Time Flies

Two weeks, two Thursdays and a Monday.  Here is what has come of it besides the commissions I'm working on. 

Bunmi was back posing for our Monday group.  She was actually the first model I painted with this group.  She wore a purple head dress that day. (Former post)  I love painting with these people.  Truly a great bunch of individuals and artist.  This was a three hour pose.   

 

Bunmi is a wonderful model and I need to get her for our Thursday group.  She got back into the pose perfectly after every break.  I love all the reflected light in this.  Her head dress was so fun to paint.  I hope you can zoom in and see some of the brushwork.

 

Jessica modeled for our Thursday group and these are two of the 20 minute sketches.  I hope to come back at some point and do a finished painting of the second one.

 

 

I was so intrigued by the light on her hair.  Jessica has this beautiful black hair.  Part of the challenge for me during this session was capturing the color of her hair in the light. We are often influenced by what we know instead of what we see.  At the Monday group with Bunmi several people just used yellow ochre for the head dress and darkened it in the shadows.  They knew her head dress was a yellow/gold and that was that.  I find that when I look for the subtle changes in value and temperature and am successful in applying those subtle nuances to the surface it makes the resulting passage more life like.  It makes the yellow of her head dress in this instance appear more yellow!  You can see this again in the 20 minute sketch below. 

 

This was another 20 minute pose.  I really enjoy painting Jessica.  That hair!!!!!!

I omitted the big purple bow she wore in this one.  I find the section of this painting on the shadow side of her neck and shoulder with the suggestion of the background so interesting.  A few strokes in the right value with the right temperature can really sing.  Now if I could accomplish that everywhere in the painting I'd have something.

 

Little blurry on the close up but you can see the color. 

Usually we do a double 20 the last hour of our Thursday session and this painting came out of that.  You may recognize the chair from the painting I did of Coulter.  I finished this at home in my studio.  I was considering calling this "What? You don't like my bow?"  But I decided to go with "The Purple Bow".  I know!  I need to work on naming these. 

 

Close up, obviously....

 

Here is a quick 20 minute sketch of Dave dressed as a Renaissance Man.  He is a fellow artist who makes incredible costumes and is a wonderful model.  He also posed as a Pirate and a Colonialist. 

Jo was the model for the Monday group and she came in this lovely Sari.  She is a tiny lady.  This is the result of that three hour session.  I'm happy with how bright the Sari looks.  The chair she is sitting on was draped with a grey cloth.  Pulling the purple made the orange and red pop.  After racing the clock every Thursday three hours seems like such a luxery. 

 

 

 

Faces and Figures Juried Show

 

Two of my paintings were juried into the National Exhibition,

Faces & Figures

The show ran from February 2 - March 8 at the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda, Florida

 

 

 

 

Pink Kimono with Pearls

16X20

 

 

 

Fall Color

12X24

 

Pink Kimono with Pearls was the end result of a 20 minute sketch from the Thursday am WAL Figure Group and Fall Color was one I did of my daughter. (previous blog)

 

I put some $ into framing these two paintings and they are glorious!  It was also my maiden voyage into shipping artwork for shows.  Thankfully I know a fabulous artist Annie Walker who was kind enough to share with me how she did it.  I now have two "Strong Boxes" that I can ship artwork in safely. 

 

I will be using these "Strong Boxes" to ship the following two paintings to another show that I was juried into in Dallas! 

 

 

"Ever Dawning Spring"

Called to Serve Series "Sister McQuay"

22X28

Caitlan McQuay came and sat for me in my studio for this painting.  I taught her in church for 4 years and absolutely love this girl.  She is now serving a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Colorado.  It was so fun.  She would sneek out of her house so her parents didn't know what she was doing and pose for 3 hours.  We did this three separate days.  I gave her breaks of course and we had to go to lunch too.  Her family absolutely love the painting and are kind enough to let me show it in the "Rites of Spring Show" at the Dutch Art Gallery in Dallas.

 

 

"The Dying Swan Prepares"

16x20

 

Rachel Mead a professional ballerina who is in between jobs who modeled for three other ladies and myself in January.  This is a painting that I did during the morning we were together.  I finished it at home in my studio and can't wait to work on the other one I started later that afternoon.  She is a beautiful dancer and a wonderful model.  She has since modeled for the Thursday WAL group and has won them all over as well!  There isn't enough time to paint all the things I want to let alone the things I've been commissioned too!

 

 

James Dean Style

 

Coulter was the model for the WAL Thursday am Life Group.  He did great and came with three different outfits.  I absolutely love the challenge of the 20 minute poses.  Above are two sketches from two different 20 minute poses.

 

 

The last hour of our 3 hour session we usually do a double 20.  Above you can see the result of this 20 minute pose we had Coulter resume again after a short break hence the "double 20".  I was tickled with it and went home and painted on it until I got this!

 

When I took it into the other room to show my husband he said "that reminds me of James Dean". 

 

 

Sure enough!  So that's what I'm calling this painting. 

 "James Dean Style"