Saturday, February 27, 2010

Standing Nude Woman

"Nude Summer, Standing with Red Portfolios" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $550)

This model was named Summer, as the title of the painting suggests. It was a one session pose, so I was quite pleased to get the results that I did. She was very good as a model, having pretty red hair and a nice figure and posture. She stood against the bin where the drawing students kept their red portfolios, so I added them in as a complement to her red hair and pink skin. Once again I was lucky to have a spot where the lit side was closer to me, and therefore the viewer, to add to the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional surface.
I like the little abstract shape of light that appears at her elbow and completes the curve of her back. If it weren't there, she'd probably look rather boxy instead of rather serpentine. I also like the loosely expressed hair and her face, which shows her eyes at half mast. She looks a little tired, and I suppose she was, after a long day at work and having to come to a studio to model for the extra cash. If you ever find yourself in a painting situation with a tired model, remember to suggest a standing pose, because otherwise the model will begin to nod off if they're seated or reclining and the time will not have been worthwhile for anybody.

Seated Nude Woman

"Miranda, Sitting on the Model Stand with a Black Shawl" (18"X14", Oil on Canvas, $300)

This was done in Dave Penna's class, which I've mentioned in these pages before as being my favorite place to paint nudes. This set up was a little different from some of the others that we had, in that Dave placed Miranda (the name of this one-time model) in the middle of the room and we all placed our easels around her, rather than having the model against the wall and all the artists in a semi-circle. Maybe Miranda felt a little self-conscious with the arrangement, because she felt compelled to have her black shawl/scarf over her lap. Like I say, she was a one-time model.
It's always a good idea to accommodate the model, if they have a good attitude about posing, since they're the ones taking their clothes off. She was certainly nice enough about it, but a little shy. I think I was able to show a little of her demureness in this painting.
One thing I'd like people to notice is the transition into shadow on her torso. See how the details of the contours of her stomach are lost as they fall away from the viewer? That's intentional, to force the effect of distance and perspective. It's also intentional that I chose a spot where I could have the lit side of the model closer to me so as to force the same principle, as mentioned in an earlier post.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Standing Nude Man

"Posing Like David in Life Painting Class" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $400)

Michelangelo's sculpture of David was the model's inspiration for this pose that he took in Life Painting Class. He held his robe over his shoulder rather than a sling, but his pose is quite recognizable and memorable. This was a two-week pose and I also took it home to work on it further.
I feel I did pretty well with this one, but I'd like to do it again, as with most of my figure painting. Not even so much because I want to do it better, but just because I fond it so inspiring that I want to try. I truly enjoy rendering the human figure and I'd always prefer to start another painting, since I know that it's easy to make a painting look overworked. I'd much rather just start another after working on it for a maximum of two sessions if I'm not completely satisfied.
This model has stayed on the Boston modeling scene since this was painted and he still makes regular appearances at the Museum of Fine Arts for the open drawing group that they have in the galleries. He keeps his pants on at those, that's for darn sure.

Seated Blonde Woman

"Seated Blonde Woman in Life Painting Class" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $300)

This is from the Life Painting Class that I mentioned in previous posts and that I got so much out of. This was a one session pose and I was able to get all the information I wanted to end up with an expressive work. The wall and hanging backdrop shows itself in the upper right corner, as I'm at the same position in the class as I was when I was painting the "Bella Italiana" picture that I put up last time.
I like the bright light coming in from the right, lighting up the near side of the model and making it easier to express the depth. In fact, I think the spotlight was just off to my right, putting her face in shadow and lighting up her shoulder.
At the second session, I did another start, but this one came out better, so I painted over other. Since I know I can only get a certain amount done at these classes I choose to make as many starts as I can because that's where the groundwork is laid. "Well begun is half done", I say.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Reclining Nude Woman

"Reclining Nude - Bella Italiana" (16"X20", Oil on Canvas, $650)

I like this one quite a lot. It's another one-night painting, but the results speak for themselves. I liked the lighting, and the model was quite nice. I also liked that the red backdrop, which when combined with the corner of the wall and the back of the room beyond the corner (here expressed as a dark green void), looked like an Italian flag hanging behind the model. I liked it enough to base the title of the painting on it.
This was painted quickly, wet-in-wet, and I've always liked the way that technique looks. With oil paint, you can use thicker paint, laid down properly, to cover and correct improper aspects of your painting. also, you can use the wet edges of two adjoining colors to combine them in ways that can't happen with wet-over-dry applications.
The instructor of this class was not one of my favorites. He came after my favorite one had already left for Chicago. The instructor at this point apparently liked eating fish for lunch, and then smoking cigarettes to cover the fish-smell, and then chewing gum to cover the cigarettes and fish. None of it worked, except for the fish and cigarettes, which I could always smell.

Seated Woman in Lingerie

"Seated Woman in Life Painting Class" (18"X14", Oil on Canvas, $300)

This painting is the result of more model problems that culminated in the instructor having to call a friend of his to come in and pose. She wasn't a real model (though she was quite pretty), so she wasn't comfortable with posing nude, hence the green lingerie and the blue workshirt, which was the instructor's. She did a good job (I think she had filled in for unreliable models in the past) and I fell like I was able to do a good job with this one-night pose.
I like the way David Penna (my favorite instructor) had her drop the strap of her bra down her shoulder in a tribute to John Singer Sargent's "Madame X" portrait. It's a subtle thing, but it adds to the sensuousness of the pose, rather than making it look like an underwear ad. The lighting, from the lower middle left, also adds to the drama. Dave liked directional lighting, which certainly helps in establishing light-and-shadow-shapes, instead of having bright overhead lighting that actually flattens out the subject and makes rendering it more difficult.
I wish I'd had longer with this model and this pose, but I'm happy with the results.

Reclining Nude Woman

"Reclining Nude under the Window" (Unfinished) (18"X24", Oil on Canvas)

This is a painting done in the BHS Life Painting class mentioned in an earlier post. It's an example of another uncooperative model making the process more difficult than it already is. She was late and then made a big deal of laying this way, not that way, and then not being able to remember which way she was posed prior to the break. I generally don't find that to be much of a problem, since no matter which way the model re-positions themselves, I can always find something new in the pose that I like even better than the original. It all depends on the attitude of the model.
I like this start, and I intend to finish it some day when I get back into figure painting. I suppose it would be a good practice piece, and I wouldn't have to show it to anyone if I didn't want to. I'd like to think that I could post the results on this blog, so I want it to be an improvement. I'll keep you 'posted', how's that?

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Oil Portrait of Seated Bald Man

"Seated Bald Man in Life Class" (20"X16", Oil on Canvas, $300)

Another early effort from the Life Class offered at Brookline High, but with another instructor instead of my favorite teacher, David Penna. This was done over the course of two classes and as I recall, the model wasn't very cooperative. He had problems with "drift", where he'd take a pose and over the course of twenty minutes or so, he'd end up in a different angle, having drifted from his original pose. He insisted that he couldn't remember where he had been to start with, and so I kept having to make corrections, especially after he'd take a break.
Anyway, his picture came out pretty well, all things considered, including his frowny-face.
The abstract background has a bit of intention to it, since it's lighter on his lit side, but also a bit of an accident, since it's standard practice to have the lit side of a model closer to the viewer. That couldn't happen because of the shape of the room, the number of people in the class, and the fact that the spotlight had to be placed where it wasn't in any of the student's eyes. Just another of the challenges of taking Adult Ed courses.

Oil Portrait of a Seated Man

"Seated Skinny Man in Painting Class" (20"X20" Oil on Canvas, $300)

This was one of my first efforts at painting the figure. I think I did pretty well, but there's lots of things I'd do differently now. I suppose I could change this one, but I prefer to let old paintings be what they are and move on. Otherwise, I'd be forever niggling about with all my paintings and never get anything 'done'.
I did this in an Adult Ed Life Painting course given at the place where I went to high school: Brookline High. I liked the class (I took it many times to get the practice with painting figures) when it was taught by David Penna, but not so much when he moved away and other instructors took over. David had lots of good advice to give and made me really aware of my now-favorite artist: John Singer Sargent.
One of the elements I like most about this picture is the flowing backdrop. I like painting folds in fabric and I think it adds a lot to this composition.

Oil Portrait of Becky

"Becky in Portrait Class" (18"X14", Oil on Canvas, $300)

This was done in two sessions of a portrait class that I took in Boston's Fort Point Channel district. Lots of artists and instructors live there in lofts and give classes. This was in Lisa Knox's life portrait painting class. The class was pretty good, and I learned a few very useful things, but as usual, the course and the classes themselves weren't really long enough.
I did two portraits of Becky (a model I've known for years through other painting courses and the life drawing group at the Museum of Fine Arts) from different angles, but I like this one better. She has a kind of 'Irish' look to her, which is helped by the redness of her hair. I like the looseness of the clothing and the background in this version, and the color harmony throughout. I really like painting faces and figures and I like adding them to my paintings of other things. A picture of a building or a beach can be rather static without some people to give it some life.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Female Oil Portrait Sketch

"Oil Sketch of a Young Blonde Woman" (14"X11", Oil on Canvas, $300)

I did this one as a kind of self-imposed homework from my Adult Education figure painting class that I mentioned in the last post. It was a quick version and I really enjoyed having the practice. I did it by pulling a photo article out of the Improper Bostonian when they had one of their hairdo editions or something. Maybe makeup, I can't remember.
Anyway, the full page photos of the models made for easy interpretation, considering the IB was a large-format glossy. Not the best way to get portrait models, but it worked very well for practice. I did a few of them, but this one came out the best, so I didn't paint over it.
I really miss doing the figure painting classes, but they're hard to get anything out of, unless you're pretty dedicated to doing lots of practice work. Painting people is the most challenging subject and painting their faces is the most challenging aspect of that subject.
Figure painting and portrait painting are definitely the things that give me the most satisfaction since they're so difficult and I want very much to get back to it.

Male Oil Figure Sketch

"Standing Man, Head in Hand" (24"X18, Oil on Canvas, $700)

I did this painting a few years ago by starting it in a figure painting class and then finishing it at home. I like the combination of tightness and looseness in the result and look forward to doing more of the same. This painting has some nice passages in it, but I'd like to have been able to spend more time on it in class, with the model.
That's one of the main drawbacks of Adult Education classes: they don't have long enough sessions to really accomplish anything. That's why I always try to get more done on a pose after taking it home after 2 1/2 to 3 hours, which is nothing. If you've ever painted, you know that time passes really quickly when you're doing art. I think that's the way that you can tell that you're meditating and focusing your mind; when you lose track of time.
The arch on the left and the dim window behind the model seem to be thematic to the pale green 'halo' around his head, and were created at home. Maybe he's a Greek God hanging around the old firmament and contemplating his next Godly move. He has a bit of a Jack Benny vibe about him, like he's saying, hand on hip, "Well, I never".

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Mother and Child Oil Painting

"Seania and her Baby" (10"X7", Egg Tempera on Composition Board, $250)

I did this years ago, after having taken a class in egg tempera-style painting. That means that thin oil color glazes are painted into wet applications of the highlights, done with a mixture of titanium white powdered pigment, varnish, and a whole egg. This highlight-stuff ends up looking like toothpaste, and you keep it in a film vial.
The painting was done from a photo of my cousin Seania revealing one of her baby sons while sitting on a porch glider. I made up the colors in the hair. Seania is pretty hip, but she doesn't multi-color her hair. She was also wearing a white sweatshirt and red stretch pants, so I changed what she was wearing to make the picture more... picturesque. The fact that it's a mother-and-child picture makes it kind of classical in a madonna-and-child way, so it has that working for it.
I did what I could with the talent that I had then, but like in the last post, there are things that I'd do differently now. Overall though, I'm happy with the results that I got while working in this time-consuming and small-format style.

Wedding Picture Oil Painting

"Peter and Maka, Just Married" (11"X14", Oil on Canvas, SOLD)

This was actually a commission from a member of the wedding party who was a good friend of the bride. The client sent me a photo from the event and I started in with the under-painting. I had to put in the hand on the left, since there was a big ball of flowers there that Maka was holding in the original shot. It looked like a third head in the composition. I'm quite proud of how that foreshortened hand came out.
The photo was a good one, taken under natural outdoor light with a backdrop of lovely green plants and dark trees above. The expressions were faithfully recorded with my paints, but I did perform a slight chinoplasty on Peter, since he had quite a lot of extra flesh under his chin. I was glad with how that came out as well.
This painting looks pretty good to me now, seeing it later. There's things that I'd do differently, now that I've learned a little more as an artist, but for where I was then, I'm happy with the results and I look forward to doing more paintings like this.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Watercolor - Christmas Card Designs

"The Angel and the Peace Dove" (8"X10", Watercolor, $50)

"Three Christmas Balls in the Dish" (8"X10", Watercolor, $50)

"Ornaments and Candy Canes" (8"X10", Watercolor, $50)

These three watercolors comprise my Christmas designs to date. I've used them as 1-sided cards in years past and now offer them as 4 1/4"X5 1/2" blank note cards. I've gotten lots of nice comments about them and I've sold them by the dozen at the arts and crafts shows that I've done.
My favorite ones are the Angel one and the Christmas balls in the dish one. The little package in with the Christmas balls looks like a stocking stuffer, but in this case it's clearly a dish stuffer. There's examples of breaking the border in all the pictures, and I feel it works well to bring the viewer into the spirit.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Watercolor - Still Life with Various Textures

"Still Life with Teddy Bear and Silver Service" (11"X4", Watercolor, $100)

The angled tables of the classroom draw the viewer into the picture, which is full of bright colors and high contrast, since we had finally gotten a spotlight for the setups. You may recognize the swan-and-reed terra cotta dish from an earlier watercolor still life post. The fur was the main textural challenge in this picture. I feel the fur aspect came out pretty well. It all reads as fur, so that counts as a success. There's a white mukluk behind the swan dish, and of course a teddy bear on the right. I don't know what the other thing on the left is, but it looks furry. The other textural challenge was the silver sugar bowl and creamer. This stuff looks pretty silvery, so - another success!
The border is broken on all four sides, so this composition is obviously too big for the paper. I enjoyed doing this one and I plan to do more in the future.

Watercolor - Still Life with Teapot and Fruit

"Still Life with Teapot and Fruit" (11"X14", Watercolor, $100)

The colors in this watercolor are quite pleasing, I think. The red of the fabric sets off the blue and green, while complementing and warming the yellow. The compositional elements are interesting for me as well. The fact that the action takes place in the right of the picture adds an off-kilter note of interest while the main focal point, the teapot, reflects the other elements in its bottom half. The overhead light is reflected in the teapot as well in this classroom piece, making it look a little like a baby elephant. I didn't really intend that. It's just a bonus.

Watercolor - Still Life with Strawberries and Asparagus

"Still Life with Strawberries and Asparagus" (11"X14", Watercolor, $100)

Done in class using other people's items, a small study in textures. It worked as far as I'm concerned, since you can tell they're strawberries, not tomatoes, and the asparagus looks like actual spears, rather than some kind of unidentifiable pack of stalks.
The lighting is soft and the colors are accordingly softer. I like the effect it has on the seafoam green pressed paper strawberry box and the red-purple nodules on the asparagus.
In this picture, as in a previous post, the paper bag that breaks the border helps make the table top flatten out more convincingly.

Watercolor - Still Life with Sugar and Lemons

"Still Life with Lemons and Swiss Sugar Shaker" (11"X14", Watercolor, $100)

I like this one because of the color combination of orange, blue, yellow and purple. It was done in watercolor class using objects that one of the students had brought in. I also like the angle of perspective that draws the viewer into the composition.
The main focal point is off-center to the left, and the patterned table runner brings your eye from right to left, and then to the lemons in back as a kind of 'stopper', up to the point of the sugar shaker and then back to the lower right corner along the slope of the table edge. Things like that keep the viewers' eyes moving around the picture long enough to see the colors and decide to like them.

Watercolor - Still Life with Yellows and Blues

"Still Life with Lemon and Leeks" (11"X14", Watercolor, $100)

The diffuse light in this painting says it was done in class. I feel it's a successful picture and the textures are pretty convincing. The fabric is clearly a thin one, like a pillowcase; The pillowcase is clearly sitting on two sheets of black paper; The little pot in the background is clearly a copper and bronze-y item, and the food objects are clearly food. The lemon is dimly reflected in the cobalt blue vial and the reflections in the spoon tell the viewer that it's face down.
The only broken border in this picture in the bottom portion, which enhances the feeling that the black paper is flat, rather than it being a perspective illusion.

Watercolor - Still Life with Silver Goblet

"Watercolor with Goblet, Bowl and Stick" (14"X11", Watercolor, $85)

This was a homework setup which you can kind of tell by the fact that the light is so directional rather than being more diffuse from the overhead in-class lighting. The goblet is just a trinket (not silver) but I wanted to try painting the reflective metallic surface. The same as with painting clear glass, what you don't paint is as important as what you do. The colors of the surrounding objects reflected in the metal make the silver look the way it does (I think that black blot on the front of the goblet is me).
I like the wash-y watercolor technique in this one. The colors change and fade through the effect of the water, and the layered thin washes show through each other, creating different color effects. The broken border appears again in this picture on every side. I only wish I'd taken more time to render the fabric. Maybe next time.

Watercolor - Still Life with Various Textures

"Watercolor Study of Various Textures" (11"X14", Watercolor, $85)

Another watercolor class piece. It's just a study but I think it turned our pretty well. This setup includes a cigar box, a Granny Smith in a ceramic cup, an antique wooden finial (which also appears in the first oil still life posting on this blog) and a replica antique fish-shaped whiskey bottle. I think the glass element came out best; isolated color patches that contain washy mixtures of dark brown and green to contrast with the unpainted white patches that indicate the reflected light on its glossy surface.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Interior Watercolor Still Life

"In the Apartment with Stained Glass and Candles" (14"X11", Watercolor, $85)

This was one of the homework pieces that I talked about earlier. This was done in my living room in the North End while sitting on my couch. Lots of tiny details were left out to simplify the composition, but not too much has changed. New barstools, a little table by the window, and the stained glass has been moved to a window further to the left. That's about it for actual layout changes.
In this picture I tried to express a line of light that makes its way to the window, the picture's light source. I like the looseness of the painting and the broken borders; where the kitchen island light and the antique chair brush the edges. The dim lighting cuts down on the color saturation and the contrast in the picture, both of which would both normally help define shapes and guide the eye through the painting.

Watercolor - Still Life with Bowls and Fruit

"Tabletop with Bowls, fruit and a Pumpkin" (8"X10", Watercolor, $65)

This small piece was done with the tables mentioned in the last post pushed into the circle that they form so well. In the middle, the instructor put a small table with the setup on it. That was so we could all sit around the circle and see different setups from the various angles. Where I was sitting I had a pretty good selection of things to paint.
I like the crowdedness of this composition, the fullness of it, if you like. I also think the crumpled fabric with its fancy pattern makes the overall picture more balanced: large shapes here (grapefruit, tangerine, granny apple, white bowls) and delicate shapes (the fabric and the terra cotta swan-and-reed dish) there. The blue notes go diagonally down from left to right and the green notes go diagonally up from left to right.
I even like the little bits where the objects break out of the border, along the top and on the left side. The ruffled edge of the fabric actually raises the 'border' along the bottom. Altogether a nice little picture.

Watercolor - Still Life with Bottles

"Bottles on the Table - Watercolor Class" (Watercolor, 14"X11", $100)

I took a class in watercolor a couple years ago and I did lots of in-class work and lots of 'homework' pieces, to drill the points of each class deeper into my head. I've learned and then forgotten more information in my art classes than I care to think about. I always try to do as much on my own between classes (these are Adult Ed classes, by the way) so that the lessons don't just evaporate. I should probably also take notes.
In this picture, painting glass was the object; some translucent and some clear, to keep it interesting. I'd always heard that what makes glass look glossy is the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting elements, even if it's just reflections. I've also heard that what you leave out when you paint clear glass is just as important as what you actually render. I tried to do both things in this painting.
You can see the wood-molding chair rail that goes around the room, a leftover from the times when Brookline High School was originally built in the late 1800's. Also, the angles of the formica tables that make it easy to form the tables into a circle - a leftover from the education reforms of the late 1960's.