Bluebird

Sullen

Rounding off the year with this skull post. I have always wanted to paint one. This was a quick 2 hour sketch; more like a stretch during a long day of live model figure painting. I am looking forward to taking a deeper dive into painting in the new year. The best is yet to come. 

Raven Undone

I just got back from a workshop with Michelle Dunaway at the Village Arts of Putney in Vermont. Its a beautiful and an inspiring place to say the very least. The format of the workshop was perfect in my opinion. We worked on figure the first day, portrait on the second and a two day 'model in an environment' pose in the next couple of days. I wanted learn how to turn the form in a realistic manner and came away with a good understanding on how to do so. A few simple things made all the difference. My goal with the painting posted here was to achieve luminous skin tones and to subtly turn the form. And I think I was able to scratch the surface on that one! Am now waiting to push the limits (read colors!) and see how far I can go. 

Painting Branko

Branko gave us an assignment to explore and push color and we chose to make him our model for it. It was so much fun that we painted way past midnight, despite having an early flight to catch the next morning! The weekend at Laguna was perfect. We walked to the beach, hiked to the 'top of the world', lazed on the patio gazing at the ocean, happened to spot some whales swimming about but also managed to paint and talk all things et art! Inspired. 

The Londoner

I started off with a pretty rough lay-in and I was convinced that I had forgotten how to draw. I soon realized that a slight change in the shoulder placement is all it took to make it look right at the very least. It started to read better once I started building up the values and pushing the scale. It came together in the last few minutes! Well, you never really know what works until it just does! 

David

From an open studio costumed figure session at the Community School of Music and Arts. It was a good change to paint from a live model. I plan to do it more often. 

Dressed Up

I started with painting the face and then moved on to the head wrap and the dress. A few tones of color and a hint of a shadow were just about enough to suggest the intricate neck piece. I had initially planned not to include the flower, but did so as an after thought. I think it works well to balance the composition. 

The reference picture is from the Watts Atelier program. 

Setting limits

Why I haven't been using transparent red oxide is beyond me. It is going to be a constant fixture on my palette henceforth. The depth it adds to the shadows with it's transparency is truly unmatched. For the most part of this painting I used a limited palette consisting of burnt umber, transparent red oxide, terra rosa, yellow ochre and white of course. Color mixing turned out to be much less of a hassle and it was easier to maintain the color harmony.

White Dress

I hadn't thought about what I wanted to paint next; and so decided to rework an unfinished under-painting from earlier using the puddles of dried paints that I had left on the palette. This was an effort to reduce waste and an experiment with inventing color from a black and white reference. An exercise to get better at understanding values. I am happy with how it turned out and hence pretty pleased on many levels! :)

Ms. Murphy

The one thing I have learnt from trying to paint portraits is to not give up! And it feels like a real achievement when at some point the sketch begins to look like the person you are trying to paint. Every small shape and every little curve is so important to achieve the likeness and to me, painting faces is the most difficult thing yet and that is why I love it so much too! I am also posting a desaturated version of the painting above; gives a good perspective of the value scale. I gave this sketch to E as a Christmas gift, and I am of course elated to know that she is happy with it ! :)

Benediction

Let's just say this is in honor of the character so well reprised! Took me two days and multiple attempts to wrap my head around the tiny details that were going totally amiss. Happy to have completed this simple sketch; I think I've managed to achieve a fair amount of likeness, which was the whole point to say the very least! With such a distinct face, the mistakes seemed elusive but were really quite 'elementary, my dear'! 

Enlightened

I decided it was time to tackle the formidable to-paint list I have had for a long time now. I started with the Zorn palette on what was to be a self-portrait, but it turned out to be a complete wiper! I know what did not work though and I plan to be more mindful of it the next time around. After this experiment, I am feeling more confident about painting familiar faces where the likeness becomes more important than just the aesthetics. Btw this being the 50th post, its a mini milestone met! :)

Morning Light

The striking contrast between the light and shadows drew me to the subject. I almost had to use pure white for the highlights! It took quite a bit of deliberate contemplation to work this one to completion. Its not often that I like what I paint, and this is one of those rare occasions :)

Glass beads

The reflected lights in the shadows and more importantly the highlights, to me, are the finishing touches that pull a painting together and make it read right. The highlight has been widely touted as the sweet treat that one eagerly waits for at the end of a multicourse meal. Being a dessert lover, I couldn't agree more - Je suis d'accord!

Silken Blues

Portraits with Laurie

A weekend with Laurie Johnson at the Redwood City Art Center - We painted from a model, starting with a value study and then painted in full color. Staring intently to identify the subtle color and value shifts wasn't too different compared to painting from a photo reference, thought getting the likeness was more difficult. I am stilll working on getting the values and temperatures right. I did learn to look for the planes in the face. The John Asaro head at the studio was very helpful. This painting was done on a PVC sheet textured with one round of sanding - the smooth surface makes the paint glide and the colors look brighter. I am not sure if I like it just yet. Laurie is a wonderful artist and a highly spirited person. It has been fun painting with her, and I look forward to learning more from her.

The Blue Band

I learned that just a hint of blue can make a highlight pop when applied over warmer colors (of course the model here is under cool light); and that a palette knife can create interesting variation in paint texture and also a strong hard edge where you need it. I have used this reference picture (and some before) from the instructional video by Artist Jeffery Watts on gesture portraits. I enjoy watching painting demos and videos,  they give a good insight into the painting process. 

Abandon

 I closed my eyes. I surrendered to sleep.

- Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram.

A portrait study from last evening's painting session at Fongwei Liu's studio. I hope to get closer to bringing life and expression to a painting. After a few touches at home, I decided to to leave it at this stage though not complete. Its interesting what an artist said when asked about how long it takes for him to finish a painting - 'A Painting is never finished, its abandoned'. 

Ran

Ran Wu, a fellow artist I study with under the tutelage of artist Fongwei Liu. I am still in the dark on how and where to get apt reference photos for my portrait painting experiments.And hence for now, fellow artists serve as models! 

Value Study

I had used my Rosemary Brushes for the first time and was amazed at how they made the paint glide over the panel. And now, without the battle of the brushes, painting reached a whole new level !

"Sell your grandmother if necessary, but buy the most expensive brushes you can find" 
- Richard Schmid, Alla Prima: Everything I know about painting -