From Chalk to Oil

In Painter, I cloned a chalk drawing image from the previous post, then repainted the chalk drawing with Painter oil brushes. This is a quick experiment, so I have more work to do on it before it's finished. I think this technique, when it's output to canvas, will be suitable for painting on top of the image with real, traditional paint (which mentor Jeremy Sutton, is encouraging me to do).

Dancer with Black Scarf.

Dancer with Black Scarf, detail. Still in progress and more work planned for this painting.

Painting the Passion of Flamenco

All last week I attended a workshop, Painting the Passion of Flamenco, at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, located at the Carmelite Monastery in Santa Fe. The workshop was about using the software program Corel Painter to paint images of flamenco dancers.

The class was taught by charismatic/inspirational instructor Jeremy Sutton, a Corel Painter master, teacher, evangelist, dancer, artist, and friend from San Francisco.

The class started with an intro Monday morning and an all-afternoon photography session with flamenco dancers and musicians at the historic Masonic Temple in Santa Fe. Many of the workshop attendees were great photographers and everyone came away with hundreds of images that were exceptional. We were able to shoot anywhere in the building, including the musty, dusty attic that provided incredible atmosphere and light.

The rest of the week we learned a lot about Corel Painter 12 as we created many different flamenco images based on the Monday photo session.

Flamenco dancers in the attic of the Masonic Temple.

A rough sketch exploring various Painter brushes.

Exploring color.

Experimenting with different techniques and styles.

Oil sketch.

Dancer with Black Scarf. Color study.

Sketching with Workshop Classmates

Last week I attended a week-long workshop called Painting the Passion of Flamenco, taught by Corel Painter master Jeremy Sutton. More about the class in the next posting.

Jeremy and two workshop classmates Beth from New York, and Rosi from Mexico City) joined me for the regular Tuesday evening drawing group.

We stayed for just two poses, since the out-of-town artists were fairly exhausted, still adjusting to the 7000 foot elevation and the workshop's busy schedule.

Painting the Passion of the Flamenco

Preparing and warming up for a week-long class with charismatic, San Francisco-based, Corel Painter expert/evangelist Jeremy Sutton. Class starts this coming Monday at the famous Santa Fe Photographic Workshops (located on the campus of the  monastery in Santa Fe).

Class starts with a Monday photo session at the beautiful Santa Fe Masonic Lodge, featuring a half-dozen flamenco dancers. The rest of the week we'll be in a classroom getting inspirational instructions about transforming our photos into energetic and passionate digital paintings.

Sounds like a fabulous week ahead.

Painting with Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop on top of a previous image I developed from
a live flamenco dance performance.

Detail of the image above, with a few more revisions. Canvas size, 30 x 40.

Drawing During Debate

 I like to use alliteration in blog headlines ("Drawing During Debate") because I care deeply about the 47% of people who read but don't draw; freeloaders who refuse to take responsibility for their drawing skills.

Two-minute warmup sketches. I can usually tell how I'll feel about the night's drawings depending on how easy the warmup drawings are. 

I was tempted to stay home and watch the Presidential Debate instead of attending the Tuesday evening drawing group. Fortunately I decided on drawing, which made a total of four artists at the drawing group, just enough to cover the cost of the model.

Bikini tan model.

For the last pose of the evening I switched from charcoal sticks to a 6B pencil. 

A quick digital painting based on the bikini tan drawing above, 24 x 28.

Canvas: Rio Chama (again)

When I opened one of my digital paintings, Rio Chama, to see if I should make any changes before sending it to the printer, I decided “yes it needs changes. In fact, it needs to be completely repainted.”

River bank, detail from Rio Chama, below.

Rio Chama, 36 x18

Canvas: Robin's Pear

I've always liked the dramatic starkness of simple still lifes. And besides, like Georgia O’Keeffe said about flowers, fruit doesn't move and it cost less than models. Actually, in this case that doesn't really matter since I based this painting on a photo taken by sweetheart Robin.

Robin’s Pear, canvas print, 28 x 34

Affordable Art

Most of my drawings from this week's Tuesday night drawing group were so bad that I couldn't stand the thought of posting them. Halfway through pose after pose I'd give up, flip over a new sheet of my sketchpad and start over.

Bob, the artist nearest me, said "It's never a good sign when you hear paper being crumpled up during a pose." 

I said "Yeah, that was a defective sheet of paper. It didn't draw good at all."

At the end of the evening's poses Bob ripped several sheets out of his sketch pad, folded them in half, and said "Anybody want to buy these before I throw them away?"

I asked "How much?" and he said "Three dollars."

"No thanks."

Then Bob ripped the sheets in half, handed one of the halves to me and said "How about $1.50?"

Oh how I wish now I had bought the ripped-in-half version for a memento. Maybe I'll have another chance.

The only drawing I salvaged from the night's sketches. After photographing the sketch I used the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop to add more shading, mainly to emphasize the model's mustache and goatee. 

Almost-Final Version

The almost-final version. Or maybe it's the final version. Could even be the nowhere-near-final version. I wouldn't know, I'm just following instructions from voices in my head. 32 x 44 inches, for now. 

Variation

Detail of one of the many variations of the previous digital painting (October 6 post). Click to see the image at an approximate actual size.

Sketch to Painting to Canvas

Experimenting with techniques for transforming a charcoal sketch from the Tuesday evening sketch group into a painterly image on canvas, using multiple trips between Photoshop and Painter.

A combination of bold, graphic drawing style with bold and varied colors play into an unintentional reflection of sorts of some of my major influences: T.C. Cannon, John Nieto, and Lucian Freud.    

Another cropped version. Final canvas size of the full figure will be approximately 30 x 40 inches.

Drawing Session 2, Month 2

Actress, performer, dancer, and with-child. Our pregnant model returned for sketch session #2. She plans to model each month of her pregnancy and we get to document the progress. I think a book of drawings after the ninth month would make a nice memento.

Two-minute warmup drawings.

Love the easy-to-draw haircut.

Thinking about motherhood, I'll bet.