9-25-2012

Trying to not smooth out pastel marks so much - let them speak on their own, just trying to be a little freer, simpler. This was a salvageable drawing - the rest are headed for recycling!

Throw caution to the wind!

And fire away! I was worried I couldn't get the color to read the skin tone right, I was worried I couldn't get the figure on this small (16x20) format, I was worried blah, blah, blah . . . so, I said the heck with it, let's just do it and if it's worse than the first - we'll just scrub them off and have at it again - just like drawing!

And I really like this red sheet, too!
I am happy with this one.

First time oil of figure drawing

Last week the weather was so bad, I missed one of our favorite models. But this week we had an excellent, new model and hoping he will return again soon!
I started out the night very apprehensive - I was out of my comfort zone and plunging into something I had not done before - oil painting with a live model. I've painted the figure in watercolor, pastel, oil stick, etc. but not with dollops of paint and medium before me, and a bristle brush in my hand. I've painted oils in the studio, even ultra-mini oils which are like playthings. I've painted en plein air (not too successfully very often) in oils, but not the figure in oil. So this first one seems rather tentative, making it look stiff and inaccurate, with a kind of dull sense of expression. - Not what I wanted! -How to move beyond this?