"Playing the Ukelele": (10" x 10" Oil Painting)

Here's my friend Ted, playing his ukelele. It's a pretty good likeness, but painting from a photo has it's limitations. Bottom line: mission accomplished ... he liked it!

Study: Girl with Blue hair (Oil Painting, 16" x 20")

I wasn't going to post this, except that it's an interesting composition experiment. I turned my canvas sideways, instead of a typical portrait format. That's about all I can say!

Ink Drawing, with a Tree Branch

Here's a fun way to loosen up: grab a branch off a tree, a bottle of ink, and some paper, and draw with it!  That's was one exercise in David Fox's drawing workshop. He put a bunch of tree branches on the floor, gave us some ink, and away we went.

Standing 3 feet away, and having very little control over your line, shows you that being in control isn't as important as you think it is!

Study: Girl With Green Hat (16" x 20" Oil)

A few weeks back, I followed my painting teacher's advice: spend more time painting, less time on the initial drawing. Tried it again today.

In all honesty, I prefer to begin with a more solid drawing ... that's just my comfort zone. But in Ismael's class, I'll follow his advice, to see where it leads.

"Harlan": Horse Portrait (16" x 20" Pastel)

A commissioned portrait of a very handsome (and well-loved) horse named Harlan. My process:

• Take and edit photos 
• Do pen and ink sketches, to work out pose and colors (see below). I liked some of the sketches, so I also turned them into notecards. 
• Decide on a favorite (the owner chose the tan background).

This was done as a Christmas present. On Christmas morning, here's the feedback I received:

"Your painting is a HUGE hit!!!!! Nicole loves it, and also loves the cards!"

That was the goal:) Merry Christmas, Nicole!

Study: Young Girl (18" x 24" Oil Portrait)

"Paint looser! Less detail! You're making a painting, not an architectural drawing ..."

Ismael Checo says this to me every week. So today, I tried to be more spontaneous ... something completely different for me.

A good exercise -- less accurate, more painterly? And ... completely out of my comfort zone.

Study: 'Susan' (Seated Nude): 18" x 24" Oil

In Dean Fisher's class, we draw the model to get the proportions right, on a neutral mid tone -- a cool gray-violet -- before we begin painting. I like the drawing, even though hands, feet, and arms still need work.

Re: skin tones, Dean says to paint the shadows cooler, so the lights read warmer. His advice helped to create a stronger painting!

Study: "Asia": 3' x 5' (Acrylic)

We painted a lovely model (Asia) in David Fox's class today.

David's contemporary painting class is experimental. We use cheap paint (Rustoleum), work on cheap cardboard, and use cheap Home Depot brushes. And, we work fast, finishing a BIG painting in 2 hours.

I like today's brushwork, and the limited palette worked better than others I've done. Fun!

Painting exercise: 20-minute value study

Dean Fisher has us begin every figure painting class with a 20-minute study on a toned panel. Working fast, we define the light areas and let the toned panel stand in for the shadow/mid tones. An interesting exercise!

Figure Study, Week Two

For the second week on this figure, I spent most of my time trying to fix her legs (top image). Not sure it improved things! That's painting from a model for you -- even when the pose is marked with tape, it changes. Next week, I'll use color.

3 Studies, Same Model: 16" x 20" Oil

Today I  painted this model (Maeve) for the third time (far right).  Ismael says to paint looser ... but how? He suggested I study the figurative works of J. Sorolla.

2 Studies, Same model (16" x 20" Oil)

I painted today's model 6 months ago (left) and then again today (right). Ismael's observation is that I start out trying to be too precise. His advice is to begin with looser and more gestural brushwork.

Figure Study, Week One (16" x 20" Oil)

I started a new life painting class today, with Dean Fisher, at the Silvermine Art Center in CT.

He asked me to work monochromatically, and the drawing and initial block in got off to a good start. The same model will pose next week -- looking forward to finishing what I started.

Life Drawing: Male Model

Today, David Fox talked about the British painter Euan Uglow. So for the final 20 minute pose, I tried to define each contiguous plane with color, despite limited pastels on hand. 

Even though the colors completely lacked the subtle beauty of Uglow, I made an interesting discovery when I looked at the image in grey scale. At least the values worked:) 

It was a fun 20 minute exercise. Check out Uglow's paintings if you don't know his work. Amazing.

Study of Girl (16" x 20" Oil)

This model's skin tones presented a challenge, especially in shadow. At one point, Ismael mixed a greenish color on my palette and pointed to where it should go (cheek, neck, eyebrow). I gasped! .... then added it and of course it was spot on. This portrait would have fallen very short without Ismael's color nudge!

Study of Girl (16" x 20" Oil)

I returned to Ismael Checo's weekly portrait painting class at the Rye Art Center, after a summer of little painting. Very rusty, but it felt good to be at the easel again!

I'm usually too conservative with skin tones, so today I tried to exaggerate the colors in her skin; maybe I overdid it, but I learned from the process. Note to self: next time, ask the model to look up!

Drawing Tools: Conte compressed charcoal

This is the charcoal we used in Melanie Reim's drawing workshop. It can be used for line work and for a fast painterly block in, when used on drawing paper that can take a wet mediu (see below on the ballet leotards).

Great stuff!

Melanie Reim Life Drawing Workshop

Here are a few of my favorite drawings from the Life Drawing Workshop with Melanie Reim. We used a compressed charcoal which, when wet, could be used for quick painterly marks, especially useful in a solid area like the ballet leotard.

Life Drawing: Raven V

September means the start of fall art classes:)  After a summer with little drawing or painting, it was good to get going again. Here are some of today's drawings. PS - This last drawing inadvertently added 20 pounds to our model Raven's frame. Sorry, Raven!

Sketchbook: Westhampton Beach

I'm so lucky to have friends at the beach. Here's the delightful view from their deck.

I'm playing with the idea of painting on location -- simple and quick -- just a quick pen sketch plus a watercolor wash, inspired by my friend artist Melanie Reim.

Life Drawing - Sophia

Today, we drew a lovely model named Sophia. Here's what worked, and what didn't ...

After the warm up, a nice view of her torso:

This one drawing came closest to what Bruce Waldman, our drawing instructor, has been saying: Make one area stand out, to direct the eye. 

Next, I tried crosshatching instead of shading with the side of the charcoal (below, top).  While I love when other artists do this, for now, using the side just suits me better (below, bottom).

Next, a foreshortened pose. Those always give me trouble!

For the final pose, I added a few flesh tones plus black and white. The drawing is OK (other than the awful hand!) ...

... which brings me back to Bruce's key point: For a more interesting drawing, find a focal point, and use contrast and line to make that one thing more important -- because when everything is equally important, nothing is.

I will try to remember to do that, going forward:)

Patti Mollica Workshop: Color Theory

I had the good fortune to take a painting workshop with Patti Mollica. I have two of her books, and jumped at the chance to take her workshop. Patti is a wonderful artist and teacher, and I highly recommend her classes/workshops!

The goal was to learn to make better color decisions. It was truly eye-opening to learn how to use the color wheel. We painted the same coffee cup using different color schemes (monochromatic, analogous, complementary, etc. ), learning why some color choices work and others don't.

I didn't get to all of the color schemes she talked about, but this is an easy thing to practice independently.

Life Drawing: Pastel

I didn't love any of my drawings last Tuesday, but I always learn something in the process. My favorite was when I choose one accent color, as above.

Here are some others: