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I like to take photos of paintings in progress to see the various stages and also capture where I might have veered off course. This was actually my first portrait of the Taos workshop and while I wasn't ultimately happy with the final outcome I like where it is in this stage. This is where I first learned to push paint, rather than draw with it, and to use the model as a reference rather than just copying what I see.
This sketch reflects so many ahas and influences from the Taos workshop. It's where I learned that painting is like poetry, don't copy what you see, show how light spills over your subject like a waterfall. Show what caught your eye, what you think is beautiful, what made you fall in love. You should have seen the way the light fell on her face, her chest, and down her arm, like this, like this, like this...
When this dancer became too dark and dull I was shown how to push the shadows, brighten them, in order to get more of a sense of light. That was so different than how I normally dealt with shadow. And when I struggled with the lips as I always do Sherrie showed me, in just three strokes, how lips are a temperature change not a value change. Another optical illusion between what we think we see and what is real.
I realized in posting this sketch how my 100 Heads project has come full circle. I started not knowing how to draw a face and wanting to learn so I copied some of my favorite drawings by Sherrie McGraw. I never knew then that I would end up taking a workshop with her where she would dab the lips onto my own painting.
I spent this morning scrolling through my blog with the intention of collecting some of my favorite images in order to start an artist's Facebook page. I ended up in tears of awe. I made a pot of oolong tea and read for hours and all I could think was Wow. WOW. I have come a long way and have had an amazing life. What a gift to be able to look back at your life this way.
What a gift this blog has been. From the times where I could make art daily to the times where I couldn't -yet could still hear it in the distance, calling me back.
This is a sketch from the last day of the Taos workshop. I could feel myself struggling between getting caught up in rendering, which was familiar, and the new things I'd learned about mass, light, and shadow. With only 15 minutes Ieft I pushed the light and shadow with colors I normally would have thought to be over exaggerated, and that's what brought it back to life.
In this sketch I experimented with hard and soft edges, warm and cool temperature. The cool black of the glove in front brings it forward, the warm black of the other glove makes it go back. Hard edges on the gloves in front, soft edges on the face that's further back.
I recently returned from an oil painting workshop in Taos with Sherrie McGraw and David Leffel. I gave myself the gift of this workshop in honor of completing my year long yoga therapy program and becoming a Certified Yoga Therapist. It's my hope that with 150 case studies done drawing and painting can return again.
Sherrie and David turned everything I've ever learned in the past about painting and drawing on its head. It was so amazing to spend a full week painting from morning to night and be surrounded by others who were passionate about doing the same thing. The lighting for this photo is not good but I decided to post it anyway rather than wait for a time where I could get a better photo, which may well be never. This is the 7th portrait in oils I've ever done. I returned home to clear all the stored clutter from my art studio and rearranged the room entirely in order to catch North light on the easel.
Wednesday night life drawing started back up again this week after a summer hiatus. It was ultimately good to be back though it felt like trying to convince myself to jump into ice cold water to get myself to go. We were all in the same boat, feeling rusty, frustrated, and relieved to be drawing again all at once. I've often wondered why I so resist doing the things I say I love to do. As we call ourselves forth and our light gets brighter it also casts a shadow. It helps to know that resistance is just part of the whole, not something to beat down and overcome, but to be aware of and move with.
This is an oil painting sketch made during a 3 hour life drawing session on Sunday. At the time I thought it was just awful but a few days later I think it is not so bad. I certainly learned a lot from doing it. One of the things I learned is how hard it is to paint with oils! I struggle with how to mix the colors, they're unpredictable and I need to take some time to learn what it is they do when you put them together. I find the combination between seeing value AND color AND knowing how to capture it in oil paint to be dizzying. As my comfort with drawing faces increases I can feel my next project being born. I will learn how to oil paint. I look forward to the value/color studies, the little painted objects and portraits to come.
