Saturday at PAFA 12

I'm sorry to say this was the last class. Back in September!

Saturday at PAFA 11

Honorable Mention

I used to think someone had passed a law against my ever winning a prize. The last time I was in a show at PAFA, the jury awarded no less than 10 Honorable Mentions (to paintings that sure wouldn't have been my choice), and zip to me. This time around, there were only 3 Honorable Mentions, and I got one! We artists are supposed to be above this sort of thing, but I'm thrilled.

Here's how the painting looks on site:

For the PAFA Show

to be submitted to the PAFA Continuing Ed Show on Saturday. I hope it gets in!

Saturday Mornings at PAFA

I'm taking a life-drawing class at PAFA (Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.)  This morning the model didn't show (a perennial problem in art schools), so we drew from the casts in PAFA's famous cast hall.  This is a hall full of casts of famous sculptures, including Michelangelo's David.

Apparently John Wanamaker wanted a cast of David to promote Italian merchandise in his department store.  The plasterer asked him whether he wanted it life-size, and Wanamaker said yes, thinking the cast would be about the size of a man.  Instead, the plasterer made the cast the same size as the original statue, namely 17 feet high.  It was too huge for the department store and wound up in PAFA's cast hall.  At least that's the story I've heard.

So I spent the morning trying to draw it.  That head can't possibly be right, but it's too late now.