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!

Spring Thaw

Spring Thaw

8"x 8"

oil on gessoed paper

Day 2 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge...

Broadway

"Broadway"

22" x 28"

Soft pastel

nfs

 In 2002-3 I spent an intensive year in the Post Baccalaureate program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore.  The post bacc candidates had studio space in a converted warehouse on the outskirts of campus.  The lighting was poor, the air circulation nonexistent, and the neighborhood none too safe.  None of that mattered because we were painting, and dogs were welcome!  This is Broadway, whom one of my studio mates, Dana, had rescued from life on the streets.  Broadway was a frequent visitor, and often kept me company into the wee hours.  True to her border collie roots, she would stare at me with intense focus until I put down my brushes to come play.  

Spring!

"Tandem Leap"

Watercolor

14" x 17"

Sold

These were white daffodils from the garden last spring.  The two flowers were swaying in the breeze, and reminded me of sky divers linking arms for a jump, or dancers swaying to a private song.  I've had a bad case of wanderlust today--a warning sign that a major case of Spring Fever is about to hit.    

Happy St. Patrick's Day!   

Rosarians

Watercolor

15" x 11" 

Sold

The great friend to bloggers, and wonderful painter, Edward Burton, mentioned in a recent post that he and his wife are rosarians--serious cultivators and admirers of the rose.  I love painting roses, and struggle to do them justice. The transparent petals, velvety soft and sharp-edged all at once. They really are a miraculous flower.  The Burton's garden with 45 rose bushes must be a sight to behold.  Imagine!

Look Up

Study: features

5" x 5"

oil on gessoed paper

sold

The eyes at an angle, looking into light, posed a challenge. How to keep them properly shadowed and in the socket, yet feel illuminated and wet, all within a relatively narrow value range. Like most painters I know, I've spent a good deal of my life studying the works of others - past masters like John Singer Sargent and John White Alexander, or contemporary painters like Burton Silverman or Jeremy Lipking --wondering about paint handling and mediums, light direction, the colors in shadows, and what gives a particular painting life. In the end, it isn't until I tuck the mental analysis away and just paint that things begin to come together.

Thanks to my first blog followers, things are looking up!