Spanish time

I've developed a mild (or maybe not so mild) obsession with late 19th century Spanish painting. Of particular interest to me are Fortuny and those in his Roman circle. Here are two studies of the former's work, and one from Sorolla. Expect plenty more studies of this group.

Teasers

So..I'm gonna be a jerk again and offer some very small, very crappy phone pictures of some stuff in the works :)

classwork and exploring LA

Color study after Leblanc Stewart


Some 5 and 10 minute studies from class








Neglect of proportions leads to forehead-less disaster

Composition studies




Sketchbook







after Kroyer

costume design

Class still life WIP and an oldie

And finally a decent image of this one, which I never actually finished

new stuff

More work

Here recent stuff. I'll probably edit this post and add the paintings and figure studies later. These are mostly wireframing/compositon assignments for Will and studies for a big studio landscape I'm working on.

Cool stuff I found at Lacma

Nothing fancy here, just some cool things I found at the ol' museum.

more

Back to school

Here's some new stuff! more to come.

New studies

Some new things. a 3-4 hour self portrait and one of the better 5 x 7" effect studies I did as the sun was setting.

Yard again

Another day, another backyard sketch. I actually learned a lot about controlling the paint, and about maintaining the integrity of the big masses while doing this. I tried to work on edges as well. This one is unfinished like most of the old ones, I may or may not take it back outside.

Market sketch

Today I was looking at a lot of great paintings by Tepper, Dunn and Cornwell and decided to undertake a small color sketch to work out a picture in a similar way. I've also feel like I've been learning about effective design while looking at these paintings, studying Will's notes and reading Stapleton Kearn's blog, and wanted to see if I could apply some of that into said sketch.

The idea is simple, I envisioned an old pottery seller intently looking at a young woman with her child as they pass by. This is closer to the kind of painting I want to do eventually, with a strong narrative aspect and carefully considered composition.

I painted this in acrylics first, but then doctored it considerably in Photoshop. I'm going to be studying pictorial composition/design and life drawing again with Will in the fall, and also costume design at my university, which should be really helpful for this kind of painting!

More work

More work on this. those legs were a pain and I'm not quite satisfied yet. The head came much easier! Also, I painted my first hand in ages. Still really bad pictures, need to find better lighting setup. Also, need to fix the frame and chest, a some of the angles are off. Can't wait till I get to the easy parts, the patterns on the cushion and cloth :)

Damn you Alfred Stevens

My sister and I started another portrait today. I've been really inspired by Regnault's Salome, and the portraits of Alfred Stevens and Raimundo Madrazo y Garreta. I think this represents an improvement over previous efforts, in terms of draftmanship (which I've been working on a lot lately) and paint application. I finally felt in control of the damn thing. These pictures aren't that great, I'll post more tomorrow after the 2nd session.

roadside workers and truck drivers

So, walking back from the dentist's office, I spotted some roadside worker guys resting in the shade. I asked if I could draw them. The guys were totally cool and soon a whole crowd had gathered, some taking turns in posing, others making fun of the person being drawn. This attracted the attention of some truckers who also wanted me to draw them. These were all pretty quick but really fun. I actually didn't have time to draw everyone this time around, but they asked me to come back till I've drawn the whole crew haha.

les poissons et autres choses

By popular demand, here's a shot of the fish still life. I didn't quite finish it last night, since the fish started to smell and I was exhausted...in all it was maybe 4 or 5 hours of work...maybe less. I'm not thrilled about the result because I sorta got myself into a mess towards the end....but painting fish is a one-shot deal and I actually did learn quite a bit from doing this. I think the color/value was ok in this one, though the drawing is not as good as I would have liked and the paint got wayy overworked in some areas. Better luck next time!! Anyway, will post a better picture of the painting itself later in the day.

Also, I finally finished that painting of the Pier Cafe at Seaport.

PS. This post title is about the last time I will ever use my high school french

crappy pastel self portrait

So....figuring out pastels is going to be harder than I expected. For one thing...they don't feel the way i thought they would...they're chalkier. And not quite as rich and saturated as I had hoped. This was a 3 hour test drive....it feels small and thin and weak in the handling, but I think my shapes are a little more accurate so I'll post it anyway. Those pastels had better be aware that there will be a round 2 and I'm not going down that easy next time :)

workin' the streets

some sketches from the streets in TJ

degas

Study after a really cool portrait by Degas. I didn't like his work for the long time, but lately I've been seduced by his draftsmanship and superb tonal arrangements. I still don't like his work indiscriminately, but man, his best stuff is really really good :)

I feel like I learned a lot about maintaining soft edges while preserving solid structure and having only a few hard accents that don't disrupt the beauty of the main masses.

old master studies

Haven't been doing too much of this lately, but I really need to improve all aspects of my drawing, so here we go :) Learned some cool stuff about modeling form in the shadows and making them transparent, and also about preserving lightness of touch.


I've been dissecting my Cornwell book as well, and did a number of composition studies and one color copy in oil, which I'll post soon. I also bought a pastel set, which should arrive in the next week or so. I'm really excited about it, because it's less messy and (to me) feels more informal than oil painting. I figure I'll have more time to work on values, edges, color and drawing without some of the extra baggage. Will post more soon.

new outdoor study

Here's another sketch I started today. The handling is inspired by all the Cornwells I was studying today. I'm trying to get a greater feeling of light in here. Hopefully I'll finish this one tomorrow.

From lens distortion land

This picture is pretty bad (the building for instance, is not nearly this crooked)...but my camera is being unbelievably uncooperative. In any case, another four hours on this.

Father's day

So today is father's day...been hanging out with my dad, fixing stuff around the house, eating good food, joking around, etc. At one point during the day, he joked that I should paint him while reading the paper outside. So i took him up on it :)

I have to finish a lot of the landscape around him, so I'll probably do that tomorrow. I'll see if I can get him to sit briefly again, since I made his forearm extremely long....if not, I might be able to correct it from memory.

same old same old

Another backyard oil sketch. I like the no-pressure approach I'm taking to these. Very liberating :) In fact, I really like doing these quickies while also working on a larger "picture", it all prevents me from getting bored. I think in the future I'll be doing a lot more of these little "notes" (as Sorolla used to call them). They'll be nice to have around when I start doing more compositions under Will.

Backyard oil sketch

Watched parts of the Morgan Weistling DVD today, good refresher and good too see a fine painter at work. Unlike San Diego, Tijuana is actually having summer weather, so I decided to go outside today and work a little.

I think I'm finally getting my paint consistency where I want it for a fast sketch (it's like mayo). Not too thin, not too thick, works like a charm. I also know how to properly hold a brush now, and have yet to revert to the stupid pen grip I was using when I started. Only problem is that my turp got a little dirty and muddied up some of my darker notes.

It was also a nice change of pace, since I've been doing more involved, larger paintings where I have time to think it all out. This was under 3 hours, and very much inspired by Carlos de Haes

I might work on this more tomorrow.....

Plein air by the sea pt.2

Well, I finally got around to working on the Pier Cafe painting. It's been about 8 hours so far, I managed to kinda mangle up the water, but I'll fix it next time around. Mainly worked on the rocks and straightening the damn building out. Also, some shots of my setup out there :)

EDIT:

I was looking through my sketchbook and found the original drawing that sparked my interest in this scene and my composition sketches

self portrait study

A relatively quick study in front of the mirror.

Plein air by the sea

So, last night I spent an ungodly amount of time patiently cleaning my palette, brushes, and other painting paraphernalia, and today I ventured out into the unknown, looking for something to paint....

Ok, so my journey was actually a lot less mysterious than that, the Pier Cafe had already caught my eye since last week. In any case, I set up today at 7 am, 24 x 36 canvas in hand, hoping for the best. Below is what I had by 11 am. What I'm trying to do with this painting, is really come up with a "picture", not just a study. I'm trying to come up with a good composition, good shape design, etc. In sum, something that is beautiful and well designed....at least....that's the goal. For this I'm trying to apply all the stuff that Will exposed me to, but that I've been too hardheaded to actually get.

For inspiration, I'm looking to Levitan and Cornwell, two of my artistic gods. This should be done within two more sessions....maybe even one if the overcast weather continues....need to actually work on the lopsided building, since I mostly worked on the water today.

I'm on to you Theodore Lukits!

Ol' Theo was basically all the things I would like to be, but never will be. He was a crazy prodigy and could whip up a crazy good academic figure at 16..

http://www.theodorelukits.org/images/prelomcompdrwing400.jpg

...a much better one than I could do now :)

Also, he served as assistant to Dean Cornwell. Some people have all the luck!

In any case, I saw some of his early tonal drawings of heads and was very impressed. So, today my mom kindly agreed to let me draw her. This is basically an effort to reveal form primarily through tone. As finished as I could make it in the say...3 or so hours that we worked on it. It's been awhile since I've worked with a graphite pencil, and carrying a drawing this far is definitely very difficult. Even small errors register. As I look at this now, I think the nostrils are lightly misaligned, the eyes however, are generally correct, one of her eyes is rounder than the other. Hopefully I'll do more of these soon...what I'm going for is revealing form through value, but also getting the character of the forms.

PS. the drawing is on white paper, which i had to darken slightly since my scanner is blowing out the highlights :/

oh and here's the link to the Lukits drawings
http://www.theodorelukits.org/studentworks.html

Mah pops

Here are two studies of my dad, while he was watching TV. The 2nd image is actually the first study I did, which I don't particularly like. I neglected to sharpen and properly hold my pencils, as a result the drawing is kind of heavy-handed, because the tools were in the way. I think the other one (1st image) is more successful, as I tried to address these issues.

time for something different...

Lately, I've been feeling kind of restless in my studies, and lacking some motivation. I did some thinking about the cause for this, since it happens to me periodically. I think it just means I need a change of pace.

Apart from the regular, optimistic side of me, with a penchant for contemplating beauty and light, there's a side of me that's really interested in ancient mythology, conspiracy theories and watching monsterquest on the history channel.

I'm a skeptic through and through, but I find that stuff fascinating. I've also read a lot of HP Lovecraft and watched a lot of horror movies in my day (I just watched Hellraiser 2 and loved it). In fact, most of the drawing I did before turning 15 had to do with the strange products of my imagination. So, today, I sat down and decided to just...let things happen, no foresight to speak of....I just started abstractly and let shapes suggest themselves. The result is...weird....probably a cliche 10-13 year old boy type drawing...but I don't have much to say about that :)

Plein air

Some more work on this, 12 hours so far, about 11 x 14". I should finish in the next session. Leaves are hard!!!

Tomorrow I start a 24 x 36 plein air in the park. I want this to be a huge challenge, and it very well might take me a few weeks of steady work to complete, since I'll likely pick something with intricate architecture at the park. I'm going to seek a broader effect in the larger painting though, because the current one is a bit busy all over. That's ok for a smaller painting, but not for a large one. Off to studying Sargent and Guy Rose again!

more plein-airing

New gouache from my yard, and update on the last one. I'm learning a lot from the oil one, I think I'm like 10 hours into it...and I've been enjoying the process of evaluating spots of color and using a broken, impressionist treatment to achieve a greater sense of light. I'm also loading certain areas with pure color... maybe a dab or two where it's consistent with what I see, but it still adds to the color vibration. I'm conceiving the oil as a long term study in light, seeing how much information I can add without marring the big impression. C & C welcome