Saturday at PAFA 4

Today was a strange class. The instructor, John Horn, was out sick, so it was just the students and the models, a man and a woman. The female model showed up late and posed for one twenty-minute block. During the break, she picked a fight with the male model and then left in a huff.

So we all wound up drawing the male model. He's the same model, in the same pose, as last week, so I drew him from a different angle this time.

Wednesday Gouache 4

This is week 1 of a 2-week pose; I'll put colors on it next time. She is actually the same model that I drew in my first Saturday class at PAFA!

Saturday at PAFA 3

John Horn came around just as I was about to drive the model's head off the page (again!) and talked me into starting over with the head and feet marked first — not a bad idea.

The male nude is more naked than the female nude.

Progress 6!

Wednesday Gouache 3

In the studio where we paint, there's very harsh overhead lighting. For the long pose, we turn off the overheads and put spot lighting around the studio, in an attempt to get interesting shadows on the model. One result is that I furiously paint away in the dim lighting, only to stagger back in surprise at the lurid colors I've used when the overheads are turned back on. It's probably good for me, though.

Saturday at PAFA 2

Progress 5!

Wednesday Gouache 2

Note to Self

The reddish color at the bottom of the painting is Crimson Lake, German Earth, and Zinc/Titanium White.

Members' Show at the Main Line Art Center

I submitted the above painting to the annual Members' Show at the Main Line Art Center. It's a gouache (opaque watercolor), which means it has to be framed (otherwise it could be ruined by someone spilling a drink on it.) I put it in an old frame I had around the house — what a nightmare! Framing makes me so tense; I'm worried that I'll lose my focus and somehow wreck the painting. Invariably, I get the whole frame put together and find some little bit of schmutz between the matte and the plexiglass, so I have to take it apart again. Argh! When the show is over, I'm getting that puppy framed professionally. Enough already.

Saturday at PAFA 1

This morning I went to the PAFA life drawing class — here's the result. The drawing on the right was done by the instructor, John Horn. When he came around to look at my work, he thought it was pretty hilarious that I had carefully delineated the model's body, while leaving a blank oval for her head. I'm not a people person, OK? (I added the head later.)

For me, this is one of the most difficult situations to draw — a skinny model in a simple standing pose. The result is a tight-ass academic drawing, not one of my best, but perhaps if I work through it I'll wind up better on the other side. Let's hope, anyway.

Wednesday Gouache 1

Channelling Morandi?

So, I've started work on the lower box in my painting.  I'm painting away, and more and more thinking to myself "Hmm ... that looks familiar." Perhaps it looks familiar because it reminds me of Giorgio Morandi?  Here's one of his paintings (from this web page):

Or does my painting just look familiar because it looks like the early-60's aesthetic I grew up with?

Nevermind ... back to work!