Monday, November 28, 2016

Oil Portrait Study

Study of Lauren
Oil on Linen

I host a weekly life drawing group in my studio on Mondays.  We're just a small group of friends who enjoy each other's company.  Often our poses go for up to six weeks so that members can do polished drawings or paintings from the pose.  This time, though, we ran the pose for four weeks.  Now I know that there are a lot of very good alla prima portrait artists out there but I'm not usually given to alla prima work.  Well, yes, I used to be an alla prima painter but in recent years, I've changed my style to that of a more polished look so I'm badly out of practice on alla prima portraits. 

I do like to do studies every so often and I have decided to dedicate every other session to just painting from the model rather than drawing. This study of our model, Lauren is the first in a long time.  I try in these little pieces to focus on the bigger picture and limit myself to just a couple of brushes.  Basically I use three.  I have a 1 1/2 inch for the background and other larger shapes and a 1/2 inch for the medium shapes and a 1/4 inch brush for the smaller shapes.  I'm learning to wield the larger ones with more finesse and I resist the urge to go to smaller brushes.  Usually I can achieve a fine line when needed by turning the brush on it's edge.  So much more to learn here.  


Friday, November 11, 2016

Oil Painting of a Reclining Nude

"Jen Sleeping"24" x 30", Oil on Linen Panel




Finally! I've been working on this painting for almost three months and because my studio time has been limited, I haven't worked on anything else! So glad to be finished.  The hardest part though hasn't been painting this.  It's been photographing it!  I have a lot of cool skin tones in here and the light in my studio is either too dim or too warm when I turn on the lights.  I finally found the right combination of warm and cool to photograph it in.

I hope to enter this in some competitions. A couple of times a year, I paint a piece strictly for this purpose.  That means that this won't be for sale for awhile, but that's OK.  I'll enjoy looking at it for a bit.  Thanks for stopping by.