Monday, December 31, 2012

Hamlet Undecided

Hamlet: madness, overwhelming sorrow, seething rage, treachery, revenge, incest, moral corruption, cold-blooded murder, thwarted desire.

During the painting of this portrait I was able to relate to all of these... except definitely not incest and murder... and sorta cross off moral corruption too... maybe not madness either... treachery, not so much... okay, perhaps just a little desire, but not really thwarted.   


Hamlet Undecided
Giclée
32 x 40




Friday, December 28, 2012

Purple and Safffron

Print variations derived from a charcoal sketch of an Argos drawing group model.
Version 3, Amber Above Her, is the version I’ve chosen to output as a Giclée print.


Version 1
Purple and Saffron
44 x 24



Version 2
Purple, Saffron, and Turquoise
44 x 24



Version 3
Hanna with Amber
Giclée
44 x 24





Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Necklace

Being able to accessorize effectively is very important, especially in professional modeling. The necklace adds the perfect touch for the overall look here, I think. 


The Necklace


The Necklace, giclee





Ergo...

The drawing group warmup poses are officially two-minutes, but by the time I flip the page of the newsprint pad and decide which charcoal stick or pencil to use, I'm usually down to one and a half minutes or less. Ergo, a lack of detail in the drawings. Ergo, more interesting drawings, usually. 




Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Another Tim

An ink wash portrait study of Tim at Dunkin’ Donuts (previous post). It's a better likeness than the sketch in the previous post, but that's not necessarily saying a whole lot.  


Ink wash

Photoshop filter effect


Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Tim Different

Santa Fe is known as the City Different, partly because of people like Tim. 

For his 54th birthday celebration, Tim, an avid reader and brilliant writer (and friend), sat in Dunkin’ Donuts from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. yesterday, reading books. Anyone was welcome to stop by with a book of their own and spend up to 15 minutes reading a favorite passage to him.

You'll have to agree that you can't pass up a Santa Fe event like that, so I drove in a snow storm to Dunkin’ Donuts with a children's book of poems by Dave Crawley named Reading, Rhyming, and ’Rithmetic. I chose the poem One Hundred Words to read to him. Tim's used to some really weighty reading, writing, and stuff, so I figured a children's poem would be memorable and that he would appreciate the brilliance of Dave Crawley. And I was right. He enjoyed it, we chuckled all the way through it, and he made a note of the author and book title.

Since the poem is just 12 lines long, I used the other 14 minutes chatting and taking a photo so I could go back do a quick birthday ink wash sketch.

Happy 54th Tim.






Thursday, December 13, 2012

Newspaper Sketching

Another quick ink wash from an image in today's local newspaper. No sketching, just brushing away. Using poor-quality brushes to keep things loose. Crappy brushes also enable me to look at other artists’ work and say “Hey, I could be that good too if I used good brushes.” That's a trick I learned from a really good artist.

23 takes a shot

A variation of 23 takes a shot.




New Print Series

Starting a new series of small prints. 


Another Tuesday night at Argos
20 x 24

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Longer Poses

Poses of five, ten, twenty, and forty minutes. 






Two-minute Poses

The usual two-minute warmup drawings. 




Freakin Freaky Cool

When Greta, one of the regulars of the Argos Gallery Tuesday night drawing group, started to pay the weekly drawing group fee of $15, she realized the bill in her pocket was a $1 bill, not a $20 bill.

I loaned her $15 and she said she'd pay me back next Tuesday night. Several poses later, I saw Arlene, another regular, with this drawing of Greta's. 

Brilliant.


I owe John $15
Greta
Charcoal on paper



Saturday, December 8, 2012

Robin and Stars

Vector file, created in Adobe Illustrator. 

Robin and Stars

Friday, December 7, 2012

Counting Stars

I also love the graphic impact of simplicity and complexity.

Giclee, 40 x 24



Thursday, December 6, 2012

Graphic Influence

I love the graphic impact of boldness and simplicity. Combine that with a nude study from the weekly Tuesday evening drawing group and you get something like this.


Neon Pregger
40x24.





Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Drawing Preggers

Our pregnant model is due in March and still plans to pose monthly until then. It will be interesting to see the 9 months of poses all together. She also plans to pose with the newborn baby next Spring.

Baby name ideas: Model, Willow (a charcoal stick), Timesup, Art, Easel, Shade. Oh well, I tried.

Warmup drawing and ear piercings.

After five two-minute warmup poses we move on to 10-minute, 20-minute, and 40-minute poses (below).





Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Lines of Color


Transformation of a previous charcoal sketch.


Monday, December 3, 2012

Scarf & Book

Ink wash sketch: Robin with book, sticky notes, water, and crossword puzzle. 

Woman with scarf and book.
Giclee print, 34 x 42.



Sketch in progress.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Artist with Nude

I visited an artist's studio recently and shot a photo of him next to one of his paintings with my iPhone. Here's a quick sketch made from the iPhone reference.

Artist with Nude

A color version, 33x44, archival ink on watercolor paper.

Original sketch in the art studio, aka the kitchen counter.