A portrait swap!

This is a painting of Josh Bills. Part of a portrait swap we are doing on my artist forum. OpenStudio. Learning to Paint Realism with Oils

Josh Bill oil on linen panel 18 x 12 2018

There are 4 pairs of painters. Each painting the other from photographs provided. There are to objectives in this challenge. First assuring that a good photograph is provided and understood. Second objective is managing value and color focusing on spectral color.

I added to my personal challenge by selecting Geneva Paint as my palette. Geneva is a more liquid self leveling paint with a slow drying formula, I started by mixing my 12 color pallet from Ultramarine Blue, Cad Yellow and Pyrrole Rubine. Then mixing set of tertiary semi-neutrals.

The painting got it’s start as a half size touch painting on paper. I worked out rough color, value and likeness. I tried to get a handle on the Geneva and groused a lot. The color is good but it hard to handle the paint with an expressive brush.

sketch 9 x 6 on Strathmore oil paper

I made a outline “master” from the painted sketch. I projected to sketch to the final canvas. A panel I had made with Raphael linen on wood panel. I had to make a lot of corrections to the features. The Painting took over a week because off the slow dry characteristic of the Geneva paint. It would have been 3 or 4 days using Lukas paints.

It is still not finished. Some spots are still wet. Very wet. Need to do a little glazing. All in all I happy with the painting and the experience.

Palette at the end showing tertiary neutrals and mixes

Justin #2

The is is Justins 3rd pose with use. It’e His third pose ever.. He’s a great model it turns out. He hold a pose for a half hour and gets right back in after a break. Long distinct features and a unique look. This pose is a serpentine hind of thing. Resting back on a stool in extension. Foreshortening, backlit, and the changing lighting condition of a pose over three sessions. 

It’s not finished very much to do but I very much like the direction. For over a year now I’ve been trying to understand the Sloan Triangular color wheel. The concepts of semi-neutrals and hues produced by using the triangular configuration. I and starting to get it enough to apply a bit of the knowledge on the fly. 

Justin #2 Wip  30 x 24 o/c 2017

Justin. First new model in 2 years!

First week finding the pose with sketching . Week 2 a couple of hours of painting. 

Justin is a first time model. He's a natural. His body is long and limber. He can hold the psi for a long time.  

One more painting session in 2 weeks. Maybe a little fussing in between. 

Painting effort on the previous non-pose

This is three weeks of painting effort on the last pose. The pose lasts 1 more week but I 'll be in the city. I'll work on this in the studio over the next week. It is intentionally not a polished realism. It is an exercise in neutrality even exaggeratedly so. When I painted with watercolors I thought of neutrality as earth tone thing. Making grays from colors mixed with various earth toned pigments. These neutrals are created with compliments. The effect is a lot like my acrylics from the 70s, transparent layers that created neutrals achieved unconsciously. 

Our painting group works on.. the pose

This is a continuation of my last post on finding a non-pose pose. The chosen pose. This is week two of over painting efforts. We have a good mix in our group. Johan Sellenraad a long time local artist transplant from NYC. We work in his studio along the Delaware River in Millanville, PA. Johan makes big, Subaru sized, paintings of canvas in a strong confident style full of reference. Judith Reeve paints with a expert feel for the figure and gorgeous approach to color.

Over the past several years this has been a tremendous education for me. The simple length of time that we have painted together has allowed me to observe and absorb knowledge and attitude that has helped me along my journey. Please visit their web pages to find out more about Johan and Judith. 

http://www.johansellenraad.com

https://attentiveequations.com

Johan works on wishing winter's departure.

Judith's controlled and confidently stalks the canvas

...how does show keep track of those brushes.

My effort after 2 weeks. Working on neutralizing my color views.

It's all about gesture. At least for me. This is alive.

At our weekly long pose painting session, every Thursday for 3 hours, it was time to find a new pose. Johan likes to find poses that are interesting and not posey. These are the quick 2 to 5 minute poses I did while we searched for the pose. I used grey pastel on bristle plate. Our model Cathrine strikes poses as naturally as breathing. I like all of these gesture pose sketches.

This is the 'non-pose' that we decided on. Not a real expressive gesture but very strong and complicated. Again in chalks.

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This is the first session in paint. I'm working on a 24 x 36 canvas. All the colors are roughed in. The drawing needs some adjustment and the color has to be warmed. More next week.

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Painting from life

For most of my life i've worked from photographic reference. That's how we were taught back in illustration classes. Of course Life Drawing was a important part of art school but the vocation thing was working from photography. Your own or more than likely others that you collected and categorized in you personal morgue files. The public library even had morgue reference files that you could search. All to much like office work for me. I abandoned reality for humorous imagination while still in school. Somehow relying of morgue picture wasn't a funny idea. Even though I worked from my imagination, working from photos was a big part of my process until 2012 when I left the work world. The first thing I did was mine my collection of thousand of photos subjects to paint. The second was find opportunities to paint from life. I found a weekly life drawing session that was and hour and ten munites each way. I went every week like clock work. It saved my life as an artist.

Since then I've found several other life drawing opportunities closer then the hour ten. Working from life allows you to see in dimension to create and understand space. Every week I paint with Johan Selenradd, Jim McGinty and Judith Reeve. All three incredible and different painters. I learn something new every week, color, composition, space and form. Even the importance of painting just to paint for myself.

The above painting of our model Catherine down over two weeks about 4 and a half hours of painting time. We did two posses combined on 1 canvas. Just great fun. It's unfinhed and will remain so.

Yet another work in progress

It seems that nothing is getting finished lately. This is a painting from lif that I have worked on for the past 2 weeks. I did do a little work on the background in the studio this week to allow more effect use of model time. There are some figure adjustments to be made and background details. So far probably about seven hours into this. I like painting from life. I like figure painting from life. Its a puzzle with feeling. A good model can create feeling and story through simple gesture. This is Catherine and she is a great model. Every week I paint with several other artists for about 3 hours on a long pose. A pose lasts about 2.25 hours over the the three hours allowing for breaks. We have one more session with this pose. I can't wait. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I learn something new every week.

As an illustrator and painter I have always worked in the studio from imagination or reference. I'm learning to paint from life. In a recent paint out experience i made a little painting in the late afternoon. I chased the light that was changing almost constantly. In discussing this with my painting partners, both very accomplished life painter, said that painting from life with changing light allows you to more experience the feeling of the painting. 

Coming back to life

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2 five minute charcoal sketches

The reindeer are all put away and the beard is trimmed. It's time to get back to work, The pieces are fro the first life session of the new year at Yanni's studio. Rachel was our model for the evening. I'm working on a painting of a hanging pheasant and one of some boats. Its tough to get back to a 'normal' schedule . 

Yanni's work

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One thing I did over the last couple of weeks was put together a page of some of my friend and mentor's work.

Please check it out.

http://jimkingston.com/yanni

A painting of Mary

This week at Johan's long pose life daw/paint session we had a new model. Mary. She turned out to very, very good model. It was a brightish day so the light in the studio was good but at time a bit of and on from the clouds. I've posted my images of Soha that did at Johan's where I started the painting in session and finshed in the studio. In this painting of Mary I thought I'd cram that process of probably 6 to 8 hours into one 2 and a half hour session. I had to work fast and make decisions instinctively. No time for a lot of ifs ands or others.

I had prepared a canvas ahead of time on which I had applied a gray 'stain' (thanks Mark Carder). Once we had chosen the pose from a half dozen or so 2 minute poses, we got to work. The we is a group of three very talented and accomplished artists from the Upper Delaware area, and me. One day I will make a post showing off there work. I don't carry a lot of colors with me to this weekly session. Every Sunday 12 to 3. Go Pats. I had Burnt Sienna (BS), Ultramarine Blue (UB), Cad Yellow (CY), Cad Red (CR) and Alizarin Crimson and of course Titanium White. Just a few brushes medium sized to big synthetic filberts. I had only my portable tin of OMS (Oderless Mineral Spirits) to use a thinner, medium and brush cleaning. I started out with a washy sienna and blocked in the figure and got some quick tones in. I super roughly sketched in some indication of the pillows and fabric pattern on the sofa. 

Over the next hour and three quarters with model breaks, one of which included a piece of spinach knish, I glazed on the flesh tones very thinly lightening as I built out from the darker mid tone stain. I have to say the time constraint help force me into a zone. The only thing that stopped me was sore feet. At the end of the session I looked at the other artists work. Everybody's work was outstanding. Judy had done  a charcoal  drawing that was precise and beautiful. Gloria a mixed media oil and charcoal(?) that would be at home in a story book. Dianne did an acrylic that was wonderfully colored. Johan was well into a giant canvas of a beautifully foreshortened viewpoint in his immediate and whimsical fashion. I feel privileged to be working with such a fine group.

Return to Soha

SO I did the series of Soha posts earlier. A life sketch improved in the studio from a iPhone snap. The result was a burnt sienna under painter that was okay for painting over. The problem was that in fifty year of painting I'd never done that before. Oh well. So I printed the photon canvas from my epson printer. Put it un a drawer and forgot about it. I had a complex painting ready to go on the easel . I didn't want to be hung up for a week so I started putzing around an d found the print.. I taped it to a board and painted it. It's not done but I'm gonna sit on for  couple of days to see if I can find any more boo boos. I like it but I have to give most of the credit to the model Soha.

Drawing with the brush

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1973 Beacon Hill, Boston

This week i decided to retire my charcoals and pastels for a while in favor of the brush. I've been trying to figure out how to make  my life drawings more expressive and at the same time begin to add color. It's been a very long time sine I painted from life. In fact the painting is hanging in my studio. 1973. 

That was awhile ago. 

A goal of mine since i started drawing from life again was to be more natural in gesture. To have a more immediate feel to the markings. I believe that drawing is a physical activity. You probably don't burn many calories at it but it take all the body to express the moment.

By working with simple cheap materials, canvas paper, laid finish printing paper, bristle bond and painting with a limited color set of oil paints Ive opened up my drawing style. There's something about the brush. Standing. the speed that it offers. It's a great tool. This is a great exercise for developing brush control and technique.

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Milanville PA 

So, here are a few pieces I did this week painting at Johan Sellenraad's studio and Ianni's studio. I have to thank that them and the other artists in the groups for letting me struggle to this point. Don't let me forget the models.

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Milanville PA

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Milanville PA

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Honesdale PA

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Honesdale PA

Back to life drawing at the AFA

Tonight I returned to life drawing on Tuesday nights at the AFA Gallery in Scranton facilitated by Ted Michalowski. This evening we had the best model I seen in 8 months. An anatomy lesson on 2 feet. 

There were 10 of 15 people there. What amazes me is that most of them are drawing in small (9 x 12) sketchbooks with little sharp pencils. They can draw but they even put two or three poses on a page. I paper so expensive? Drawing is a physical thing. You have to move and gesture. And they mostly sit at a table or in a chair. I stand for for 3 hours and I'm an old guy. Most of them are young kids.  It takes me an hour and a half driving each way. then 2 or 2 hours of poses. It's a days work but worth it. They have better pizza in Scranton. We have better cow pies.

Here are a couple of tonights poses.

 

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I'm developing a technique using a sharpie to set the key points and gray pastels to give the form mass... stay tuned

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This model was fantastic... really fantastic.

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A 3 minute pose... I like this a lot 

Life drawing tune-up

Every week I do at least 1 life drawing session. That's no easy task where I live in Northeastern PA.  I find it essential in my ability to see. I been doing this for about 6 months and it's made an enormous difference in both how I look at thing and how I'm painting. After a very long layoff from drawing and painting with my hands  I'm kinda loving this. Every week I experiment with different tools and techniques. 

It's quite different from painting plein air which I suck at. I am most definitely a studio painter. I feel too clumsy when outdoors painting. I do like to do quicky line art even if they nothing more than minute or two. The radiograph pen has something to do with that.

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At Ianni's 9//3/13