Under Structure Gestures - vine charcoal on newsprint

The start of a figure drawing day is warming up with 3 to 5 minute gesture sketches.  Susan likes to undress as she poses.   So there is the taking off the sweater over the head.  Next removing the pants and then the socks.  These are not in any order and most of them I wiped after doing them as to save on paper and not have to take the time to flip the page.  These were just a few I kept and thought I would blog for my own record.  

I am throwing more and more away if I can't recycle it back to a useful material for art.  As an artist it is easy to accumulate lots of stuff.  I find it overwhelming and very difficult to work.  I tend to get overwhelmed and blocked which I have shared.  So getting out and drawing and painting is good for me, yes, but keeping everything is not good.  Posting these helps trash the rest and clears my head to do what I love most.

Susan #1 10x8 oil

I do love drawing and painting the figure.  It is very focusing and relaxing.  It also is an intense day of seeing and interpreting.

This was the first of the day.  I worked on this one for 20 minutes.  I do like these faster poses to warm up.  I am working on getting faster so not to fuss and overwork and just see what I can capture in a short time.  To walk into a long pose, when I have not painted for a while, can be a day of frustration.  I liked this much better and would love to do shorter wipe off paintings.  

Susan #2 10x8 oil

This was number two of the day.  It was a 30 minute.  I struggled with the length proportions, as you can see with the feet not really being anywhere.  Strange foreshortening going on as she was leaning back on the chair.  I need to trust myself.  I laid in the under struction and fought with it only to be off in the end.  

Susan #3 10x8 oil

This was the last of the day.  The color just is not coming across.  Anyway this was probably an hour and a half to two.  I needed to work out many things and wiped off the canvas a few times. It was a good experience.

Sidewalk Talk 6x8 oil

This is downtown Orange.  In the morning hours lots of folks are out for breakfast and coffee and stand about chatting.  

It was a sunny day , but the wind was kicking up my easel and just poking at me.  It is not easy to make a deliberate detail with a brush.  I gave up and stopped at the block in.  

It was good to be out in the company of Kim Vanderhoek and Dana Cooper.  My painting has just been off.  I figure I need to be out twice as much and just don't have the time.  So patience and enjoy the paint, the view, study time and the company.  Funny I uses to think painting cleared my head and now I think I need a clear head to paint...go figure.  

Unfinished Kimona Girl

After posting my painting the other day I went back through my small camera that I carry and found a photo I took earlier in the day.  It is so much fresher than the so called finished one.  There is a lot to be said about knowing when to stop or going on to the next.  This is very much undone, but it is so much more exciting then the overworked one of my last posting.  Lesson learned...I hope.

Lovely Afternoon 12x9 oil

I feel very fortunate that I got out to paint today.  I feel this was over worked and yet I like it.  The light was in constant change and the mid morning shadows changed into early afternoon light.  I chased the light a bit and found it to be fun.  Not a real studious session...but, I was outside with a model in a lovely peaceful backyard with only the faint sounds of reality in the far distance.  I am so very grateful.

Seated Jana 10x8 oil

This was a model day.  I worked on a slick gesso panel.  I had lots of fun with color and brush strokes.

Hillside Overlooking The Bay 8x10 oil

What a lovely day down in the back bay.  It was fun to get out and paint after almost a week of not picking up a brush.  I have been rolling paint on my wall, but it is just not the same.  

This is a view opposite the bluff I did last weekend.  I have always liked the way these apartments sit on this hill top.  It was challenging as green was the main color going.  The question is how many greens are in the paint on my palette?  The other thing I wanted was to stay as loose as possible without fragmenting the composition.  Not that one effects the other, but I know how I get loose and have fun with paint and abandon values and well, structure.  I was happy with the time and enjoyment of the day.  It was my day to do whatever I wanted and I got to paint.  That, being the best birthday gift in the whole world.   Of course dinner with my fam is the very very best gift.

Ode To Lichtenstein cut paper

Well this has been a busy week of work.  Now I say that and chuckle to myself because this is what I did all day.  This is my bulletin board of examples.  I am a coordinator of an art program at a K through 8 elementary and middle school.  I have been busy all week preparing materials for our Lichtenstein project.  It is a lot of cutting paper and counting materials for nearly 600 students...no that is not the fun part. 

The fun came today when I needed examples for the various age levels and just sat and did them all afternoon.  I wasn't painting, but I was doing art on a whole different level.  It is fun to do these for the kids, because it takes me back to the basics and I get to play with white glue and then peel it off my hands.

Susan in Paint 8x6 oil

I did this one after the one below.  At this point in the day I was really mixing different colors and just enjoying the process.  I was trying out a new palette of colors that Kim English uses.  Actually not exactly, but close.  I have so many colors I have worked with over the years.  I am always glad to try a new palette because chances are I have the color or something close in my box.  I typically work with 5 or 6 colors tops.  Today I had 14, I think.  I can't put that much paint out and not play with it. 

Sitting Susan 8x6 oil

Today was lots of fun.  I did a model session with Susan.  She is a wonderful model.  I worked a little more painterly and just had a great time mixing and playing in paint.  

The Filling Station 8x10 oil

Another wonderful day out painting.  A number of rough areas that need to be developed, but enough information to take to another painting.  I got a little tight struggling with figures.  A new area to learn with the leadership of Dana Cooper.  Lucky me.

Back In The Bay 8x10 oil

Okay so my head feels clear.  Got a few things done around the house.  Realized there is no way I can stop painting for long.  I am just gonna have to balance all our house projects (which includes painting, but not the kind I like) with oil painting.  So hopefully for my sanity I can do both.

This was painted today out at the Newport Back Bay where life is just gorgeous.  The air was cool enough for jackets and the sun was strong enough for a Hat and sunglasses.  Photographers, bird watchers, bike riders, walkers, joggers and kayakers were all out taking advantage of the first absolutely wonderful day in a while.  I just could not miss it.

I actually enjoyed painting this and have come to realize and except that I am in transition.  It feels good to say and except that reality.  It is not fun to fight with something I love so much.

Me And My Shadow 6x6 oil

Someone told me to paint a pear when you don't know what to do.   So here is a pear on a plate.  It was a little frustrating trying to get started.  I  have been letting myself wipe off and start over when I just don't feel it is going well.  So this was a second start.  I was down to very little time and just put it out and painted it fast.  I was not happy with it, which has been my general feeling about a lot of things lately.  I ended up liking the painting the next day and it is always fun to see it on my blog.  Time and evaluation is important.  

I just don't feel a strong direction.  Life creeps in and clouds my mind.  Painting is a wonderful escape for me and I find it disturbing when my happy place gets cluttered.  So I've been thinking I need to take a short break from painting to clear and take care of things.  Kind of like spring cleaning.  I just know as soon as I have a few things done I will be back on track. 

    

A Walk In The Park 10x8 oil

Back to the same place as last time, only in the afternoon.   I tried using a more extensive palette of colors for fun.  I started this and I realized that it really never inspired me and it was'nt going to later.  

I was told I need to focus while painting and find a place for the viewer to rest.  In hoping to understand this I put a figure in, getting the viewer to feel they could walk into the painting.  All and all I liked this walkway in the morning light much better and hope to get back there this week.  I also think it is all too centered and still.