Sunday, August 1, 2010

Nude Female Oil Sketch

"Oil Sketch of Dayna at the AGC" (Oil on Canvas, 18"X24", $650)

Here's another figurative oil sketch, except that this time it's "only a sketch" because I was only able to put about three hours into the painting. (In the two previous posts I have other reasons for doing sketches instead of more finished works.) I could only put that amount of time into it because it was part of a painting group that I run at the artists' Group of Charlestown (AGC). I hire and pay the models, set up and 'tear down' the room, and generally run the group by timing the models and making sure things run smoothly.
There were two nights (over two weeks) used for the painting of this model, but I had a very hard time at first with getting a good beginning, so I had to keep wiping it out and starting over. Luckily, by the end of that first night I got a good start that I could work with the following week.
The nights are only two hours long, so this whole painting was actually done the second night. I'm very happy with it, but of course I'd like to take more time with a model to get all the little things that much better. I'm especially happy with the hands, the skin colors and the languid expression on her face. I also like the blowing curtain in the background and the suggestion of the white-painted brick walls of the AGC gallery where the group takes place. I have to say that the painting looks even better in person, where the colors are richer and the paint is livelier.
It's not necessarily a bad thing to have time limits on a painting. It forces you to get something on the canvas quickly and to teach yourself how to get good results without overworking a picture, which is easy to do, even with a time limit.
I'll be bringing the "Oil Sketch Thursdays" program back this Autumn, so I'll be posting more paintings of this nature in October and November.

1 comment:

  1. Nice work, Michael. It's good to hear you'll be bringing back Oil Sketch Thursdays this Fall. I appreciate the time you put into finding good models for us. I'm learning a bit more about oil pastels, and am looking forward to giving that a try again with a live model. I also like your Vermont-Springtime very much.

    By the way, I recommend again that you visit NY for the Charles Burchfield exhibit at the Whitney. It ends 10/17. I kind of liked the paintings in books, but thought they seemed a bit odd. I only went to the exhibit, in fact, because 2 separate artists urged me to go. However, I LOVED the art in person. So did Hal. Really inspirational mood and depth in the landscapes. Check out the website:
    http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/CharlesBurchfield However, again, for some reason the art is so much better when you can see it in person.

    Bekah

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