Sketchy
In church This is the second year I’ve bought into the Sketchbook Project and then felt my muse desert me as soon as the package arrived in the mail. It’s ironic, because I carry a sketchbook everywhere I go, a habit that started in elementary school. My school notekeeping was a total fail from an …
Urban painting/Queensboro Bridge
Usually, when we say “field sketch,” people think of pastorals, but the term can apply equally to urban landscapes. I went on a tear painting the Queensboro (or 59th Street) Bridge with my friend Kristin. Here are a few examples. Construction on the Queensboro Bridge, oil on board, 12X9 Just as urban plein air painters …
Black Eye
Michelle’s shiner (detail) It’s not often you get a model showing up with a black eye, and that’s irresistible to paint. (Before you get worried that she’s the victim of domestic abuse, she’s a dancer and occasionally her face gets in someone else’s way.) A flesh tone matrix, a little more complex than what I …
A more formal figure painting
Nude, oil on canvas, 40X30 This commissioned work is a formal portrait of a mature woman who desired a nude painting reflecting her Central American heritage. The client wanted an impression of the beauty of a woman not matching the clichĂ© of the commercialized American ideal of willowy, leggy and fair female imagery. The composition …
Figure Sketch
(Michelle reading, 24X36″ oil sketch on canvas.) I have been doing fewer 3 hour figure studies, because my pal Marilyn has blown down to Florida. This is from Saturday’s session. I love the pose. Three hours for the figure, about another half hour for the background. Excuse the reflections; at this time of year, paint …