Portia.1 Hour and a Half at QAA

Quick sketch. Great model. I used charcoal paper, and I was unable to maneuver the Conte as well as on the drawing paper I used with Ilya. She is distorted, but I had no room to step back, and I did not measure at all.

Cartoon - Ernesto

A few adjustments to my cartoon next week and I'll be ready to transfer:

New Year's Resolution:

I will attend Tuesday drop in figure drawing at QAA as much as humanly possible. Quick studies. An hour and a half to two hours.

 1/6

1/13

Lots of Work

I have been working since the summer, but had little time to post.

1.) Venus, The Creator*

I finished my 3rd Bargue drawing for the Academy of Realist Art, Boston. One more to do!

2.) Stupid Bird Painting

I painted this bee eater in the manner I learned from Christina's workshop last summer. I picked a simple subject, and just painted.

3.) Red Chalk Eric

I did this in a three day workshop with Ilia Mirochnik. I learned a huge amount-everything from stretching paper stretching to finding form on the subject. I like the hand the best.

*Mother of Rome, delight of Gods and men, 

Dear Venus that beneath the gliding stars 
Makest to teem the many-voyaged main 
And fruitful lands- for all of living things 
Through thee alone are evermore conceived, 
Through thee are risen to visit the great sun- 
Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on, 
Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away, 
For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers, 
For thee waters of the unvexed deep 
Smile, and the hollows of the serene sky 
Glow with diffused radiance for thee! 
For soon as comes the springtime face of day, 
And procreant gales blow from the West unbarred, 
First fowls of air, smit to the heart by thee, 
Foretoken thy approach, O thou Divine, 
And leap the wild herds round the happy fields 
Or swim the bounding torrents. Thus amain, 
Seized with the spell, all creatures follow thee 
Whithersoever thou walkest forth to lead, 
And thence through seas and mountains and swift streams, 
Through leafy homes of birds and greening plains, 
Kindling the lure of love in every breast, 
Thou bringest the eternal generations forth, 
Kind after kind. And since 'tis thou alone 
Guidest the Cosmos, and without thee naught 
Is risen to reach the shining shores of light, 
Nor aught of joyful or of lovely born, 
Thee do I crave co-partner in that verse 
Which I presume on Nature to compose 

Opening Lines of Lucertius' De rerum natura
Translated by William Ellery Leonard

Cloud Study?

Today I wanted to attempt my first cloud study.  I watched a video on how to paint clouds, and I had asked Christina the instructor of my workshop how I should go about it.  Unfortunately, the materials I ordered for this work had not yet arrived, so I simply used a board I had purchased at Michael's.  Well, the board refused to accept the oil paint, even when I slathered it with globs of color.  So instead, I need up with this mess:

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.