Summer Still Life Workshop

This summer I again attended Christina Mastrangelo's 2 week workshop at ARA.  I am much happier with my still life this year, though I didn't finish.  I had a set back at the beginning.  Since we were in tight quarters, my neighbor knocked over my set up twice!  I had time for a few hours of second painting, but I feel I was still working on first painting.

I think I will varnish her in two weeks, because I have not tried that before, and it will be a good experience.

Set up created by instructor:

Construct:

Transfer:

Dead Color:

First Painting:

Before Varnish:

Long Pose in Charcoal

This long pose of Laura took me 90 hours of class time, plus time at home to fill in the background.  Class was at ARA Boston with Emmy DeMusis on Saturday mornings from September-June.  I worked on Roma paper with Nitram charcoal.

Construct:

Transfer:

 Darkest Dark and Background Values:

Value Study:

 Shadow Shapes:

Working in Shadows and Darks:

Big Form Modeling:

Big and Small Form Modeling:

Still some work to be done rendering, but I did the best I could in 90 hours. I could have used another 10.  I however feel so fortunate that Laura was able to stay with us on Saturdays for the entire school year.  A couple of goals accomplished: 

1.  I experienced big form modeling for the first time.

2.  I maintained the fall of light by keeping the lightest light the paper.  

Ally: 60 Hour Pose at ARA

I had the extreme pleasure of working on a figure for 60 hours, the longest time I have ever had in front of a model.  Though this falls far short of the 100 hours full time students at ARA are afforded, I feel that, with the assistance of my fabulous instructor, Emmy DeMusis, I was able to accomplish much.  I was extremely excited about the likeness I achieved, but I wish I had more time to render the figure. I focused on form, value, and the transitions of Ally's head.  I actually spent more time on the drawing than the 60 hours with the model, because I filled in holes, and smoothed out values during downtime.  I used a 2B, HB (last 40 minutes of the pose) on Fabriano Artistic, Hot Pressed, 140.  I tried a brush for pushing in a light value, but wasn't comfortable with it.  Furthermore, Ally was an amazing model!!  She has a great head, and pleasant demeanor which made for an all around amazing experience.

Basic Steps:

1.  Construct (39 hours)

2.  Transfer and establish a base tone for darks

3.  Key the drawing by establishing the darkest dark

4.  Work on form shapes and values

5.  Transitions