Showing posts with label charcoal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charcoal. Show all posts

Friday, January 1, 2016

WIP: Fast Sketch

Xander
charcoal and conte


Started the new year with a fast sketch of one of my pups. My goal is to get my hand unlocked--literally and figuratively!  Still can't quite make a fist or hold things properly, but I'm hopeful the cortisone injection I had earlier this week will kick in and do the trick.  Hope your holidays were merry and that '16 is indeed sweet.  Happy New Year!

Am submitting this for Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 challenge.

Cheers!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Mentors

Andrea
22 x 28"
Charcoal on BFK Rives

When I left the corporate publishing world to paint and sail, I hadn't anticipated the initial isolation of  the freelancer's life, or the pitfalls of my naive lack of a plan.  I still had my friends at National Geographic, but, heck, they were working! I'd divorced, moved farther from the bustle of D.C. to the relatively quiet town of Frederick, Maryland, and wondered if I hadn't made the biggest mistake of my life. In a scramble to make ends meet, I painted murals, did faux finishing, worked for a florist, served for a catering company, sold art at local fairs, cleaned houses, and delivered a sailboat from Grenada. One of the first artists I met in Frederick was Andrea Burchette.  I signed up for her watercolor class, expecting to brush up on my skills, and perhaps make a few pretty paintings.  We started out painting dead bugs in sumi-e ink, and ended with Itten, and full color theory.  Concepts I had learned in college finally made sense. Inspirational, spiritual, thoughtful, intensely present, Andrea has that gift of empowering people to be better. I've been through many critique sessions over the years, and hers were revelatory-- always respectful, and astute. When she was unable to continue teaching her classes at Montgomery College, and Frederick Community College, she recommended my name, and bolstered me through my new instructor jitters when I was hired.   I would not have made it through some of the challenges of the past 10 years without her friendship and mentorship.  I snapped reference photos for the portrait in her Church Street studio just before she and her husband packed up and retired to Southport, N.C. 
 
Do you have, or did you have a mentor who's helped you in your painting career?