I had a meeting up at Olana today, home of Hudson River School artist, Frederic Church. Although I didn’t have time to pull out all my gear to paint, I couldn’t resist at least doing a sketch while I was there. I saw a nice bench under a tree next to the mansion, so I pulled out my sketchbook, fountain pen, and watercolors, and took advantage of the shady spot while sketching. (You can click the image to enlarge it.)

Materials:
4.5×6.5″ Derwent journal
Lamy Safari fountain pen with converter
Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink
Winsor Newton Artist watercolors

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When I don’t feel well or just don’t have time to do a “real” painting, or sometimes when life seems way too serious, I hop on over to the Wetcanvas Artwork From Life forum to see what’s on the current Scavenger Hunt List. Since I hurt my back, I haven’t been able to get out to paint, so I pulled out my watercolor sketchbook, my new fantastic Lamy Safari fountain pen (with converter cartridge and Noodler’s Black Bulletproof ink loaded), and my little pan set of watercolors. One little sketch was about as long a time as I could remain upright. I managed to get this 7×10″ page done yesterday and the day before in really short spurts, and started another.

This week’s list of items to sketch included:
1: Tape dispenser
2: Scissors
3: Bookend or bookends
4: Lamp post
5: Mailbox
6: Dog collar or animal collar
7: Curly screw-in florescent light bulb (Challenge# 1- a broken one)
8: A lunchbox
9: A beauty aid
10: A place or object associated with a hair salon or barbershop
11: Something that hangs from a tree
12: An outdoor drinking fountain .
13: An object in a storefront window
14: A wheelbarrow (Challenge #2 A wheelbarrow full stuff )
15: A hanging basket
16: Something that requires a key to function and the key
17: A wrench or pliers
18: A bucket, or pail (Challenge #3 a bucket filled with stuff)
19: Clothes on a clothes line.
20: A traffic sign
21: A glove used in a sport or recreational activity
22: Something hanging on a garage wall
23: A bag or box of popcorn
24: A sconce
25: A fire hydrant
26: A garden implement

If any of you artists out there wake up with a strong case of “I Don’t Know What to Paint”, give the Scavenger Hunts a try! It’s a great group of folks who participate, and always fun to share sketches and comments on the forum.

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5×7″, Gouache on Stonehenge rag paper
$85 via PayPal, $7 shipping within US

Today I struggled in every way at every turn. Finally, near the end of this very long day, I set a Granny Smith apple on a red file folder and broke out my new tubes of Winsor Newton Gouache. It’s so nice to finally have the lush, cadmium colors available. Sometimes when life gets too complex, painting something simple and beautiful creates balance.

This was painted with a very limited palette:
Titanium White
Cadmium Red
Cadmium Lemon
Ultramarine Blue

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4×6″, Watercolor sketch on Canson paper

This is another little watercolor sketch from my Poet’s Walk expedition in Rhinebeck, NY yesterday. There is a beautiful pavillion made with tree trunks and branches at the top of the hill. Even more importantly, there is a bench in a cool shady spot along the path nearby from which to paint it!

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7×9″, Watercolor sketch on Canson paper

Since I had my show opening in Rhinebeck this evening, I spent the day up there at Poet’s Walk in Red Hook. I took a million pictures to have as references for paintings, and did this watercolor sketch of the view of the Catskill Mountains across the Hudson River. I packed very light, bringing just my camera, water, a small watercolor pan set, and my Canson watercolor book tucked into my pack stool. It was a beautiful, tranquil site. I can’t wait to go back! I would love to do a larger acrylic or oil painting of this scene.

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It was dreary and overcast, so I spent a lot of time doing some sketches around the house. These were from the list in the current Wetcanvas Scavenger Hunt. If you’re ever trying to decide what to sketch or paint, and like to share your work, jump in and join the fun!

I did all the sketches in gouache, in my 5.5×5.5″ Hand Book Journal. I’ve also been trying out the new Prismacolor markers, which are permanent and lightfast. They are similar to the Pigma Micron pens. I got a set of the black ones in different thicknesses, and like them a lot.

If you think one minute figure gesture drawings in open studio are hard, try drawing squirrels in your yard! They don’t stay still for an instant. This was a fun challenge.

The Scavenger Hunt had “pail/bucket” on the list, so I painted my favorite little travel water bucket.

Since my sketchbook is square, I load a single page at a time. Here’s how they look in the book as two-page spreads. If you click the images below, they should show about actual size of the book:

This is my first book in a square format. I think I like it a lot, but wish it were just a bit larger. I may go back to a 5.5×8″ size for my next sketchbook.

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11×12.5″, Gouache on Stonehenge Fawn colored rag paper

This is today’s work from the figure studio, painted from life with lightfast gouache pigments on beautiful Stonehenge 100% rag, “Fawn”-colored paper.

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9×6″, pencil in a Raffine sketchbook

I try to sketch portraits and figures whenever I can. This one was done from a photo reference while my husband was watching the news last night. It is the novelist Evelyn Waugh. This is just for my own drawing practice and is not for sale. I like this Raffine sketchbook for water media very much, but I feel the texture is a little rough for graphite work.

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Today I participated in the Worldwide Sketchcrawl #18! I got a late start, but managed to squeeze in several pages in my 5.5″ square sketchbook, in between family activities. Here they are, in the order in which I did them.

This last one was painted from the kitchen window. This brook, with the little island in the middle, is the outlet to the lake. Springtime brings wood ducks, swans and snapping turtles to the scene. Any time of year, it is a favorite crossing for herds of white-tailed deer. Occasionally, I see a mink running across the island, or a beaver swimming upstream. There’s always something interesting happening out there.

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7×5″, watercolor and colored pencil on grey Stonehenge (rag) paper
$45 via PayPal, $3 shipping within US

This time, the title says it all!

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Gouache on Strathmore 400 cold press watercolor paper
Cropped image size as shown above is 8×7″
Full page as shown below is about 9.5×7″

Full page:

We had a wonderful model in the life drawing studio who is a dancer. I saw this beautiful red dancing skirt and immediately thought—Degas! I hope she’ll be back soon to model for us again.

This is the first time I’ve used a scanned image of my artwork instead of a photograph. I think for small, completely dry work, and especially work on a white ground like this, it may be better to scan it. I can never get the white paper to show white when I photograph.

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This sketch from life was done with an umber, water soluble Cretacolor stick on Arches hot press watercolor paper. It’s about 6×11″. The pose was about 20 minutes.

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7.75×11″, watercolor on Arches 140 lb HP rag watercolor paper

We had to leave our usual life drawing studio due to a solvent spill. I was painting in oils, but when we moved to the clay room, there wasn’t room for my oil painting gear. Fortunately, I had a little Winsor Newton Artist watercolor pan set in my purse and a nice umber Cretacolor stick, and some Arches paper in the car, so I pulled those out instead. You know what they say….When life throws you lemons, make lemonade! So, that’s what I did.

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Some days I’m so short on time or just can’t get into the painting groove. It’s nice to dive into my sketchbook on those occasions. I’m getting antsy for the weather to warm up so I can get back to my life of plein air painting soon. I did a few pages of sketches today in ink and watercolor, and some color swatch tests of new paints, so in spite of all the errands I had to run, it wasn’t a day totally devoid of art.

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Wednesday is my day to oil paint in the life drawing studio. These are short poses, and so most folks there use charcoal, and some use pastels, as those media lend themselves to fast work. I like to take up the challenge of using oil paints though.

These sketches are all 18×24″, on canvas. The first two are each two short poses by the same model. I superimposed them over one another by painting one first, and then the other. This presented some interesting compositional ideas for my landscape work. Expect some experiments in the spring!

There are some stray lines on this first sketch because I did three others on this piece of canvas beforehand, and wiped it off just before this pose because I didn’t have time to get another piece of canvas and tone it before the model started! I guess I missed a few lines here and there on the wipe-out.

We all get spoiled with this fabulous model, Jean. There are lots of paintings of her here from the past several weeks. These are the last two from this morning, same size:

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I was in the mood for something different and experimental today, so I pulled out my Sumi brushes and a video that arrived via Netflix on Chinese Brush Painting, and popped it into my computer while I painted. Although humbling, it was actually kind of fun.

Here are two of the many. Both of these are about 14″ square. I painted them on a big roll of white butcher paper that I use for sketching.

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Click image to enlarge:

24×18″, oils on canvas
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in purchasing this painting

We had our wonderful model, John, for one more session. I pulled out a 24×18″ piece of canvas and did the painting in one fell swoop. It was about an hour and a half of painting time. I love painting this way—trying to catch the essence of a pose, and seeing how refined I can get it, in a single sitting. It makes me think of plein air painting, where the moving light sets the clock constantly ticking, and you need to be able to say what it is you want to say without fuss and deliberation.

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About 18×12″, oils on unstretched canvas

Kerri was back modeling for us again today. I was going to do a bunch of quick oil sketches of her, but I really liked the way this was coming along, so I decided to stick with it for the full session.

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24×18″, oils on unstretched canvas

This is a fairly large oil sketch from today’s open studio.

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Click to enlarge:

24×18″, Oils on unstretched canvas

This is a fairly large oil sketch on canvas, painted from life this morning. It can be shipped when dry, rolled in a mailing tube. Nudes are wonderful paintings for bedrooms and private sitting rooms, and convey a feeling of intimacy.

I really enjoyed working this size today in the life drawing studio. I cut a bunch of canvas pieces this size from a large roll I have, and I think I’ll stick with these larger ones for awhile. When I draw with charcoal in open studio, I usually go 24×36″, so although lately I’ve been painting figures a lot smaller, the 18×24″ size didn’t feel overwhelming.

The longest poses in these Wednesday sessions are 50 minutes, so the real challenge is to try to capture something special in that period of time. Everybody usually draws rather than paints because the time is so short. A couple of my oil sketches this morning bit the dust, so to speak, but I really like the way this one turned out. If I can come back from a session of short poses with just one thing I like, I consider it a success!

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Yesterday, portrait artist extraordinaire Alan Reingold showed me how he teaches his Parsons students to speed paint figures in oils in 20 minutes from life. It was way fun! Each of these is a 20 minute pose, in order from the first of the afternoon to the last. I painted a couple and then moved my spot. The model kept the same pose.

The paintings are 12×16″ each, though I’ll be moving up to 16×20″ as soon as I cut some canvas! They are on unstretched canvas.

Here’s a look at the palette I used when all was said and done. I premixed a few colors to start, and adjusted with the colors on my palette as needed.
Colors:
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red
Oxide of Chromium
Ultramarine Blue
Burnt Sienna (Transparent Red Oxide)
Titanium White

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24×18″, charcoal and pastel on brown craft paper
SOLD!

It seems I’m spending a lot of time in the figure studio this week…..

24×18″, charcoal and pastel on brown craft paper

Portraits and Figures, Recently Sold, Sketches | 1 Comment »

We had Marshall back in the life drawing studio this morning. He is such a great model, with wonderful expression, a vivacious personality, and knows how to hold a pose! These are both 19×25″ on Canson MiTientes paper, charcoal and pastel. You can click either image to enlarge it to 600 pixels. The pose below was a lot harder to draw than I thought it would be!

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Click to enlarge:

About 12×10″, Wolff’s Carbon Pencil and wash on acid free, heavyweight paper

This was about a 1/2 hour sketch of Michelle. The poses aren’t that long, so I focused mostly on her face. I think I’m finally starting to get the hang of the way these carbon pencils react with water. There is definitely a learning curve with them. I like that they can get way darker than graphite, and thus extend the value range when working in monochrome.

My apologies to those who tried to get to my site today and were unable to get the front page to load. The problem seemed to be caused by Mapstats. I took it off my site and now it’s loading like lightning.

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Click to enlarge:

This sketch is just over 10×11″, oil paints and Prismacolor pencils on Stonehenge paper

This was done in portrait class today with the same model as last week, Julia. I scrapped my first two attempts, so was left with about two hours minus model breaks to try to get something down on paper! It was way fun to break out the Prismacolors again. I forgot how wonderful they can be to work with!

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Click image to enlarge:

18×24″, on brown craft paper

Marshall is a fabulous model with oodles of personal charm and charisma, and interesting features to draw. Here are some of my sketches from today’s life drawing poses.

Above: 36×24″

Below: 18×24″ (click to enlarge image)

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16×12″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard

This oil sketch took about 2.5 hours, minus model breaks. Many thanks to Julia for being such a great model, and to Alan Reingold for a wonderful portrait class.

I’ve decided to dive back into some classes during the cold winter months, and take the opportunity to use my indoor, non-plein air time for artistic growth. Taking this time to work and receive critiques from artists I so admire is an opportunity I can’t pass up. Portraits and figures are great practice for any subject and style of painting, and I only have time to do a lot of that in the winter. More to come in the weeks ahead!

For my landscape afficionados, not to worry! You’ll be seeing some landscapes emerging over the next several weeks as well!

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Click the image to enlarge, and then hopefully you’ll be able to read the text!

I was a little disappointed as I turned to do my daily origami, to see that the Origami Calendar I got for 2008 doesn’t have pages for the weekends! So, I turned to a couple of the items listed for the current Wetcanvas Scavenger Hunt, and sketched the flowers and bow instead with the Golden Fluid acrylics left in my Stay-wet palette. I added some cadmium yellow light, needing the opacity for the gold edge of the bow.

I’ve started reading The Art Spirit by Henri. I came to a section where he talks about artists who do lots of sketching. That would be me! hahaha….. I copied it into my sketchbook. I suspect my sketchbook will be accumulating many quotes of his as the new year gets underway.

RiverWinds Gallery has asked to have some of my work there beyond the current show, so I’m hoping it will snow soon in order to get more reference images for winter paintings! I found one image last night in my files that I really like. I painted it once before, many years ago. The painting was sent off to the new owner, framed, via UPS. It got totally trashed in transit, and all that was returned to me was a piece of the broken frame and a shred of torn paper. I’ve been meaning to paint it again ever since then. Hopefully the new painting will meet with a better life!

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Click images to enlarge them.

Here are a few sketches done today using Golden Fluid Acrylics: Ultramarine Blue, Hansa Yellow Light, Pyrrole Red, Titanium White and (for the box only) Transparent Red Oxide. I diluted just with water where necessary (no medium) and used Taklon brushes.

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A month or so ago, I bought myself a 2008 origami calendar. It’s very cool! There’s a page for each day with folding instructions. I thought the shapes and colors would be fun to sketch from time to time and to use in some still life paintings.

I’ve been considering separating my sketches into a separate blog, rather than mixing them in here amidst my paintings. I’d love to hear what my viewers think of that idea. Would you rather see everything all in one place, or are you more interested in viewing a site with just the paintings, or just the sketches?

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