Thursday, February 24, 2011

Man & Lure


Man & Lure, oil, 12x12 canvas panel

This is alla prima (about two hours) and first time trying water-soluble oils.

I don't know this person--if he were younger, he might be the guy who waxed my car last year. This was pure play. My son's fishing gear is stored in my workshop--instead of a shirt, this guy got a fishing pole and a fluffy yellow lure.  I managed to avoid the hooks.

I may add hair and eyebrows later--maybe not.  Maybe a hat!
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Reading and Breathing and Drawing


Hmm, pencil sketch on cheap paper, 12x9

I've been reading.  I get lost in the books; while reading, my only other activities are breathing and drawing (which are the same thing--I can't do one without the other).

First, I read Color and Light by James Gurney--an excellent book--so good that I made notes.  Now I realize that I'll never find those notes when I'm painting; hopefully, I'll be able to locate the book.  I also read Oil Painting Step-by-Step, a 1953 book by A. L. Guptill.


pencil, 5x4


pencil, 5x4
 I tried to discard a February 2009 issue of Vanity Fair but there were some great full-page closely-cropped photos of the previous administration and a 25-page article titled "Farewell to All That."  I had to re-read the article and drew (No. 2 pencil) a couple of the photos by Philippe Sands--I skipped the President, the Vice President and Rove.  These two were enough.

pencil, 12x9
From the magazine George I copied the arm from the photograph "Redhead" by Paul Outerbridge, and re-read the article.  (No. 2 pencil)
3-Legged Woman, ink on yupo, 10x8
Then I tried Yupo for the first time, using walnut ink and the end of a crochet hook (couldn't find the bamboo stick).  The paper is very slippery and the ink runny--thus a 3-legged woman.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Web Removal

Spiderbelle?  pastel on Wallis sanded paper, 16x10
A germ of an idea from last month.  When I was clearing my workshop of spiderwebs I realized I always open my mouth when I look up.  My mother called this posture "catching flies."  I thought of painting it but there are many paintings of people looking up screaming--scrap that one.   From that idea to this painting:
1: A woman looking up, open-mouthed, holding a broom.   2:  Add the fan and a spider web.  3:  Which fan?  We have 3-blade fans w/lights, 5-blade w/o lights, and 4-blade w/o lights--make one up.   4:  Draw it with pastels on Wallis sanded paper (a new experience).  5.  Decide that one of the fan blades should mirror the angle of the lifted arm.  Erase the whole drawing with triangular sponge makeup thingys.  6.  Find a lifted arm--found one in a 1946 book, The Dance--right arm of Isadora Duncan.  Close the book and imagine the arm.  8.  Remember the beginning of the TV show "Zorro."   Can I get a "Z" in here--from the fan blade/broom/arm?   8.  Tape the paper to a foam board, find some rubbing alcohol, get the Holbein pastels out of the workshop and go to the YMCA for Thursday (today) art.  9.  Use the Holbein pastels for wall and ceiling; realize they're OIL pastels--retrieve the soft pastels from the car.  Carry on with alcohol and pastels.

I like it.  Now I'm deciding--

Add clothes?  Facial features?  Hands?  Spider webs hanging from fan?   Or, just work on the broom handle and call it finished?  

FYI:  I paint like I sculpt--build a nude, then add clothes.  No, this is definitely not a self-portrait--it's not even my arm.