Upcoming show

Good news about on the gallery front, I've got an upcoming show at the Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 19th.
I'm excited to get my work out there and see how it does in the real world. I got a feature in this months American Art Collector which is a very nice magazine. I'm a little uncomfortable with my comments, it's like watching yourself on tape, my own direct quotes always sound bad to me.

Underdrawing - step #2

Step one was the original drawing.

I said in the drawing stage that I would post pictures along the process, but that is a lot of pressure that demands a competent painting. I admit I held off until I could see I would be more or less satisfied withe the result. Another problem with posting my process is that I don't have a set process it changes a lot as I learn. Unfortunately oil painting is only a side job and I don't have enough experience to have a set method.

So here is the underdrawing. It is a new method that I haven't used before but I do like, quick linework then a lot of really loose charcoal scrubbed around with the back of my hand to get a simple value study.

Stay tuned...

Pennsylvania field

A landscape, obviously.
I feel landscapes are my weakest point. I naturally am inclined to do artwork of something like people, because it is so difficult and makes me work to capture it accurately. I think I have more of an analytical mind that makes landscapes that are so random extremely difficult for me to reproduce. This is maybe the first I've ever done that I have been mildly satisfied with, we'll see if that holds up.

Also notice the black and white painting two posts down has been updated with a better representative image. The old image was taken too close which gave me kind of a wall-eye view that I tried to warp back into place but I noticed some subtle but annoying distortions in the face. You may not notice a difference but it is better, trust me.

On a lighter note

I love politicians and Nancy Pelosi is always one of the favorites (read sarcasm).
I was worried that I may have lost any caricature ability with lack of practice, but this one turned out. Although I may not like it by tomorrow. this is my typical .3 size drafting pencil in my sketchbook.

Aside-that lighter note is probably more of a tragic note when they steal my hard earned money.

Flowers running off the edge-updated

Finally an oil painting. I felt like getting back to my roots with a black and white painting which is a very useful exercise to work on brush strokes, values, technique, composition, etc. All those elements that need to be worked on but get lost when you throw in the 300 pound gorilla called color.
I'm not sure I am completely happy with it. Let me know what you think of the composition I think the flowered branches running off the edge are kind of intriguing. Also, once it is shrunk down as a digital image it looks more photographic then I hope the painting does. Hopefully the brushwork makes it more of a painting though I should push it enough to show in this format.

Done?

The full color version of the aforementioned Christ statue in Prague. I was trying a new digital technique that I think I like. I work at it until it's looking pretty good then I use a filter to blur the entire thing. This keeps my structure but looses a lot of the ugly lines so I can go back into it cleaning edges and linework. I also used this on the drawing exercise below.

Also, thanks to the talented Varvara Harmon for tagging my blog.

Figure #27

A figure drawing of a long model.