Winged Victory

Winged Victory
(after a cast of the Hellenistic Greek Statue Victoire De Samothrace)
18 x 24 inches, cropped detail
white chalk and vine charcoal on blue laid Ingres paper

In 2003 I was amazed to find for sale a high quality 1/2 scale cast of the Winged Victory. She is my prized possession but somehow I rarely find time to sit and draw her. I finally got a chance and spent several days over the last couple weeks experimenting with chalk on toned paper.

I started with a pencil line drawing on white paper and transferred the major lines once I felt confident with the drawing. It was difficult to control details and values on the textured laid paper and I found it worked best to sharpen white chalk pencil and hard/medium vine charcoal to a very fine point with sandpaper.

I'll be teaching this Sunday and then Monday I'll be out of town for 10 days, so the blog will be quiet a while till I get home and get my studio work going again. I've been chipping away at the big still life, hoping to post another finished detail soon!

Teaching News

I currently have space for 1 more student in my upcoming weekly drawing class, held Sundays 1-5 at my San Francisco studio in the Cole Valley neighborhood. The course is 5 weeks and begins May 10, 2009. Email me for details at sadiej@gmail.com.

For more information about my classes, teaching philosophy, and about my experience and background, please visit my Teaching Page.

SHOW: STUDIO Gallery, San Francisco

My painting Wax Paper II will be showing at Studio Gallery at 1815 Polk Street, San Francisco, from April 15th to May 10th.

I'm thrilled to be showing there again, last month's show was very successful and Wax Paper and Ribbon was sold!

It's a gorgeous solo show of landscapes by Bill Cone (my painting is included with a small collection in the back with other artists.)

Cone's paintings are incredible in their use of color, they remind me of my teacher Juliette Aristides' advice on color: "See if you can show an edge with a shift in color temperature instead of just a shift in value". He does it skillfully! Be sure and check out the show if you are in the Bay Area.

Opening Reception this Sunday, April 19, 2-6 pm.

Bottle Collection: Overpainting

detail in progress
see previous stage of this painting

Finally getting to a high level of finish in one corner of the painting. Here are the previous stages of this area (it's about a 5 x 6 inch corner of a larger 18 x 24 inch painting):

detail, underpainting stage 2

detail, underpainting stage 1

I was taught to paint first the background, second the ground plane, third the shadow side of objects, and finally the light side, in that order. But I find that tackling a painting is sort of a psychological game, and I get bored and frustrated working on the background and ground plane for days before I get to the "good parts".

So I've developed my own method. I have found that I need to bring an exciting/challenging area up to the highest finish I can. That sort of sets the standard for the rest of the painting, and I have to bring everything else up to the same standard. It keeps me excited to work every day and makes it all seem like a fun challenge, and less like an impossible acreage to cover with my tiny brush.

I think every painter must have to develop their own way to approach a painting to stay engaged and motivated, and to avoid over thinking, or avoid just giving up out of frustration or intimidation. It's a psychological dilemma to solve every day in the studio.

I'd love to hear how you solve this. Or, if you are not a painter, how you keep yourself energized and excited for any challenging project? Do you do the fun parts first and crank out the boring bits at the end? Or do you save the best for last? Do you tackle the hardest things right away, or warm up with more manageable steps?

Recent Figure Drawings

Shawnrey: 3 hour study
graphite pencil on buff canson paper
18 x 24 inches, detail

Claire: 3 hour study
graphite pencil on buff canson paper
18 x 24 inches, detail

I've been continuing my figure drawing studies and having a lot of fun with it. I've been drawing these last few weeks at Michael Markowitz's studio in Noe Valley. He has an amazing drawing studio in a classic San Francisco corner storefront, all set up with ropes and carpeted platforms for the model. All around the room are tiers of easels and tables for artists, with tons of lighting overhead. He auditions all his models before hiring them for a class, so far the ones I have worked with there are experienced, strong and professional. He runs several open drawing sessions a week, I believe he currently has space in Tuesday mornings and Thursday evening sessions. He posts his classes often on Craigslist>San Francisco>Artists
You can also email him for details: 23rdstreetstudio@gmail.com

Projekt30 Juried Show

I'm pleased to announce that my recent paintings have been accepted into the Projekt30 online juried show for the month of April. Projekt30 hosts a thirty-artist juried exhibition each month, as well as special theme exhibitions several times a year.

Art Renewal Center Salon FINALIST

I am thrilled to announce that my painting, Wax Paper II, is a Finalist in the International 2008/2009 Art Renewal Center Salon competition!

This competition attracts the finest realist painters in the world and I am so honored to have my work placed with the stunning group of 30 other Finalist paintings in the Still Life category.

> See my painting on the ARC page among the other finalists

> See the ARC Salon winners in all categories

> Read earlier blog posts about how I made this painting