Repair

It's one of those things that I put off and put off.... a painting is scheduled to be in a show this fall at Columbia College in Chicago, but it has a small ding. Very strange, the upper layer of gesso of a factory prepped panel chipped off. A tiny piece, but noticable. So I patched it with wood putty afew months ago. Then a little layer of gesso. Finally, today, I forced myself to sand out that tiny spot, and overlay a little green on it. Now it looks as good as new. Why did I wait so long?

Slow Going

The second painting above is in the process of getting the final layers and highlights laid in.

I'm real happy with how the first painting is going (the one with the skeleton in leather). Got the fleshtones just right.

figures and skeletons

Here are images of several paintings (works in process), with the first layer of paint applied for the figures and skeletons. These won't be finished until I add one more layer of paint. I still have one more painting that needs under coat for the figure, and then I'll begin the final phase for the five paintings. And then I have to start the whole process again for the remaining 7.

I haven't decided if I should put leather gear on the first skeleton (riding horsey).

Workaholic

I've been doing 6 days a week at the studio. I've got five paintings in fairly advanced states. Skeletons have been blocked in, backgrounds almost completed, and three of the five human figures blocked in. The backgrounds are in some cases very involved. One includes a Persian rug, several include curtains. I added a cage to one of the paintings. These backgrounds all added quite a bit of time but I think the work was worth it. The paintings have a rich, perhaps baroque look.

I'm a little worried because I got a jury notice, for August 3rd. I've already served on juries for two cases, so I feel like I've already done my civic duty.

As the days get shorter, I'll need to get my lights installed. Right now, I only need one halogen light to paint because the natural light in the studio is so good. I bought some track lights that mount sideways on a wall, so that I don't need a 10 foot ladder to adjust the lights (the ceilings in my studio are quite high)

I'll have pictures of the paintings in progress posted later this week.

Freidrich Goes back to the Studio

It was time to take Friedrich, my full sized model skeleton back to the studio. He stayed at home during my move from the old studio to the new one.

I took him off his stand and put him in the back seat of the car, and it looked like a coverup to a crime scene.

Life Drawing

We had a great model for life drawing at the Mission Cultural Center. It had been a couple of weeks since I last went to life drawing, so I was afraid I was already getting rusty, but I managed to get a couple of decent drawings done.

Above is the male model we had a couple of weeks ago. He is a former dancer, so he held some amazing poses.