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.

Portrait Studies

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

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

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

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

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

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.