Time to post I suppose

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 ...

In-Class Pastels

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...

(Failed) Pastel Portrait

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.

Old Stuff

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.

Figure Comp

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.

Small pen drawings

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.

Figure Composition

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.

Pastel Studies

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)

Study...

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:

The Start

Throughout high school my teachers put a strong emphasis on producing a measured, proportional drawing. I feel like I spent so much time focusing on that one part that I never thought of the picture as a whole and basically spent my time attempting accuracy (which, sadly, rarely happened), and, like most young artists, rendering it to death. The following are samples of my mid to late high school work that also aided in my acceptance to PAFA. Most were done in graphite or colored pencil.

























































Lately I have noticed my work becoming more atmospheric and think that is where I would like to take it for a while. It's helping me break away from "rendering for the sake of rendering" and I feel like it's allowing me to create an entire space with room to move around the objects, rather than each object made individually with little relation to the others (as can be seen in the last one).