A Bit Of Process

I began the painting that is my banner here on my blog, as well as my Facebook and Patreon pages, about three years ago, shortly after my return from vacation in Rome.

It began with a sketch done in the Friday afternoon figure drawing session at Washington Studio School.

Untitled- Reclining Nude
Pencil On Paper

I then transferred the drawing to a 24" x 36" canvas.

I rotated the figure in the composition to give it a more relaxed feeling. I also made the decision to not paint the right hand (I still struggle with drawing hands).

Next was lining in with Burnt Umber diluted with OMS*.

Then came blocking in the values, using Burnt Umber as my darkest shade. Again this was fairly diluted.

This first pass didn't push the values enough for me, so I made another pass:

When it was dry to touch, I added the first layer of color to the background:

Then came the color on the body:

Untitled- Unfinished Reclining Nude
Oil On Canvas
24" x 36"

The painting is still hanging on the wall, unfinished. I am somewhat stuck as to what to do about the face and hair. I actually think the painting was most successful in the version before I added the body color.

I suppose at some point I will go back to this canvas to re-adress it, but for now it serves as a metaphor for my own artistic growth. Incomplete, but somewhere in process.

Peace in yer crease.


*OMS = Oderless Mineral Spirits. I use Gamsol, although I will admit I wish the studio had good enough ventilation to allow me to use gum spirits turpentine.

Friday In The Studio

Yesterday was the first day of a four day weekend from the day job. I slept in, then headed out to the studio to do some painting.

In the evening we had a DC Arts Studios artists happy hour. We were asked to bring either something to eat or something to drink, as well as a piece of artwork to show. This caused me a great deal of anxiety. I have been self conscious about showing my work here around "Real" artists because I know I have so much growth to do to be able to produce the paintings I want to. Also, most of what I have been painting lately has been this color experiment that I really think is only of interest to me, so it's not anything I wanted to share.

I decided to dig through sketchbooks and assorted drawings to find something, and although it was not what I ultimately took with me, I came across this drawing from October of 2014.

This was from back when I was attending figure drawing sessions four or five times a week at various places around town. I don't know how to get there exactly, but I do know I have to find my way back to being that immersed in drawing again. This will be a hard balance to find with the demands of my day job.

But I digress.

The work I did end up taking was a small figure sketch I did back in November.

I felt it was more indicative of the sort of work I want to be producing eventually, even if I am currently tied up in the minutia of various color combinations at the moment.

I met some really lovely people and saw an interesting variety of work. There was a woman who makes objects and fashion accessories out of old bicycle parts, a couple of photographers working in very different styles, a stained glass artist, a collage artist, and an abstract painter.

It was good to begin to get to know some of the other folks in the building a little bit. I have been feeling somewhat isolated out here, and since I stopped designing for theatre it doesn't seem that I have much of an artistic community anymore. I am hoping that I can begin to build one here.

Well it is time to get back to the drawing pad.

Peace in yer crease.

The Disparate Projects Currently On My Easels

                                                   Untitled Still Life
                                                   Oil On Canvas
                                                   24" x 18"

The canvas above is the first project I worked on in the painting class I am currently taking at the Corcoran. It was unfinished when I brought it back to the studio, so I spent some time working on it this afternoon. The bottle is a hot mess in terms of rendering it's shape accurately, and the highlight is terrible, but I am overall pleased with how I captured the tonal qualities of the composition.

The other things sitting on the easels are a series I began a few weeks ago, an extended exploration of the color Green, in preparation to finish a painting I started several years ago.

This has been hanging on a wall for some time now, and up until recently it had only had the lining done. I blocked in the sky last month, and the next logical step is the foliage on either side of the pathway. I have a couple of Greens from the tube, but I wanted to see what varieties were possible by mixing various Blues with various Yellows, so I dashed out a quick abstract canvas board, using the Greens I had out of the tube (Pthalo & Veridian), as well as a 50/50 mixture of each of the Blues I had (Pthalo, Ultramarine & Cerulean) with each of the Yellows (Cadmium Light, Hansa Light & Yellow Ochre) on a Purple background.

After competing this, I decided I wanted to see the contrast between those Greens and various background colors, so I made a cartoon and transferred the same composition to 11 pieces of canvas board.

I am just over the halfway through blocking in the background color for these.

Next will come the various Greens.

After that I plan to do nine larger canvases that explore the range of each Blue/ Yellow combination. Then will come an even larger canvas that uses the entire range of all of the Blue/ Yellow combinations.

Then rinse and repeat for the other two secondary colors, Violet and Orange.

I think this is all a six month project. We shall see.

Peace in yer crease.

The Sands In The Hourglass

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone."

                                                                                                  Pablo Picasso

I turned fifty a little more than two months ago. As a present for myself, I made a trip back to Florence, Italy to celebrate my birthday.

I returned to the Galleria dell'Accademia with my sketchbook to see Michelangelo's David. I toured through the Palazzo Vecchio and wondered at the ceiling paintings. I went early one morning to the Bargello and discovered the range of Giambologna. With my friend Lauren, I climbed to the very top of the Duomo and took in the view.

I ate some amazing food, drank incredible wines, and reveled in being surrounded by such brilliant painting, sculpture, and architecture.

I returned from Italy with a remarkable amount of clarity. I am fifty now. I no longer have all of the time in the world to pursue the things that I want for myself.

As an artist, there is work I want to produce, images in my head that I want to have make their way onto canvas. In order for this to happen, my skills and technique must catch up with my vision. This means spending far more time with pencil and brush in hand.

To this end, I have rented a 200 sf studio space at DC Arts Studios in Takoma. I moved my easels, drafting table and art supplies out there in the middle of January. I also enrolled in a painting course through the Corcoran's continuing education department. In the almost two months since then I have managed to do more painting than I was able to get done in the previous two years.

What I am coming to realize is that my current job may not be compatible with this re-prioritizing of my life. We are in the midst of a very busy time at the day job, and so I am trying to reserve judgment until things calm down to evaluate, but I am holding to this commitment:

Nothing will be allowed to stand in the way of working and developing as a painter. I am fifty now. I no longer have all of the time in the world.

Peace in yer crease.