ARA Long Pose-Unfinished

On Saturdays I have been working with  Brian MacNeil on portraiture at the ARA.  We worked for 4 weeks on one pose.  I photographed at the conclusion of each session:

If I had another week or two, I could have finished this portrait.  For some reason, I failed to darken the left eye as much as the right one.  My pencil wasn't working :). 

The procedure at the ARA is very laborious, but it definitely forces the artist to hold back and study the model.  I need that discipline!

A Bit of Work

The model for QAA managed to lose her way on the way to the session, so we posed for each other. Portraits, that is, not figure.  I only had one board to paint on, so I wiped out each portrait before endeavoring the subsequent.  We each posed for 20 minutes.  I didn't want to waste paint for this exercise, so I just used cadmium orange, ultramarine, and titanium white:

This is work from John's.  Decent likeness, but the left side of her mouth needs to curve up more.

Marina in an Ugly Dress

I only did a small amount of work this week. Here is the lovely Marina in an ugly peasant dress in red chalk on charcoal paper:

Getting Back on Track

             This week was better for me.  At QAA I painted an opera singer.  Ironically, I failed to paint her mouth.  This may have been a subconscious effort to get her to stop talking!  I mentioned before that the artists at QAA often engage in conversation with the model.  During this hour and a half session, I learned the life story of the model.  She, indeed, was very interesting, but I'd rather her talk at the break, and not during the pose!!!

              Admittedly, I like the composition, and it was a decent start.  Oil on canvas board, no medium.

              At John's, I achieved the best likeness of the model to date.  Her eyes are a bit cartoonish, but overall I was pleased.  I wanted a good composition for this study:

Charcoal on newsprint.  

Studies in Mediocracy

           Last week, school overwhelmed me.  I had to teach an extra class and I had student recommendations to write for 26 of my seniors.  With this added burden, I was unable to focus any attention on my art.  I attended my usual drawing/painting sessions, but my mind was not attentive.  As result, my work was mediocre.  This first piece was a four week long pose.  I spent 6 hours on this, but I was disappointed in the outcome.  The problem with QAA is that the artists and models engage in conversation during much of our drawing/painting time.  I really wanted to paint a completed portrait, but as you can see, I didn't have success with the model's face.  Part of this was because I was stressed about school, but the other part was on account of the model talking and moving constantly.  She even indicated that she was particularly itchy.  The first few weeks allowed my to draw a rather correct figure and start an underpainting.  The last week I wanted to work on the face and expression of the model.  What a disaster!

             This next one at John's was a two hour study, and yuck!