Figure Study #16

A new alla-prima figure study from today:

8" x 10", oil on gessoed paper

I was hoping to paint the whole figure but before I knew it the time was up.  Sigh... I would have liked to continue on this one.

January

So far most of January has been devoted to a big house project: thoroughly cleaning and finishing our kitchen. That means scrubbing inside, outside, on top of, underneath everything and building the last two cabinets and putting in a tile backsplash.  Fun and rewarding but time consuming. All my creative energy has gone into that but I have been drawing everyday and stuck to my goal of a portrait a day. I'm not liking every one so I haven't been posting. Here are a few I do like:

great great grandfather

In addition to our kitchen, I've been going through and organizing ALL my photos---feels like I have thousands---which have been the inspiration for these portraits (with the exception of the last post).  Some of them are very old and faded with not much information, it's like I'm drawing ghosts. 

grandfather

grandfather

Granny Lita

Howard

William

Sarah

Kevin

I was flipping through a magazine and this image of the actress Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games) caught my eye. I like her expression.

Jennifer

Sketchbook Portraits---Prismacolor and 1984

Some more Prismacolor Marker portraits from this past week:

Mr. Evans

My references are small black and white photos from a 1984 yearbook.  Some of the portraits from the previous posting were also from the same yearbook.  All the different face shapes on a page are so intriguing.  I'm making up the color and most of the shading, playing and experimenting and enjoying these studies immensely.

Mark Kahlhoefer

Marc Stager

Mrs. Lucero

And, I finished the slipcover project. It took me a little longer because I decided to make some pillows. Now the test will see how it works.

Sketchbook Portrait- Jenna

watercolor and graphite

This is from a 20 minute pose at a life drawing session I attended today.  I haven't posted a sketchbook portrait in awhile as I had taken a break from doing them---I think I was getting tired of looking at a photo for reference.  Having a live model is much better.