More from the Senior Art class...

So I have a few more from the Emeritus College. I always enjoy painting there. The older artists always surprise me in a variety of ways. Some really talented people there...


For some reason, I actually forgot to bring a canvas, and my friend June saved the day by giving me one of hers. She made the canvas from a masonite square board. I have perhaps never worked on a square canvas, but beggars can't be choosers! It was only later that June asked me how I liked the canvas. I said it was fine. She replied, "Good. I should give you all of them that I made, because I can't stand working in a square canvas!" Gotta love June...




Kinda like this one, but not completely pleased with the screen right arm. Oh well...


I decided to paint a portrait so to continue to apply Nathan's lectures to good use. I seem to be able to relax better in this atmosphere and can usually get a painting that I am more pleased with. This particular model was in a bad way during the session. She had a splitting migrain and couldn't stay still. I had to ask her to keep her eyes open in order to paint them. One artist there mentioned that this may be my most successful one that she has seen. I don't know about that, but I appreciated the kind words.

Happy Turkey Day!!

So for Thanksgiving I went to Columbia, MD with Jen. I always enjoy her parents' company and the deep fried turkey is amazing! In addition, they have a lake with some beautiful scenery behind their house. As a matter of fact, quite a few of the en plein paintings posted on this blog are from there. I brought my easel and paints (of course!) and had to do a painting. Truth be told, I attempted 3 paintings but only one I deem worth showing. Since I seemed to be in a painting slump of sorts, with a few crappy paintings as of late, I decided to pick a simple subject matter and just do it right. Back to the basics. Focal point, warm/cool, etc. It was cold and made me yearn to paint in the warmth of the California sun!!! :)

Nathan Fowkes Portrait class...

So my most recent class at the Academy has been with Nathan Fowkes. He works full time at Dreamworks as a concept/color artist. The class was called advanced portraiture and damn, there were some amazing students there. I was always amazed by the caliber of work being produced there. Considering this was my first true portrait class, I was happy to just get a painting look like a human being, let alone actually looking like model. I can recommend Nathan to anyone interested in learning an illustrators perspective on the craft. His lectures were extremely eye opening and helpful. He talked about the ability to manipulate what was before you and to put it on the canvas in a visually interesting manner, while remembering the limitations of the medium of paint and that the eye can be fooled very easily. By no means do my paintings even begin to show the extent of what he discussed. After his lectures, we sometimes only had two hours or less on the paintings. Only with more practice do I hope to begin to take his words to heart and completely understand the concepts. Art is always about continuing to learn, to see, and to do. "Practice, practice, practice..."




Nathan discussed how to paint with colored gels quite a bit. The highlight should show the color of the light and as the form turned away from the light, it should show more of the local color of the skin.





This is the 4th time I have painted this model. This time was with a warm/cool lighting scenario. The dark background seems to have added to the drama of this piece.

My birthday Gal!

November 5th was my 40th birthday. A milestone, I know. Jen asked me if I would like to go to Disneyland on my bday, which is free for the bday person and has some added perks, or go to my regular Thursday painting class. Hmmm.....decisions, decisions. I know that Disney is the happiest place on earth for some people, like my father, Jen and her family, but I am probably happiest when I am creating art. Preferable art that I feel is successful, whatever my various criteria may be. Yes, so I picked going to my Senior citizens art class! This is the model for that session. She is not pregnant, but rather obese. I actually don't mind painting overweight folks because there is so much more volume to capture. It can be fun getting lost painting all those curves. I may have missed out on riding Magic Mountain this year, but at least I got to paint some! Sorry, I couldn't resist... ;)

Portrait of Sadie Lee Ziegelman...

So this is the color study that I did many moons ago. I knocked it out in a few hours based on a photo that my brother emailed to me. The painting is roughly the size of my hand. I very rarely do paintings based on photos, but this was one of the first offspring from the Ziegelman brood! (That we can verify...) I tried to keep the painting fresh and try to make it feel like it was not from a photo. I hate when you can tell photo reference was used... While I did like some of the feeling of it, I didn't mean to make Sadie look like Winston Churchill. I let it sit around for probably 1.5 to 2 years before even attempting a larger version of it. I worked primarily from the color study for the larger version to avoid the "photo look."


So I decided it was time to do a larger version since I have been doing more painting lately. This is the underpainting. Right now I was just dealing with placement and some values. At this point I could tell that the drawing was a bit off...



I decided to start laying in some color areas roughly at first. Larger shapes.



It was at this point I decided to really begin to figure out the facial features of a newborn. It was very difficult for me because compared to an adult, there are no hard planes. Everything is so smooth and delicate, but I think I started to see some definite improvement on the likeness.

After the face was in a pretty good place, I moved onto her clothes and the background.



I then jumped to the blanket, laying in values to make it look like it lived in the same lighting scenario.


All that remained was noodling in the background more and other fine details. I was pleased with the outcome. I like that I moved her flesh to a more warm look as compared to the original color study. I am also pleased that she doesn't look like Winston Churchill anymore. I hope that she likes it...in, ummm...15 years or so!

Some CA figures and portraits...

So I have taken one class thus far at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, and I am in the process of taking a second class there now. My first teacher was very hands-on and wanted the students to approach painting the way he does. This makes sense and I was very open to learning his techniques. I feel that it has influenced the way I now approach subjects, hopefully in a more proficient manner. Only time will tell...



Little did I know that I would be painting this guy quite a few times in the near future. This guy gets hired a lot by teachers in LA. He is very professional and hardworking, but sometimes a little variety is good too...

See what I mean? Here he is again. He likes to change up his hair with a variety of feathers and such. I also believe that my drawing seems to have elongated his face a bit as well.


Here is the last one I have done of him...so far. I can only hope that subsequent painting of him will only continue to get better...


The Academy likes to push the idea of a limited pallete and I am beginning to see the benefits to it. However, if I find myself too limited, I simply add in another color when needed...



I am also taking a free class with mostly senior citizens. At first they didn't like me being there much, but last week one artist told me, "I am glad that you are a part of this class." It's nice to be wanted! This is a painting done there. I seem to feel less stressed in this class and I feel it shows in my end results...



Here is another example from the senior citizen class that I did. The composition that I ended up with, was not what I was originally planning, but nonetheless, I am intrigued with the end result...



This was the first male model that the senior class did. I guess the old broads really liked him because when one of the model breaks were finished, one elderly female artists yelled, "Take your pants off already!!" A little decorum ladies, please...


I found this model quite challenging because of the very different shades of skin tone. Very different. I even exaggerated the warmth and value of the lighter tone to help integrate the two. She ended up looking like someone that would be spend a lot of at a bar smoking cigs and drinking whiskey. Just my opinion...



My latest image so far...from my newest class at the Academy with an amazing artist named Nathan Fowkes. He does great work and works as a color artist/concept artist at Dreamworks. The class is standing room only and I have to get there an hour before it starts to get a good spot. Unfortunately, this doesn't leave much time for him for one on one teaching. Hopefully, I will still learn a lot...

Some NY figure paintings and portraits!

"Jen in a Sea of Red"

Jen has posed for me a handful of times. This is one that I am allowed to show. She posed for me during an anniversary get away weekend. I remember it being a very pleasant stay at a bed and breakfast. I painted this very quickly since the sun was setting outside and I was losing all light. I do feel that the simple indications of the painting is successful.

This is a color study for a painting of my niece Sadie. It is quite small; about the size of my hand. I enjoy some of the looseness of the piece. I had this study finished for at least a year and half now, but only recently finished the full size painting. I have never been a fan from working from photos, so this is quite a departure for me. I will post the final larger scale piece very soon.



A NY piece that I did after work at Blue Sky. I was fortunate enough to get to pick the model, set up the lights, and help with choosing the pose. Stephanie Landers is an excellent model. She raises the bar, and forces me to strive to capture her pose and essence. I do like the end result, but it would have been nice to have had more time to actually give her a face!




There's something to be said for just piling paint on a canvas. I did this piece in NY before my classes here at the Academy and was just having fun. You know what? I like it. It has a freedom that my newer figures don't have.