Red Potatoes

Another 8"x10" canvas. Theres something about red potatoes that makes me want to paint them. Theres a range of subtle chroma shifts and a kind of smoldering intensity where the brighter reds peek through the earthier colors. I'm starting to figure out that this is the way that works best for me. The colored ebauche has it's merits but theres something about seeing the simple wipeout come to life that gets my blood going. I'm willing to take the risk of failure because when I get it right it has a spontaneity that I can't plan for.

Figure Study

This was done on an 8"x10" panel from a three hour pose with my Tuesday night figure drawing group. After seeing some studies posted by Tim Stotz on Studio Escalier's blog, Silver Fortress, I was inspired to try a study in a similar vein.I'm not sure that I'm on the same page (I've never studied with Tim) but what I did here was lay down a brushstroke for each value change relative to the direction of the light, tiling my way across the form. I kept all of my edges sharp to keep the clarity of what each plane change was doing. The lighting that we're using is not ideal. The walls are all white and the model stand is light gray. I'm using a very powerful incandescent spotlight to burn through all of the ambient light and at least on some level give a unified cut to the direction of the light. Using this method was interesting because it made me conceptualize the light even more and coincidentally this came up as the main topic in the discussion of the figure painting I'm working on at GCA. How to unify the darks in the figure ground relationship and push the lights forward to give emphasis to the salient parts of the figure. So I think I will keep going with these little painting studies for a while before I pick up my pencil again.

Listening Devices

poster 6"x8", canvas 11"x14".

Moroccan Sweets

"Moroccan Sweets" 11"x14" oil on linen. I did a lot of repainting on this one. Even though my method is to try and nail it on the first finishing pass I'm getting the feeling that my style is a lot like lasagna and taste better the second time around.

More Jugs and Oranges

Here's a progress shot. The oranges are already a little sunken in even though I only did them yesterday, that's what happens in a heat wave. I'm working really hard to get the jug on the left to sit in the shadows, I've almost got it but I'm not satisfied so I'll oil out and go back in after I complete the background. Everything is relative, hence the need for a poster, but even with the poster study some things will slip by you, I guess that's what keeps us coming back.

Covered Jugs Poster and Ebauche

I decided to alter my original lighting setup a bit. After looking at the painting and realizing that I had so many objects with a similar look I decided to put up some baffles so that the light would be dimmer on the left side while emphasizing the jugs on the right. I didn't want the painting to look like a catalog shot. It also has more of a natural daylight feel with the softer edges of the objects that are more in shadow. Generally I don't do too much blurring of edges to get an effect. I realized that if I'm working too hard to make an edge disappear than I probably don't have the correct value. When you have the right value in the right place very little smushing of edges are needed. The poster is on a very small 6"x8" panel which keeps me from getting overly fussy. Generally I do the poster before the ebauche so that I have some idea where I'm going and if I'm fortunate to be able to do them on the same day then the colors are already mixed and I can just blast it in.