Mike

Back to model again, I painted Mike the first time that I attended the portrait night group, posted here. He brought his 16 year old Italian greyhound, Gretta, with him to pose this time. She was sitting in his lap and I had originally wanted to fit her into the painting after I had Mike taken care of, but I decided not to at the last minute. I think it would have crowded the picture a bit too much and I'm happy with this one the way it is.

oil on board, alla prima, 14" x 18"

Sketches

This one is from my head (not the coffee shop, could you tell?)

Svetta II

It was one of those nights, I got off to a bad start. I wasn't getting it down fast enough and the feeling of running out of time was only causing me to make hasty mistakes. I thought for sure it was one for the trash pile.
But then, in the last half hour session, determined not to give up, I slapped down paint to fill in the neglected skin tones, painted over misplaced eye lids, smooshed everything around, and ...I think it came out alright. Despite a few minor issues I'm pretty happy with it.

Svetta II, (same model as in this post) Oil on board, alla prima, 14"x18"

A Few Things

I've been working on some illustrations that I won't be able to show for a while so I haven't gotten to do as much drawing for myself lately. But, here are a few things.


I've been trying out some new pencils and while I was at it I got some blue lead too, just for fun.

Denise

The Monday night portrait strikes again! These have been a ton of fun lately and I feel like I've been improving at least a little. Always a good thing.

Denise, Oil on board, alla prima, 14" x 18"

Erisha

Here is the next Monday night portrait. Erisha (I hope I spelled that correctly) came back the next week after being the model to attempt her first oil painting and she's off to a good start.

Oil, 14" x 18"

Back from Illuxcon

And a good time was had by all. I met many cool and extraordinarily talented people, saw a ton of great illustration art and a few painting demonstrations. As long as it happens again next year (and I don't see why it wouldn't) I'll be there.
Here are a few things I drew while participating in a little impromptu sketch group in the hotel bar.


For those who might recognize her, this next one is of Tiffany Prothero, who was also taking part in the sketch group.

As promised, here is the the last Monday night portrait. Our model was local jazz singer, Tish Adams.

And one last thing...
Thanks to CGunit.net for featuring me on their blog!

Illuxcon coming up

I'm getting geared up to attend Illuxcon ,the first fantastic illustration art convention, next weekend in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Looks like it's going to be a good time and there is going to be tons of great art to see! If you also happen to be going, come find me and say hello.




The latest Monday night portrait is also drying and waiting to be scanned. Our model this week was local jazz singer Tish Adams. Image coming soon...

Monday Night Portraits Begin Again

Hurray! Monday night portrait session have begun once again after the summer break. We had a great model named Svetta for the first session last Monday, hopefully we'll have her back again.

Oil on board, 14"x18"

These sessions do great things for keeping my painting in practice. More to come...

Reoccuring Models

I don't see this guy very often at the coffee shop, but I like to draw him every time I get the chance. I've previously posted drawings of him here and from a less good angle here. There are many "regulars" at the coffee shop (one of which I suppose I am) if you look back through my blog posts you may be able to spot quite a few repeat sitters.

Just playing around with some Art Nouveau curves here

sketch, sketch, sketch

More from the coffee shop...

This is sort of a weird 'exquisite corpse' because the legs below belong to the girl above. I just ran out of paper on the above sketch, but I was interested in drawing her shoes for some reason.

More sketches

Who's that casting devious stares in my direction?

Actually, she was just looking at the laptop sitting in front of her.

Four and Twenty

Ladies in a pie... what's more to say?

Detail shots below, click to enlarge

I had the girls and the pie drawn from the beginning but I had some trouble figuring out what the background was going to be. I eventually decided on the branches because of how they bring out the nest like feeling of the pie, multiplying the different meanings and associations that the viewer can pull out of this.

Pencil People

More sketches for now, but I've got a new painting almost ready to show so watch for my next post.

This is Ali, you should go to her roller derby bout this friday!

Dereck

New Header

While I've been playing around with digitally coloring my sketches I decided to finally make a title image for the blog. I used the last sketch from this batch on the left side and drew some whiplashy things for the background. A little play time in photoshop, and there it is!

I recently took a ferry ride to see some of the galleries on Martha's Vineyard. It was a fun little day trip and I got a chance to draw a few of the elderly folks that also happened to be on the ferry. This guy above looked like he could have been me in about 40 years.

This is Phil from Arizona, on the ferry with his wife, Norma. They looked like they were enjoying their vacation. They must have been on some kind of organized tour because they arrived at the ferry with a whole bus load of other elderly folks.

(used in the header image as mentioned above)

Sketch

Grey McGear Modern

I now have gallery representation! A few of my paintings (specific pieces are noted on my web site) are currently on view (and for sale) at Grey McGear Modern in the Bergamot Station gallery complex in Santa Monica, California. It's really a nice big group of galleries all huddled around the Santa Monica Museum of Art, So if you're on the west coast and in the area go check'em out!

I really feel that the gallery is a good fit for my work and I will be continuing to send work there as time goes on.

And for those of you not on the west coast and in the Los Angeles area, here are some recent sketches...

portrait sketch off with Cory! (he was drawing me too)

New Illustration! - Dangers Lurk in the Forest

I've been working on this off and on for long time. Mostly off actually, different projects kept jumping up in the way, but I finally got back to it and finished it up.

It's just a personal piece. Oil on board, 17" x 22.5"

Here are a few detail shots...