childhood

For the Avalanche blog, the theme was something about what I drew as a kid. All I drew as a kid were dinosaurs(or some modern variations like sharks or alligators).

figure #35

This Friday's drawing done in my sketchbook. I use a .3mm size lead drafting pencil. I don't know why, I became addicted to the lines a few years back and never got back to the regular pencils. That explains why there is rarely and shading, just crosshatching. I was happy with the likeness here though.

my new secretary

I have a new ombudsman to deal with the substantial load of criticism coming into my website. He may be a little abrasive but he is eager to solve your problem. Please overlook his rough edges and give him a warm welcome.
I was playing around with a different brush. A little tricky working with edges but forced the more general abstract handling.

Vampire w/ blood

In keeping with the current societal trend to use vampires in every possible scenario I've continued work on my previous drawing. I desperately don't want to be left behind by any trend or fad. If everybody think it's cool, I completely agree.

Vampire

Sketchbook #37

My wife just got a new magazine with some good reference for my sketchbook. This is last nights study. I asked Natalie what she thought she said "You always draw things long, don't you." That is wife speak for "It's too long." This version is in fact squished to compensate because it is true I always draw things long, it's possible it is the perspective or it may just be in my head, I may want to get that checked.

practice

This is from a couple of years back. Just some style practice with Oil on board.

finally

Nu pastel 18"x24"
At long last a figure drawing that I am very happy with. I get comments sometimes about the generally negative view expressed on this blog about my own work. It's true I am very rarely satisfied with my work. I am happy to declare this as probably my best figure drawing ever, technically at least. I am extremely pleased with the result, in my opinion very accurate with good line work and finished to just the right level. There is a good mix of realism and graphic lines.

So I told my wife how I felt about this and she looked at me like I was crazy then she was good enough to point out that there are no hands. Now it may not be the best composition ever but I actually like it. I really like the non-traditional compositions and this falls within that category. The fact that the hands have been left off is unsettling but intriguing to me, you just have to take my word for it that I can draw hands and this is not just a ploy to hide my inadequacy.

I guess that is enough self congratulation for this post. You are welcome to agree with Natalie, let me know if you think this drawing is mediocre.

long time gone

figure #33

A figure drawing from not too long ago. I thought this guy was awesome to draw he had a really interesting boney figure that was just really interesting, and he was extremely friendly. I was happy with some of the character I got out of the lines especially on that arm though now I wish I had been able to emphasize the great lines even more.

Sorry for the slow progress lately, a new home and the baby who just gets cuter makes art production difficult.

Rockwell coloring book

Just an exercise, I thought I would do a little coloring on my Norman Rockwell drawing from a while back.

Thanks for the comments on the previous post. Don't take my writing too seriously, I am often sarcastic which doesn't always get conveyed through text. My wife accuses me of having no feelings because I don't get offended easily. Its a useful skill to deal with art show judges and to pick through to find the criticism that I can use. I don't really fit the passionate artist mold which I'm sure contributes to my analytic approach to my work. I do appreciate critiques though.

rejected

14"x 18" Oil on board
"The Other Door," A recent oil painting that was rejected by the big local show. This has happened twice now, I've taken in 2 paintings on 2 separate years that I thought were pretty good. I figured at worst one would be taken but no such luck.
I liked this one. It was actually a very relaxing process, working from a photo we took in Venice it was nice to just paint what was in front of me with no real difficult decisions beyond value and color. I thought the composition was interesting as well, but that may just be me. Maybe it is just too straight forward?

I guess I will have to just find a way to go on.

sketchbook #38

This man landed a plane on water, the least I could do was honor him in my sketchbook.

figure drawing #32

Circumstances allowed for a NuPastel drawing this week. I was happy to get back to this mainly because it adds variety to my art exercises. It's pretty different to do the full arm drawing on the 18"x24" sheets.

This was a good model who got the drawing as her reward. It was a tricky pose and she was having trouble keeping the rotation right making it pretty difficult to draw. But I really like standing poses.

figure #31

Friday figure drawing. You can see some of the construction work on this one. Standard pose, but I am more pleased with the way these are turning out in my sketchbook they've come under the blanket that is my style.

Movie poster

For the Avalanche blogs most recent topic "The Land of Oz".
Don't worry I too am ready to get back to the more fine art work.

Oz in progress

A painting in progress for the Avalanche blog

Whitman

I got a great project for the most last issue of The Weekly Standard. It's Meg Whitman, I was happy with the work on the face I like the sculpted feel, but the body is pretty stale IMO, sigh.

Friday's figure drawing

Usually on Friday's I find time for a figure drawing session. Here is this weeks contribution. I think another half hour of refining could have made it pretty good. I would guess this is more like 1.5 hours.

Taft yet again

But this time in color.

figure #29

Finally a live figure drawing done in my sketchbook that is a little more consistent with my regular drawing style. It has a much more polished look.

I would guess the structure is done in about 15 minutes the 20 minutes on the face and about 45 minutes on the hair. Total about an hour and a half.

Taft again

I'm sorry for my absence. Too many competing priorities.

I wasn't satisfied with Taft's shape but this is better.

"What's your favorite dinosaur?"
"Velociraptor!" "Velociraptor!"
"Did we just become best friends?"

Ice

After a long absence, a digital painting is ready to make an appearance. Don't read anything into the meaning because there is none, just done for the sake of an interesting narrative.
I've been a big fan of Thomas Fluharty's digital work. He doesn't try to hide the digital feel to it and there is an appealing mix of hard and soft edges. It's like a digital version of "painterly". This painting has a little of that with a more unfinished feel around the edges.

figure #28

A recent figure drawing. This model obviously didn't feel the need to comb his hair for this session.

I think my drawings from life have a different indefinable quality to them then those done from photos. Maybe less refined but more natural? I don't know.

5 minutes 2 hands

I was finally able to pull my hands away for from their occupier for 5 minutes and do a drawing. You'll notice this is less detailed then usual, that is because the lights were dimmed to let the baby sleep but it does help to change my focus from details to more general shapes, values, etc.

figure portrait

A couple weeks I did this portrait at our weekly figure drawing session. I only had my sketchbook and it is very tricky to do a full figure with my usual .3 size lead mechanical pencil so I typically do a portrait. It is less free then most drawings because I worry more about the measurements on these.
Excuse the image, I gave him the drawing and only had this poor quality digital image left. I've decided my policy is only to give away a drawing if they really really act like they want it and go to the trouble of asking. I'm usually pretty willing but a) I feel very presumptuous offering ("I am so sure you want this fantastic drawing I did, right?") and b) I am not sure how much they want it, I would usually prefer to keep it. He asked about getting a copy but when he got the original seemed less then ecstatic.

sketchbook #36

A small drawing. This face is pretty small so when working with limited space you have to make sure each line placed correctly.

This is not a painting

Well, things got more complicated last week with the birth of our first daughter. Actually she is (obviously) beautiful, but a handful that didn't come with an off switch, so I will have to work harder to find time for my artwork. She will surely be a good muse as she grows and her artist mother and I are already teaching her the basics of color theory, composition using the Golden mean, chiaroscuro, fat over lean, etc. She will be an uber-artist.

Glow

A new oil painting done on a 16"x20" Masonite board. I basically like it. One interesting thing is that as it has been sitting against the wall for the last few weeks I've notice that it has a fantastic glow to the face (this isn't really relayed by the digital image), which is what I had hoped for. The dull cool colors in the background and warm colors in the face to direct the attention. I think the face has 3-4 layers to build up the lights so I suppose it is reflecting light just below the surface.

I've included a detail so that you can see the paint work up close.

Ode to Ingres

I LOVE Ingres. His paintings are so fantastic. Above is a drawing I found in a great book called Portraits of Ingres, I highly recommend it. This is based off one of his drawings, not necessarily a perfect match but I thought is was interesting how carefully he would do the face then a lot of the periphery is done very rough. Some of the hands, like this one, look like their straight out of a Picasso drawing.