Figure Drawing Class

Five weeks, twice a week for eight hours a day and this is the only drawing that I felt looked human enough to post from all of the drawings I've done during that time.  We actually drew this model from the waist us but in the interest of keeping this blog rated PG, respecting the modesty of the model and the fact that I drew her breasts leaning the wrong direction, I cropped the drawing to show just her face and shoulder.

This class has been brutal for me and definitely the hardest thing I've ever done.  The teacher is excellent, but there is so much to remember and I seem to have a hard time getting the information to go from my head to my hand.  I've always had a mental block about drawing people but I never realized how hard that block was going to be to break.  I can see that this is going to take a lot of practice to get to the point that I feel comfortable and happy with my drawings.  I plan to take another figure drawing class in the Fall, but I'll take one that's only three hours for each class.  That's stretching my attention span about as much as it will go and still accept information.

Taking such a class as a summer course was probably not a great idea.  Learning something that is so foreign to me in a compressed period of time made it an extremely stressful class.  We only have two classes left and I'm looking forward to what I will learn and also to the class being over.  : )  I need a break!  Who knew that art could be so stressful?

Anyway, I'm glad I finally took a life drawing class and who knows, maybe you will actually see some people in my paintings in the (far) future.

If you happen to be at the John Wayne Airport, Orange County, anytime between July 10th and August 8th, check out the art on display.  I will have 13 of my paintings in the non-secured areas of the airport.  They will be located in cases next to the security entrances for all 3 terminals and in the 2 baggage claim areas, adjacent to baggage carousel 1 and 4.

All of the paintings are watercolors that I have painted within the past few years.  Although I finish a painting each week, it was challenging to pull together a cohesive group of only watercolor paintings that I felt would show well together and were the right sizes to fill the cases nicely.  

I'm very excited to have this opportunity to show my work in such an unexpected venue and hope that people will have the time to check out my art as they wait in line for security or upon arrival when they get their luggage.

Secret Cove

I had so much fun playing with pastels last week that I wanted to continue for this week's painting.  Last week's painting had an underpainting of watercolor and this one also has an underpainting, but I used pastels for this one.

Here is how it started.  I rubbed a light layer of pastel on Wallis sanded pastel paper.  This paper is very durable and can be used wet or dry.  Some pastel papers aren't so versatile.  One of my favorite pastel papers, Sennelier La Carte, can't tolerate any moisture at all or the surface will fall off.  Below is a photo of the first stage .

This looks pretty childish, doesn't it?  I didn't use much pastel because just wanted a light map of where the painting was heading and didn't want to fill the tooth of the paper.   If I wanted it to be darker, I would apply more pastel.  Next, I used a paintbrush and water to liquify the pastel.  I know a lot of pastel artists use alcohol but for me, water works just as well and is always available.

It looks just like watercolor, doesn't it?  Normally, I would probably use watercolor for an underpainting but I wanted to show another option (for you KimmieK) in case you don't have watercolors handy.

I used a combination of Nupastels, Rembrandts and Sennelier pastels for this painting.  My friend gave me the Sennelier pastels awhile ago as she was cleaning out her art supplies and this it the first time I used them.  They have a wonderful soft, buttery texture and are really nice to use.  Thanks Peggy!  I thought my Rembrants were soft, but compared to the Sennelier pastels, they seem like a hard pastel.

The reference photo for this painting actually had a very sculptural silhouette of a leafless tree in the foreground which is why I picked it for painting, but I was happy with the painting at this stage and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to describe the tree successfully and get the edges hard enough with the pastels.  I'll try that version with another medium in the future.

Secret Cove

Image Size 9" x 12"

Pastels

A Hint of Sun

I was a bit of a slacker this week as far as painting is concerned.  I'm taking a life drawing class that is 2 days each week from 8:30 to 4:30 and it's really killing me both mentally and physically.  I've never done anything that is so frustrating.  I'm one of the worst students in the class.  I've always had a mental block when it comes to drawing the human figure which I'm finding is very hard to overcome.  I am getting a little better though.  The first 3 classes, I was close to tears by about 2:00.  The latest class I actually saw a little (very little) improvement and wasn't quite so depressed.

Anyway, cutting 2 days out of my week has had an effect of how much I'm getting done around here.  I'm also working on the final details for a show that begins next week.  I'll tell you about that in my next post.

So today, I found myself with no painting to post.  I decided to paint some figs that I picked up that were really beautiful colors.  I spent an hour and a half working on it and it was going from bad to worse - probably because I wasn't motivated to paint and it is also really hot and humid here right now.  I wiped all of the paint off of the canvas and now have a nicely toned surface for my next painting but an hour and a half is a long time to end up with just a toned canvas.

The painting above started as a watercolor.  I found a piece of printmaking paper (no sizing) and wanted to see how it would accept the paint compared to the piece of watercolor paper that I painted on a couple of weeks ago that seemed to have no sizing.  It was even harder to build the darks on this paper.  It wasn't a successful painting so I decided to add some pastel and see what happened.

I'm actually pretty happy with the outcome.  Below is a picture of the watercolor painting before I added the pastel.  I had to blend a lot to hide the texture of the paper.

I think it has a completely different feeling than the pastel painting.  The pastel is much more dramatic. 

I hope you like the pastel better than the watercolor because the watercolor is now completely covered by the pastel. :)

A Hint of Sun

Image Size 4" x 6"

Pastel over watercolor

Giclee Prints

I am offering this image as a giclee print.  I've done prints for a couple of paintings in the past.  It's definitely not my focus but this particular image was used for the cover of the Tustin Garden Club Yearbook a couple of years ago and there has been a lot of interest in it.

I have cropped a portion of the original painting to use for the giclee.  I really like the contemporary look of the succulent up close with the square orientation.

This is available as a limited edition print.  It can be printed on canvas or archival watercolor paper.  Both are 20" x 20".  The canvas print is on a gallery wrapped stretched canvas and has the image continuing around the sides.  No frame is needed for this option.

Graptoveria Giclee

Canvas - 20" x 20" 1.5" thick gallery wrapped canvas    Price:  $125.00

Paper - 20" x 20" print on archival watercolor paper       Price:  $75.00

Really Ripe

Painting fruit can be so stressful!  Don't get me wrong.  I love painting pears.  However, I'm not used to painting something that has a short shelf life!  I'm used to painting from photographs (bad habit, I know) so I usually have no time limit for finishing a painting.  As you've probably noticed, sometimes my paintings don't get finished for years.  I don't know of any fruit that's going to patiently stay fresh for that long.

I started this painting one day last week.  Then I got busy.  Every day, I stressed about getting the painting finished before my fruit became a mushy, ugly inedible mess.  Finally, today I finished it and the pears seem to be the perfect ripeness so... guess what we're having along with our dinner.

Really Ripe

Image Size 8" x 16"

Oil

Breaking Through

This is a small oil.  It's been a couple of months since I've painted in oils and I've got a few projects planned in that medium.  It's fun to switch between mediums and practice different ways of painting.

I've painted this photo before but used much softer colors.  I wanted to give this painting some drama so I darkened the sky and used more color.  

Here is the painting that I did before of this same photo.  Which do you like better?  

Breaking Through

Image Size 6" x 6"

Oil

Yippee!!

I'm so excited that one of my paintings has been juried into the San Diego Watercolor Society 33rd Annual International Exhibition.  I've known for about a week but wanted to wait until the packet came in the mail so that it felt more official before I posted it here.

This will be the 3rd time that one of my paintings has been juried into the SDWS exhibitions so that makes me eligible for signature membership.  I know that probably doesn't mean anything to most of you but becoming a signature member of the top watercolor societies with international shows has been a goal of mine for a very long time.  This will be my first and now I'm motivated to tackle all of the rest!

Here is the painting that was accepted.

Crash

Morning Surf

I decided to use that paper without the sizing again that I used for "The Squadron" a couple of weeks ago.  I enjoyed painting on this surface just as much as the last time.  It gives a fuzzy look to the painting that I like but it looks fuzzier in this photo than it does in person.  I still have some small pieces of this paper so I think I'll try painting a still life to see how the effect is with a different subject.  Even though painting waves is really fun, it will be nice to see if this softness translate well when painting something else.

Morning Surf
Image Size 7" x 10"
Watercolor

Echeveria

I have so many photos of beautiful succulents.  I really enjoy painting these plants.  The combination of colors in each leaf/petal/whatever-it's-called looks almost iridescent.  I think this is a type of Echeveria, hence the title.  If I'm wrong, please let me know.

This took a lot longer to paint than I thought it should.  I'm not sure why it did, but I was really ready to be finished with it.  I might fiddle with it a bit more to play with the value contrasts in the future, but for now, I'll just prop it up against the wall and look at it with fresh eyes as I pass by each time.  That's how I usually catch my mistakes or see something that looks unfinished.  What do you think?  Does it need something more?

The color is actually a bit warmer than it shows in this photo.  I tried to change it in Photoshop Elements, but I'm not very familiar with that program and couldn't find a way to change individual colors.  I'm used to using my old Photoshop CS2  on my old computer, which is a more comprehensive program that has more controls, and it is really easy to adjust colors to make them match the original painting.  I suppose I could upload it to that computer and fix it, but right now that sounds like too much work.  : )

Echeveria
Image Size 12" x 16"
Watercolor