starting again ... again

I haven't posted since early February, when my Tuesday/Thursday Berwyn class teacher, Carolyn Howard, passed away. Carolyn was a wonderful teacher and an even better critic; she always was able to put her finger on exactly the thing you needed to do to improve your painting. I was in awe of her astuteness. She died suddenly, after many years struggling with lung disease, and I still think of her often and miss the wonderful group of painters she had taken in. I think I probably grew more as a painter, and thought more about painting and my paintings, in the year I studied with her than I had in all the years before.
Spring is here ... time to paint! The apple blossoms and lilacs are almost done--have to paint them this week or wait until next year! So check back later in the week and see if I beat the clock.
In the meantime, I dug up these two 20-minute studies of Megan from last winter. There are problems with each (but of course) but, from this remove, I'm happy with color ineach and how it is applied, sometimes bleeding, sometimes holding a shape. And Megan, because of her lovely 19th-century (to me) looks has to be one of my favorite models; I can imagine Sargent painting her ... and maybe that thought influenced my color choices!

Sorry ... the photos for yesterday's post didn't/wouldn't upload.
I used a different photo software program, and here they are ... with a page of (out-of-focus) 5-minute poses of Ruth.

wednesday 2/7

This morning our model, Ruth, was late because of the snow and ice, so Bonnie modeled for us until she arrived, giving us a chance to concentrate on the head.
When we critique classmates' paintings when the model's on break, Bonnie always begins by asking us what we like about a painting. Here, I like the light on the hair and the left cheek, the lips ... the way they fade. Problems: the ear's too small, which I think I can slightly remedy; the eyes are too close (not fixable); and I got confused about the shape of the bottom plane of the nose, which I suppose I could try to fix, but I don't want to go in and start lifting and redoing areas, because that might ruin what's probably the best thing about it: it's a sketch, it looks un-labored-over, and that's more important to retain, to me, than "fixing" everything I can identify as "wrong" here.
I'll just leave it alone and try to observe that shape more accurately next time.

We did a long pose with Ruth and Bonnie asked us to think about breaking up the background into shapes ... This isn't finished, but I can work on it at home. A few problems to fix here--the left foot, the left arm, which looks hiked up or stiff (not sure this can be fixed, actually)--and some areas to finish--the hair, some cast shadows.
But I already feel disappointed with this effort, since it's so similar to my last painting of Ruth but, to my mind, not as good a painting ... there's something clunky about the torso, and I'm reluctant to add more washes there.
Maybe once I get her hair on (!!!) I'll see it differently. Don't know why I didn't paint the hair when I put the first wash on the face. Face and hair should painted at the same time, letting the paint mingle or run (a bit) to avoid making the hair look like it's sitting on top of the head.

2nd attempt

Took another try at the battenberg lace yesterday; this is an improvement on the first go, but still a little clunky, I think. Another practice session may be called for ... Working on this--with the very light washes for the folds of the cloth--I could see doing a small series of limited-palette paintings of different lacy white clothes. On very large paper, a full sheet (22 x 30) say.

The Chester County (PA) Art Association is having two shows, opening 3/2 and 5/25, the first juried, the second not, and I'm going to try to enter them both. It's been a long long time since I entered anything in a show or sold anything, and there is a school of thought that you have to show your paintings to really grow ... I'll post the paintings I'm considering.

1/25/07

Arranged a new still life setup in Berwyn Thursday.
I had nothing in mind particularly, except that I wanted to use my battenberg lace curtain ... Somehow it wound up being all pinks. But it doesn't bother me.
I finished the drawing (which is a little tight; I'm hoping to disregard the finer details when I start painting, especially on the large peachy-colored rose) and thought I should start painting with the yellow orchids and little daffodils, so that I don't lose them; I think the yellows will end up being an important relief from the pinks.
Thought I should do a practice run of the lace. And, as you can see, it's a good thing I did!
I've only painted lace twice before and both times, I can see now, I made the
same mistake, of painting the holes too dark. It has to be way more subtle.
I think I will also have to break with my usual practice of just painting my way across the paper in a trance and actually plan where to make a lot of the lace and where to let it sort of just fade away ....
Anxious to work more on this one, but missed this week, 2/2, due to the bronchitis! Will take this as a chance to practice the lace again.

1/24/07

Day 2. The model was Ruth, who took some--from my view--very challenging, active poses. Ruth should model for anatomy classes: you can see every muscle and bone; there is not an ounce of fat on her anywhere. The 2-minute poses were largely brain twisters.
The 20-minute pose I should have spent more time drawing ... Ruth does have a largish head--or maybe it's just all that hair--but I think I made her look a little too "caveman" here; the stick she's holding doesn't help!
I'm not a big fan of props as a rule ... they look too contrived.
I'm generally not concerned at all about getting a likeness of the model; I just want a fair facsimile of a human, first, and some interesting painting or paint handling, a close second.
After being not too pleased with the short poses (which usually produce my favorite work), I wound up being pleased with the final, long pose (which I usually dislike doing). The head is not overlarge or coarse-looking (Bonnie pointed out to me that I had her chin too prominent; a very small correction made all the difference!), and, except that it's overpainted (which you can see better in person than here), it's not bad! I especially like the light on the left shoulder, the right shin, and the flat of her stomach. The darks could be darker, but I don't want to fuss with it any further.
As Chris would say, It's good enough.


Missed class 2/1 due to bronchitis; back on schedule 2/8 I hope.

1/17/07

Mike: Per your request--larger pictures!
1/17/07 was the first session of this winter's life drawing class at Wayne with Bonnie. I got there late (!) and so missed the model's name ...
It was a bit intimidating and frustrating, having missed nearly all of the fall semester.
Trying to remind myself it's the process, not the product.
A good-sized group this session, and good painters too.
Bonnie has asked us to bring in paintings we're working on to critique during the model's breaks. I think it's a great idea and look forward to seeing people's work and also, I hope, honing my critical skills.
Of this day's paintings, my favorite is the middle figure on the 2nd sheet ... I think I like how some of the forms are "open"--there's no line or shape separating them form the background ... Have to try to do that on purpose!

Finally finished this one--well, finished for the most part; still contemplating adding a little sprig of something red or orange in the lower right-hand corner--from my Tuesday . Missed Thanksgiving week, and this one, and next week there's no class, so I may have time to arrange another setup on the 12th and paint it on the 14th, hope so, before breaking for the holiday. In February it'll be a year since I joined the group, and I think there's been some progress: I'm making more complicated setups than I did on my own, and I'm using bigger and bigger pieces of paper.

 

snowscenes

 

2005 holiday card

This is the painting I used for my 2005 cards ... Would like to do another with tree and water ... Time's running out to come up with ideas, though! 

recent unfinished efforts ...

The last week or so I have managed to get in a little painting--despite the several large and/or slog-paced jobs piled on my desk, spurred on by the necessity of coming up with a motif 2006 for my holiday card. I'm considering using one of the --unfinished--paintings above. Last year's card (I'll post it later), even though the printer didn't get the colors quite right, is going to be hard to improve on; the motif--a tree in a dory drifting into the sunset--was just right. Have in my mind a house, at night, with one lighted window, maybe a tree strung with lights, and bare trees and snow falling. Not too ambitious! Should've started working on this before Halloween!


In the summer I took a few not so great photos--not enough light--of a simple porch in Cape May and, now, for some reason, I sem to be obsessed with turning them into something .... Anyway, I keep trying. It's the surrounding space/foliage, I think: it's a challenge, trying to make it "readable" (i.e., that's in front, that's far away ...) but working with not so much information and not wanting (or being able) to reproduce the scene in a more realistic way. Onward.

Finally finished (I think!) the painting posted below, under 10-10.... Was hoping to start another right away, but the Thanksgiving holiday is breaking my very short-lived momentum!

not enough painting! :-(

Here's an unfinished effort last Monday, 10/23 that was. The white area in the middle is a porch on a house in Cape May. I wanted to try to "vignette" the edges, that is, not paint all the way out to the edges ... it's a little too blocky still, but I like the subject and will try it again.
The next effort, started yesterday, 10/30, and worked on a bit today, but also not done (I think) is this study of some dying branches of beachplums that I picked while walking Itchy. There're a few trees on an empty lot by the bay, and I find these milky orange-pink plums irresistible. Sadly, the last couple of years for some reason--temperature? dampness?--the leaves have not been so nice, spotted and dropping early. I was about to chuck these when I thought the dying leaves had a not bad draping effect!
Any suggestions on the background? I'd leave it white--the easy way out--but I may need to pull some of the blue-greens in the vase into the upper background, and some of the yellow-greens in the leaves into the bottom half ...

 

wednesday 10-11

This week our model was Megan. I have only painted her once before, about a year ago (will find and post that painting, which, up to that time, and maybe to this, was, I think, one of my most successful efforts), but she is one of my favorites. You can't tell from these sketches, but she has a lovely face with dark eyes, upturned nose, and Cupid's bow lips--she looks like she could have modeled for Degas or Cezanne. Above are two pages of 2-minute poses wherein our instructor, Bonnie, wanted us to try to capture the central line of the body.

And here are two 20-minute poses, where we were trying to integrate figure and background, by pulling colors from the model into the background and vice versa. I'm sorry these photographs don't really show the lighter colors! My flash is too strong ... I'll try rephotographing them.
 

tuesday 10-10

Began painting this setup this week ... I built the setup around a stalk of silk Chinese lanterns, which I love, but, right now, the red poppy dominates! The cloth has an Asian motif--orchids and lilies. Tried to fit some silver dollars I found while walking Itchy in, but it was too crowded. Maybe they'll hold up until the next painting ... Silver dollars and more red poppies, I think. Hope to finish this next week. 

Wednesday, 9/27. First day back to life drawing in Wayne. We started with 30-second poses (the two pages above). These are intended as a warmup for your brain, but, in my case, it's more of a seize-up, especially if the model--in this case Cornelia--takes a pose where she's folded in on herself, limbs crossing over, head tucked under, etc.: then all I get is a blob! The idea is just to capture the overall shape, gesture of the body with solid brushstrokes--no drawing, no contours.
These pages show 5-minute poses. Here, we could use a simple contour--and I did--if we wanted, as a preliminary, a guide. We painted only the dark and midtones, leaving anything light as the white of the paper, which is why I needed the contour ... I can't see the shape, or perhaps more accurately it's that I can't make the darks connect around the spaces, without the boundary: something to work on.