Charcoal drawing - Natasha

Charcoal drawing on Stathmore paper.

I  have been unintentionally gone from my blog a very long time.  It is not because I have not been working but my work has taken a bit of a shift.  I have been doing more drawing lately and I have also done a few larger paintings that simply take more time.  This drawing of my friend Natasha is the type of drawing  I am trying to do more of.  It is a very good skill to be able to draw a portrait effectively.  By drawing a portrait which must be very exact I am improving my hand, eye coordination.  Drawing is the foundation to any painting and the more I can improve my drawing skill I will also improve my painting.  If I draw a tree and it looks like a tree I still have plenty of fudge room in the drawing.  As long as it looks like a tree it looks accurate.  But if I am drawing someone's portrait there is much less wiggle room for me.  This is what can really helps me to improve.  

Drawings

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I managed to get in some drawing time last week on a rainy evening.  This was made with graphite and white charcoal on toned grey paper.    The one below is black charcoal and white on toned paper.  

I really enjoyed doing these and hope to do more soon.  

Portrait in Oil - Katy

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11" x 14" Oil on canvas.  Purchase info here.

This painting was a true challenge for me!  It began with a 3 hour sitting but I struggled with it at the time.  I worked on it quite a bit after Katy left my studio.  Capturing the right skin tone was a big part of the difficulty.  But I finally got it to where I was quite happy with it.  Katy is a talented cello player.  She is a member of a local band called Blackwater Railroad Co. that is very popular here.  If you would like to see a music video they made please follow this link.  We enjoy their music very much!

Ok, that is the end of the portraits I have to share.  Next blog will be my annual roses/flowers for Valentine's Day!  Once again I will be giving away a painting!  I will provide more details for the drawing in my next blog post.

Oil Painting - Doug Capra

16" x 20"  Oil on panel.

This is another head study painted in early December.   Our good friend, Doug Capra, was kind enough to come sit for me one afternoon.  Doug is an historian and author.  He and his wife Cindy were two of the first friends we made after moving to Seward and they have been very good supporters of my art career.  He has a new book that was published in November, 2014 called The Spaces Between: Stories form the Kenai Mountains to the Kenai Fjords.    It is a collection of stories of early pioneers in Seward and you can find it on Amazon.  

Portrait in Oil - "Hana"

16" x 20"  Oil on panel.  Available here.

I painted this portrait yesterday form a live model.  This lovely young woman came to my studio and sat for me.  It took 3 hours for the initial sitting.  Then about an other hour today to make a few small adjustments.  I feel pretty happy with it.  I did add the nose ring that she was wearing.  I thought, why not, just put it in there.  She was a wonderful model, I would like to paint her again.  

Oil Painting Portrait - "Pink Robe"

11" x 14"  Oil on linen panel.  

 This is the final portrait I painted in the workshop I took at the Scottsdale Artists' School last week.  The instructor was New York artist Max Ginsburg.   We all had a great week and I feel like I learned so much.  I am looking forward to more portraits.  This photo does not really do the justice.  There is glare due to wet paint and I used my iPhone 4 so the image quality is rather weak. Maybe I will post a better one sometime.

Simon

16" x 20"  Oil on panel.  

 This is my youngest son, Simon, and my first posting of a portrait.  I have a strong desire to paint portraits so hopefully I will do more.  This was painted from a photo that I had on my iPhone taken about four years ago.