Portrait practice, sketch and watercolor

It has been more than 6 months since I have painting from a live model so I'm a little out of practice. I headed over to Patris' Studio since it was the second Saturday of the month which is when they usually have a clothed model doing a long sitting. When I got there, they told me they have not done the model on second Saturday since the beginning of the year, but they just happened to have a model doing a long sitting for another artist that was there that day. Just my luck that I showed on the right day of tje right month.
I decided to start with a quick pencil sketch, just to get some practice with proportions. I think I was off a little bit. The other artist that was there used the word "unresolved". The sketch is still unresolved!

I decided to move on to watercolor. With an overhead spotlight, her eyes fell into dark shadow, which gave her an odd look, but overall I think it turned out well. Her eye on the right though is still... unresolved!

Portrait practice at Patris' Studio

It seems like it's been awhile since I went to Patris' studio for the 2nd Saturday long pose.  Drawing people really takes continuous practice. My first piece of just the head went pretty quick so I decided to do a quick full body piece as well.
On the first painting, I'm not sure what happened with her face...I aged her about 20 years! I was working on 140 # paper with I realized it is quite forgiving, whether lifting color or just moving it around. Reworking an area is much easier.

On my second painting, I started with just a quick sketch, and then focused on the fabrics more. I worked on the face last, but realized that the head wasn't quite the right shape. I was working with  a pad of 90 # paper on this one, and color saturates into the paper much quicker and any reworking that I did made the paper start falling apart.

Woman with guitar, watercolor portrait

Here is my monthly portrait practice...nothing like a free model to motivate me to go paint! I'm noticing I've been painting the same head on view the last several months...time to change it up next month.

Nude model quick sketches

 I am always looking for new ways to challenge myself on this creative journey of mine, so this week I went to Patris Studio and Art Gallery for a gesture modeling session. They have a model that poses for 2, 5, or 7 minutes. Little did I know till I got there that it was also a nude model. I had not done drawings like this since my college days, neither nude or quick poses. When drawing for only 2 minutes, it keeps  me from getting stuck on the details. The 5 and 7 minute sessions got a little easier. We ended the day with an hour- long pose.

Girl with bowler hat, portrait practice

Another Saturday afternoon at Patris Gallery and Art Studio practicing portrait painting. I focused on her skin tone as well as leaving the paper white for highlights on the skin and hair. My proportions were a little off but my skin tone is definitely improving...it's a mixture of azo yellow, a little alizarin crimson, and a touch of burnt sienna.

Portrait of an African-American woman, watercolor

I have been going to my regular long-pose model group at Patris Studio and Art Gallery for a while and each time I find something new with which to challenge myself. Today's model was African-American, which led to a couple of challenges. First, skin tone...I had just gotten a grasp on light skin color. And second, her curly hair.

I started out with a rough pencil sketch
Then added in a background color.  I'm always using blue so I thought green would be a good change of pace and contrast well with her yellow shawl.
Overall I think it turned out pretty well. I am pleased with the skin tone but it did get a little muddy. The coloring on the shawl was quite by happy accident because I was trying to get a slight orange color, but I didn't get the red mixed in all the way into the yellow. Overall it has a cartoony look to it which was not my intention, but I'm happy with it.
It's always interesting learning from other artists at the studio. There was actually another watercolor painter there this month. He did an amazing job letting the white of the paper show through to highlight the hair and face. When I look at my painting, I had to add white to create those highlights...I need to let the paper do the work of the white! Maybe I forgot I was painting with watercolor instead of acrylic since my last few pieces were acylic.

Portrait of a guitar player in watercolor

It seems like it's been forever since I have posted anything...over a month! Where did November go? Anyways, I'm back to creating, and what better way than at Patris Studio and Art Gallery with a free 2nd Saturday long pose.  I am developing more confidence with portraits as I continue practicing.  The challenge that I have is developing the right skin tone  (as you can see from my test patches at the bottom) and then not having it look flat.  One of the other artists there gave me some pointers and suggested adjusting skin tone for different areas of the face... adding a little yellow to lighten the skin tone and green  to darken the skin tone. Sounded odd but I think it turned out well. And I was pleased with the hand too! (Something else that I needed to practice.) The whole eye-liner thing seems to have worked too!

Watercolor painting and sketching from a model

It's been a couple of weeks since I have painted and it's always easier to get inspired (or peer pressured) if there is a group of artists working, so I went to Patris' Studio to paint from a model. The last time I was there, practicing portraits, I felt the painting was a little flat or dull, so I decided to liven this portrait up by focusing just on the face and incorporating some brighter colors.

Then I  moved to the other side of the room and did a full body sketch with pencil. I'm old-fashion and just use a #2 pencil. I also have a tendency to make smudge-marks.  I still need to work on hands, one of those things that always seem to look a little awkward.  If I had more time, I might have created this in watercolor. I will put it on my "art" to-do list...

Practicing Portrait Painting at Patris Studio

It's been a long time since I've done a portrait with watercolor. Patris Art Studio offers a model to draw each 2nd Saturday and I hadn't been there since i did model painting in January. The most challenging part of this was finding a good flesh tone. I started with her left arm, but it was way too jaundice looking.  So I adjusted it and tried the other arm which was much closer to her coloring. Of course after mixing yellow, red, and a couple other washes I had on my palette, I don't know if I could recreate it.
The 3/4 face view is the most challenging for me so I made sure that I set up my easel in the perfect spot. It turned out pretty good, but it is very stiff. I definitly will need to keep working on loosening up.

Model painting January

Back to Patris Art Studio for more figure drawing opportunities!  I'm not much of a plein aire fan when its cold  or the weather is unpredictable so I've been working indoors. There was quite a crowd there, so I know I'm not the only one that feels that way! Plus I can't pass up  the chance to have a free model every second Saturday.  I find the challenge more in the clothing than the figure.  This particular time, the model is wearing a fur jacket and hat (faux fur, I hope). The sheen on the jacket is difficult to capture as well as the texture of the collar. I like the way I was able to capture the "letter" and the bench she was on through negative painting.

dry erase pen  vs. vis-a-vis pen

 
The second drawing was a detail of the face of the same pose (since it was a long pose). I tried the Expo pen again to continue experimenting with it.  I did a little test in the bottom right corner to check how much it would bleed when wet: first with the Expo dry erase pen and then with a Vis-a-vis pen (also by Expo by the way). The dry erase held up much better to the water. The picture turned out a little "cartoony" but I like it.  It is definitely a different style for me. I also felt more confident with my washes without worrying about losing detail.
 I noticed the I've been stuck on profiles so I'll have to get there early next month so I'm in front and not on the side of the model again! Can you tell it's the same model from my December sketches?

That's me on the FAR left! Photo by Patris

Model sketching December

I haven't done a drawing from a model for over 20 years, back when I was in college. So in the spirit of trying new things, I went to Patris Studio and Gallery (formerly Studio S12 but renamed due to moving to a new location on 26th St). The great thing is that every second Saturday of the month, they have a free model sitting from 3-6:00 pm. The host of the event is Patris, a very sweet and artistic lady, that makes you feel right at home.  She has a lot of her artwork displayed in her gallery as well as work from several other artists - quite impressive works!

The model was doing one long pose, but I decided to just do some pencil drawings to start. When I went to look for my watercolors, I had forgotten them, but I had some pastels instead. So I thought they worked well as just a background color. Since the model wasn't moving, I decided I needed to move to get some different perspective.  There were so many other artists at the studio taking advantage of this opportunity that the choices were limited, so I ended up all the way on the side where the model's profile had direct lighting.

I definitely had a good time at this studio. I'm going to put this on my calender for next month!  Patris offers classes, other model sessions, and more...check out her blog  at http://patrisstudiogallery.blogspot.com/