Class 9

More limited palette, more figure painting, less frustration:

Limited palette: venetian red, yellow ochre, ultramarine, titanium

Class 8: An Atrosity

          On Saturday, we had an extra hour to paint from the model.  Instead of our usual 3, we had nearly 4 hours. As I am fascinated by the various shapes, patterns, contours, and line relationships in the figure, I was excited about this.  We started class by drawing thumbnails of 6 different poses.  We then voted as a class as to which pose we wanted to use for the entire session.  I moved around the model to try to find an acceptable view to paint from.  I discovered one view where no other student was already set up that was decent.  Serendipitously, this is the position the class voted for.  I complete a hasty black and white study, but was eager to add color.  My teacher had recommended a limited palette of white, venetian red, yellow ochre, and ultramarine.  I was able to mix some believable flesh tones from this classic palette.
         Unfortunately, I struggled the entire class session to find the form of the model's position.  It was a real exercise in foreshortening, and I enjoyed this challenge immensely.  My failure, however, was caused by the fact that the position I was attempting to capture needed to be exact or the composition looked childish and unskilled.  The problem was that each time the model returned to her pose following a break, she was slightly off for me.  I kept having to correct the drawing each time she returned.  With some models, it is easy to ask them politely to move an arm up or down a little, a leg to the left, etc.  This model, however, was, well, a little temperamental.  When students asked for a slight repositioning, she was irritated and a bit testy.  I did not want to anger her, so I left her alone, and did not ask her to return to the precise previous position.  Since each negative space needed to be exact, I continually had to fix the drawing to make it correct, and never had a chance to bring the flesh to life.  Furthermore, the head is obviously off, but I didn't have time to fix that either.  I have the terrible habit of focusing on the figure, and working on the head last.  My instructor has warned me against this.  I really need to be more cognizant when I begin a figure study, and follow her advice.    
         Below are my black and white and first attempt at a color rendition of the human form:

      




        





        




           Molly encouraged me by reminding me that it was just an exercise, and indicating that it was good practice to continuing to observe the model and make corrections.  I was far less frustrated henceforth.

Class 7

Class 7 painting is a continuation of my attempt to search for values in the figure:

First Figure Painting: A Focus on Values

          From this point on my painting class will have a model.  Although I have now drawn from the model numerously and relatively consistently since last summer (a life drawing course last summer and Quincy Art Association on Tuesday nights), I still had some reservations about painting it.  I expressed my concern to my instructor as well as to my extremely talented artist friend, Molly, who attends figure drawing with me at QAA.  My instructor told me to focus in on only a small section of the figure and limit my palette to yellow ochre, venetian red, ultramarine, and perhaps a little white.  Molly said that I might try just painting the values with Payne's Grey and white.  She and I painted last night at QAA. This is my result, using Molly's technique:

           Molly indicated that attempting to find value on a figure as well as being concerned with color can be overwhelming, daunting, and laborious.  She said that determining values first and then adding color later is a great method for beginners.  Molly likened painting the figure to being left in a trackless forest, no path in sight.  Limiting the palette to Payne's Grey and white would clear away the trees and lead me out of the forest.  She was correct!  I enjoyed this exercise and tonight I will do the same during my class.

First Critique

Here is a transcription of the notes taken by my classmate Mary as students and instructor commented on all the work I accomplished thus far during this semester:

Student comments:

• palette knife work, awesome, really achieved something
• palette frees you, bolder, love blue circles=spacious, playful, energetic, freer
• color choices exciting, vibrant, top right (I think this was Class 6 painting)-love colors, more relaxing color relationships
• energy in little ball painting is great (homework assignment, not displayed on blog)
• love composition of big 2 circles (First Decent Abstract Painting), maybe different colors, try again
• peeking color in big 2 circles (First Decent Abstract Painting) is hide and seek, it works now, doesn't need "cleaning up" (I had said initially that I wanted to clean up some of the mess in this painting)
• loose grays, fun in potted plant one (Class 3: The Palette Knife)  and in between background in "loose" pepper painting (Homework Assignment)

Instructor comments:

• First Decent Abstract Painting: Clean up?  How? -agree, like as is, maybe don't go into, impressionistic, expressionistic, if you "fixed it", it might become a different painting
• palette forces you to hang on to big shapes better, electrifying other big shapes and color
• keep looking when working from observation
• Class 3: The Palette Knife: (I wanted to deepen the purple to add depth to flower, since my mom wants it) Not too useful to go back in once set up is gone, tends to mix up information from setup and memory, not necessarily a good idea for the painting

Classes 4, 5, and 6

During Classes 4, 5, and 6, I continued to become accustomed to the palette knife.

Painting Class 4 is terribly rendered, but I decided at the beginning of this blog not to "edit" my paintings.  I want to document my progress transparently so that I will be able to view clearly how I am developing as a painter. In the above painting, I believe I began to accomplish the orange drapery, but failed miserably at reproducing the aluminum can, especially its cylindrical form.  I will continue to correct drawing issues.

Painting Class 5 is better.  I really like the colors I used for the background, and one classmate commented on the yellow hue behind the honey jar.  The highlights on the honey, I feel, are too light.  I like the insouciant manner of the paintbrushes located on the left side honey jar.

Painting Class 6 was fun to struggle with.  The pink plastic floating device was a challenge, but the colors I chose for the accents are decent as they seem to contribute to creating some depth.  The green plastic ball isn't painted up as well as I would have liked, but, again, all the paintings I complete during class are one sitting paintings. The front on composition reminded me of the following painting by Arthur Dove: