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... ;)