More!

This is what I have been up to as of lately. Not a whole lot of progress on a final product mainly because I have been switching out my palette to find the right combination of pigments to suit my needs. Thus I have been working on color swatches. I can not stress enough how beneficial it was for me to do this, even though I may not be the most elegant object to look at.

'

It's getting there... It was brought to my attention that there is a problem with the drawing of the pickle, and that I need to potentially step away from the reference photo and paint a little more intuition. 

3.5 Hour study from life - Graphite 

My face seems really skinny in this.

Any suggestions are more than welcome. Thank you!

Tonights Study

I worked on this study tonight for a little around four hours. I realize that the drawing is off, but my main focus was color relationships. I have a lot to learn but I feel like this is a step in the right direction. I hope to be able to apply this understanding a little more systematically when I am oil painting. 

I was under florescent tube lighting. It is my intent that I will be able to capture the light source effectively in my work, which will ultimately define the color harmony for the painting. This is something I really will continue to explore. 

Any comments or critiques are more than welcome! 

More Work!

I like to draw, or at least attempt to do so. 

These drawings are not as successful as I would like, but they are still a part of the learning process and figured I show post the work any ways. 

I have had the great fortune to obtain the book "Alla Prima Everything I know About Painting" by Richard Schmid, which has become extremely insightful and helpful to understanding how to translate what I see. It will take me many years to really grasp the material but I already feel like it has helped. 

I need to have a clearer distinction between my values. I feel that I need to learn how to make my rendering of values look "cleaner." 

Although this maybe contradictory, I have decided that at times it is not necessary to methodically measure every part of the body. I feel like you get a stale pose, and every elements looks as if it has been considered but not relating to one another. However, this works in some instances, this particular reclining pose would have benefited from more measuring.  

A roughly two hour study of a corner of a laundromat. This was done digitally, and there was some post production done to the painting to give it a little grungier feel. 

Attempting to turn form with color temperature alone. This study was done the other evening based upon the recommendation of my professor Geoff Beadle. I don't believe this was that successful in terms of the final product, but I felt that I learned a lot from it. I will continue to do more studies that play with color temperature.

A drawing I worked on yesterday after the figure session. Roughly two hours or so. 

Once again comments or critiques are more than welcome!

Work!

Stumbled into a figure drawing session. I didn't know what the length of the pose was so, I did not spend as much time methodically measuring the figure. Potentially this gestural approach was more beneficial. I still need to get more efficient at establishing my values. 

A work in progress of me caught in a pickle. Painting is really hard!

Started this underpainting for a self portrait this afternoon. I will actually spend more than one session on this study.  I am usually way too impatient with traditional painting, this may be caused by the immediacy inherent with the digital medium. 

Critiques are more than welcome!

Digital Work

A work in progress for a project for my art history class. Working with the bottom segment of the page, which is currently unresolved. I want to add something that will suggest the disgusting nature of the abjected figure. 

This is a digital figure study that was completed on my laptop. When I saw the difference in the tones between my old laptop and a new monitor, I realized how off this painting had become.

A multiple session digital self portrait. I accidentally moved the light and mirror for another still life, which prompted me to conclude this study. 

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

More Work!

Some updates and some new work. 

Oil On Wood 

Here is the final of the figure session. I feel that my colors ended up getting muddy near the end of this painting. I look forward to painting from the model in the future. Next time I will not position myself to being directly in line with the clamp lights. 

Digital 

An hour self portrait during a rain storm. Not quite there yet but I feel that this portrait is heading in the right direction, however I could be wrong about that. There should be a little more vibrance in the color  choices, especially the lighter values. 

Robo Portrait - Oil on Panel

Still working on this one. I need to pull the robot out from the background a bit more. 

Graphite 

Still not where it should be. This drawing feels like each element was individual thought of as opposed to them relating / interacting with one another. The proportions are off. 

Gesture drawings from a halloween figure session. 

Digital Painting from the figure session roughly 15 minutes. These colors are just weird. 

Oil On Wood 5.5 x 6.5in

Self portrait from life I worked on last night. Still using just a warm and cool primary sets for my palette. After seeing the portraits by Coro, http://coro36ink.com/gallery/personal, I wanted to try. I began with an acrylic underpainting and transitioned into oil. I will probably add some final touches in another session. I would like to get more proficient at a wet on wet painting technique, but it takes time. 

Critiques are more than welcome. 

Me at the closing of my first solo show at Bowling Green State University. Woot!

Photograph by: Bianca Garza 

Photoshop sketches with digital photography. 

I have been working on a concept of me "Caught In A Pickle."

I started the under painting finally last night. The underpainting was done in acrylic. I will probably go back over it later on today to refine the under painting and begin with oil soon.

I also started this little robot in acrylic. I will start with oil back over it later on today. "Robots are people too... right?" 

I also had the opportunity to show in the Bates Gallery at Edinboro University. Although my submission was unexpected and very last minute, I was more than happy to have participated. 

I normally paint on one or two layers in Photoshop, which usually causes a poor handling of the edges for me. Something I will work on in the future, but for the time being I tried to use the wonders of technology while rendering something from life. I think that I need to seperate the values more. 

This is a study of a painting by Dice Tsutsumi, http://www.simplestroke.com/, who maybe one of my favorite artists currently. I love his style, and the deceptively simple way in which he renders form. It's so good! 

After going through Dice Tsutsumi's website there was a short tutorial that caused an epiphany for me. Although I am still sorting out the details, essentially he uses on three value ranges, darks, mids and highlights. Of course... this something that has been mentioned repeatedly through out art education, but what caused me to have the "Oh..." moment, was that with in these value ranges, the use of temperature shift to turn the form. 

This may not be any profound statement to most painters, but for me it started to make a little more sense then it had previously. The digital sketch of the mug was exercise I completed as I worked through the tutorial. I accidentally didn't save the final version, which was a little more refined than what is shown. The robot acrylic painting is my first attempt to put Dice's tutorial into a piece of my own. Hopefully it turns out one tenth as good as his! 

Any and all critiques are more than greatly appreciated. Thank You!

"Cookie!" - Graphite

Not sure if this is complete or not. Sometimes I feel that my skill is not where it needs to be in order to complete the piece, therefore I end up overworking it. I feel that I struggle with being efficient and with my values. Working from life has been beneficial but also very challenging. Any suggestions are more than welcome! Thank you 

I have been working from the figure a lot as of recently. All the drawings are with mechanical pencil. Thanks for checking out my work! 

10 minute poses - 10/11/12

30 minute pose - 10/11/12

2 hour pose - 10/12/12

2 hour pose - 10/5/12

Very difficult to draw when the model moved a lot. Gotta anticipate changes a little more.

Work In Progress - oil paint - 5.5x8.5in

9 hours roughly with one more session scheduled. 

Howdy do ya'll... Here is some more work that I've recently worked on. As part of the learning process, some turn out and others are less successful. I hope you enjoy! Feedback and comments are more than appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Digital Doodles

Most of this work is from life, and are relatively quick sketches. All of the studies were done in one sitting unless noted. I got a lot of work ahead of me. 

Several sessions

I look sickly in this... Multiple sessions... unfinished.

From Photograph - Simply to see what I could map out in an hour. 

Traditional Studies

Mechanical Pencil

Oil Paint

The fruit started to significantly ripen, therefore the colors changed a lot. 

Mechanical Pencil - Work in progress

I will work on this a little bit more soon. I will be adding an object of desire. The teeth are extremely hard to map out correctly, which has caused the value structure to be still messed up in this drawing. 

Gah! - Oil On Panel

Still a work in progress of a little toy friend.