Disegno And The Day Job

Between the day job, various bits of travel, and the ongoing work on The Green Experiment, I have not had much time to devote to drawing. There has been some sketching here and there, but the last time I did anything even close to a finished drawing was back in April.

Untitled- Seated Nude
Graphite On Paper

This was done at one of the Thursday evening drop in sessions at Washington Studio School, the first I had attended in a couple of years. It is three hours (minus breaks) with a single pose.

I was wanting to ease back into figure drawing, and for whatever reason thought it better to work from short poses rather than launching into one pose for the entire time, so for a few months prior I had been attending the Monday evening sessions, which are three hours beginning with two minute poses and working up to fifteen minutes.

I was finding the Monday evenings frustrating, but it wasn't until I went in for the longer sessions that I figured out why; I wasn't being given enough time to work down from the generic to the specific, to have the opportunity to focus on the details, especially shading.

I am working on finding the time to draw more, specifically figure drawing. I am planning to take an academic figure drawing class at Winter Palace Studios this fall (as soon as they get the fall schedule up on their website). And now that the day job has calmed down a little, I will be spending more time in the various open studios around town.

What is now painfully clear, however, is that my current day job is incompatible with my goals. I am exploring what the other options are, but I suspect my immediate future will involve a return to the freelance lifestyle. This is both exciting and terrifying.

And with that, I am going to go draw some more.

Peace in yer crease.

The Green Experiment, Phase One

I am a little behind in posting about what has been going on in the studio. I spent much of May traveling, Paris, then Alabama, then Baltimore, so there was not much time for being in front of the easel.

I did manage to finish up Phase One of the Green experiment:

I have now moved on to phase two. It began with making a cartoon:

Then piercing the cartoon for transfer to canvas:

I am transferring the image to canvas and blocking in the background, one canvas at a time:

Once I have done this for all nine canvases, I will start with the Greens. Each canvas will be an exploration of the range of Green between a single Blue and a single Yellow, using a nine step scale.

The final phase will be three 36" x 48" canvases using the entire range of Greens using all three Blues and all three Yellows, each canvas using a different Red for the shadows.

I am planning a studio showing of the all the completed works at the end of September. Then it will be on to Orange.

And with that in mind, I must head to the studio to do more painting.

Peace in yer crease.

My Patreon Page, Or The Most Meta Post Ever

A couple of months ago, I launched a Patreon page to try and find people who were crazy/ supportive enough to pledge some soldi (money) and help subsidize my work as a painter. I riffed on the idea of Renaissance patronage, and came up with various tiers.

$2/ month gets you listed as a Bishop.

$5/ month gets you listed as Duke/ Duchess.

$10/ month gets you listed as an Archbishop.

$25/ month gets you listed as a Prince/ Princess.

$50/ month gets you listed as a Cardinal.

$100/ month gets you listed as a King/ Queen.

$1000/ month gets you listed as a Pope.

Each tier gets various rewards for their patronage, as well as recognition when I finally get off of my ass and revamp my design website to reflect what I am doing with my life now.

Some very kind friends have been so generous as to pledge recurring monthly payments of various amounts, which have been inordinately helpful in keeping the studio running.

There is space on my Patreon page to post about what I am doing, the posts for which I copy from this blog. So if you click on the link below, it will take you to my page, where you will get to read this post again.

Like I said, the most meta post ever.

https://www.patreon.com/klyphstanford/overview

Peace in yer crease.

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.

An Anniversary And No Regrets

One year ago this evening was the last time I stood in a theatre as a designer of a play or musical. Since then I have continued to work as an electrician, carpenter and production manager here and there, but I have turned down the five or six design offers I have received in that time. And just this week I declined an opportunity to show my portfolio to a company that only two years ago I would have jumped through hoops in order to have the chance of working with.

I find I don't miss it. I don't miss the piss poor pay, I don't miss the process and I don't miss the politics. 

What I do miss are some of the people. There are a number of colleagues who have become close friends, but with whom my main social interaction was through working on shows together. I have not been nearly good enough about bridging that gap to make those wonderful folk a regular part of my life and I must be better about that.

I have been amazed and overwhelmed by how so many people have been supportive of my decision to shift my artistic focus. Even people I do not know very well have expressed admiration at my willingness and desire to do something different with my time here on earth.

I have also appreciated the encounters I have had with people in the business who have no idea I have left it. It proves what I thought, that the American theatre would not feel bereft at my departure. And lest you think I am fishing for a compliment or indulging in self pity*, let me be plain. I like that no one in theatre has ben clamoring for my return because then I don't have to face the decision about whether or not to do so. Under these circumstances it is in fact a relief to not be missed.

In this intervening year I have continued to try and work towards my goal of working as a studio artist, despite frequent frustrations with how the visions in my head are at the moment beyond my technical abilities to express. I keep chipping away at it and I do see progress. 

Interestingly, the desire to make painting the sole source of my income has not been a driving factor in my pursuit of the art form, at least not at the same level as when I was working as a theatrical designer. I am not really sure what, if anything, that means. Sure I would like for people to like my work enough to purchase it, and I have no intention of selling my work for less than other artists are selling their work of comparable size/ medium/ style/etc. But for the moment at least, my main motivation behind the idea of possibly selling my work is to make room in the studio so that I can paint more canvases.

So although I won't say definitively that I am done with theatre forever; for the right script and the right group of collaborators and for a company with the resources to do a show well I would certainly be interested in coming onboard for a project**; I am for the moment perfectly content to sit back and revel and celebrate my friends efforts in the creation of the theatrical art. I continue to love the theatre, and it is great fun to sit and watch a show with absolutely nothing personally at stake.

I say "Farewell" to the business of show with no regrets. I am excited by this new adventure I am on.

Peace in yer crease.

* A failing I am often guilty of, I will readily admit***

** But let's face it, good script, good collaborators and a company with the resources to do it well are sort of the Unicorn Who Farts Glitter

*** The self pity part, I try really hard to avoid that whole "Fishing for compliments" thing.

One Of The Paintings I Am Currently Working On

There have been a lot of thoughts, mostly distressing, swirling through my mind over the past couple of months. Often at such a pace that I barely have time to even acknowledge one before another come screaming up at me. I will probably write more on a couple of those topics in other posts, but for the moment I am trying to quiet all of those voices and so I will instead share one of the paintings I am currently working on.

As Of Yet Untitled
Oil on canvas.

Since this photo I have done the first pass at the color on the body.  The results were not quite what I wanted, so I will be working more on that aspect before I start to layer on color across the whole piece. I am hoping to have this to a point of calling it done by the end of September.

There are two other paintings in less advanced stages, but I have been paused working on them as they seem to have gone really awry and I am still trying to figure out what to do about them (other than just starting over).

Peace in yer crease.

Been Awhile: Alternatively Titled "Inane Ramblings"

I have not posted here in quite a while. There has been no real reason for my silence. I have been alternatively busy making a living and busy looking for a job. I have tried to be in front of an easel as much as I can, although that has not always worked out. I went on vacation to Rome in March.

But none of that really explains my silence here. I just looked and my last published post was the beginning of November. I am not sure I have a coherent response to the question of why I have not been writing here.

There has been some painting (which I really need to get better at photographing):

                                       

Railroad Spikes
Oil on Canvas Board

                                       
                                       

Folding Carpenters Rule With Clown Nose
Oil on Canvas Board

Red Peppers & Onion
Oil on Canvas Board

Each of these were done as part of a daily painting experiment. One small (8 x 10) panel per day. That has unfortunately fallen by the wayside as I have been spending more time doing paintings based on drawings done in the figure drawing sessions I have been attending.

Seated Male Nude
Oil on Canvas Board

Reclining Female Nude
Oil on Canvas

The reclining female is still in an early stage. There are many more layers to go. I am held up at the moment because I am cat sitting for my father again. Once Zimba goes home on Sunday I plan to get back to a couple of paintings that are in early to mid process. Like this one:

It is taken from the same drawing as the one above, but is on a much larger scale, 24 x 36 instead of 11 x 14. The next step will be a greyscale underpainting. Then will come layers of color. It is this approach that appeals most to me, as opposed to alla- prima.

I have also begun an experiment with different recipes for medium. More on that later.

I have not been nearly as productive as I should be in either drawing or painting. There is a fair amount of anxiety I feel about the continued job search. I have had a couple of interviews which seemed promising but ended up going nowhere. I keep looking.

More Drawing And Other Things

I woke up ridiculously early this morning, especially considering that I did not go to bed until after 1:00 AM. I made the decision not to make the trek to Brookland for the Saturday morning figure drawing session at Washington Drawing Center so I could spend some time finishing a cover letter* for yet another job application, as well as writing here on the ol blog.

I did make it out to various sessions five days this week and five days the week before. One of the drawings from last week:

                                                    Seated Nude With Pole
                                                    Pencil on paper

This was at the Thursday evening session at WDC, which was a single pose for three hours. I had a lot of trouble in trying to land the right shoulder correctly and I never really got it. The face however does actually somewhat resemble the model in question. I seem to be making progress there.

                                          Lying Nude
                                          Pencil on paper

This was done the following afternoon in another three hour, single pose session at Washington Studio School. I undersized the head and thus the figure was too small in relation to the page. I briefly contemplated redrawing the figure, but instead made the decision to fill in more of the background detail. I liked the feeling of it being a more finished drawing as opposed to just a study of the figure, so when I got home I worked on it some more.

                                         Lying Nude
                                         Pencil on paper.

There may be a little bit more poking I do with this, but for the moment I think I could call this done.

This week felt like taking a step back. It seemed like nothing I put on paper in any way resembled the model in front of me. Very frustrating. But in light of frustrations with the elections (and the appallingly low voter turnout) and with the job search, it may have just been my week to be frustrated.

I did manage to spend some time Thursday evening working on a portrait, which although it does not resemble the model as well as I would like, does at least somewhat resemble a person.

                                          Untitled
                                          Pencil on paper

I am still looking for people to sit for portraits, so if you have any time free and don't mind my not showing you the drawing, I would appreciate anyone who would indulge me.

In other news, the job search continues. I have begun looking out of the DC area, although I would really rather not move if it can be at all avoided.

In a figure drawing session a few weeks ago I ended up giving an impromptu seminar on color in light and human visual perception, and it gave me an idea about putting together some sort of workshop for visual artists about the effect light has on color and how the human eye sees. This will require some more noodling.

Well, I should get back to cover letters and then the easel.

Peace in yer crease.

* I HATE writing cover letters. Why can't I just say "I am fucking awesome and you should hire me!"?

Another Week Of Drawing

This week I actually managed to do figure drawings sessions Monday through Saturday, 17 hours of drawing total (not including breaks for the models). It has started to become a routine, which feels great.

Now I just have to find a job to support the endeavor, as well as all of those pesky life expenses like food and shelter. Materials expenses aside, it costs about $65.00/ week to attend all six sessions.

On Thursday evening I was at Washington Drawing Center, which hosts their Thursday and Saturday sessions in a studio over in Brookland. I was hoping to get over there early and head over by the basilica on the CUA campus so that I could watch the partial solar eclipse. I ended up running late and thus didn't get all the way over to my hoped for vantage point. Given the cloud cover I am not sure it would have mattered.

This was the drawing I produced that evening.

                                                    Seated Nude, Leaning Forward
                                                    Pencil On Paper

My most successful face so far and I actually know how I accomplished it which makes me pretty happy. I had forgotten my blending stomp, so had to make it work with just my trusty 2B pencil. There is some weirdness in the shading of the torso because of it. Also the foot is a disaster. But given my progress on the face, I am ok with it.

I had a job interview on Friday morning. It's the first one I have gotten in about six months of job searching so I was pretty nervous. I also had not actually interviewed for a job in about 15 years and am thus a little rusty. I am not sure how it went, but I do wish I had practices a bit more beforehand.

I was in a bit of a funk afterwords, and considered not going to the afternoon figure drawing session at Washington Studio School. I ended up being very glad I had.

                                                   Seated Nude With Drapery And Fruit Basket
                                                   Pencil On Paper

One of the other artists came in with an idea for a pose, inspired by a painting by George Braque, so we arranged our model in a chair with the drapery and fruit basket. I was glad to see someone coming in with an idea for a specific pose, because I feel often that in these group settings the pose ends up being a little generic. It also encourages me to be more vocal about my thoughts regarding poses, lighting and background.

Late Friday evening I picked up a brush for the first time in quite a while and took a crack at a value study in oils:

                                          Value Study, Three Pyramids
                                          Oil on canvas

I did the initial layout in charcoal, then blocked everything in with paint. There are a couple of drawing issues and some things to address in terms of the value differences. I am probably going to paint this same subject again. Still it was nice to have a brush back in my hand again. I have missed the smell of linseed oil.

I woke up a little late Saturday morning, and with track work on the Red Line, I ended up getting to Brookland about fifteen minutes after the start of the session. The biggest downside to this was I missed my chance to get one of the few available easels, and thus had to work in my 9 x 12 sketchbook. I spent most of the morning working on this:

                                                    Standing Nude
                                                    Pencil On Paper

With a standing pose it is hard for a model to be absolutely consistent over the course of a three hour session, so the face here is a little bit of an amalgamation of the slight differences over time.

I also spent some time working on a portrait of the model, which was less successful although very informative.

Other activities in the week have been centered around trying to find a job, purging my closets of empty appliance/ electronics boxes, and doing a site survey for an as- built drawing I am producing for Anacostia Playhouse.

Back to the easel.

Peace in yer crease.

The Week In Drawing

I way overslept my alarm yesterday and thus  did not get up in time to go to the Saturday morning figure drawing session at Washington Drawing Center.  But I managed to get out to draw five days this week, which was fabulous.

Monday night I was at Washington Studio School, although unfortunately the model was a no show. Still, it was a nice group of people and has the benefit of being within walking distance of my apartment. We waited for about half an hour and then left. I went to the Starbucks on Dupont Circle and did a little sketching there. There is a second level there that is great for observing people if you can get into the right corner.

Tuesday night was Hillyer Arts Center which is in an alley behind the Phillips Collection. It was three hours working from short poses to longer ones, the last being about thirty minutes.  I have seen the model before at WDC, although I am embarrassed to admit I cannot remember his name. He does some amazingly dynamic poses in the one minute gesture drawings which really get your arm moving. One of the longer poses is (somewhat) captured here:

                                          Reclining Nude
                                          Pencil On Paper

The right arm is too short, and the left forearm is ridiculously too long in this sketch, but given that it had been some time since I last drew the human form, it was a good warm up.

I was unsure of where I was going, and thus got there about half an hour early, which gave me time to take in the show hanging there.  I was especially struck by the work of Lee Gainer, and had I a spare $10,000 and room to hang it, I would definitely buy a piece of her work. You should go check it out.

Wednesday evening I was at WDC. Our model was a young woman named Annie, who has posed there several times when I have been there. She is perhaps my favorite model both for the highly dynamic poses she does in the short and medium length sittings, and for her remarkable consistency in the longer poses.

                                          Reclining Nude In Tension
                                          Pencil On Paper

I think this was a 5 minute pose. I wish it could have been longer so that I could refine the sketch more, but given that she was leaning back onto her elbows I can't imagine she would have been able to hold it much longer.

                                                    Seated Nude From Behind
                                                   Pencil On Paper

                                                    Seated Nude From Side
                                                    Pencil On Paper

The last three poses of the evening were the same for twenty minutes each, and we had the option of playing musical chairs to draw from different viewpoints. On both of these I had the advantage of not having to really draw the face, which I am still struggling with.

Thursday evening was back to WSS for a three hour, single pose session. In the sessions where we are beginning with shorter poses and moving into longer (20 minutes or so) ones, I work in an 11 x 14 sketchbook. For the single poses I work on a piece of 18 x 24 drawing paper and stand at an easel.

                                                    Seated Nude
                                                    Pencil On Paper

This drawing is perhaps the most successful thing I have done to date although this is actually not a good photograph of it. The legs are just slightly out of proportion and you can probably tell I REALLY didn't want to draw the chair, but it's the closest I have come to drawing someone's face that actually looked something like the model in question.  It was good to feel like progress is being made.

Friday afternoon was again at WSS. I had misread how the session was structured and thus only had my sketchbook. I did several versions of the single pose and liked none of them. It was frustrating to feel like I was taking a step backwards.

One thing I did discover on Friday was that I would much rather draw standing at an easel rather than with the sketchbook in my lap. I may end up buying a portable easel at some point.

I continue with the value studies, trying to do one a day (I did miss a two days last week). I really felt they made a difference in my Thursday night drawing. For the moment I am concentrating on the shapes with hard edges. After another week I will move on to the cylinder, cone and sphere.

Speaking of which, I should get myself back to the easel and draw some pyramids.

Peace in yer crease.