Some overdue images

First is a painting I finished a few months ago of my neighbor Monique. It started off as a full body painting but I didn't like or feel that the body was necessary. It didn't add anything to the image so I just cut it out of the board. Right now it needs a final varnish and to be completely cut out.


This next one is my first drawing at the saturday portraiture class at GCA. Our model was Ana Nina


Last is the current GCA class drawing of Vasilia (sp). I really want to paint but I'm forcing myself to finish it as a drawing.

Ole part deux!

Here is a second dancer drawing I just finished up. Enjoy :)

Ole!

So I took one of those 4 sketches and blew it up to a somewhat finished drawing. I'll probably do more youtubing and sketching to familiarize myself with the movements. Ideally this will allow me to recall the fluid grace of the dancers from imagination and make it easier to pose the model :) Enjoy!

oh my damn!

I have all but disappeared off the face of the earth. SO much going on right now and not enough time to accomplish everything I want to do. This will be the first post of my current whereabouts and artistic doings so stay tuned. There's a lot I'm up to :) I'm starting a series of paintings depicting dancers and ultimately it will culminate into a narrative series... hopefully. It may take a few years but the initial idea and concept I have promises to be lead to exciting things. So this is a page from my sketchbook of some flamenco dancers. I may take all these to finish in drawing and then work them out in painting.



One of them may be for a client :)

This next drawing is just a quickie I did in Alex Piccirillo's class last Wednesday. Roughly 45 minutes or so. The portraiture class at Grand Central Academy has increased my drawing abilities significantly in a matter of a few weeks. Enjoy!

Follow the link... CLICK HERE

And hit like! The more people hit like through that link the more counts go towards my painting's popularity. I'm not looking to win the popularity contest, but if I can get as many hits before the end of the month it'll certainly feel nice to know people are actually looking and liking my work. I'm trying to get my stuff out there as much as I possibly can (and afford, entry fees are killin' me dawg!). Thank you to anyone who follows through and if not this month, let's make next month count :) The link is below, but for funsies I also made this post's title link to the page as well. I'm having fun with that :P

http://faso.com/boldbrush/painting/25581

CLICK HERE AFTER YOU READ (no really)

I participated in the Employee Art Fair this past weekend at the Montclair Art Museum, sold a drawing (it's always great when you sell work) and was able to socialize with a lot of my fellow artists outside of the work scene. This morning I received an email from one of the other artists who I'm happy to call a friend and coworker, Matha Kelshaw, with a link to the blog of someone who visited and who had only nice things to say about my work as well as three other artists. What a treat! Certainly made my day. The link is the title of this blog post, get it? :) And because I haven't posted a single drawing, painting, or even a scribble here is a recent drawing from life a couple weeks ago. Currently painting it.

Dorian's

Went to Dorian's open studio on saturday after months of not going. Have to say I'm incredibly happy with the outcome. Going back next weekend to finish it up. I'm putting some close-ups as well so all the painters can scrutinize every stroke I made. Have to say this was the most fun and successful painting I've done from life in years. Small world too. The model's name is Cecily and she used to live above my girlfriend in Union City. 16x20 oil on linen

Brand Spankin' New

Hello all. I am happy to say I have completed my largest painting yet. And while not that large in comparison to some really large realist paintings, this is big for me. It is 36" x 22" and I have plans to just keep painting larger. My posts will probably remain infrequent for some time to come as I finish up some portrait work, of which I plan to paint large :P Anyway, this is a painting of my friend and model Marisa who I have painted a bazillion times already. But according to her she has retired, if you will, from modeling. That or taking an extended break so she can find a big girl job. So I will not be painting her again for quite some time. I kind of liked this particular pose in evoking an emotional response in lieu of her leaving the modeling field. This is my homage to a muse. Enjoy! All criticism welcome and appreciated.

New

It's been a while. Not going to talk too much today. I have a lot on my mind that needs sorting but here is my latest portrait in colored pencil and watercolor. There was some watered down acrylic use in this one as well as Prismacolor Color Stix. I definitely want to play around with them some more. It's 20" x 30" and the model is my neighbor Monique. She modeled for my painting class with no prior experience and it turns out she was so damned good I had to use her myself. So she came over and i was shooting away getting some more formal, traditional portrait style shots. While looking at the pics i happened a glance at her while she was waiting and playing with her hair, lifting it and letting it drop slowly like a cascading waterfall. Needless to say the muse struck, and this is the result. I'll have the more formal portrait up as well soon. Enjoy until then.

Alex again

A while ago I posted the block in for this painting. I loved how it looked so much and after the advice from several friends I decided to leave it very painterly. All I did was finish the hands and do a few touch ups on the face. Enjoy :)

Danny

I probably have mentioned on my blog at some point in the past that my best friend passed away 5 years ago on March 7, 2006. It was a hellish time for myself, never mind the tumult of pain, anguish, and suffering his family felt. I had always wanted to create an image that would make me happy as an artist and at the same time memorialize Danny. Yesterday was the Danny Wust Scholarship Fund dinner where I presented his family with the portrait. He and I were fantasy and sci-fi geeks as kids and we spent countless hours playing out scenarios we imagined, always with his younger sister meeting some unfortunate doom because we couldn't save her in time. So without further wait, here is the final painting and a close up.



The painting is oils on paper on masonite and is 18 x 24. I did the drawing and mounted it in class as a demo to show them the Donato technique. For information on how to do, here's a link:
http://www.donatoart.com/technique/mounting/mounting.html

This next drawing was done at Dorian's open studio a couple weeks ago. The model donned an Alice outfit and it was an incredibly beautiful pose. I came ready with gessoed panel and paints so I can bang out a nice painting. For some bizarre reason the paint would not adhere to the surface properly and it was utter disaster. But this drawing came out beautiful, and so it wasn't a total failure.

Alex Piccirillo

Here is the finish of my portrait of Alex. Learned a lot with this technique and i want to explore it more as a means to an end as well as an underpainting. I don't think i have patience working so large with pencils, so I may be doing smaller images in the future. Nothing larger than 16 x 20. Covering large areas of the same color becomes really monotonous real fast, especially since with paint it takes all of 10 seconds to do. But for rendering the figure and getting really bright colors mixed in, it is really fascinating and easy to do. All in all this is probably the most exciting piece I've worked on in a long while, from a technical standpoint. So, enjoy the image :)

Not dead yet

I've been gone from the blog scene for some time now. Busy with work and portfolio and all that jazz. Here are two progress shots of my current pieces that I'm actually having fun working on, which is something I haven't had the pleasure of in quite a long time. The first one is for a class I'm taking at the Yard School called Realist Painting. I think I may have mentioned the technique before but Robert Kogge, our instructor, specializes in a unique method he developed over time using colored pencil and ink or watercolor washes. This is my third piece done in this technique and the first large scale one as well. It's 24" x 30" colored pencil and water color on canvas. You may recognize the sitter from a previous post when I documented my student's work. It's Alex Piccirillo, the master pastelist who was the original instructor of the class until health problems made it hard on him to teach both afternoons and evenings on the same day.



And here's a close up. It's a bit difficult to photograph work done this way, but it's not that bad. Colors are a tad off


And here's a surprisingly quick and thorough 5 hour block in I did on Sunday from the same photoshoot. This one really captures Alex, plus I just love oil paints :P

Dorian Vallejo: Drawings Inspired by Life

I have a few projects going on in the studio that I'll be finishing up before I show anything on here. In the meantime I've decided to write about art books that have made a mark on me and how I create. As artists we gain insight and inspiration by looking at the work of other artists, past and present. Websites are great, but I personally love having a physical, tangible source to look at when I'm in my studio. It also doesn't help that I don't get Wi-FI down in my studio :P

While I bought this particular book last June it has remained close to my drafting table and easel, easily accessible at all times to browse through when I need a little shot of creative juice. Many people who follow this blog probably know his work or maybe even know him. Several of us who studied at the Illustration Master Class had the honor of having his father as an instructor, the fantasy illustrator Boris Vallejo. Hosting an all-day open studio in his own home every Saturday or Sunday, Dorian Vallejo is an easily accessible and generous artist who is always willing to help out with technical advice, life lessons, and just a great conversationalist. His portraits capture more than just the likeness of the sitter, he is able to bring their personality to life on canvas. But his first art book doesn't chronicle his career as a portraitist or even showcase any of his portrait commissions. This book is entirely personal work. Specifically they're his life drawings.

Now, don't expect a book with academic drawings of figures created from life. There is nothing Atelier about his work, nor is there any hint of specific formulas. Dorian is a master technician, wielding his drawing tool with the precision of a Ninja swordsman. But he is also playful with his media. This sets him apart from a lot of other representational artists. He has a voice all his own, and every page you turn yields a delightful feast to the eyes. Anyone can place a nude on a page and call it a day. Dorian creates a thoughtful narrative with every drawing he presents. These wonderfully gestural and rhythmic creations appeal to the senses. You want to reach in and join the figures as they dance on the page, or engage you with a beckoning stare. Anyone who genuinely appreciates art depicting the human form will fall instantly in love with this book, and rightfully so. It is a visual feast for the eyes. Here are some images from the pages inside:





For an incredibly reasonable price he will create a drawing inside for you. On his site he has a gallery of some of these Collector's Edition drawings that are enough to entice anyone. For more information on the book and the artist, visit here:
http://drawingsfromlife.com/Pages/Book/Book_Page.html

I sell stuff now

I opened up an Etsy account. I wanna try and sell my stuff. There'll be mostly smaller pieces, studies, etc and a few larger pieces for sale. Here's the link and I'll post it on the size somewhere.

http://www.etsy.com/people/Painterification

enjoy