Mask Complete and New One

"Flowers, Mask, and Beads" oil on linen, 9"x12", "Spaghetti and Butternut Squash" 11"x14". I managed to finish up "Flowers.." just in time , I'm putting it in a show next weekend. This was another still life set up next to a window. I really enjoyed painting the flowers and I think I'll do a few more. The squash are left over from a demo I gave on Friday, doing the demo painting kind of wet my appetite so I set something up in my studio. I'm playing with the light set up a bit, I hope it works. I have the window blacked out except for the top six inches, where the light comes through onto my canvas and the setup. I wanted the light to look more directional and angling down from above. It's a little bit harder to see but I think the trade off will be worth it.

Lily and Flowers

"Lily Painting a Cast" pencil and white charcoal on paper, 16"x20". "Mask, Flowers, and Beads" oil on linen, 9"x12". I just about have the drawing of Lily ready to transfer to a canvas. I need to do a little more work on the cast. I should have it ready when she comes next week. I'll also prepare a little poster study which I'll concentrate on at the next sitting, to get the color and tonal scheme worked out. I'm having so much fun with this one that I wish I could afford to hire her for a week straight and get it out of my system. I decided to do a re-load on the flower painting. I wasn't happy with the way that I painted the white flowers and I didn't like the way that they went with the red background. These colored roses sem to work better and their red fringes help to merge with the background. I'm on vacation this week and my version of a great vacation is to paint until my fingers bleed!

Drawings

I've started the block-in for a new painting, "Lily Painting a Cast" 16"x20". The model got lost on the way to my studio so I was only able to get in two hours. At the start of the next session I'm going to triple check my measurements before I do any refining. Basically I have her posing as if she's painting flesh colors onto a cast of the "Dying Gaul". I'm thinking about having her turn her eyes up towards me as if someone just called to her, rather than looking down at the cast, as she is now. "Dome with Bottles" 11"x14" is slowly crawling along. I'm not in any rush.

Julia and Mask

Almost done with Julia, just have to wait for a cloudy day to complete the background. "Mask, Roses, and Beads" 9"x12", oil on linen, was started in response to a juried show theme "Mardi Gras". Every once in a while I will take on a theme to break out of my usual subject matter. The first pass is almost done, next week I'll have to get new flowers and go fo a finishing pass (no football puns intended).

Still More Julia

I'm getting a little closer to the finish on "Julia". The hardest part is getting used to painting the model in daylight while using daylight as the sole illumination on my canvas. I'm used to painting in pretty glaring light so this has been a bit of a challenge. Sometimes I'll turn my studio light on after a session and the values will look a little off. I want to resist the temptation to retouch under different lighting. What I think I'll do in the future is put the studio light on every once in a while, have a look, and then do the retouching back in the daylight. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, I haven't painted a portrait in daylight before so I know it's going to take me a while to get it right. I'm loving the daylight setup so much that I'm using it for still lifes as well, that's one of the reasons why "dome" is being finished as a drawing because I'm doing it at night after work.

More Julia

More Julia and Jug

"Julia Back From Moscow" oil on linen, 11"x14", "Jug, Pan, and Vase" oil on linen, 9"x12". I'm at a stage in Julia's portrait that I find very exciting. Blindly windowshading my way along, using my study to stay on course, and watching the portrait slowly reveal itself. I'm always hoping to get everything exactly right the first time, but that almost never happens. As I was telling one of my students the other day, you don't want to have a half-hearted stage, planning to be bold later on because that first stage will carry through. It's better to go for broke and then if you have to make changes at least they will be over something worthwhile. The painting is, as I had hoped, starting to take on the mood of the sitter, even the background, so I can't wait for the next session. "Jug..." is finished. This one took a lot of hard looking. I'm painting in north exposed daylight and I'm really paying careful attention to textures and edges. I'm pretty happy with this one and I think it's pointing the way that works best for me; simple objects, well observed.