Goodbye 2022

 We come to the end of yet another year.  What better way than to showcase Ladies E & S and a portrait of Miss V.  Looking forward to what 2023 holds in store for our little art community.  Have a safe and fun New Year's Eve.

Starting to wind up the year with a few more that I like

 Bits and pieces of Miss P and Lady S. 

A painting

 (Apologies for the poor photography.  It's from my phone and the paint is still wet as I put down the last bit about 4 minutes before I took these shots.)

A fun exercise.  I've been doing what my wife calls "Ancestor" paintings.  Well, Lord Tennyson ain't an ancestor of mine but what a great face to work with.  I'll try and get a better shot later.  I still intend to drop a wash of raw sienna over this to kill some of the white in the hair and beard.

This was my favorite of the night

 I felt a bit of Nicolai Fechin influencing me here.  Another 5 - 10 minutes and I could have really screwed this up...

A couple new sketches

A group spearheaded by my pal Russ Walks are posting some hero sketches from the Covid 19 crisis.  I chose Capt. Brett Crozier of the United States Navy.  His stand for his sailors and the manner in which he has stood up in the face of political posturing is inspiring.  Truly a "True Blue" leader and one that we need more of these days.

Weason, Shoshoni warrior

Another charcoal on toned paper sketch.  Not, in my opinion, as successful as the previous sketch.

On the Drawing Board

This is a prep sketch for another drawing. Graphite is not my preferred medium but since this will be redrawn in charcoal I just wanted to get a feel as this image will be one of three for an upcoming show.  Just need it to be right.

another sketch while trying to watch tv

Kinda channeling the 70s.  Kinda fun, too.

"I will not be the Last Jedi"

Been trying to get a handle on Luke Skywalker for a project I'm working on.  This was fun.

The Fabric of Space

I was inspired by a great image from Thomas Blackshear "Night in Day"

and the wonderful line in 2001: A Space Odyssey... "My God, it's full of stars"

Next phase of the painting

Just one more base pass with the washes and I'll be able to start in on the fun stuff and drop the flag back and push the face.  This went from an oil portrait to an illustration pretty quickly.  I was thinking I wanted to do a Nicolai Fechin type painting but started feeling the pull of a James Bama look.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm only talking about the feel not the actual finish or technique 'cause that ain't 'bout to happen!  I also had to think about the audience that this piece is intended for and I think it'll have appeal.  That being said I'm kinda excited about where this and the other two pieces are headed.

Progression of painting

  I took the previous sketch to a tight drawing

 then to a first pass of oil washes

and then to this, a second pass of oil wash.0

Comp study for upcoming painting

I need to get three pieces done and this is (for the moment) the first of them.  Old reference but I'm gonna try a different (for me) approach.  Hope to have fun with this.

I don't know if I've ever posted this but here it is

Tayona modeled for me a couple of times.  This is what came out of one of those times.

Work in Progress

The photo is from my tablet so it ain't as clean as I like but I thought I'd risk embarrassment and throw this onto the blog. Should've shot it in its frame...

Pensive

I had a lot of fun with this one.  Breaking her features down to simple lines and shapes and leaving specifics behind was the goal.  More illustration than portraiture.

Something a bit different

I'm not a big fan of drawing from photo reference but I have a patron who asked that I do a drawing of her son from a large print.  I'm guessing this is late 70's to early 80's.  This isn't the final version as she had me drop a smudgy background in but I thought I'd post this since I don't do this to often.

Up early...

so I thought I'd do a drawing. Just a quick little pencil sketch of one of my favorite models, Cep.

Please let this be the last time

I post this old stuff. We resume tonight and I'm hoping everything goes smoothly. Anyhow, some more Indy stuff from Topps. Keep your collective fingers crossed.

More from the cellar

Spent the better part of the morning loading furniture for a Canadian client. Glad that's over. (knock on wood). Here's another Topps image. There may be one or more or even all of them used before. Sue me. I'll be back to the norm on Friday (I hope).