Drawing with Dad - Session I

charcoal on paper, 18 x 24 inches

charcoal on paper, 18 x 24 inches

My dad & I drew together today, guess who's drawing is who's?

In his retirement, my dad has begun studying for his Bachelors of Fine Arts at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. He has just completed his first year as an undergrad. I've been telling him about the classical methods I've been learning and he asked if he could come over and draw with me to learn the method.

This statue we drew from is one of my most prized possessions, it's a 4 foot replica of the 9 foot original, the Victoire de Samothrace a.k.a. Winged Victory. The original stands at the top of a dramatic staircase in the Louvre, and I drew it on my very first trip to Paris in 1988.

I taught dad to draw a straight-lined, simplified "envelope" around the entire shape, and then refine the drawing with more and more sub-shapes, all using straight lines. After a while we put in some rough basic tones to help us see the form, but we will still spend more time on the block-in and refine the contour more before we begin detailed shading.

Dad says he's really happy with what he drew today, and I think he now shares my enthusiasm for the method. At first he kept saying "But don't you measure? How do we get the proportions? Is it all just angles?". But this method is so intuitive, the form just seem to emerge from the page as if by itself. Just keep checking the angles.

It's very exciting, and was very fun to teach what I have so recently been learning. We hope to continue the same drawing for the next few Thursdays.

My dad posing with our two drawings

Baby Leah

Pencil on paper, approx 8" x 6"

My sister's first baby, a girl named Leah, was born just last Friday. This is the first of what I am sure will be many studies of this newest member of our family.

Caroline's Profile - Session I

Pencil on Paper, 11 x 14

This is the same model and pose I drew last week in charcoal. I started this version in pencil, I'd like to work on it a few more sessions and do a completed drawing. The model has soft delicate folds of skin I would like to spend some time on, and the pencil will allow me more detail and softness than the charcoal.

Peach Rose on Gray SOLD

6 x 6 inches, oil on panel

Friday Cast Drawing - Session II

Vine charcoal on Canson paper, approx 18 x 24 inches

I spent this session refining the block-in (see Session I here). It has been an interesting challenge, to be sure her face is reasonably symmetrical even at such an angle. I find myself tilting my own head at a similar angle while I draw.

Yellow Daisy - SOLD

8 inches x 8 inches, oil on panel

I managed to save the daisy. It looks like a progression from the first session, but it was pretty much painted from scratch today since I wiped the whole thing down a few days ago. It looks so innocent, but I really stressed over this one.

Caroline's Profile -- Preliminary Drawing

Charcoal on paper, approx 18 x 24

Last Wednesday I started a portrait of this model (see the block-in session here), but when I arrived for the second session today I was not excited about the light and decided to change position.

It was fun to try a profile with the classical block-in method I have been practicing, and I found the drawing went very quickly and I jumped into the shading within the 4-hour session. This is supposed to be a 6-session pose, so going this far this fast wasn't really the plan, but I had fun.

Looking at it now, I may have gotten the forehead too short and therefore the top of her head too low. But I had fun capturing the drama of the light from the dark side of the model.

Painting News
Drawing to me is a joy, but painting makes me tear my hair out. I wiped away the yellow daisy painting completely a couple days ago out of frustration (apologies to my two young cousins, Kailey & Julia, I know you liked that one!). But I'll try again to save it.

Workshop News
I am thrilled to be attending two amazing workshops this summer and an intensive Master Residency Program this fall: Figure Painting with Dan Thompson, Still Life Painting with Juliette Aristides and Figure Drawing with Ted Seth Jacobs. I feel very fortunate to be training with such amazing artists.

Art Studio News
My little art shed is slowly taking shape! Here's a picture. you can see the three holes for the skylights.

Portrait of a Young Man

11 x 14, graphite pencil on paper

This drawing was completed in a single 4-hour session on Saturday, the "shortest" pose I have drawn in the last couple months. Where I was sitting made me look up at the model, and the block-in process really helped capture the likeness at an angle. At an earlier stage the block-in was just as abstract as the cast drawing from earlier this week.

Friday Cast Drawing, Session I

preliminary sketch on newsprint, 6 x 8 inches

block-in phase, 18 x 24 inches

I've been reading a lot about cast drawing recently, which are formal studies of plaster casts of sculptures, so I decided to try one. I'll be working from this cast for several Friday sessions.

The first drawing is a small 6-inch sketch done on newsprint in about an hour, done just to quickly analyze the form and begin to understand the proportions. I included my hand in the shot so you can see how small the drawing is.

The second is the block-in stage of the large drawing, about 18 x 24 inches. I used what I learned from the first sketch to start mapping out the main planes and proportions. I was impressed by how easy it was to draw it large, after learning from the small sketch.

Art Shed News: The floor has been laid and one wall is up! I can stand on the floor and imagine my little space more clearly than ever. The huge white north sky is overhead, shaded from the south by the main house. It will be a tiny studio, but it will have perfect light. Hopefully I'll be moving in on or before my 36th birthday, June 7th.

Yellow Daisy (unfinished)

Phase III

Phase II

Phase I

This little daisy in a glass cube vase was supposed to be a quick "daily" but I was having fun with the monochromatic underpainting and decided to slow down & enjoy the process. I've worked on this two afternoons now, just a couple hours a session. Hoping to finish it in one or two more sessions.

I'm really enjoying this one, it feels great to get back to painting after drawing so much recently. It's amazing how much of painting is actually drawing.

Portrait Session 1

I've begun my first of seven sessions on this new portrait. This is the rough (very rough) block-in. It's not much to look at now, but so far I am really happy with it. I can tell I am getting faster and more accurate, and it's getting a little easier to see what is wrong and how to fix it.

I've finished Juliette Aristides' drawing book and am now reading Anthony Ryder's figure drawing book and am really enjoying it. Like Juliette, he really emphasizes spending a lot of time and attention on the early block-in stage to get the gesture and proportions right.

Wednesday Portrait Session 6

"Bridgette", charcoal on paper, 18" x 18"

My six session drawing of Bridgette is done. I'm pretty happy with it, but mostly I am looking forward to starting the next portrait next week. I felt like I learned so much through each stage of this drawing, and I am hoping the next one will be more consistent in its development.

For any Bay Area artists who are interested, I did this drawing at the Bay Area Classical Artist Atelier in Belmont. BACAA runs ongoing open studio sessions with a model several days a week, including Saturdays. Its one of the few Bay Area life drawing classes to offer extended multi-week poses. They also host workshops with a highly notable roster of teachers from all over the country, such as Juliette Aristides, Ted Seth Jacobs, Dan Thompson, and Michael Grimaldi. Learn more at the BACAA web site.

Daily Painting: Pear & White Rose SOLD

6 inches by 6 inches, oil on panel SOLD

Today was a rare day in San Francisco: sunny, 85-degrees, no fog, clear blue sky, warm breeze. I just couldn't help but set up my easel in the back yard & paint this little sunny still life sketch. Afterwards I rode my bike through Golden Gate park and down to the beach. Just one of those days everyone you see seems happy to be alive. Happy May, everyone.

Wednesday Portrait Session 5

I am reading Juliette Aristides' book "Classical Drawing Atelier" right now, and two ideas jumped out at me that I kept in my mind while drawing this week:

Juliette points out that if you see a very blurry black & white photo of a family member, you will easily recognise the person. She makes the point that it's the big shapes that make a true likeness, not the "infinite minutiae" as she puts it.

The other idea was a quote she attributes to John Berger: "Strangely, you can tell whether a likeness is in a drawing or not when you've never set eyes on the model." I think it's true somehow: an inaccurate portrait may look human, but it is not convincing.

With these two ideas high in my mind, I was determined this week to do what it took to get a likeness of the model. Again, I wiped down a lot of a charcoal and re-analyzed all the features and their relationships.

I raised the chin and made the lips a bit fuller. I repositioned the ear significantly, which had a huge effect on the shape of the cheek on the light side. I think it is a better likeness.

One more 4-hour session to finish it up!

Wednesday Portrait Session 4