Alla prima portrait

Self portrait
oils 7 x 9

I'm trying hard to loosen up my oil painting and act on instinct instead of overthinking things. So I worked on this piece for about 2 hours and think I have a likeness there, but the hand needs some work. The position of the fingers was complex and I sort of glossed over it. I also need to work on brightening the skin tones. I want to replicate the translucent skin, but not overwork it. To do that now, I may have to wait til the first layers dry for a day or two before adding more paint.

I'll go back and tweak some more. The eye colour isn't right yet. My eyes are blue but not quite that blue. I find one of the most difficult things for me in oil portraits is getting the eye colour correct. I need to do a series of colour swatches for different coloured eyes to see what mixes I can come up with. These ones need to be greyer to tone them down I think.

I do need to look around and invest in a good book on colour and oils. Any recommendations?

Ice

Iced
yupo, watercolour 7 x 10

My mind is still working around elements of water and a series around that is part of my 2009 plan. I have looked at different forms of water, such as fog, snow and ice as, being winter here, there seems to be lots of it and will be for awhile. There are also creatures that live in or are dependent on water which also interest me.

I have been experimenting with different mediums and supports that I haven't used for awhile and in this piece I used Yupo. This support is a plastic sheet that doesn't absorb water so the paint sits on top until it dries. It can be washed away down to brilliant white again or different effects can be obtained through adding other things to the sheet. In this piece I tried some crumpled plastic film, removing it after the paint had dried, or nearly dried.

The effects left on the surface remind me of ice crystals or the look of ice under your feet when you stand on a deep frozen pond or lake. I'll do some more experimenting with this technique and see if it goes anywhere. I want to see how much I can layer it without it disintegrating the underlayer or muddying the paint too much. It seems from what I've read, you either love or hate yupo!

Sketches from a coffee shop

Sketches from a coffee shop

Graphite Moleskine 8 x 5

I sketch quite a bit and most if for my own enjoyment and doesn't often see the light of day through other's eyes. I love to sit in coffee shops and people watch. Expressions, gestures and capturing movement are fascinating to me. I flit from face to face and see how much detail I can get into a sketch before the person moves or before they notice I am sketching them.

I often find people will use the same movement over and over even if you think they are moving around a lot. I get the gesture in place first, then add details as the movement is repeated. If they move out of range, I can often use a similar gesture in someone else to complete the sketch.

This is the end of a sketchbook that I carry in my bag daily. Its also a kraft covered holder for receipts, gift cards and grocery lists. The pages are a little smeared by now but that adds to the charm.

Its now time to break out a new sketchbook or perhaps make one myself. I've been looking into creating a sketchbook for some time, but haven't acted on it. It doesn't look too complicated so I just may try my hand and see what I can come up with.

The other side

I'm still working on this little sketchbook, knowing that my holiday will be over come Monday and I won't have the luxury of time anymore. I get up early and come down to my studio then suddenly its 11am and I'm immersed in drawing or painting and the world around me disappears. I love it.

I wanted something to complete the reverse of this sketchbook as I put the portrait on the front. I thought of many things that spelled closure or the end, then finally came up with a closed door. That evolved into this old door knob and peeling paint that I've just realized took me the morning to fiddle with! I added a little pen and ink to define the peeling paint and now it almost looks pointillistic or jewel like instead of the rusty knob I used. Silk purses out of sow's ears I guess.

Its coloured pencil on the back cover of my little Moleskine cahier sketchbook. Ok, now that's done and I can get down to more contents for the inside!

Shut the door on your way out please...

Making the cover

Just before Christmas I finally received the little Moleskine for The Sketchbook Project. The due date is February 15th for posting it back to Atlanta, so I've been trying to add a couple of sketches a day to fill it up.

As there are so many sketchbooks that will be exhibited, I wanted mine to perhaps standout from the crowd a little, so last night I did a little self-portrait on the cover in coloured pencil. The proportion is wrong, but that somehow adds to the funky feel of the whole little project. I'll figure out what to put on the back cover later. Maybe a back view with some landscape included?

The interior sketches are a mix of graphite and marker right now, some are ok, some I want to trash, but they'll have to stay as they are. The theme of this project is 'Everyone We Know'. that leaves it open to some interpretation, but I mostly want it to reflect images of people or animals.

I'm throwing this open to readers who may like to become part of my sketchbook. If you would like a portrait of you or your pet included in this, email me a photo (email address on the right sidebar) and I'll do a sketch from it in this Moleskine. I'll scan all the images in the sketchbook once its complete and make it available on this blog. In addition, your individual sketch will be scanned and emailed to you, if you request it.

Please provide me with your images by January 15th, so I have enough time to fit them in and get the sketchbook back to Art House by the deadline. If for some reason, I run out of pages for sketches, I will let you know.

Once the sketchbook is returned to Art House it will go on tour along with all the other sketchbooks received to Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Brooklyn and back to Atlanta and Chicago at the moment. The sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums in these cities, with more venues being added.

Jugs to the past

Past Times
5 x 7 oils

This jug is likely similar to those in other houses around the world, but to me it brings memories as it belonged to my grandmother. Its held everything from applesauce or custard to gravy. The spout is chipped but it remains in service still.

I was looking for something to paint today and this was at the front of the cupboard. The apple was the remains of some Christmas ones - or pre-Christmas ones that are ready to be made into applesauce to fill the jug once more.

It was late in the day when I took the photo so its a little out of focus. I'm going to stop apologizing for winter light in my photos. Perhaps its a Canadian thing - saying sorry.

Sorry.