sampling

This is just bit of a preview of a couple paintings in the works. The first one is a small head study of my dancer friend Cara. I'm going for a somewhat tighter finish than I have attempted in quite a while with this one and it is currently on the second pass of paint. It is oils on a quadruple primed and blue tinted piece of really rigid cardboard.

This second painting is a bit larger, 20x30 inches I believe, and it is Cara once again. Her pose came as a result of one of those moments whilst checking my camera for settings or to check out previous shots and the model takes a lovely, relaxed, and perfectly natural pose without any direction from me. So I quickly shot it before it went away. This is a couple night's worth of work. I know the values on the face need to pushed a bit more than I have, but the light really is shining brightly on her in that shot. I'll probably glaze it back tomorrow and re-establish the hierarchy.

First post of 2012

In lieu of this being humanity's last year on earth, I am hoping to post more frequently. But knowing me that's probably not gonna happen. Anywho, first three drawings are of a lovely young dancer I had the pleasure of working with back in December named Cara. I didn't really have a clear idea of what I wanted to shoot other than the figure in motion and just get some good poses of a dancer. So that is that. I realize her hair is way too big in the third drawing, but that'll be fixed. The 4th drawing is from my last portraiture class at GCA with the model Vasilia(sp). Greatly enjoyed the class and learned a lot but I think my atelier days are over. Enjoy!

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.