This was a week of artistic randomness. Portrait? Abstract painting? Woodcut? You name it. I have time now to get back into my classes, now that open studios are over.
My portrait class was last night. Our teacher had the model wear two different hats, which was a challenge. Here is the first one:
The model liked it so much that she took a picture of it with her phone. Most of the time, models aren’t at all interested in what we draw. She was interested and involved in all of our discussions in class. Our teacher was taught to do portraits under Conger Metcalf. His portraits were RIDICULOUS. Anyway, he had lots of sayings that we are all beginning to repeat like mantras…”No raisins!” (in reference to nostrils)…”Pin the ears!” (ouch). I suggested that we have a seance to try to reach Conger for his thoughts on how things were going in class.
Here is the other pose…with a BC Eagles visor, no less. I left out the emblem. (I had to draw the line somewhere…pls excuse the art humor…)
The model decided to read her book, and we drew her. Usually, I stand when drawing…but this time, I had to sit down or her whole face would be obscured by the visor. I’m not sure if I’m keen on drawing hats. Detail:
In my painting class, I was annoyed with my last painting. I wanted to get away from realism. So, I experimented with colors and marks:
If the photo looks odd somehow…it’s because I accidentally took the photo with the painting upside down. Now, it’s right side up. I know. How do I know? It just is. I had a watercolor teacher in grad school who was an old-school classicist architect. We were doing housing as a project in studio, and every week he’d ask, “So, how many units this week?” Meaning: how many housing units, Meaning-meaning: You crazy contemporary architects don’t even have a sensible design process. Thus, the idea that this painting has an orientation would probably be hilarous to him. The other one from that class:
My teacher felt that this one was very “busy”. What do you expect? I’M BUSY. I guess my paintings don’t convey a sort of “zen” feel to them. Go figure.
I did some small canvases to play around.
I photographed them at an angle, so that you can see the sides a little.
Now a portrait that I TRIED to keep somewhat loose and messy:
And an odd bit of squiggle:
I like the fact that I can completely paint over any of these if I so desire. Acrylics are great in that way. They are all just sitting on my desk…wondering when their time is up and I obliterate them with a new picture.
In a different painting class we did “blind contour drawings/paintings”. This is basically when you try not to look at your paper much, and you try to trace the edges and forms that you see. Our teacher brought in some natural objects to paint…shells, seed pods, bones, etc. In these next two drawings, we actually had a paint brush in each hand at the same time…it was surprisingly fun…
I was looking at a vertebra. I thought that it turned out surprisingly well, all things considered. And a shell:
We also worked on negative space paintings. Here are two of the vertebra:
Any comments? Suggestions? Artists that I should look at? We often look at Alice Neel’s work in my portrait class. She does really colorful, eccentric portraits. I just orderd a book of her art, so I hope to get it in the next week or so. Please check out her link…so inspiring…
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slightly wonky 
dear Lord! Whoever is in charge of hiring the models, s/he sure picks a bunch of sourpusses! This lady and the one in the Belmont portrait show look like exactly the sort of personalities I would steer a wide-birth from at a cocktail party. I liked the first hat.
I wonder what would happen if you DID enroll in a yoga class and then maid a point to go down to the studio and create after each one. Would the work be more Zen?
Way to go on getting a button to your fabulous website up and running!
Comment by growingmuses October 21, 2011 @ 1:58 pmKAI!!! People aren’t usually smiling in portraits, as it’s hard to hold that pose for 45 min. That was how her face was when relaxed. I think that smiling portraits are more easily done from a photo…I mean easier from the model’s point of view. The first hat was actually hot pink with black trim. I’ll get you one for Christmas. THANK YOU FOR YOUR BLOG HELP!!!!
Comment by slightlywonky October 21, 2011 @ 5:47 pm