Bill, an oil portrait

oil, 12x9 inches magnify As promised, here's the second portrait from the live model, drawn more carefully than the previous. Bill is a friend's brother who although he'd never modeled before, did a fine job. The hat was a lot of fun, and I especially liked the shadow it cast on his forehead and hair. I'm back from Colorado and excited to tell you about the Kim English workshop. I've got to organize my photos first. Meanwhile, Art In The Park is this Saturday the 11th in Newport Beach. If you're in So Cal, come on out and say hi!

Alex

oil 12x9 inches On Thursday I joined a figure painting group at "Perma-Dirty" art space in the Claremont Packing House. I really enjoyed painting Alex because of his fair complexion and especially his eyes. I used the Zorn palette: Twhite, yellow ochre, Gamblin's chromatic black, and this time cad red light instead of my usual cad red medium. The red light helped me get more warmth into the skintones in the light, but it seemed too warm to make the darks for skintones in shadow. Maybe next time I'll use both reds. Coming up on Tuesday evening I'll start figure painting classes again with Joseph Todorovitch. I'm beyond excited!

Abe

oil 10x10 inches not for sale Abraham Simpson is a hometown hero. He served his country as a Marine, and while doing so, died under enemy fire in Iraq, 2004. His mother, Maria chose the photograph I painted from. It's a great natural pose, and she especially liked that his hand is in the shot. I did too. It was my idea to paint him as a gift to his parents. I had no idea really, how emotional it would be for me. I hoped and prayed while painting that I'd be able to get his likeness but also his spirit for his parents. I thought about him in Iraq, and about him in Heaven. Maria came over yesterday to see it and really liked it. I made some minor changes today, and I'm satisfied that it's the best I can do.

Christina

oil 12x9 inches

Yesterday I had the rare opportunity to paint from a live model. The set up had it all: great color combinations, and a quietly confident young lady with high cheekbones and a beautifully long neck. I used the Zorn palette which I absolutely love for figure painting. The room we were in lacked good lighting. At home later I made some adjustments, mostly warming up shadows. There's SO much to learn about painting people! The more I learn, the more I find out there's more to learn. It's all good.

Martha

While in Sedona, my fellow artist and good friend, Martha Cowan and I took turns painting each other. Back in our hotel room after dinner, we adjusted some lamps and one of us reclined on the bed watching TV while the other painted. I was very happy to have gotten a fairly good likeness. Joseph Todorovitch taught us the order of learning how to paint portraits: first strive to make it look human, then make it look female, then like the person. When I first started drawing the figure again (after 30 year break) all my heads looked ape-like! Martha and I had some hearty laughs about me trying to not make her look like a monkey! If you see a hint of tears in her eyes, it's because she was watching something sad on TV! To see her portrait of me, click on her name link above.

Abe X2, Paintworks Challenge SOLD

oil on single canvas panel 6x8 inches

This week's challenge was posed by Raymond Logan. He said it would be tough, and it was. I painted right from the photo on my laptop, following the rules: paint a black and white using only burnt umber, ult. blue and white, while simultaneously painting a full color portrait from the black and white reference. It was the first time I tried inventing color from a b&w. Fun!

Tomorrow I'll demonstrate at Associated Artists of the Inland Empire's monthly demo meeting. I got lucky...the scheduled demonstrator couldn't make it, so I'm the stand-in! Should be lots of fun because I consider them all my artsy good friends.

Head Study

oil on linen panel 12x9 inches

Three weeks ago I began studying figure painting again with Joseph Todorovitch on Tuesday nights. Up until now I had used only the Zorn palette: yellow orchre, black, cad red medium and T. white. Exploring new color mixtures was a big challenge...to be honest, I felt lost! Most important is a clear depiction of light and shadow, so I gave special attention to the large shapes of light and shadow.

Head Study

oil on linen panel 12x9 inches

I've neglected painting and posting the last few days due to some fun times with family and friends. Hopefully I'll get back to painting tomorrow. In the meantime, here is my first ever attempt at painting from the live model, done a few weeks ago. I'm in a figure painting class taught by a fabulous artist, Joseph Todorovitch. It is an honor an privilege to learn from him. To see his work go to www.onejoseph.com