self portrait

yikes

Dante: McK, Dec 25?

Raven: ASL, Dec 18

oil on canvas

odalisque: ASL, Dec ?

color study for a bigger painting that never happened. oil on panel, 9x12

Sean: ASL, Dec 4

oil on panel, 12x16

Sean: ASL, Dec 2

oil on panel, 12x16

Sean: ASL, Nov 24 (in progress)

Candace: ASL, Nov 20

I liked the initial sketch okay except for the nose. It turned out alright until the last 40 minutes, when I redrew everything and screwed it all up. That's pretty much my preferred working method.

12x12, oil on canvas

Candace: ASL, Nov 13

Candace! Her skin is incredible, luminescent, perfect.

  

 

12x16, oil on panel

Tre: ASL, Nov 6

This is the biggest canvas I've ever painted on--24"x30". It made me a little nervous, but I was so glad that my instructor (MB McKenzie) finally said I could give up on the 1- and 2-day small starts. Finally, a change! That was 6 long months, folks. I wasn't sure if I was ready, but I was ready to be ready.

24x30, oil on canvas

Tre: ASL, Oct 30

Hey, hey hey! Tom says this picture reminds him of Fat Albert, and I agree.

12x16, oil on panel

Tre: Art Students' League Oct 27

oil on canvas pad, 9x12

It's not really finished, but I'm quitting on this right here, I think.

The photo's colors aren't very close to the painting's--nobody cares, right?

Tre: Art Students' League Oct 26

Getting started:

oil on canvas pad,  9x12

Rustam K: Art Students League, Oct 12-23

Can you believe this guy? Who looks like this? In real life, I mean?  I have to do some sit-ups.

in chronological order, as well as order of increasing proficiency (horrible-->terrible):

oil on junk canvas board, 18x24


oil on canvas paper, 16x20

oil on panel, 16x12

oil on loose canvas, 9x12


oil on panel, 16x12
I ruined the nose and had to wipe it off and start over during the last 15 minute pose. WHY?!?

another Russ In Progress

here's the last one from Friday morning. I like the beginnings better than the endings.

ASL--Russ, in progress

Instead of updating this entire blog today, I'm posting a few photos of 3 different half-made pictures from the last 2 days.

These are all made the same quick-and-dirty way:
1) Mix white + black + yellow ochre --> a medium warm gray. Thin with Turpenoid and doodle in the drawing. Wipe it off with Turpenoid, redraw, wipe, measure, redraw, give up. I really enjoy this first drawing phase.

2) I jump straight to this step because I enjoy it so much: mix up a color to match the face in shadow. It's often a combination of yellow ochre + cadmium red + ultramarine blue. I try and get the value right, but usually I veer too dark. Scrub it in with a dry brush. If all goes well, there should be an interesting shadow pattern at this point.

3) Backgrounds! They're simple, and it's usually a simple matter to match these colors exactly right. Once they're laid down, I can finally see if I'm getting the other, more confusing colors right (relative to the background).
The other great thing about mixing up the background color here is that I can use it to fix the drawing--trim in the head and figure because I'll have made them too wide, concentrate on the negative shapes... I have a big brush for this and it goes so fast.

4) Paint in the blacks and darkest shadows with a dry brush, redrawing and remeasuring against the model as I go.

5) Start mixing up the medium-dark and medium-light colors. GO CRAZY.
I don't know why the midtones are so hard for me, but they really drive me nuts. I always want to jump ahead to the lighter colors, which are fun again.


I'll put up photos of the finished versions later when I bring home the dry paintings. You'll be able to see that they end up looking a lot different than they start out--I have to keep fixing the drawing up until the very end. Please enjoy the very, very unfixed versions below.

Meet Russ the Cirque du Soleil acrobat. He does the trampoline board. This is his first art modeling job.
this is on canvas paper, 16x20


this one is on panel, which is a smooth, non-absorbent surface. You can see how the paint goes on a lot more streaky here than on canvas.


This is a little start on 8x10 loose cotton canvas taped into a pad.

This last photo shows where I stopped in the studio today.

Cat, Jordan, Monica: Art Students League Oct 5-9

Cat (Catriona, I think) and Monica are both actresses. Jordan did a nice one-day pose midweek.

Cat--canvas paper, 16x20

Jordan--canvas paper, 16x20

Monica--loose canvas, 9x12

Monica--canvas paper, 16x20

Cat & Monica -- Exercises - ASL Sep 29 - Oct 2

The dreaded one-day exercises! Remember these?
9x12 loose canvas pad, all

Tues--simplified shapes (Cat)


Weds--use palette knives only, no brushes (Cat)


Thurs--model posed behind us (memory drawing/painting) (Monica)

friday--paint and mix colors with left hand only (Cat)

Leticia & Esteban - Art Students League Sep 7 - 25

oil on panel, 12x16
Midtones on the arm--those @*&%$-ing MIDTONES!! How do you make colors that look dark and light at the same time? Not like this.
But this is the version that the models liked the best. Weird.

oil on panel, 16x20
I fiddled with her face and lost the likeness in the last 10 minutes I worked on this, and then I stopped working on it

oil on panel, 12x16
I think this was one of my better compositions. I like how he was standing--with his long arm relaxed and his shoulders torqued--so much. The panel was making me a little nuts that day and I switched to canvas

oil on cotton duck canvas, 16x20

central park--sheep's meadow

oil on panel, 9x12
No class for a few weeks and I thought I would paint outside everyday. I didn't. Tim Dosé let me tag along one day & I started this little painting. We're looking north toward the Dakota. I need to put in the people. The little people.

I think this painting is cute.

Stephanie - Art Students League Aug 10-21

I'd love to paint Stephanie again sometime. Her friend, Tom, posed on the other side of the room. During the last of these 2 weeks, they entered an online contest to design the funniest (most terrifying) golf outfit, and Tom won! The prize was a new PSP. I have a link to Tom's appalling kilt get-up somewhere.

 oil on canvas paper, 16x20


oil on cheap canvas board, 16x16
I wish I had done this one on nicer material.
I often like how the square pictures turn out.oil on canvas paper, 16x20


oil on panel , 9x12


oil on panel, 12x16

oil on panel , 9x12