Coming and Going

After spending a couple of "dry" weeks, artistically, I decided to just DO something! I have always loved figures, but haven't attempted to paint them very often, thinking I need a model, and why pay for a model when the first paintings for a while won't be any good. So do you see how backward this thinking is? I decided to just do it, paint figures without worrying about making them realistic or even attractive to anyone but me. This is the start of my efforts. I began from a gestural drawing done in open figure last week. This isn't done, but not sure what more to do. It's large-ish, 34" square. It's oil with some charcoal. The charcoal is another piece which I decided to leave in, even enhance. Usually I just use charcoal to sketch the rough outlines, but I like charcoal, and I like line, so why not emphasize that? I kinda like it.

Going West

More fun with pastels! I'm enjoying this experiment. This time I "fixed" the underpainting with turpenoid, a little risky on a light wt. drawing paper. It was important to let the turpenoid dry completely before moving on. I tried a few of my new Nupastel brand, and I really like them. Maybe a large set for my birthday? I need a better way to store all my pastels, looks like a job for yard-saling.

Now that the weather is getting nicer I need to pack up a few things to do some plein aire pastel painting. I found a painter's tripod stool at a yard sale, it needs to see some action!

Model Lying

Yesterday four of us met at Michelle's house to draw from this live model. He is one of the best, interesting poses. I used smaller paper than usual, 14x17", so made the composition close in to the subject, which is so much more satisfying to do. Also, played with mixing compressed charcoal with charcoal pencil for hatching and detail work, and used pencil eraser for hatching as well.

Approaching Glacier

Started this pastel painting today on a large sheet of drawing paper. It started as a pen and ink sketch done 2 years ago while in the car driving to Glacier National Park. The landscape through Montana and Wyoming was awesome! Talk about your wide open spaces, something a city girl like me doesn't see very often. The mountains really are purple!

More Practise with Pastels and Charcoal

Yesterday was somewhat productive. It's always a good day whe I get to draw from a model! The bottom image was done in open figure, and was done over 3 20 minute sessions. The first 20 minutes was spent on the body, the 2nd session was spent on the face. At the break after that I realized the face looked too small for the body/head. Thank goodness for fellow artists who pointed out that the only thing wrong was the placement of the eyes. In the 3rd 20 minute session I simply moved the eyes and finished off the hair and top of the head. I'm pleased with the result.

The top image is done in pastels, 20 x 16. I tried a landscape in pastels for the first time. This is done from a photograph taken at Shades State Park years ago. It took 2 days to complete. I'm pleased with this as a first attempt, it is on charcoal paper, which I haven't used much, and feels different than the drawing paper I usually use. With this I did much less blending with fingers, only a little in the clouds. With this paper more of the ground shows through. I will look for orange charcoal paper to use for landscapes, but not too confident of finding any.

Short Sketch

This is a charcoal sketch done in open studio a few weeks ago. We usually start with short poses, this one was 5 minutes, before moving on to longer poses. The short ones are nice because the model can sometimes get into some very twisted shapes which would be impossible to hold for very long. But a positive thing for me is that I can't overdue the drawing, which I am sometimes apt to do. I also try to impose the rule on myself, once the pose is over, STOP WORKING ON THE DRAWING. When I'm able to follow the rule, the result is always better.

Broken Pottery

Just finished this today after starting it yesterday. It's charcoal and pastel, about 3 1/2 ft tall, on paper. Thanks to Michele Soncini for the paper and the encouragement, and thanks to Susan Mauck, the new Hoosier Salon ribbon winner, for the idea for this series. This will be the 1st of hopefully a series of large pastel paintings/drawings? of broken pottery. I'm really having fun with this! On another note... After going to the Hoosier Salon Artists reception last night, I'm once again more excited about painting, and will soon take up brush and palette again. More to come...

Seated Nude, Profile

This charcoal drawing was done in figure drawing open studio a few months ago. The glare is from the glass, as this one is matted and framed. It's amazing what a nice frame with wide mat will do for a simple drawing! This is one of my favorites.

New Drawings, Open Studio

In the spirit of "Returning to Drawing", here is one of my latest charcoal drawings from life, done in our open studio. We have gotten some different models lately, and it seems to be helping me improve my technique. This drawing was done after preparing the paper with a coat of cold wax medium. It lends a "raw" quality to the drawing, as it is not possible to fully control the charcoal on wax. I kind of like this effect.

Charcoal Drawings

What an incredible month! My son was married to his lovely bride 2 weeks ago in my backyard. Last week I was elected president of the Stutz Artists Association, and now I am trying to get back into not only doing art, but posting it on my blog. I was feeling the need to go back to my origins as a drawer, so over the weekend I changed the art hanging on my studio walls. They are now covered with charcoal and pen and ink drawings, most are nudes done in Thursday's open studios. This picture is of a charcoal drawing that I did today. It was the first art I have done in a week, and felt really good to do something! I do enjoy a good drawing session! I tried adding a little color, not much, with pastel pencils. Hope you enjoy it!

My husband took our camera to work with him today, so no new photos from my studio. This is a charcoal drawing done at the open figure drawing at the Stutz a couple of months ago. It's probably the best figure drawing I've done. The Open Studio group took a winter break, we start up again this Thursday. Can't wait! I miss not only the drawing from life, but the group interaction. In my next life I'll be living in an artists' commune, where we live together, grow our own food, and do art all day. It will be in a place it's warm year round, with wonderful vistas and quaint surroundings... But for now, I love the Stutz!

This Charcoal drawing was done in the open studio at the Stutz Building last night. It took about an hour. I've been drawing this model for several months, but this is the first time I felt that I got her face right! The lighting was very interesting and provided good lights and darks.