First thing in a morning I got to work blocking in the silhouette for my Starry Night painting. Then later in the day I went to the Tacoma Life Drawing group and had a great time. A full day of art!
Life drawing
3560: Other Worlds V3 Day 2 & Life Drawing
I still made some changes to the digital version of this painting. I think I’m happy with it now. Then later in the day I went to life drawing for the first time in what seems like forever.
3312: Life Drawing
I haven’t draw from the live figure in two years. I’m surprised at how well I did.
Open Studio: Slow Day
Today at the studio with the model I was relaxed and took it slow, no plans just doing what I felt like.
Open Studio: Amber Contours
I had a wonderful time at life drawing today as I completely, well almost, detached myself from the results of my drawings.
Open Studio: Lisa
I really didn’t have a lot of intense focus today to pull out some really good drawings but the distraction was partly worth it.
Open Studio: Amber
Figure drawing in graphite today and I focused on deliberate practice as outlined in the book Peak by Anders Ericsson.
Still Life for Demo
Doing a life drawing for a demo that I will be giving in the spring but after doing the drawing today I decided to go with a different example image.
Open Studio: Magera
This week we are back to drawing the model and I feel I captured Magera’s expression well.
Open Studio: Drawing Friends
The model didn’t show up today so we took turns posing and drawing each other. It was a wonderful drawing session!
Life Drawing: Christina
I moved a little out of my comfort zone today by using nothing but bigger brushes. I didn’t even take small brushes with me to the studio.
Open Studio Returns
Back to the open studio this weekend and the group is at a new and very cozy place.
Open Studio with Gouache
I was having so much fun in gouache the past couple days that I decided to try it in the open studio session today.
Life Drawing: Christina
Today’s open studio session went really well with enlarging my normal figure size and focusing.
Life Drawing: Lisa
I had a very focused session today and an even more wonderful conversation afterwards.
Life Drawing: Magera
I feel this session went very well, I was focused and able to achieve flow several times throughout the three hours.
Life Drawing: A Good Session
I normally put the model’s name with the title of these but I have forgotten it.
Life Drawing: Amber
My past attempts at a larger head have failed, so today I try and address that failing of mine.
Life Drawing: Lisa
For my painting today I was trying to follow an idea from Robert Henri in his book The Art Spirit.
Life Drawing: Amber
I’m working hard to find my own voice and have the courage to create what I want to create regardless of how my art is received.
Life Drawing: Out of the Comfort Zone
I’m definitely out of my comfort zone when painting a portrait from the live model and I’m super excited to work hard on this and improve.
Life Drawing: Disaster in Oil
Okay, “disaster” may be a bit melodramatic but I did have some challenges with painting the models portrait today.
Life Drawing: Painting in Oil
As promised I brought my paints with me to life drawing and pulled off a really tiny figure painting that I’m happy with. Next time I’ll go bigger.
Life Drawing: Cooper Lanza Gallery
Today I had my first session at the Cooper Lanza gallery in Fairhaven. It was great and I plan to attend every Sunday with Brett.
Life Drawing: Chris
I made the drive almost 2 hours south to see good friends and do more life drawing on Whidbey Island.
Life Drawing: Lyssa
I’ve discovered, or re-discovered that I have a hard time drawing women with subtle curves. Definitely something I need to work on.
Life Drawing: Randy
I think I learned a lot today at life drawing. Or maybe it was just an affirmation of previous things learned but it was a good session.
Life Drawing: Steven
I had a wonderful time today drawing Steven. Sometimes everything is just right and the creative energy flows easily.
Life Drawing: Randy
I feel like I’m getting better at painting in the open studio every Saturday but it could be because Randy is such an awesome model.
Life Drawing: Lyssa
These life drawing sessions of a two hour painting is really testing my ability, I’m going to keep doing them so I can get better.
Life Drawing: Gary
I sat closer to the model today because I wanted to see the subtleties of color in the models skin. I definitely saw more color but I’m not sure I captured it.
Life Drawing: Sarah
It’s been a while since I’ve used oil in a life drawing session and I’m really happy with this first of two sessions.
Life Drawing: Steven
Normally I move around the room and do a different drawing every 20 minutes but today I felt like staying in one place and working on one drawing the whole session.
Portrait Session 3
After last weeks portrait session I noticed that my drawing was very flat, so this session I focused on planes and the form.
Life Drawing: Gloria
Gloria is a wonderful model that I have drawn over the years here and today’s session is no different except I experimented a bit.
Life Drawing: Randy
Some days are easier than others. Today was an easy day and it seemed that drawing Randy was almost effortless.
Portrait Session
For the month of February I will be doing a portrait drawing/painting session ever Wednesday. Today was the first day.
Life Drawing: Gary
Having trouble at life drawing today, for some reason all my figures are coming out stiff, awkward and inaccurate.
Life Drawing: Chris
Back in the open studio again this morning for some wonderful drawing of the human figure.
Life Drawing Returns
It’s been weeks since the last open studio life drawing here on the island and I have missed it.
Life Drawing
It’s been a couple weeks since I was at life drawing due to holiday activities, I wish there was more than on life drawing group close to me.
Life Drawing
Life Drawing this morning and it was a good session. I was able to last the entire three hours.
Life Drawing
I drew differently today, I was thinking more about energy and the human body rather than proportions.
Drawing at Donna’s
Thanks to our wonderful friend Donna for opening her home to the life drawing group we had a great time.
Fundamentals: Life Drawing
I didn’t worry too much about anything for this life drawing session I just had fun and let the drawings happen.
Fundamentals: Life Drawing
I’ve determined that the charcoal pencils I use are best for linear drawing but not shading.
Fundamentals: Life Drawing and Rhino Conservation
A wonderful day of life drawing, bowling, date night and all for the great cause of Rhino conservation.
Fundamentals: Life Drawing New Materials
Working from life with different materials today and even a different setup.
Life Drawing and Portrait Session
Two three hour sessions back to back made for a long day of art and I had a lot of fun.
Life Drawing: Portrait Natural Lighting
Today in life drawing we had a successful session using mostly natural lighting.
Life Drawing: Figure in Oil
Today I decided to paint the whole figure instead of focusing on the portrait.
Life Drawing: Gouache Portrait
This morning was a stressful one as our model canceled at the last minute but luckily we were able to get a great model at short notice.
Life Drawing Gouache Portrait
I was having a lot of trouble with this portrait at the beginning, then I wiped it out and focused.
Life Drawing Gouache Portrait
I’m really enjoying painting in gouache at the open studio, I think I’m starting to get the hang of it.
Life Drawing Gouache Portrait
For today’s life drawing session I just focused on doing a portrait of the model.
Life Drawing with Gouache
I brought my gouache paints to life drawing today to see if I could paint a figure in gouache.
Life Drawing: Portrait Almost Lost
I was in a rush to clean the paint off this panel so I could use it again and at the last moment I remembered to take a picture.
Life Drawing: Wendy
I’ve been having many days where I just can’t seem to focus, today was one of the worst, for some reason I couldn’t get anything drawn well.
Life Drawing: Getting Through It
Today’s life drawing session was plagued by one problem right after another, but I managed to push through the issues.
Life Drawing: Letting Go
Sometimes I can hit a state of mind where I just let go, believe is my ability and let the art just flow through me.
Life Drawing: Line
Life drawing again today and my focus was on line. Somehow I enjoy this type of drawing most.
Life Drawing Charcoal
The three hour session went super fast today. I didn’t feel like I got much drawing done at all.
Life Drawing Charcoal
I decided to put down the oil paints today and relax with some charcoal drawing.
Life Drawing: Not sure about the pose
Well, I think I did this well, but I’m not sure if the painting is bad or the pose…
Life Drawing: Better This Time
Today’s painting in life drawing turned out better than the past few I’ve done.
Life Drawing: Excuses
Seems that I’m consistently having issues while painting the live model in life drawing.
Life Drawing: Bad Canvas
We’re back to our routine life drawing sessions now but the start was not as pleasant as I would have liked.
Life Drawing Monochrome Start
The life drawing group had a wonderful time at Ann’s home which was quite beautiful and provided many opportunities for the model in a real interior.
Life Drawing Monochrome
On these longer sessions I’m introducing white along with burnt umber and it seems to be working well.
Monochrome Figure in Landscape
We had our life drawing group outside today. The weather was pleasant, the artists were happy and the model was great.
Life Drawing: Gary
We traveled north for a life drawing session in Oak Harbor. The space was fun, but my drawing was struggling.
Not Life Drawing
Our model had to cancel but we didn’t give up, we went digital and hopefully learned a lot.
Life Drawing: Shawna
Today at life drawing our model was Shawna. It was a great session with a ton of people there.
Life Drawing at Sip n’ Paint
We moved the life drawing to Sip n’ Paint in Langley and it was great. I liked the space much better than the barn at the fairgrounds.
Life Drawing: Ronni
Yay I’m finally back to life drawing. There nothing else like drawing from the figure directly.
Life Drawing: Steven
The life drawing session today went really well! Steven our model was awesome and I think everyone had a great time, I know I did.
Life Drawing: Shannon
For life drawing today we welcomed Shannon again and I enjoyed painting her even though I was having a lot of trouble with my super slick gessoed board.
Life Drawing: Ronni
Life drawing today didn’t go as well as I hoped. Well, the session went well, but my drawings weren’t as good as I wanted them to be.
Open Studio: Painting Randy
For the last few open studio sessions I was toying with the idea of bringing my paint setup. I finally did this time and I had a great time painting Randy.
Life Drawing: Mikki
I may have gotten way too detailed when drawing the model this life drawing session. I spent a long time on the portrait alone.
Life Drawing: Randy
As I drew Randy today at life drawing I’m reminded of Andrew Wyeth one of my most favorite artists.
The Plateau is Real
In the book Mastery by George Leonard, plateaus are frequent and should be welcomed. I’m finding it hard to do so at the moment.
Technical Difficulties
Today at life drawing we had a very rocky start, but thanks to everyone’s patience and support we ended up getting back on track.
Genitalia an Artists View
I received a very thought provoking email yesterday about the tendency for artists to avoid drawing and painting genitals and I decided to express my views in a post.
Life Drawing
The life drawing session went well this morning. Our model was great and the new stand position was welcomed by all.
Life Drawing
I setup the model a bit different today at the open studio. We usually put the model on a dark background but today I switched it all to white.
Life Drawing: Reclining Nude
It’s nice to be able to draw from the live figure once a week. After a request from another artist last week I agreed to program a reclining nude pose.
Life Drawing: It’s Been Too Long
It has been several months since I’ve drawn from life. It has also been several months since I’ve been to a life drawing session.
Open Studio Oil Sketch
Today’s open studio figure sketch didn’t go as well as last weeks and I think it has to do with my focus. I’ve noticed that many times that focus is key for me.
Life Drawing Oil Sketch
I actually brought my oil paints to the life drawing session today. I was nervous at first but as soon as I saw the model’s pose from my seat I was confident that I could turn out a good oil sketch.
Gage Academy Life Drawing
I had the pleasure of attending the Gage Academy life drawing with a fellow artist today and it was a lot of fun. It was really great to have someone to talk shop with, thanks Bob!
Life Drawing Saturday
Life drawing at Whidbey Island Fine Art Studio is great. I really enjoy how laid back this group is and we all have a good time drawing and catching up with fellow artists.
Figure Drawing Saturday is Back, Finally
The Whidbey Island Saturday figure drawing session has been postponed for a while. Plus, I missed the last two sessions as I was out of town. So, it is great to be back again.
Life Drawing
Today is the last day of life drawing at WIFAS before we take a month off. There is just not enough attendance to sustain it for the month of June so for the next few Saturdays I’m going to have to figure out something else to do, but I have some contact information and we may transition into landscapes.
Life Drawing
I had a wonderful time today with the Whidbey Island figure drawing group that I continued drawing at home from photos.
Life Drawing Teaching
It was a challenging day for me at life drawing. Not only was I drawing but I was also teaching. Or, to be more accurate, I was trying to impart many ideas to the other artists that signed up for the class. Overall I think it went well.
Life Drawing
It is said that leaving your comfort zone allows you to grow. What isn’t mentioned is how nerve-racking it is at the beginning. This morning in life drawing I was responsible for timing the model and I found it difficult to watch the time and draw at the same time. Plus I was changing up the normal pose format so I feared an artist revolt.
Life Drawing
I learned today that the only south Whidbey island life drawing class will be shutting down for the summer sometime soon. This is very disappointing to say the least on thing that I look forward to most every week is drawing from the live model. So now I have to come up with other options…
Life Drawing
I’m beginning to like this life drawing session on Whidbey island more and more, even though the pose timing is unorganized. It’s nice to be in a place where the other artists are willing to converse with you again. Unfortunately I’ve gotten used to keeping to myself after the last 10 months of life drawing in Portland, so it’s taking me a bit to open up.