Happy Holidays!

Hoping that this season is full of love, peace and happiness for you!

6" x 6" oil on gessoboard

Weekend With The Masters

I've been away from this blog for some time now, so with the year ending soon, I'll try to catch up on some of the things I've been doing.  This past September I attended American Artists' Weekend With The Masters in Monterey, California.  It was an extraordinary opportunity to attend workshops presented by some of our finest artists and be inspired by their skills.  I had never been to this area of California, and what I saw of it was beautiful, however I spent most of my time indoors with the artists.

- Day 1 -
Started with a three hour portrait painting demonstration by Scott Burdick.

Next, a lecture and slide presentation by Richard Schmid on The Adventures of Painting From Life.

Afterwards, a three hour portrait demo with Rose Frantzen, showing the use of oil sticks as well as paint.

That evening after a short break, there was a panel discussion on the objectivity and subjectivity of art and the parameters for judging a painting.  David Leffel was the moderator; the panelists were (L to R) Daniel Gerhartz, Rose Frantzen, Richard Schmid, George Gallo, Jacob Collins and Quang Ho.

- Day 2 -

This was the first day that we got to paint or draw in the workshops.

My full day workshop was Painting a Portrait with Rose Frantzen.  She started with a demonstration that morning.

After lunch, we worked on our own paintings.  Below is an overall shot of our session, divided into two groups with a model for each group.  My view of our model is on the left and my likeness of him, on the right.

After dinner, we were treated to a oil portrait demonstration by Richard Schmid of Alexey Steele.

- Day 3 -

Full day workshop; Painting Small Sketch Portrait With Nancy Guzik.

Morning demo.

That afternoon, we had another model to paint.  My portrait sketch below.

That evening, a side-by-side painting demonstration of one model by 

Daniel Sprick and Quang Ho.

- Day 4 -

The final day of workshops, mine is a full day with Nancy Guzik, again, but this time Drawing Children.

Nancy demonstrated first while discussing proportions of the head at various ages and comparing distances using the five essential darks.  After her demo, we sketched two young models in various poses, five minutes per pose, eventually increasing time.

I counted 20 sketches in my book.  Shoulder rubs during a break were helpful.

Here are three of my sketches, one each of two sisters (left and middle), then

Michelle Dunaway (right) sat in to give the girls a break.

In the final couple of hours of the workshop, Nancy did a demo painting of one of the young models to show us how to apply what we had practiced in our sketches to painting in oils.

A fund-raising silent auction of donated materials was held that night.

Overall, this was a fantastic experience and I'm so glad I went.

I wouldn't hesitate to go again, if the budget allows, and I'd encourage

anyone that's interested in painting and learning from real pros to go.

Little Brown Pot

Jody's Little Brown Pot - 8" x 10" oil on stretched canvas

I've been taking a weekly still life oil painting class with Jody Thompson at SouthGate Studio.  Jody is a down-to-earth individual with loads of talent and helpful tips about painting.  Each six week session, he sets up various still life groupings, that we can choose from, or we can bring in our own subject matter to paint.  It's real motivation to work with other artists in a studio situation, not to mention getting to know other people with the same interests.  This was from my first session and (to me) somewhat tedious in detail.

Bright Eyes

My Niece's Son - 8" x 8" oil on canvas

This is from a children's portrait painting class, this past winter.  Gayle Levée instructed us in stages, from developing our own skin tone charts, basic child anatomy, to creating a portrait, layered with glazes, from a photograph of our choosing.  I love the mound of curly hair in this.

Painting A Live Model

Portrait Sketch - Approx. 16" x 20" Oil on linen

This week I was able to be a fill in at a portrait session at SouthGate Studio.  We had a live model and four hours to do our painting.  Fantastic practice and extremely worthwhile for someone who's wanting to paint portraits.  I hope to do more of this.  This isn't as finished as I would like (actually quite rough), but I am happy with the results for the limited amount of time.

Two Cheeseburgers, Please

Cheeseburger Cheeseburger - 6" x 6" oil on gessobord

Everyone has a special place they like to go to for good cheap hamburgers.  Mine is in my hometown.  It's a little dive that stays open late into the night and the hamburgers are cooked up when you order them.  Fantastic when you're hungry late at night.

A Year Ago

Couch Taters - pencil sketch

My daughter and her boyfriend, as they watched TV on a lazy summer afternoon.
  

Last August, I enrolled in a basic drawing class, taught by Suzanne McDermott in her studio, to see if I could draw again.  It had been years since I sat down to do a sketch of 'anything.'  I was so used to working on a computer that I felt paralyzed to put the point of a pencil on a pad of paper.  If I needed to do a quick layout of something, I'd use Illustrator or Photoshop, because most of the time I was just laying out an ad that required no real drawing skills.  Suzanne's class changed that for me.  It was great!  Basic exercises with simple subjects she set up for us to draw, then we moved on to sketching other artists' works that she chose for us.  It was the jolt I needed to feel confident to sketch again.  I really need to do more of this, to help train my eye and hand.

A Dozen Roses

Cezanne Roses - 11" x 14" oil on canvas panel

A painting in progress. I continue going back to this and finding more to do.  I took an excellent flower painting class, this spring, that Gayle Levée taught at Plaza Art Supply.  Each week we were to bring in a fresh flower(s) and set it (them) up in our own personal backdrop box to paint alla prima. The key words here are "alla prima"—I have a hard time with that, so don't follow my example.  I got the basic painting layout done in the class, but always wanted to do more.  I guess I need to loosen up a bit.  More on that, later.

FIrst small painting

Peach Bowl - 6" x 6" oil on gessobord

Sweet summertime—fresh peaches and ripe tomatoes—something to save us from the heat.  I had just cut up this peach and put it in one of my favorite Anthropologie bowls, when the thought of painting it struck.  The choice of the red napkin with this is one of my favorite color combos... you'll see.