Finally Finished Apocryphal

Well, took me a year, but I did it! Not the whole year of course. I started the week I got my job interview and never finished it. Was going through some of my old work a few weeks ago and stumbled across it. Figured I should finish it! Anyway, this is Apocryphal from my sister's book, The Apocalypse Manuscripts. He's a god in a contest to end the world and hates time, so he is always smashing clocks. Tends to go on a rampage when he gets mad :-) This is going to be a pain to print! So much black.

I dedicate this to my sister, Lauren, and hope she keeps writing some cool stories that I can paint!

Girlfriend Painting

Work in progress. Painting from a photograph. My colors are getting better, but the photograph really kills any kind of life in the pic. I need to get better at not just copying. Colors are good though…I think. I'll look at it again tomorrow.

Painting Class 8/12

Plane and tonal study of the face.

Plein Air Painting in Downtown Duluth

Did a plein air in downtown Duluth. Need to get more done.

I'm not Dead!

I'm still alive! Been a little lazy on the posting. My apologies. Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. I've been prepping for my trip to San Francisco! That's right! I'm finally going to San Fran! And it was actually my wonderful beautiful amazing girlfriend's idea! Things have been so busy I've been trying to fit some drawing in. Unfortunately, I'm not getting as much in as i'd hoped, but i've done what I can.

I had a major battle with artist's block all weekend and did some Audrey Hepburn doodles to try to get out of it. Not sure why weekends do that to me. I guess my mind keeps telling me it's rest time, but I want to just keep going. Gotta take a break every once in a while. The other sketchbook drawings are of some steampunk ideas I've been coming up with. I have a flying/rpg game floating around in the back of my head. Need some Character development though.


My painting class is going very well and I am learning to just throw color on instead of just dabbing some paint here and there. Still trying to get that saturation thing goin. Saturation is hard with paint. You kinda just have to throw on a pile of pure cadmium pigment and hope it doesn't mix in.

I've been watching Richard Keye's Color Theory video and have been getting my mind blown away. Thank you Chris! So many things weren't taught to me in school. I hope I can use some of this knowledge in my painting class and at work. I'm also going through some of my old Loomis books. I've already forgotten so much, and I haven't even read some of them. I need to start going through Eye of the Painter.

Until next time!

Painting Class 9/1

Here is a bad picture of my best figure painting thus far! My camera uploads are giving me some problems with Snow Leopard. Maybe it's just my camera though.

Apaché 8/31

Couldn't get into drawing mode until the last 30 mins! Spat these out!

Painting Class 8/18

Instead of a model, we painted a small sculpture. Starting out small. Should get to a model in the next session. Looking forward to it!

Painting Class 8/11

Today was fun as hell. We had a still-life at my painting class and I got to paint my first skull! The thing I didn't realize is that the still-life was for today only! I was preparing my painting for the next class when Charles said we would do something different next week. I quickly threw on as much color as I could since I only had 30 minutes left and it turned out great for a 2.5 hour painting! Fastest painting i've done so far :-)

Painting Class 8/4

Here is a bad picture of my latest painting progress. Sorry for the glare. I'll try to retake the picture when I can get some sunlight. I'm getting better! I think this is my best one so far. Amazing what Charles can teach. Great guy. Next week I may try to extend the light a bit and work on putting some color in those grapes. Hell, may hit it before next week!

Apaché 8/3

My line quality is getting better. Tired. Painting class tomorrow. Off to bed!

My First Plein Air Painting!

Went to Athens to help my sister move. Got a painting in while I was there :-)

Painting Progress

Here is my painting so far. One more class to finish it!

Last Painting Class for this Session

Here is my final painting from Charles Wells' first painting session.

Apaché 6/28

Fifth Painting Class

More added to my white pot. Getting better. Things to remember:

1.) Stand back while painting to see the entire composition. Allows me to keep values and colors in check.
2.) When returning to a painting, don't start with the most important object. Allow yourself to warm up first by painting the foreground or background.
3. Just because a color isn't there does not mean that it can't be added. Adding blue to the pot adds some cooler tones and makes the image less monochromatic.

I think I'm getting a better hang of this. One more class :-( I'll probably take it again next month. I'm learning way too much not to.

Apaché Café

Went to Apaché Café to get some figure drawing in. Tired. Have painting tomorrow!

Studies from Book

Here are some more studies I did from The Nude Figure.

Self-Portrait 2!

Here is a painting I was working on a few days ago.

Fourth Painting Class

Had my fourth painting class today. Things to remember:

1. Just because it looks like that in real life does not mean it needs to look like that on the canvas. Do what's right for the painting.
2. The darkest shadows should be the closest shadows. Creates depth. Brings Attention to the 'foreground' of the object.
3. You don't have to make the background darker to make something brighter.
4. Make the darkest darks and the lightest lights BEFORE you start adding midtones. Prepares you for what values to put down.
5. Make reflected light darker than it appears. A little goes a long way. You want the shadow to show more than the reflection.

Honestly, I think I learned the most doing this painting even if it isn't very complete looking. Digital has killed my composition skills. I can make something, stretch it, move it and crop it, but I can't do that in a painting or on paper! Composition is going to be something I need to tackle. Charles tells me that shadow I did isn't too dark. I think I'm finally starting to see that. Hopefully I can show more of this painting in a week. Good class.

Oh, does anyone know how to take a picture of a painting without getting the glare? When I do it without the flash it is always too dark and I lose a lot of color.