QAA - One Hour

Eyes are a bit cartoonish......

Transfer Time and an Award

I haven't posted since I started the school year, because most of my work has been on my Dante Bargue and during a Saturday figure drawing class-long pose.  All my work is in progress, thus, I have nothing to blog about.  I do have a few things to post today, however.

First, I have been working on Dante since the Spring.  I had been determining shapes and recreating them to a degree between ARA Spring and Fall sessions, but I needed the advice of an instructor to check areas and push me on my way.  Wednesday night Bargue class at ARA began on September 12, and we have a new instructor, Christina Mastrangelo .  She is fantastic.  I knew the first day that she would be insightful, and, four weeks later, with her critiques, I am able to transfer onto good paper.

Now the fun will begin!  I am terrible at rendering.  I hope the darks don't drive me through Hell!

I also attended QAA drop in this last Tuesday.  It was the first time in weeks I have been able to drop in on account of the fact that my teaching job has consumed any and all of my leisure time.  I am delighted that I went, because I learned that I won 3rd place at Quincy Art Fest on a drawing I was about to throw away.  Back in January I worked with a reed pen and Sumi ink on quick 5 minute sketches.  George, a fellow artist, retrieved this drawing from the trash, and threw some watercolor paint on it.  We won third!  The original can be found here (the middle drawing).  The following is the one with color:

Here is my hour drawing from Tuesday:

                                                 

Colleen Barry Workshop

Good painting is the kind that looks like sculpture.
Michelangelo

I completed the second week of Colleen Barry's Figure Painting Workshop at ARA.  Even though I was disappointed in my own work, the workshop itself was phenomenal.

Initially I had been enrolled in Emmy's figure drawing workshop.  I had signed up for drawing the figure, since I remain at the drawing stage in my artistic development.  Unfortunately, this workshop was cancelled, so I enrolled in Colleen's painting one.  It was definitely worth it.

Colleen stressed developing form and compression of values.  The result will be a painting that has a realistic feel, while not being "photo-realistic", a style that is not desirable to me.

During the final day, I became more accustomed to painting using Colleen's method.  Since I had wasted an exorbitant amount of time on the model's face, I didn't work on the figure as much as I now believe I should have.  In retrospect, I wish I had moved to the figure sooner, and perhaps I would have gained more comfort.  

I know that if I am able to practice Colleen's method, I will achieve good results.  I do want to say that attempting to achieve the rounded forms of the figure with oil paints was an arduous challenge.  I dare to express: even more laborious than reading Vergil for the first time!  Yet, it was definitely as stimulating, satisfactory, and pleasurable.  

If only I had more time to paint the figure!

Some points for me to remember:

1.  Gradation of values

2.  Compression of values

3.  Soft vs hard edges

4.  Turning the form

5.  Light points-where does the eye want to go?

6.  Where does the light hit?

7.  Warm shadows, cool highlights

8.  Cool coming out of shadow

9.  Push back form with higher values

ARA Workshop with Colleen Barry

I have the extreme pleasure to be attending a workshop with painter Colleen Barry.  She is a superior painter, and has a wealth of knowledge about painting techniques and the history of painting.  I was extremely hesitant to participate in this workshop on account of the fact that two of my instructors from ARA are also participating in the workshop.  I am glad I did, however, even though my work isn't comparable with the work of other participants.  Colleen is helpful and clear.  She is well-organized and thorough.  Painters of all levels would greatly benefit from listening to her, watching her, and heeding her advice.  We are working in the French Academic manner of the 19th century.

The first three days were drawing days for me:

My block in was decent.  We worked using the comparative measuring manner.  I worked this way in Brain's portrait class, so I was somewhat familiar with the technique.  It is different from how we usually draw the figure at ARA.  We began with a gesture and then measured from the inside out, unlike ARA where we create a silhouette first.  Even in Brian's portrait workshops, I was careful to construct an accurate silhouette.  Colleen believes that when beginning with a gesture, there is more feeling and expression in the drawing.  In addition, it is a much faster process.  It was rather liberating, but my drawing isn't as exact as I think it would be if I had employed our usual method of obtaining the construct.

After Colleen demonstrated window method of doing a grisaille during much of day 3, I began painting during days 4 and 5.  Colleen believes David was the first to proceed using the window method for his studies.  It is a great way to acquire form.

I worked in raw umber and flake white.  The brand of raw umber I used was warmer than other brands, but I did not mind so much because our model has a reddish hue to his skin.  The problem with my raw umber, though, was that it was too oily.  I had to tone up on my values to have my oily raw bind with my flake white.  I used a 2 round for my brush to begin with, but Colleen thought my 2 was too small.  I ended up with a 6 round, and turned out to be more appealing to me.  During this process, I had to fight with the paint to achieve form.  It is OK, but not as strong as I would have hoped.  As I review my work now I can see that I need to study anatomy more thoroughly.  

The workshop is two weeks.  Next week we will pain with a limited palette, but I will work more on the model's torso, and hopefully do another run over his biceps.  

QAA: Result of 4 Week Long Pose

I am relatively pleased with my progress at the conclusion of the 4 week long pose at QAA.  I obviously didn't finish, but I worked using the process I learned in Garrett's workshop to the best of my ability.  I have a photo to work from, but I have great difficultly with color when working from a photograph, so I will probably leave it unfinished.

Here is week 3's dead color stage:

I have too high a value under the cheekbone, but I resolved that during week 4. 

I was able to show Garrett the result.  He indicated that I did well with the color on the model's face, and especially well with the amount of time I had to work.

2 out of 4 Weeks at QAA

I am currently working on a 4 week pose at QAA.  Although I  have a mere 12 hours to work on this figure, I decided to paint adhering to what I learned in Garrett's class at ARA.  In Garrett's workshop, I had 32 hours with the model, but I hope that by continually approaching a subject using the ARA procedure, I will improve my own technique.  By the way, full time students in the ARA program have 90 hours for one pose!!!!!

In order to work on most of the steps I learned in Garrett's class, I will proceed as follows:

Week One:  Drawing
Week Two: Dry Brush
Week Three: Dead Color
Week Four: First Painting

I omitted a value study only on account of the limited time I have with the model.

Weeks One - Three are complete.  I am posting only the first 2 weeks, because I am still working on the dead color.  The coordinator of the group took photos of the model, so I may want to continue to dead color.  I doubt, though, that I will be able to paint much, since I can't really determine temperature in the photograph.  The figure is much too flat and the skin has an orange glow, which it does not in person.

Week One:

Week Two:

I am actually rather satisfied with what I have accomplished.  During the first week, I achieved a likeness, and the dry brush during the second helped with dimension.  I worked faster than normal, and I did not have the assistance of a teacher.

The Transformation of Jill

This summer I painted Jill, The Goat, for my friend Leslie.  I had promised her I would paint her beloved cat, and I mostly did it in the manner I learned in Garrett's class.

Drawing:

Transfer:

Obviously I fixed some areas from the above drawing before I transferred.  I must not have taken a picture of the better drawing.

Dry Brush:

Dead Color:

Lots of Paint:

This last part of the process was not ARA style.  I just painted with little medium (walnut oil), if any at all, and loads of paint.

Overall, I was happy with the drawing, but I still need to improve my painting.  I do like what I achieved with the texture of the paint, though.

If Leslie is not satisfied, she is welcome to make suggestions.