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.

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
Here's my study from Tuesday night's figure painting class. The head scarf and long earrings added interesting elements to the pose. Behind her were shelves with various objects. With only about 2 1/2 hours painting time, I included just a couple of the objects so I could use my time to bring the face to a fairly finished state. Still feeling my way through color mixtures, this time I tried using burnt sienna and altered it as I saw shifts in value, color and temperature.

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

Here is my latest study from the sixth session of my figure painting class. My main goal was to concentrate on the face and get both eyes the same size! In the two previous studies I had painted one eye larger (easy to do!) and had to correct as best I could. I worked up the facial features all at the same time as Joseph suggested, and it worked well for me. I'm very happy with the flesh tones, likeness, and psychological feel. Overall, I'm making progress.

Head Study

oil on canvas panel 12x9 (portion)

Here is what I did at my figure painting class this week. I love working from the live model. The painting actually includes the figure down to the waist. I'm very pleased with how the entire painting came out. She had a confident, relaxed attitude, which I was able to capture. It looks like her and feels like her.