4th Week

Still adjusting values right up to the end of class. Seems I have trouble getting my lights light enough,or is it getting the mid values dark enough? It's all about value for me at this point.

1st Class

This is from the 1st class at Mass Art where I'm taking an 8 week summer session class on figure painting taught by Catherine Kehoe. We are only using titanium white,raw umber and ultramarine blue for the 1st 2 sessions. I'm having difficulty really simplifying what I see- so much information when I look at the model.Catherine let us do our own thing this class, to see where we are at. Really grateful to be in this class!

Open Figure

This was the last day of the open figure studio at the Portsmouth Arts Guild. I wiped the drawing off 3 times before I settled into this rendition. Was totally challenged by this pose. Humbled,really. That's how it is sometimes. Stay persistent as the way to improve.

Mary

Open figure, decided to try a portrait. So much, trying to simplify. This never gets old! I'm lost in process.

Figure Value Study

It was raining and I wanted to keep it simple, so I went to our open figure group at the Portsmouth Arts Guild with just 2 tubes of acrylic-black and white. It was still a challenge, but a good one.Next time will bring an assortment of supports, as my square board didn't fit the reclining figure.

Week 2

Open figure studio at the Portsmouth Arts Guild. Really enjoyed the challenge of the figure today.Constant measuring,scraping and changing to get things right and now I see issues with his left arm! Well, there's always next time. This is more an exercise in seeing than coming up with a finished painting.I'm enjoying that point of view-less stressful!

Week 1

Started a 6 week session at the Portsmouth Arts Guild with the figure. Three hours flew by, didn't bring my camera for later reference; this one will have to stand on its own. Used an 11x14 canvas which gave me a bit more room for the whole composition, including that red step stool, which I love!

Take 2

Had so much trouble with this pose, had to wipe it off and start over-halfway through! Did 2 small paintings, 6x6, in the 3 hour plein air session with the model. Plan on doing it again this week, viewing it as a STUDY only, by no means anywhere near a finished painting. Steve Sheehan ( who used to teach at the Lyme Academy) said that you could learn more by starting many paintings. So consider this a start!

Figure in the Landscape

We went across the street from the art museum to Touro Park, the model in the sun, we're in the shade. By 4pm, when we ended, the shade was everywhere, and it felt like September in New England. I did 2 studies, this is the better of the 2. Will post the other tomorrow. In any event, have decided that my next focus will be on the figure....from LIFE! Got out all my reference books, really thinking about what Anthony Ryder calls "the envelope", a group of up to 6 lines that encompass the figure into one big mass. That's the starting point, not any of the details inside.

Hope and Constitution

Our group met this morning under grey skies along Hope Street in Bristol. The pink of Dawn's top, the umbrella in the garden, and the pink of the bushes all caught my attention, brightening the scene.