MORE OIL

Here's another oil study done on canvas last year. Strong shapes appeal to me, and as our model switched seats after about a ten minute pose, it was easy to add her new pose next to the old one, creating some dynamics to the study.

Though this painting is small, it was an great adventure in shape and value, with some play on texture. Color appears to be important in this study, but the strength of the painting comes from the the over lapping and interlocking shapes of different values.

This is another painting study that needs to be developed bigger, either in oil or fluid acrylics. That will have to wait until after the holidays, though. I enjoy the apparent sense of intimacy shared by the 'two' women.

"GIRL TALK" Oil on unstretched canvas 9 x 12"

A GOOD THING

Blind contour drawings usually result in some pretty neat line work drawings. I love to do them, and in class, challenged each artist to 'draw' the still life in front of them without looking at the paper as they drew.

After making three or four drawings, we choose the ones we liked best and retraced parts or all of them onto watercolor paper, using pen and ink. After lightly splattering the paper with miskit, I popped open some fluid acrylics and took off painting as loose and free as I could to capture these pomegranates.

They tend to show a strong resemblance to onions, (remember it was a BLIND contour drawing to start with,) but I sure had fun. After class, I peeled my 'first ever' pomegranate and enjoyed the delicious seeds.

"POMEGRANATES" Fluid Acrylics on 140#HP Arches 15 x 9"

PAUSING TO REST

One beautiful day this past September, we'd finished sightseeing on a small island in northern Italy and had about a half an hour to wait before our ride arrived. This older gentleman waited, too, as he leaned into his cane, and I saw a painting waiting to emerge. After a very quick one minute gesture sketch, my brushes were ready to fly.

Plopping some color on the postcard sized paper, I worked on what had first drawn my eye - his demeanor. I'd barely roughed in his clothes and skin shapes and glanced up to see what to adjust. At that moment, he stood up and walked away. WAIT!

So much for painting plein aire. The rest of the painting took about twenty five minutes with a little tweaking added later. One of my cousins has this at her house now, and I must go visit soon.

"LOST IN THOUGHT" Transparent Watercolor on 140#CP Fabriano Artistico 7 x 5" COLLECTED