relatively close to finish though there are still alot of little things I want to do with it. With trompe l'oeil even the picky little "details" can be pretty major and important...

Finally, here's a close up of the paper, so you can really see the detail I've put into the writing and cracks...I really enjoy working this way, but it sure is painstaking and time consuming!

Well, as I think you can see, I've got alot going on already and I hope to start even more projects very soon! Ha, now I just need to work on finishing some things...Till next time!

Charcoal Still Life

2009-09-27T11:30:00.024-07:00

Here is a charcoal still life that I am working on for one of my classes. I just happened upon this scene and hardly altered a thing. I started this drawing using a wipe out technique. I covered the entire canvas using vine charcoal to create one gray tone. I pulled out the light areas with a chamois and added the dark areas with compressed charcoal.

I find this technique very useful. It helps me to stay loose and to section my drawing into large masses of light and dark. I intend to keep working this image by varying my marks and refining some of the detail.

Illustration, Life Painting, and Still Life

2009-09-24T20:41:00.001-07:00

Its already 5 weeks into the semester here at PAFA. Time is flying by with so much still to do.
Its a real shame how time seems to pass right by when your enjoying something. Sigh.....but we must not waste the time we still have left. Here are three primary things I am working on at the moment.
Here is the Illustration I have been working on, still once again in progress. The purple background no longer worked for what I am going for, so I decided to remove it. To me this Illustration should have been done by now, but I have been fighting several problems. The first big issue was a poor drawing underneath. I was hoping to take this painting with mostly glazes, but that turned out to be a bad idea due to the amount of time it would take to finish. So with the Advice of Dave Golas, I made my attempt to his it with more opaque paint. In doing so, I lost track of the planes and the painting went to mud. At this stage I changed my background, and took my time evaluating the planes of the Hand. This should be a lot less of a hassle.
This painting SHOULD be done by next week. I am excited to get back to work on it. This needs to be finished for the Boston Comic Convention. I need at least one pieces to show to the other artists there. I will not screw myself over again, this is part of my career.

Here is the Life Painting I have been working on in Renee Foulks Class. This is my Third week into this painting. I feel it as been taking a turn for the better. It is a difficult pose not to mention the lighting in the room is all natural. So this planes of the form do not pop so well. This exercise is all about subtly. Which is something I am striving to learn. Even though this pose is like pulling teeth, I am learning.

Here is another thumbnail for Advanced Still Life. I am pretty sure I like this a lot better than the last one I posted. I intend to go with this for my final Painting. It should be interesting painting on something scaled like this. I am so used to standered sized panels or canvas.

Portrait in oil from life and a master copy in oil

2009-09-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Can anyone name the painting this came from?

These are for Head Structure with Professor Connors

This one was for my class with Alex Kanevsky

Charcoal sketches

2009-09-21T18:54:00.001-07:00

Drawings, Figure Paintings, and Illustration

2009-09-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

Here is this weeks recent work. I only have a few anatomy sketches, a Life Painting in progress, and the Illustration I am working on for my portfolio. With the addition of my two liberal Arts classes this year, my work has lowered in amount, but quality of quantity I guess.

Here is my illustration in progress. I tried to tighten it up a bit, but in the process I lost to much detail so I went back in and did a bit of drawing with the paint. In the next stage I will be painting a lot more opaque. I have been using the method of several of my favorite illustrators, Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, and David Palumbo. Each of these artists start with a strong drawing beneath their painting, then glaze over it. My drawing was not at the level it needed to be before I started the painting. So to fix my issues, I will be going back in and re establishing my values using opaque paint.

Here is a short study done in Foulks Class.
This is my thumbnail for a still life I will be working on for the next 5 weeks in Advanced Still Life. I threw in a bunch of glass bottles, metal, and cloth for these are weaknesses of mine I want to conquer.
Anatomy Sketch
Anatomy Study

Pretty (Weird) Works

2009-09-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

Hey all, just posting some works in progress from my studio. Right now, my main focus has been on producing drawings. A lot of drawings. Granted some are much better than others, but hey, they're ideas on paper. They're going to be valuable assets for my paintings. Speaking of paintings, I even started two. Drawing strictly from my mind is much more forgiving than painting from the gutter that I call a mind, but, hey, I'm learning and having fun. What more could I ask for? Until next time.

Oil sketches, charcoal and chalk sketch

2009-09-15T14:18:00.001-07:00

Life Drawings, Life Paintings and Illustration

2009-09-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

So the school year has finally come. Three weeks under the belt and no post? Well here comes the weekly post again. Every week I will have new art or art in progress showing everyone what I am up to in and outside of class. I hope you all enjoy and maybe you can learn from my mistakes and successes.

Here is an illustration I am working on. This is the first stage block in. My goal here is just to distinguish my local colors and values. I still need to hit my darker dark's ad lighter light's.
But overall its off to a good start. (Oil on Paper on Panel)

Here is a quick study in oil of the figure. Only focusing on the big shapes and simple Values.
I dident quite hit the mark I wanted, but better luck next time. (Oil on Panel)

Here is another study done of the same figure (90min study) The goal of this painting was to once again stick to the big shapes and basic values. I will be doing a 8 week painting of this pose, so I would like to have a few studies under my belt before I get to the big one. (Oil on Panel)

Here is a study done in Studio Anatomy (20 min study) (Charcoal on Ruff Newsprint)
Here is a drawing done in Sidney Goodman's Life Drawing class. Not quite a finished drawing, more like a study. (Charcoal and Conte on Ruff Newsprint)

You Can Also Follow My Art and other Activities At http://williamsentman.blogspot.com/ or
http://thedirtypaletteclub.blogspot.com/ Stop by and see

Charcoal sketches, Oil painting of a figure 2nd sitting

2009-09-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

One Week Down

2009-09-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Just posting a glimpse of what my first full week in my studio yielded. Considering I'm working strictly from my head, I'm happy. No still lives, no mirrors, no models. I think it's going to be a great semester. Maybe since I'm a painting major, I should get started on those paintings, eh?

Back to PAFA

2009-08-20T21:36:00.001-07:00

I will be heading back to PAFA next week and it is time to start posting again. This summer was extremely busy. I worked, taught art to kids, and occasionally got the chance to create art.

Stained glass is a medium that I do not work in very often, but that I really enjoy. One of my favorite stained glass windows is a piece by John La Farge called "Spring" (1902). This piece is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the American section. I always go to see it when I am there.

John La Farge "Spring"

During the last half of the summer, I took a little break from painting and spent a considerable amount of time working on a new stained glass panel. This panel is the second stained glass design that I have made. It is about 36”X 24” and of a simple landscape. I will turn my new panel into a light box and place it in my private studio this fall. Since most private studios at PAFA do not have windows, I though it would help to brighten up the room.

My first stained glass panel was created for the dinning room of my house. It was a simple design with an emphasis on organic shapes. I found it a unique challenge designing for a specific place in my house and was happy with the end result.

More Summer Studies

2009-08-10T07:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while...this summer has been pretty busy. I've been balancing classes at Penn with trying to work in my studio as much as possible...I still haven't gotten to paint quite as much as I wanted, but at least I've gotten some work done. Here are some of the paintings I've been working on so far...Most of these are very quick studies, just one or two session paintings. A number of them are unfinished, and hopefully I'll get to continue working on them in the next few weeks.

Hope you like them! Till next time!

A Sign of Things to Come?

2009-08-09T17:05:00.001-07:00

Well, well, I'm still alive... I think. Just posting a couple of samples of what to expect from me in the near future. The first piece is a 5" x 7" watercolor and the second piece is roughly a 11" x 12" charcoal and pastel. Enjoy all.

oils sketches-landscape and portrait and a still life in oil

2009-07-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

Recent Work - Landscape/Illustration

2009-07-09T20:17:00.001-07:00

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is Some of my most recent work done this week. The Above image is a landscape painting I did today in Philadelphia during the last DPC meeting. This was a several hour painting done directly from the subject. Overall I was pretty happy with it, being that landscape painting is pretty much new to me. The image below is one of the Hand based illustrations I will be starting. My goal as an artists is to get into the illustration field, while still doing fine art work.
So this painting allows me to study the human hands anatomy, while allowing me to begin my illustration Portfolio. More pics are soon to come of this painting in progress.

Landscape Studies

2009-07-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

____________________________________________________________________
So its the summer.....and even though school is out, the painting never stops. At first I wasent painting anything or even drawing. Bad idea. Lately I have been doing landscape
painting with my good friends Mike Manley and David Golas. Here are the first two landscapes
done this summer.
This was my first landscape painting. I had a struggle with this through out the day. In the end I went back and fixed some of my drawing issues, leaving my painting flat. My key problems were all ones I've been lectured on countless times by friends and professors. Its to easy to lose track of advice. Part of being an artist is the ability to sit down and focus on your techniques until they become 2nd nature. Just jumping into a work of art or exercise can be fatal in the long run.
Here is my second Landscape painting in progress. This painting went a lot better. I broke all those poor habits and took my time. First I blocked in all the big shapes with my biggest brush. Using a small brush in the beginning makes it too easy to forget abut the big picture.

Here is the finished painting for the day. Progress has been made since my last landscape. I am pumped to go forth and start another now.

oil sketches...worse for the wear

2009-06-22T17:23:00.000-07:00

So, I started in earnest to get things up and rolling again last week. That required more prep work than I would have liked and I wasted far too much time. The worst think is that I feel very rusty already. Anyway, here is where I am at. One from life, two from photos...all three are very rough in my opinion.

Summer studies

2009-06-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!

I know you probably had all given up on me ever posting again...but here I am! I really do appologize for falling off the face of the earth. This semester has been really crazy, but good...it ended on a particularly good note, and I'll be doing some posts about some of my final projects very shortly...

For now though, I thought I'd just post some studies I've been working on this summer...I'm trying to stay very disciplined with my painting, in preperation for having a studio in the fall. So far, I'm not doing quite as much as I'd like, but I've still been painting pretty much everyday and I have a bunch of different projects going.

I had the opportunity to sit in on Peter Van Dyck's interior painting workshop a few weeks ago...it was an amazing experience and it definitely sort of revolutionized my way of approaching painting. This is a quick little study that I did during the workshop:

Here's a painting that I'm doing of my basement...it's still just in it's beginning stages, but I'm trying to use the same approach that I learned during the workshop...

This is a quick little landscape I did out by the Schuylkill river with some fellow pafa students...I'm hoping to go out to do more landscape studies sooon.

And finally, this is a little still life that I finished up recently. I'm not sure quite how many hours I spent working on it, but I did end up spending a fairly considerable amount of time on it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

I have some more projects that I have started working on, so hopefully I'll be posting those soon, and I definitely plan on posting about the end of my second year at PAFA, so stay tuned!

Charcoal Study

2009-06-06T06:36:00.000-07:00

I made another charcoal study. This is the same pose that I drew last week, only this time I cropped the figure.

18X24

More Studies

2009-05-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

I started a new charcoal drawing this week. It took me a long time to nail down the pose and I had just started shading when the session ended. However, I will get a chance to work on the drawing next week. I will probably add some background elements to give the drawing more depth.

I got outside to paint when the weather got nice and made a few tonal studies of trees. I did eventually add color, but those attempts are not worth posting.

Four Foot Sculpture

2009-05-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

In my Large Scale Figurative Sculpture Class, what started out as a large lump of clay became a four foot male figure by the end.

I quickly learned how important a thorough understanding of anatomy is to a figurative sculptor. I just as quickly learned how little I really knew about anatomy, despite having taken two classes of it. It is one thing to draw muscles, but it is something entirely different to recreate them in 3D.

This class was great because I learned a lot about how muscle groups overlap and entwine. As usual I had some trouble capturing an interesting gesture, which left my sculpture stiff and rigid.

My main goal for next year, when I take this class again, will be to focus on the movement and gesture of the human figure.

Bulk Up Stage

Landscapes And Figures

2009-05-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

The wet Spring weather finally gave way to a sunny day this week. I gladly took the opportunity to paint outside. When I paint outside I prefer to use Water Soluble Oil Paints. As opposed to traditional oil paints, Water Soluble Oil Paints allow you to clean your brushes and palette with water. This makes clean up easy and less toxic than using OMS (Odorless Mineral Spirits).

I avoid/limit my use of Mineral Spirits (even OMS) and other harsh chemicals whenever I can. When I am painting in school or in my studio at home, I always clean my brushes with Vegetable Oil plus soap and water. I guess I am one of those paranoid artists, but I feel that it is important to know your materials and to avoid/limit ones exposure to harmful chemicals.

Tree study in H2O Soluble Oil Paints

I am still getting down to the city once a week to draw at the Philadelphia Sketch Club. For students, the price is unbeatable (six dollars per session).

Here is a drawing that I did in one session. I am trying to work quickly and not fuss too much. Unfortunately, I made a poor cropping decision and chopped off part of her head. However, I am beginning to really enjoy charcoal. With charcoal you can fill up a page quickly and it allows the artist to make interesting marks.

Next week will be a continuation of this pose. I plan to stick with Charcoal, but I would like to try a different technique.

Charcoal Study 18X24

Water and Oil

2009-05-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

I've set for myself a personal goal of 30 small (5x7" to 8 x10") oil paintings by the end of June in order to get myself to relax and just PAINT, trying to loosely block them in and just go for it. No worries, right? Seven and a half paintings in, "relaxed" would not be a word I'd use to describe myself. The first few were moderately successful and I have high hopes for the landscape (yes that green painting is a landscape) whenever I decide to return to it. The last oil I worked on, the amaryllis plant on 5/12, showed me why I can not work from photo reference, at least not for what I'm trying to accomplish. The half-way point for that painting just looks forced and awkward (Another fault is that I increased the surface to 11x14"). Shortly after that debacle, I decided to take a break from oils (for at least a week) and focus on watercolors. Lo and behold, a relaxed work that is successful in my eyes. I think I'll stick with these little watercolors for awhile and see where they take me.

Summer Break

2009-05-09T07:48:00.000-07:00

So far, my main focus over break has been drawing. I am still working on my pastel and oil studies. When the weather gets nice I plan to spend my time outside painting.

During the school year, I depended mainly on the pencil. Graphite is a medium that I am very comfortable with. I love the control and the subtle value shifts that can be achieved. However, I have ignored the wonderful expressive world of charcoal. Over the break I am determined to draw in charcoal as much as possible.

I am taking a life model session down in the city. This is a great opportunity for me to experiment with charcoal.

24X18 Charcoal

Charcoal Study of Wooden Horse

Pastel Study on Canvas Board (red acrylic ground)

In-Class Pastels

2009-05-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

In Al Gury's life drawing class we focused on doing large figure drawings, with any type of drawing material we wished. I chose to work with pastel, specifically, grey scale. I was hoping that this would help me develop and control using a narrow scale of value to achieve a dreamy, atmospheric drawing. This was definately something I struggled with. In the last working week, I had finished my drawing and decided to do a small color study. I think it was my most successful piece for the class this entire semester. I wish I'd started using color sooner and done a larger drawing, but at least now I know what I'll be working on this summer...

The tan paper showing through on the bottom corner was unintentional (and also not nearly as noticible up close) but I like the effect and would like to work on controling it more.

On this one I experimented with leaving bits of the tan paper showing through. While working on it in class, I did not notice those horrible streaks of it along the bottom...it was meant to focus more in the top right area, flowing into other parts, with the effect that it was almost a warm light falling onto them.

I will definately do more of these in color...

Watercolor or Watercolour?

2009-05-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

I'll apologize right off for the horrible pictures, but here's a glimpse of my recent foray into the world of watercolor.

portrait in oil, figures and still life

2009-05-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to figure out which things I have posted and which things I haven't. Finals have ended and I was fortunate enough to have received two awards during the Spring Prizes. The first was an endowment. I will write more about these after the award ceremony Friday. The other was a special mention for my self-portrait which I posted above.I'll try to take a clearer photo in daylight tomorrow. The rest of the paintings below are unfinished works from classes. As I go through my stuff, organize and purge, I will take pics of the things I haven't posted.

This last painting is from the Desiderio workshop I attended a few weeks ago.

Another Semester Ends

2009-05-02T06:20:00.000-07:00

Another semester has ended, which means I am getting closer and closer to a private studio next fall. I can hardly contain my excitement! With fewer classes I will have more time to focus on my own interests and artistic direction (which I feel has gotten clouded and lost along the way).

The past semesters have flown by. There were some tears, periods of frustration, and a lot of failed paintings, but in the end the lessons that I have learned are invaluable.

I only have a few simple studies that I am willing to show for this weeks post.

Soft Pastel on Canvas Board (Burnt Sienna Acrylic Toned Ground)

Soft Pastel on Canvas Board (Acrylic under painting: Red under painting for peppers, Green under painting for cloth, Blue tone for background)

Graphite 18X24

Oil on Canvas Board

(Failed) Pastel Portrait

2009-04-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

So...more work with pastels. I haven't really done much with the flesh in color so I decided to try a portrait. I definately struggled with this one...I have a hard enough time with darker skin tones just with paint and pastel was no better. I feel that I spent so much time trying to get the colors just right that I lost the freshness effect of the pastel. I'm not sure if I want to try to work on this more or just pass it off as a one time thing and a lesson learned.

in progress: portrait large scale figure ptg.

2009-04-15T18:14:00.000-07:00

Both of these are still in progress. The photo above is not at all representative of the painting...I don't know what I did wrong. I'll try to take a new one this week.
Below is the portrait I have been working on for finals. It has it's issues still. I intentionally chose lighting which would force me to use abnormal colors in the flesh. I knew it was going to be rather challenging so I am not concerned about the areas which need repainting. There are also a few minor drawing issues that are needed to bring it back toward a likeness. Plus I look pissed which is not what I intended. The other issue I have is time. I had planned to work for only one more session because I have other things to do. It may need more than that though.

portrait in progress- 2nd session

2009-04-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

I paint entirely too slow at home however, I am far happier with the results. It struck me today at school that it is no surprise that I have trouble concentrating there. I couldn't hear my headphones over all the noise in the room. Granted, they are crappy headphones...and I was listening to a lecture....

in progress: portrait, landscape and some life dwg.

2009-04-12T11:17:00.001-07:00

Life drawing from anatomy class.

In progress landscape.

In progress portrait using dual light sources.

Burnt Umber Portrait

2009-04-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

I do not have much to show this week except for the beginning of a burnt umber portrait. The image started as an under painting however, I liked where it was headed and decided not to add color.

Using a wipe out technique for this exercise, first I thinned my paint with odorless mineral spirits and toned the entire canvas with a wash of thin pigment. Next, I drew the basic shape of the figure with a thin brush and burnt umber. With a rag I began to expose the white of the canvas to create the light areas of his skin. I went back and reinforced the dark areas with more pigment.

Old Stuff

2009-04-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

I don't have any photos of my current works in progress but I thought I'd go back a bit with two drawings that I particularly like from first year. The first was a still life done with charcoal pencil in Josh Marsh's class. I wanted to look at this again because lately I've been having a lot of trouble getting the full range of value that I would like. So I know I can do it, I just have to try to get back to it. The second was from Jill Rupinski's cast drawing class. It's charcoal and white chalk on a toned paper. This was the drawing that really got me into white chalk drawings and I find I have some of the most success with this process.

Vincent Desiderio Workshop

2009-04-05T22:01:00.001-07:00

Well folks it nothing else is to be said, this weekend was the most inspiring/informative two days I have had in a long time. I spent Saturday and Sunday with one of the most profound contemporary artists today. working from 9-5, two days straight with Desiderio, sure makes the brain wanna explode....but in the best of ways. Ill cut to the chase here. The workshop involved learning how to work from a photo as a painter. Saturday's agenda was based off of lectures, photographing the model, and the beginning stages of the drawing/painting. Sunday was a full 7 hours of intense painting full of critical advice by Vincent Desiderio.

The first painting here is the under drawing/painting before any real color is added

The 2nd image involves the addition of light and value on the figure, with the inclusion of background.

The 3rd image consists of the addition of color temperature.

The final version of the painting consisted of refining details, tweaking the color/value/anatomy.

Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings

2009-04-02T21:02:00.001-07:00

Once again I have been super slack ass in terms of posting my current art. Shame on my...bad
The body of work you see here is some of my in class as well as out of class projects.

This is my head sculpture in John Horn's Figure Modeling class. For a decent time it was progressing slowly, but now that I know what has to be fixed I will begin to catch in in time to have it casted in plaster.

This is my most recent figure painting in Jill's Basic Color class. This is after one session of figure work. I am happy with some of my color choices, but so far its an unresolved painting.

This painting was done in Pyform's Life Painting class. This is the result after 2 weeks of working. My big issue with this paining is how dwarfed I have made her. Due to poor figure planning and poor Patience, I jumped into the painting with out fixing my proportion issues.

This painting was done in my Still Life Painting class. After three weeks of work this was my end result. I am happy with very few things in this painting. I feel for the amount of time put into it, there should be a much better end result.

This is my most current painting which was started tonight during the 12th session of the Dirty Palette Club. (http://thedirtypaletteclub.blogspot.com/) It is an interior painting of the Academy's cast hall. Within one session I have managed to block in my entire painting and establish some of my values. This will be an ongoing project until the end of the semester, or until deemed complete.

Here we have a figure drawing done in Scott Noel's Life Drawing class. This was a one session drawing done using pastel on crappy newsprint paper. This is not the finished drawing, but due to my camera battery dying, this is what I have at the moment.

Here we have another drawing. This is a cast drawing of old Benny Franks done in Patrick Connors Cast drawing class. This turned out to be a pretty dame good drawing for only 2 hours worth of work. I will most likely be taking some of my spare time to finish this drawing.

This is a thumbnail sketch of my next 4 week still life painting soon to come.
Nothing to special, just to give an idea of what my composition will look like.

And finally my most recent drawing in Scott Noel's Life Drawing class.
Here we have John the model from the back.

Figure Comp

2009-03-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here's just a quick post on my progress so far on my final in-class painting for Figure Comp. I started with a transparent grisaille underpainting, then blocked color in. I tried to use shots of purer color in the flesh because I like the way it reacts with the greys underneath, dulling it, but not necessarily deadening it.

Portrait Studies

2009-03-28T06:12:00.001-07:00

The human face is an amazingly powerful window of expression however, it is an area that I always seem to neglect. Thankfully, in my Anatomy Class we have been focusing on the head and face.

Here are some portrait studies that I made during class. All of these studies were done lightly in pencil, so unfortunately they did not photograph well.

Small pen drawings

2009-03-25T11:09:00.001-07:00

I think the title says it all; I've been working on small (around 11x14) drawings using ball point pens. Soon I'd like to try going bigger, I'm just wondering how the thickness of the line will relate to something larger...only one way to find out, though, right?

So these are mainly from my portrait class with Sidney Goodman and the last two are from the drawathon.

Pallet Knife Studies

2009-03-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

Along with my many pastel studies, I have also been experimenting with pallet knife painting. I love the clean stroke of color, the gestural mark and thick layer of paint that you get when painting with a pallet knife. Here are some small studies that I have been working on. (Not all of them are completed.)

This oil study was lit with natural light.

This oil study was lit with a spot light.

ecorche, large scale figure in oil, pastel

2009-03-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

So, I lost track (which happens to me far too often) and it's now been a month since my last post. What have I been doing? Arguing, whining and complaining...mostly at myself but, also far too often at my friends and teachers. It's just that I'm stubborn and I when it suits my fancy I will delude myself. I've made an "art" out of it. It's like I'm chasing a detail to the detriment of the larger picture...:)
Seriously though, too often I look past the truly important parts of picture making and become entranced by the pretty flourishes or sparkling details. You know, "Oooh, aaaaah...shiny....pretty...." In fact, I can become so obsessed with "how to paint" that I ignore the truly important issues like...I dunno...mebbe making a pleasing picture?! Oh yeah, I am supposed to be making pictures not just drawing or painting. Funny how that slipped past me there. So when I say that some of the paintings in the last post "failed"...I don't mean that they were horrible. In fact, I quite liked them. The point is, that I need to be doing more than just painting well. Anyway...here's some more pictures...

Oil Paintings, flowers, portrait, still life

2009-03-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

All of these pieces fell short in one way or another. So, these first two never even made it out of my studio.
This painting was supposed to be for the Art of the Flower show at The Philadelphia Sketch Club. Unfortunately I never finished it.

This still life was also never finished.

This was a modeled underpainting experiment that never got anywhere.

Here's a finished one! This is a portrait of Chuck that I entered into the last show. Unfortunately, it was rejected :(

From Blocking things in...

This last one is a drawing I did in Scott Noel's class back at the beginning of the semester. I hid it as soon as I could.

Figure Composition

2009-03-14T10:48:00.001-07:00

One class this semester that has been helping me a great deal to think about the painting as a whole is Figure Comp with Doug Martenson. Often I find myslef zooming in close to my subject and proportioning my support around that, but in this class I get to really focus on backing away from it and making an environment around it. We have just begun our third and final pose and so far I have just worked on planning the composition. Here are the first two paintings (the first was a short one that was not completed and I'm hoping to work more on the second at home) and the drawing for this final eight week pose.

When I work on this more I will definately focusing on developing values as well as bringing up the intesity of certain colors and variating the hues of the greys in the background.

(Sorry if this is difficult to see) My plans for this one is to first do a value study because I have noticed that my values are much weaker when I skip that part. Looking at it, I think I also want to do the head of the figure in the chair from a different view because at the moment it is looking like a copy of the figure standing's head.

Also, still alive - Head Structure Assignments

2009-03-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

It has been a while, and so far I have been trying to keep up with new assignments. I am enjoying the freedom of second year, and have the following work from Head Structure. The first is a master study, during which I learned that mixing color under incandescent lighting can have undesirable effects. I had a terrible time matching, but overall it was good practice.

The next is in-class work, completed from the model, and worked with more paint in the light mass.

Lastly, homework assignment that started out as a self-portrait, but kind of morphed as I worked on it. The photos here aren't terribly good, but I'm still fussing with it at home, trying to see what I can do with lighting and clarity. The same problems cropped up with working in the dark, however, and I'm not sure what to do about that right now.

Suggestions are, of course, welcome.

Pastel Studies

2009-03-08T19:30:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my long absence, but I have been without computer for a while. However, I have recently gotten a new one and am ready to post again!

As I was in my last post, I have been experimenting with pastel and trying different techniques of laying down color. The first is a quick study of apples I did a while back, using a pretty direct way of applying color. The last two self-portraits are a work in progress in which I first layed in a fairly basic value structure then am slowly adding color to. This is very early into it and I am planning to get much stronger color, but it shows the idea behind it. I'm hoping that this technique will help me keep a good sense of value while my color evolves, since this is one of my major weaknesses. (Sorry for the angle of the last picture)

Surely, I'm still alive and kicking...

2009-03-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

... well, at least kicking. It's been a while since I last posted, and hopefully this will be the last time there will be such a lull from me. Onto the first specimen! A recently completed (sort of) portrait from my Anatomy Class. Technically, I was surprisingly pleased with the outcome, especially because I have a hard time thinking of tone in a formulaic classical way. In terms of likeness, well... I made him slightly more feminine than he really was. Okay, a lot more feminine. Take a gander for yourself:

The following two pieces are from a life drawing class that I'm currently enrolled in. I do have to say, I enjoy Scott Noel's approach very much and I can better relate to what he's teaching than some of my other drawing classes. I think these images speak for themselves:

And this final piece I'm posting is a travesty against every watercolor pencil drawing in the history of art. However, I kinda like it:
Well, that's it for now. I'll try to get another post up within the same month. Can't wait for advising next week!

Random Tidbits

2009-03-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

Here I am, posting yet again! Today I have a bunch of random little studies and exercises from last semester which I'd like to talk a little bit about.

The first two are both from my Advanced Still Life class from last semester...now I chiefly worked on a very big project in that class which I will be posting about very soon, but I tried to also do lots of quick little studies in that class as well. I did not end up doing nearly as much of that as I would have liked, but here are two of the quick paintings which I did do. The first was just a little grisaille painting...I had intended to work it in color in a three hour session or so, but I got so carried away by the underdrawing and underpainting that I decided to leave it simply as a value study. I think I probably spent 2 to 3 hours on it in total.

So, since the last one didn't work out quite as planned, I decided to do another study of the same subject, this time focusing on color. My teacher, Jan Baltzel, made a really excellent suggestion for this one; she said in order to avoid getting carried away with an underpainting again, I should begin by identifying and mixing the colors in the set-up...that way, before I even begin drawing or anything, I am thinking about the painting in terms of the colors there. I found that to be incredibly helpful, and for this painting, I spent probably the first 45 minutes just mixing colors and trying to get all the little subtle color variations in the apples. I have to say, this photo really doesn't capture the colors well in this painting at all unfortunately; it came out with a much yellower cast to it than the painting actually has. Anyway, I probably spent a total of 3 to 4 hours on this one.

The next few paintings are all exercises from my Materials and Techniques class with Anthony Ciambella. That class was such a blast, I really really enjoyed it and I think I learned a ton from it. Anthony is a great teacher; he's incredibly knowledgeable and very funny! With any technical issue that you might be having in your paintings you can just go to Anthony and he'll have an answer for you, from a conservator's point of view, so you know whatever he says to do will be "archival".

This first painting was just a quick little exercise in acrylics...I worked in acrylics first before I started painting in oils and I absolutely hated them, so it was kind of fun to go back and try acrylics again. I still didn't really like them at all, but at least now I felt much more comfortable working with them, and I can see how the quick-drying aspect might be useful in some ways.

This next one is the glazed over version of the grisaille underpainting which I posted a little while ago. We were supposed to have at least 3 to 4 layers of glazes on our paintings which I did...in some areas there are probably more. It was really fun just being able to experiment with layering different colors; my goal was to try and achieve some really subtle little color shifts...again unfortunately, the photo really doesn't capture the color all that well.

Again this is another glazed over painting...you can see the original underpainting here. Again there are about 3 or 4 layers of glazes on this...I tried to see how rich and vibrant I could get in some areas...I think it would be fun actually to continue glazing with this one and see how many layers it takes to get really striking reds and blues and greens. I know various people have said that with glazed paintings you are still really only getting started after 40 layers...

This last one was my "mixed media" project for that class...I really had no desire to do some kind of abstract mixed media piece like most other people were doing, so I decided to turn it into something that I was interested in. I became really fascinated by the end of last semester with trompe l'oeil painting, particularly the paintings of John Peto and William Harnett. I am definitely interested in taking my paintings in that direction in the future, and I used this as an opportunity to experiment with that. My idea with this was that half the objects would be painted and half of them would be real, and the goal was that the viewer would not be able to tell the difference. Because of time constraints I was not able to paint in quite as much as I would've liked, but I think it was still fairly successful. Can you guess which are painted and which are real?

Ok, in case you couldn't, the white string on the upper right, the black and white photograph, the yellow piece of paper, and various nails in the wood are all painted. The rest are real objects tacked on a wood board.

Alright, folks, that's all for now...I think my next post will get me completely caught up to date, and then I'll begin posting about this semester! Till next time!

Life Painting

2009-03-01T20:31:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone!

I know, I know, you must be shocked that I'm posting again so soon...however this coming week is my spring break, so I finally have a little extra time! I'm going to try and post a whole lot this week so I can get caught up on blogging about all the work I did last semester, so then I can start writing about the projects that I have going on right now!

The subject of this post is the life painting class which I took last semester with Renee Foulks, a phenomenal artist, wonderful teacher, and very sweet lady. She is definitely up there as one of my absolute favorite teachers at PAFA; she works in a very classical, highly representational manner, and she is probably the teacher that I've been most influenced by so far in terms of both style and subject matter. Anyway her class last semester was really wonderful. We had two poses throughout the whole semester, each one lasting about 6 or 7 weeks long. For our first pose, we were required to do a grisaille painting, which is a value study in grays. Renee gave us the option of just doing a very quick value study and then moving on to color, but I decided to spend the entire 7 weeks of the first pose on one large grisaille painting. This was an absolutely wonderful experience; I really enjoy doing value studies and I think I learned a lot from this one. This was definitely the first time on a figure painting that I felt like I actually had a relatively adequate amount of time to really observe and analyze the figure in depth. Since I knew this was going to be a fairly extended painting, I began by doing a very small simple little "value study" in preperation for the larger grisaille.

This is the finished grisaille painting...I think I calculated that I probably spent nearly 40 hours on this painting in total...and I seriously think I could have spent a good deal longer! But I did feel like I was able to resolve it pretty well in that amount of time. Again, I just can't emphasize enough how helpful it is to me to simply isolate value apart from all the issues of color, and to just analyze a situation from a purely tonal aspect. In light of that, I tried to be as accurate as possible with my values; I did use a value chart which I had made and I mixed up all my paints on the palette in a value scale from 1 to 10. I also began to experiment in this painting with trying to render the figure as representationally as possible; for instance, I remember spending 3 hours just on the model's foot...trying to describe each individual toe and even the veins and tendons which were pretty clearly visible. Rendering is something which I'm still exploring stylistically and I hope to continue to push it as far as my ability allows.

This second one is the painting that I worked on during the latter half of the semester...in the end I was not nearly as pleased with this one. I think it was a good experience and I learned alot from it, but it certainly was a very frustrating one. I think there were alot of issues here; I had some issues with the support I was working on, as well as the angle from which I was working--I was packed in pretty close with a bunch of other people, and I had trouble really getting back in to the same spot every time. I also think I really fell in to the trap of just over blending and "noodling" away at the painting too much without making definite and conscious decisions. That being said, the painting turned out alright, and again, I learned alot from doing it.

Well, that's all for now! Stay tuned for more posts about the rest of last semester's work!

Large Scale Figurative Sculpture

2009-02-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite classes this semester is Large Scale Figurative Sculpture. It took me weeks to complete the armature for my four foot figure. Essentially, the armature consisted of three main parts, a box on wheels, supporting pipes and an internal wire armature to hold the clay itself.

I am currently working on the Bulking Up Stage. In order to mass out the form, I applied 100 lbs of clay over the entire wire armature. It is also during this stage that I am attempting to get accurate proportions.

At this point the sculpture is very rough and unrefined. As time goes by hopefully, the sculpture will look more and more human.

Figure study, Portrait, and Still Life

2009-02-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent studies done this week.

This is a One session study of a clothed male model, done in Pyform's Life Painting class.
For the most part I am happy with the end results of this pieces. Mainly due to the fact I only spent about 2 hours tops.

This painting is the second session of a nude female model done within Jill's Basic Color class.
This painting started out as a really nice underpainting, then brutally tortured over the next few poses. Only until the last 20 min pose was I able to save it. Although the Painting lacks a finished quality, I felt it turned out ok for being the first time I have painted an African American using color.

This is my most recent painting which I am currently working on. This is the result of my wipe out within 2 hours of work. This painting, when completed, will be submitted into a gallery.
The Exhibition title is " Art of the Flower", located at the Philadelphia Sketch Club.

Pastel Drawings

2009-02-22T15:49:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

Well, I'm sorry I kind of dropped off the face of the earth on here for so long...I have lots of work that I've meaning to post for a long time and I just haven't gotten around to it. This semester has proven to be a very difficult one so far for a variety of reasons which I won't go into on here, but suffice it to say, I've been pretty worn out from school and life in general lately. However, that's no excuse for not posting, and I will endeavor to do much better in the future!!!

These are two pastel drawings which I actually did last semester. The first is one of the final projects that I had to do for Scott Noel's Life Drawing class and the second is a two week drawing that I did in that same class. Pastel has really become one of my favorite media to work in; I'm able to work much more freely with pastel than with other drawing media...I also particularly enjoyed getting to work in color pastel on both of these two projects. Unfortunately, the resolution of the photographs here really isn't too great which I appologise for, but hopefully you get the idea.

Anyway, I have alot of other pretty major projects going which I will try to take pictures of and post about on here as soon as possible!!! Till next time!

More of Those Darn Pastel Studies

2009-02-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

I have been doing more research on pastels and working on my technique. In the future, I hope to clog up the blog with more of these studies. It is amazing how valuable these little studies are in the lessons that they offer.

My friend Deb, just introduced me to a wonderful sanded pastel paper called Art Spectrum Colourfix Coated Pastel Paper. It holds much more pastel than the Canson Mi-Teintes paper that I was using.

In the two versions of my red pepper (one on Art Spectrum Colourfix Coated Pastel Paper and the other on Canson Mi-Teintes paper), you can see the differences between the working surfaces. Although it may not be apparent in my low quality photos, the color of the Art Spectrum Board is richer and the texture is less obtrusive.

Pastel on Canson Mi-Teintes paper

Pastel on Art Spectrum Colourfix Coated Pastel Paper

Still Life, Figure Paintings and Pastel Drawings

2009-02-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

WOOOOO!!!! Its that time again. Here I have some drawings and paintings done throughout the week including some previous work done this year.

Here are some thumbnails done in still life class. I think I like the composition of these, but I plan on doing a 3-4 week painting so I will be attempting the entire still life. For being small quick studies I am impressed with way they turned out.

This is my most recent painting done in Pyform's life painting class. After my class had a long discussion about wanting to paint a clothed model, our teacher brought one in. This study was quite difficult due to the dark, baggy shirt he was wearing. Also I had to break out some colors I do not have on my palette normally. I also decided to challenge myself and not use any black since I have a tendency to over use it.

This figure painting was a one week study using a wipe out technique. I had a bit of trouble with the left leg, which was never fully resolved. I am happy with how the values turned out.

This was done in my materials and technique class. The medium is egg tempera on rag board.
I had a lot of fun with this piece, but I do not think I would per fer this medium over oil any day.

Here we have another figure painting done in one session. Our model decided not to show up and out teacher, Pyform, posed for us. The drawing is not as far I would have liked it to be but, I am pleased with the color and value control. Which from my understanding is the goal of her class.

This is the first drawing I have posted from Scott Noel's life drawing class due to the quality of the work. Even though this drawing is still poor quality, its better than most of the others.
Every time I throw another layer of pastel, the drawing get muddy. Which from my understanding is a paper issue. I hope to try out the reeves bfk to see if that improves this issue.
Here we have another wipe out done of the human figure. The torso turned out to be very flat due to the lack of dark and shadows. Overall, I am not to happy with how this painting came out. The values are off, the drawing is poor, and the composition is bad. I hope the next session will help.

Here is the 2nd session of my still life. The metal tea/coffee thing ended up getting wiped off due to EVERYTHING going wrong with it. I wish I had more time to work on it now that I know what was wrong with it.

Going Slowly

2009-02-15T19:38:00.000-08:00

I do not really have have much work to show this week. Despite the fact that I am working non stop, nothing seems to be getting done.

This painting was completed in Al Gury's portrait class. I have been trying to let my brush strokes show, which for me is a very difficult and uncomfortable task. The urge to over blend and over model a form is very strong.

As I am learning more and more about my artistic preferences, I find that I am drawn to paintings where one color family dominates. In this painting for example, I like the pink on pink color combination.

Portraits, Still Lifes, and live figures Oh My!!!

2009-02-12T23:00:00.001-08:00

Once again folks its time to post what I have been up to during my semester. Here are several studies I have been working on throughout the past two weeks.

This is a color/value study of a nude figure done in Jill's Basic Color class. This is clearly not one of my best paintings, but I feel one can learn just as much from a bad painting then good one. Using only a palette knife, the objective was to establish the correct pigments on the figure and cloth using only a prismatic palette and a palette knife.

This is a single session wipe out done in my still life class. Theres not to much to say for it at this stage. I think the values still need some work as well as the construction of the form, but overall I feel this is a good start and im looking foward to fixing my mistakes next class.

This is my most recent figure painting, done in Jill's Basic Color class. This pose will be lasting for three weeks. Todays goal was to construct the form, decide our composition, and establish the background, which was resolved, but this photo was taken before I finished for the day. I am happy to see some strong figuritive anatomy in this under painting. Next week I will focus on tweeking my proportions and throwing down some values into the painting.

This is a single session painting done in Pyform's Life Painting class. This particualr study lacks in some proportion which can be seen in the feet, arms, and torso, but overall her motion is captured and most of the values were pretty close to what they were.

This is another single session wipe out done in my Still Life class. I feel some of the forms have trouble sitting on top of one another, but that seems to be due to some poor perspective choices. These will be fixed once I begin adding more paint to the surface.

And last but not least. This is a portrait done and the most recent Dirty Palette Club meeting. I struggled hard with this painting, mostly due to the surface rejecting my paint most of the time. All in all I like the final effect. Its not really how I would normally go about a painting, but
I like it none the less.

Ecorche and an Oil Painting Portrait

2009-02-10T18:02:00.001-08:00

Aaaaaand the beat goes on. Here we go with more cell phone pics. I'm sorry but the fact is I never remember the damn camera. If I do wait until I remember the camera it takes me two weeks to put a post up.

The setup for this portrait was troublesome for me because it was such strong artificial lighting and a boldly contrasting costume. Without getting too deep into apologizing for the picture quality I would like to state that this photo does NOT depict the parts of the painting I am unhappy with. Somehow this feels patchy and disjointed to me. I am also struggling to maintain the purity of color in this that I would like. It began as a pickout, followed with direct color application. I intend to experiment this semester with a process far more dependant on the underpainting....but, I'll explain that if I ever get around to it.

I LOVE Ecorche. This class is so entirely laid-back while still remaining intensely informative. You just let that flow wash over you and push along. I wish I could accurately describe the environment in one of John Horn's classes... that's gonna have to do.

*Added more crappy cell phone pics*

Jan Baltzell

2009-02-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

Here is a 2 week charcoal drawing, 22x30, that was done for Jan Baltzell's Thursday morning drawing class. The pose was quite a challenge; she requested that the model alternate sitting on two chairs on opposite sides of the table, every 10 minutes. So the model's right arm is shown twice in my drawing. We did this type of one model/alternating pose the first 2 weeks as well. This exercise really helps to hone our sense of spacial relationships, the way we deal with memory, and deciding what is necessary for the completion or success of a drawing. Jan Baltzell is an excellent professor who encourages and helps us to explore what we are most interested in terms of drawing or what makes us tick, whether that be an interest in line, atmosphere, texture, etc. She emphasizes what she calls "passages" within our drawings, pushing us to create pockets and inlets and outlets through which the eye can travel.

Next week she is taking the whole class to Philly's famous Reading Terminal Market (famous for its Amish pies and donuts, cheesesteaks, produce, and everything else you could ever want to eat) to do some sketching, I suppose for a larger drawing. It's going to be something else to try to pin down a composition in all of that commotion. Perhaps I'll go for Duchamp's futurist Nude Descending the Staircase approach and attempt to depict all of the hustle and bustle at once.

The above charcoal was done on Rives BFK paper, which is pure heaven. During my year at the Maryland Institute College of Art, it was the only paper I would work on. It holds the charcoal like no other and feels like velvet to the touch. I've come back to working on it now, because even at 5 or 6 dollars a sheet, Rives makes all the difference.

Pastel Practice

2009-02-07T06:08:00.000-08:00

I have never worked in pastel before, so I decided to give it a try. I chose to work with Rembrandt Soft Pastels, which are the most expensive pastels that I could afford. My palette consists of a warm and cool version of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, as well as some earth tones, Caput Mortuum, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna plus Black and White.

Because pastels do not mixed until they are blended or layered on the paper, I had to buy a few tones of each color to make sure I could produce a range of values. The costs quickly added up.

I feel that many of my drawings and paintings lack movement and gesture. Since pastel seems to be a very loose, expressive medium, I hope this will help bring life into some of my drawings.

In order to get a feel for pastel, I am working on a series of simple objects. I did three apple studies trying to isolate different pastel marks.

An apple made using Vertical strokes only

An apple made by blending with my finger

An apple made using cross hatching only

Self Portrait study

2009-02-02T18:46:00.001-08:00

This weekend I spent my time completing a self portrait for the Student Exhibit. The last self portrait I had done using (acrylic paint) was about a year and a half ago. The improvement I have seen come out of this portrait makes me feel great. Here below I have the steps taken throughout the painting. (Oil on Masonite) (8x10)

1. Image one is the finished block-in/wipe out. Looking back at this step I wish I had spent a little more time focusing on structure, due to the struggle I had in the next steps.

2. The second image was the focus on color, value/light. I felt I did a good job nailing the background, hair and clothing, but the face still needed to be changed.

3. The third image was done with detail work in mind. This was Issue number Uno. I discovered later on that I rushed into detail way to soon, (relaying on my block-in) after a crit by Mike Manley and Dave Golas. A lot of structure was incorrect, and with a little more Patience and better observation, this would not have taken as long.

4. The fourth image is a strong improvement of structure. I soaked in the advice of Mike Manley and grabbed my biggest brush, pre mixed my paints, and dived in there big shapes to repair the facial features.

5. Image five is the final results of the painting. Due to my deadline and drying time, I had to call it quits. Overall I am very impressed with the results and amount of improvement on my part.

oil painting on panel, using mediums, deadlines

2009-02-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

Sometimes writing can be a cathartic act. I hope that's what this will be for me today. Ok so, I guess I'll start with the good news. Awhile back, a friend and I were discussing how success hinges on your willingness to make the attempt. For instance, submitting to a show in the first place. The self portrait from my last post which I submitted to the exhibition at the Plastic Club won first place in that show. It was a welcome surprise and proof that our theory holds weight. As a result I have been taking the time to look around at local opportunities and the truth is I could stay overwhelmingly and blissfully busy without any trouble. I have glorious lists of contests, exhibitions and other opportunities to provide solid, tangible goals for my paintings that will ultimately provide the initial steps to becoming financially successful as an artist. Sounds lofty, doesn't it? It isn't that I don't believe it, I do. It's just that you have to actually do it to make it real. I missed two deadlines this week. One on Friday and the other tomorrow. They were my deadlines, I am still very much on top of my schoolwork. So in way, I only disappointed one very critical person in this whole equation. Me. I am pretty disappointed in myself and there is no cure for that other than to pick myself up and start working again. Like painting, this life is going to be very much about trial and error.

So, let's talk turkey shall we? I missed the first deadline because I refused to face an old nemesis. Writing. I have always had trouble sitting down to write. It's just that part that's hard. I don't fear a white canvas but a blank piece of paper...anyway, I procrastinated on the essay until I had sufficiently sabotaged the whole venture. It was childish and ridiculous.I know the cure for that one and I am slightly acquainted with it. It's called self-discipline.

The other deadline was a painting. Now I worked on this. In fact, I lost quite a bit of sleep working on this. Lemme show you:

Look at them! I know they're ugly but, let's face the truth here. I took these just after I reluctantly admitted this was not going to be ready in time and I was entirely unhappy with it. So I was beginning to scrape the paint off. I wish I had taken a pic prior to the scraping. I was working on panel again. With the self-portrait, I was totally enamored with the smooth surface of the painting. I could lay the paint on and seemed to latch onto the surface quite well after the initial coat. This time it went on fluid and stayed that way even after subsequent layers. The only thing I did different was that I used my medium earlier in the process. In fact I used it to seal my drawing and underpainting. I believe that I effectively destroyed the absorbency of the panel. I didn't realize it during the self-portrait but, that was the characteristic that made that made that painting work so well for me. Maybe learning how important that is to me was worth all of this trouble. I only know of one solution to the problem with my current panel though. I need to sand back down and rebuild it.

Still, I am left conflicted about tomorrow. I should be dropping off a submission for a show. The problem is that I don't have anything I'm excited about entering now. I'm open for suggestions.

Life Painting

2009-01-31T09:49:00.000-08:00

For one of my Life Painting classes, the teacher set up a model stand in the center of the cast hall. However, for the first class there would be no model. My teacher encouraged us to think about the space (Foreground, Middle ground and Background) and how to compose it.

For the next class, we had to incorporate a model into our started paintings. This exercise was great because, I had to consider the background elements of the painting before focusing on the model.

Zoo Competition

2009-01-24T09:36:00.000-08:00

Last semester, PAFA and the Philadelphia Zoo held a school wide competition. The challenge was to create a 2D work of art highlighting an endangered species. The competitors were given a list of endangered animals, a month long pass to the Philadelphia zoo, and the opportunity to create.

I, of course, chose the African Lion (I have a fascination with lion imagery).
I decided to draw on scratchboard, which is a medium that I had never worked in before. To prepare, I did tons of online research, checked out a lot of library books, and bought many practice scratchboards.

I went to the zoo a few times to sketch and take photographs. After observing the lions, I had to decide what aspect about them I wanted to capture. Did I want to portray the strong, aggressive, predatory lion? Or did I want to show the wise, noble lion?

Of course, there is a high sense of drama and excitement when a lion is in action. However, I decided to show the lion at rest in the jungle with the light shimmering through the foliage.

After determining the basic layout of my drawing, I created a quick sketch.

Next, I made a refined drawing and a tonal study

Then it was time to get scratching. I transfered my drawing onto the scratchboard using transparent paper and white pastel.

My Scratching Supplies:

Ampersand Scratchboard 16X20
Ampersand Black Ink (for Re-inking)
Ampersand Scratchboard Tool Set: Steel Wool, Fine Point and Curved line tool, Stainless Steel wire brush, a Parallel Line tool
Xacto Knife

I started with the lion’s eyes, hoping to capture within them a spark of life and intelligence. In order to create visual interest I paid special attention to the different textures in the drawing.

Controlling the organization of the lights and darks was tricky. Due to the nature of the scratchboard, it is hard to hide mistakes. Some of my values did not separate as much as they should have, so there are some areas of visual confusion.

Even though I did not win the competition, it was an incredibly valuable experience. I was forced to go through the entire process of art making, from conception to final product. In the end, I was proud of what I had accomplished and had learned an entirely new medium.

Final version of my self-portrait in oil, charcoal portrait and figure sketches and an anatomy study of the foot.

2009-01-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

This is a pastel drawing on regular dwg paper for Scott Noel's class. I would not recommend using that kind of paper...you can see how lovely it turned out. I learned that I change my drawing strategies with the medium automatically. That's not always a good thing and I need to be conscious of the changes I am making. Originally the figure was smaller and more isolated in the page. Scott pointed out that there are much more dramatic ways to use that rectangle and I will certainly try to do that in the future. The time to do this is while capturing the gesture. A gesture line is the condensation and organization of a whole lot of information...whew. The idea is to tack on just one more utility.

This is anatomy study I did last Saturday. I think I will keep working on specific problem areas like heads hands and feet.

This is study for the 15 week painting. I gotta admit I freezing up on how I want to use this....

So this is the final version of the self-portrait. I was extremely happy with how this turned out even though my professor thought it was too tight. The pictures don't do it justice. I worked this out on a smooth panel. I had been having lots of problems with those panels but, it worked out great for this project. The first session proves to be very hard to control and very greasy. That worked out great for the pickout I posted previously. The subsequent sessions grabbed onto the first layer rather nicely. Even though I did this over multiple sessions there is no glazing which is something I hope to employ on the next project. I have submitted this to a show at the Plastic Club on Camac St. in Philadelphia.

New Semester

2009-01-23T20:11:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, I hope your semesters are going as well as mine are. This post contains some early work that took place within the first and 2nd week of the semester. This was a one session study done on my own time in the cast hall. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I have never painted a cast before and I thought it would be a nice challenge.
I may be going back into this painting to polish things up a bit.
(oil on pre primed cotton canvas)

This was a one session painting done in Pyform's life painting class. The objective of the assignment was to use a limited palette to distinguish the values of the still life. Over all I think it turned out pretty good. The darks could have been a bit darker in the shadows and the light shining through the doorway could have been brighter.
(Oil on pre primed cotton canvas)

I have been looking forward to this class ever since i head about it. Having John Horn for anatomy only insured the knowledge I was going to get out of this class. This is the 2nd step to sculpting the head. This image shows my pre structure before adding any facial features.
I was very happy by the end of the day with my finished results, but im looking forward to finding out what needs to be fixed next week.
( grey clay)

This was my first wipe out I have ever done using paint. I have to say the values are very limited, pushing more towards highlights. I think this is due to pulling out to much paint and in a sense "over blending" the values.
(Oil on pre primed cotton canvas)

This is my second wipe out painting done in Jill's Basic Color class. In some aspects it is much better than the first one I did. I feel I have captured a better sense of form, weight, and space.
The face is pretty sloppy, but it was not the main focus of the study.
(Oil on pre primed cotton canvas)

This drawing is of a cast using charcoal on strathmore drawing paper. the drawing was done in Connors cast drawing class, which by the way is a great class. The drawing is a huge improvement for me in learning how to handle charcoal as if it were a painting.

Back to School

2009-01-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

It does not seem to matter that winter break has come and gone. Despite that fact that I hardly dented my long list of things to accomplish, I am ready to get back to PAFA. I miss the structure, the guidance and of course, my friends.

It has only been a few days and the work is already piling up. For life painting, we are beginning a 15 week pose. I am excited because I get to work on a large scale and have a chance to bring my painting to a more finished conclusion.

Here is a sketch I made of the model. I took time to analyze the pose and gesture. Next, I will make thumb nail sketches to experiment with possible compositions. Then I will make black/white value studies, as well as, color studies.

I know that this is going to be a great year!!!

Charcoal preparatory sketches, an oil self portrait in progress and an oil sketch.

2009-01-14T18:24:00.001-08:00

I have the opportunity this semester to do a very long painting. 15 weeks long. I spent today trying to get a handle on the pose. These are all 20 minute sketches from various angles around the room.

Here's an self portrait I'm working on for Al Gury. I am doing a burnt umber pick-out style underpainting here. I wanted to try and emphasize better control over the value by limiting it to 5 tones. I acheived some limited success..this time.

And finally, here's an oil sketch I did in Bruce Samuelson's life painting class. I have heard very good things about this instructor and I have high hopes for the semester in here.

Memory drawing and quicks in charcoal

2009-01-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

Finally, PROOF that I don't know what I'm doing.
I love to rise to a challenge. It brings out my contrary nature. My first day back at PAFA brought me just the sort of test I like. One of my all-time favorite instructors at PAFA, Scott Noel, asked us to prove just how much we really knew about the human figure. SO, without presenting us with a model to study or any other preamble..he asked us to draw a figure from memory...just like that. On the first day of class!...just "GO"! I thought that this was a profoundly useful diagnostic and just the sort of thing I need to start doing all the time. I like the idea of confronting my weakest areas and looking at the ugly deficiencies in my skills. That's why I like quicks or croquis, because there is not enough time to hide your errors. Anyway, here's that drawing.

Interestingly, he said that these drawings also showed evidence of what we thought was important in a drawing...I'll have to give that more thought.

Today in one of my other classes, taught by Renee Foulks (another phenomenal instructor and painter), I had to do some 5 minute quicks. They're ugly too.

So, when I got home today,I decided to do a memory drawing of that seated pose. Here's that dwg.

No pain, No gain right? My tentative plan is to combine anatomy studies with quicks and memory drawings until I feel more confident. I have no doubt that I will see major improvements by the end of the semester.

New classes at PAFA and quick oil painting sketches

2009-01-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

I don't know how it happens. It does it everytime though. The break is over! School starts back up on Monday...and I, for one, am PSYCHED! I am truly excited about the line-up of professors that I will be studying with this semester. Here's some links for ya: Scott Noel, Al Gury, Renee Foulks, John Horn, Bruce Samuelson, Steve Weiss, and Patrick Connors

I had lots of plans for the break but I accomplished relatively few things. I was crazy busy for awhile. It was hectic up until about 10 days ago and then... it all stopped. It was all too much. I fell into a funk and couldn't get things started again. Feh...

The thing that helped me get revved up to go again was the loose micro-community of painters we've put together over at PAFA. A few friends of mine have sort of banded ourselves together to help each other squeeze every last opportunity we have out of our time at PAFA. We call ourselves The Dirty Palette Club. My tuition was worth every penny just because it put me in the same room as these awesome people. We meet up, paint and talk. We've done lots more talking and laughing than painting so far but, here's a few of the sketches I've done.

Check out their work from our meetings here.

In other news, my brother-in-law donated his old laptop to me. It was a fixer-upper but, I think the system is stable now and that should allow me to edit photos and create the website I have been talking about. SWEET!

Recovering from the Semester

2009-01-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry I've kind of fallen off the face of the earth for a little while...the end of the semester was extremely busy and ehxausting and I've been spending all of Christmas break trying to recover from it. I've finally gotten around to photographing all my work from last semester and so I'll be posting alot of it over the next few weeks.

I'm starting off with posting some of the final work that I did for my portrait class with Al Gury. The first one here is a quick self-portrait study that I did as one of the final assingments for that class. My goal was to really work very loosely and quicky with it; I completed it pretty much all in a long one-day session.

The is a portrait that I did of my sister from a photograph. I posted a photo of it in progress earlier in the semester. I was surprised to find that I actually really enjoyed working from a photograph. I found that it gave me the time that I needed which I would not have had working from a live model, and I also liked being able to work alone without the presence of another person there. I didn't find that the photograph flattened things too much, and it actually created some really interesting color distortions which I wouldn't have observed in real life. I'm definitely planning on doing some more portrait work with photo references in the future.

This is one of my portrait from in class. Towards the end of the semester we had a six week pose where we were able to do larger "formal" portraits. I wasn't taking the uninstructed for that class, so I didn't have as much time as I would've liked, but I'm still relatively pleased with how it turned out.

I've lots more to post still, so stay tuned!

A sketch in acryla gouache on watercolor paper

2009-01-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

I did this illustrative sketch the other night while watching crime documentaries on cable. I didn't start off with anything in particular in mind...I just let it develop. I guess I should pay more attention to what I am listening to while I'm painting :) This is Holbein's Acryla-Gouache on hot press watercolor paper, 18"x12".....also for sale.

In terms of sales, I'm still trying to find time... but, I plan to set up an easy way to purchase these student works. In any case, I will have it done before the beginning of the semester.

Oil paintings from finals at PAFA

2008-12-28T14:28:00.000-08:00

Heads up. I am going to start selling off paintings to help with school costs. Take a look at the things I have posted on here since we started. Unless I have stated that I plan to continue working on the painting, you can pretty much assume it is for sale. If you are interested in any of these let me know. These are student works and will be priced as such.

Here are some more of the pics from finals...these are things that have not been posted in their "final" state.

Here is one of my final projects and I think one of the most successful and challenging paintings I have done so far. It is a self-portrait done without using photo reference. I thought my paint handling, use of color and shape all really began to come together here. Of course, I did make some mistakes. As usual, I made the head too big. In some areas I needed to create better transitions. I would have liked to pull the paint strokes around the forms differently as well. I plan to sand out some of this and repaint.

This is one of my pieces for finals. I have to say I was very pleased with how this painting turned out. It took about 9 hours and I really felt as if I was painting here. I would have liked to have been less timid during this painting. I am sure that I could have covered much more ground since my time with the model was limited. It is for sale.

This was a fun experiment. I was really much more concerned about blending mediums and using powerful colors than I was about the subject matter. This is cut paper, acrylic, gesso, pastel, black and white ink on illustration board. Also for sale.

This painting was quite a long figure study and even though it has become rather blended and many of the powerful colors I used have been lost, it taught me how important it is to keep strokes and colors fresh and powerful. Those are the attributes which will give a painting its depth and wall presence. The major mistake was that I oiled out before the painting was dry enough. I will be using retouch varnish to prevent this kind of error again.

This painting was a modest little still life that I set up to practice identifying color relationships and portraying them in the correct value key. After the previous debacle in still life class, I chose to do something simple and without any preparatory drawing or underpainting. The previous project taught me that it's important for me to make mistakes and paint over...I cannot become rigid or precious about my work. I still need lots of room to make discoveries. Also, also for sale.

Value Studies

2008-12-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

One area of color that I really struggle with is value (relative lightness or darkness of a color). Over the past summer, I worked on a series of simple value studies to improve my skills. Since color is so complex, I started by working only in black and white.

I used basic shapes in my set ups, like eggs, light bulbs, and wooden spheres painted white etc. I premixed a value scale on my palette (series of steps from pure white to pure black) and began painting.

To some people this may seem boring or tedious. However, I highly recommend black and white studies to anyone having trouble with values.

Portrait Study

2008-12-20T14:11:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. I dont know how many of you are going to keep working over the winter break but I am determined not to let myself become rusty.
This is a alla prima portrait done within 90 minuets during a session of the Dirty Palette Club. I found myself struggling off and on most of the time. The two biggest issue I found myself doing were over blending the paint, making everything muddy, and worrying about smaller shapes to early. My lack of patience lead me down the wrong path yet again. Bigger shapes first, then smaller ones, not vice versa.
I also need to think before i apply or mix my paint. This is the reason for my muddy colors and over blendeding.

Clay, Clay, Clay

2008-12-17T22:33:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone,
This is my first post on the blog and hopefully not my last. This post contains pictures of
a clay figure done in Rob Roesch's figure modeling class. I went into this class expecting to hate it, due to the previous stories i have heard, but actually this class brought a lot to the table. Rob gave his students the freedom to just go at the figure and let our personality's soak into the clay, creating individitual creativity. My goal during this sculpture was to add something that sparked the viewers interest while holding as true to the anatomy as best I could. For my second sculpture, I feel that it turned out ok. The anatomy is not strong, but I will fix that in the future.

The Fog Clears...

2008-12-16T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well, just one day after the end of the semester, and I think I'm ready to go back. Anyway, I figured I'd share my exploration into over-sized painting. The following images are a documentation of a seven by four foot still life I took on during my Advanced Still Life Class. While it's not quite finished, a bit was accomplished. I will most definitely return to this painting in the near future. I'll apologize off the bat for the poor quality of the images taken with my cell phone.

For the record.

2008-12-16T09:22:00.001-08:00

Here is the only record of my efforts in Figure Modeling with Rob Roesch. I took these pics because I had to destroy this :( Not everything we make is worth keeping.Despite the fact that my friends warned me that I would not like this class, I had alot of fun. I learned quite a bit from Rob. Sometimes it is a really good thing to confront yourself with views you do not necessarily agree with.I cam out of that class very much aware that some criticisms of the academy are accurate. We do tend to produce work that looks very much alike because of the rigorous, academic nature of the program. However, I also came out of that class very much aware that creative exploration, without a foundation of academic training or skill building, can produce work that is contrived, unfocused and naiive. It was a very timely reminder for me in both ways. Anyway, here is my last effort which probably suffers from a bit of each of those failings.

THese pics should be better quality. I hope to be capable of editing again soon....sorry that they're sideways.I am still working on pictures of the semester overview and my biggest "success".

Study...

2008-12-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been playing around with pastel. Though usually I only use a grey scale just to get a handle on the material itself as well as a feel for the value, recently I've been trying to work out color. I'm not quite sure how the layering is done so I've been trying it out on my own.

Here is a leg/color study:

Hi Everybody!

2008-12-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody! Just wanted to make my first post a quick one. The image to the left is a recent image from the Studio Anatomy class that I'm enrolled in. Not much to look at, but at least I'm learning something. :-P Oh, and thanks Dave for inviting me! Later everybody.

Home Stretch

2008-12-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

The fall semester will be ending in just over a week. My final projects are due and I am working hard to get things done. I am really looking forward to the winter break. Hopefully, I will have a chance to focus on my painting.

My figure study was lit by soft, cool, natural light. It is a big change from eye straining fluorescent bulbs and bright spot lights. I am amazed at how the lighting alone changes the entire feel, value, and colors of a painting.

I truly enjoyed trying to capture the beautiful purples, pinks, blues and yellows that showed up in the model’s skin. Looking back on what I have learned, I wish that I had cropped my subject in a different way. However, I am pleased with the way some of my colors turned out.

Back from the dead

2008-12-06T07:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry. I will do better. I can't do anything in regards to the picture quality yet. I'm workin on it. These are still cell phone pics.

All of the figures are done from life with lots of palette knife work. I wish I could rotate them for you...sorry guess you'll just have to turn your head sideways. I'm pretty happy with how I'm handling color these days. It's been a real fight through this smester but some things have really started to sink in. One of my finals is in this post but the quality of the image is so bad you can't see the major improvements. I will be putting up a post next week using better images...I think I figured out how to do it. Stooopid library kompewters. Anyway, enough griping. The major thing I've learned is that it is a very bad policy to modify edges on your brush strokes with impunity. It isn't that it will create too many soft edges, it's that the colors it creates are muddy and boring. Muddy is the word for this semester. Richard Schmid calls that range of boring brown/neutrals, muckledy-dumb brown. I have found that I can create much more interesting transitiions and a better sense of form by tiling or placing clear storkes of clean color next to each other. That's part of the reason I resort to using palette knives. It is also the reason behind people advising me to work larger all the time. It gives you room to make those transitions without blending. Of course, I thought I knew all of that and understood it though I still wasn't doing it. I think I have come a long way toward applying that information now... but I'm stubborn. Such is my life as a student. I relearn, restate and try to remember but I end up rediscovering the same lessons again and again...each time its a profound revelation.
One other important skill I've been struggling with this semester, is developing color and value relationships. So far, I am grasping the concept by thinking of it as a method of triangulating and palette organization. I try to mix several colors at a time and put them right next to each other until they relate the right way. My main concern will always be value. I'm really slow at it this process right now and my biggest failing is that I do not have the patience this process requires...yet. I beleive this is a matter of discipline and practice. I have to trick myself into that sort of stuff..

Next week! Final projects and an overview of my biggest successes this semester.

Another Simple Study

2008-11-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

I do not have a lot of work to display for this weeks post. With only a few weeks remaining in the semester, I am going crazy trying to finish all of my final projects.

Here is the beginning of another figure study, representing only a few hours of progress. I started with a quick line drawing and followed up with my first pass of color. The illumination is generated from my school’s awful fluorescent lighting system. As apposed to a spot light, the lighting in this situation is not very dramatic and the value and color changes are very subtle.

I love studies like this one, because they are very challenging for me. I hope that they will enable me to better control the gentle value and color shifts of my paintings.

Blocking things in...

*sigh*-*update* added a link to my new blog.

Still Sketchin"

"Beautiful Dreamer"

Testimony Is Coming In 2010

End of the Semester

Time to post I suppose

It Has Been a Long Time

Still Life, Winter Landscape

Merry Christmas!

"Testimony"

Sculpture Session II

Charcoal Figure Drawings

More Studio Work and More Studies

Interior first pass and charcoal 40 min

Four Foot Sculpture II

Interiors and portrait sketches in oil, charcoal figure sketches

Starting off the year...

Charcoal Figure Drawings

Studio work and various studies

Charcoal Still Life

Illustration, Life Painting, and Still Life

Portrait in oil from life and a master copy in oil

Charcoal sketches

Drawings, Figure Paintings, and Illustration

Pretty (Weird) Works

Oil sketches, charcoal and chalk sketch

Life Drawings, Life Paintings and Illustration

Charcoal sketches, Oil painting of a figure 2nd sitting

One Week Down

Back to PAFA

More Summer Studies

A Sign of Things to Come?

oils sketches-landscape and portrait and a still life in oil

Recent Work - Landscape/Illustration

Landscape Studies

oil sketches...worse for the wear

Summer studies

Charcoal Study

More Studies

Four Foot Sculpture

Landscapes And Figures

Water and Oil

Summer Break

In-Class Pastels

Watercolor or Watercolour?

portrait in oil, figures and still life

Another Semester Ends

(Failed) Pastel Portrait

in progress: portrait large scale figure ptg.

portrait in progress- 2nd session

in progress: portrait, landscape and some life dwg.

Burnt Umber Portrait

Old Stuff

Vincent Desiderio Workshop

Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings

Figure Comp

Portrait Studies

Small pen drawings

Pallet Knife Studies

ecorche, large scale figure in oil, pastel

Oil Paintings, flowers, portrait, still life

Figure Composition

Also, still alive - Head Structure Assignments

Pastel Studies

Surely, I'm still alive and kicking...

Random Tidbits

Life Painting

Large Scale Figurative Sculpture

Figure study, Portrait, and Still Life

Pastel Drawings

More of Those Darn Pastel Studies

Still Life, Figure Paintings and Pastel Drawings

Going Slowly

Portraits, Still Lifes, and live figures Oh My!!!

Ecorche and an Oil Painting Portrait

Jan Baltzell

Pastel Practice

Self Portrait study

oil painting on panel, using mediums, deadlines

sigh-update added a link to my new blog.