Large Painting day 3

Triumph - Day 1

Day 1, Oil on Linen, 72"x 96". 2017 

The final push of school is getting palpable. I am really happy to get started on this large painting.

Today was our final group critique with my thesis advisor Peter Drake. It was a lot of fun. I am really happy with the amount of work I've been able to get done.

Large Painting #4 - Day 5

Large Painting #4 -  Day 5 , Oil on Canvas, 72"x48" 2017. 

Large Painting #4 - Day 4

Large Painting #4 -  Day 2 , Oil on Canvas, 72"x48" 2017. 

Large Painting #4 - Day 3

Figures #4 -  Day 3 , Oil on Canvas, 72"x48" 2017. 

Third day, working with the dead palette again. Major focus was defining the second figure.

The central figure looks kind of stiff. Its some problem with the drawing of his legs.

Large Painting #4 - Day 2

Figures  #4 -  Day 2 , Oil on Canvas, 72"x48" 2017. 

Today I started the dead palette (yellow ocher, flesh ocher and cold black). I spent most of the day blocking in the space and the major figures.

The biggest change is to the second figure. I reshaped an earlier maquette into this pose and blocked it in the outline.  I am finding working this particular way that it is easy to lean on distortion and anger for an emotional response. Its really easy to tear apart of break the form. I wonder what is the extent of this emotional vocabulary.

Its starting to pull together.

Large Painting #4 - Day 1

Figures #4 - Day 1, Oil on Canvas, 72"x 48", 2017. 

This is the fourth of the 5 paintings that I'm working on for my thesis,

Working from the clay models then translating them into a painting has been very productive.

I am working from a few small study drawings that lead me to this image. Standing in front of the 6 foot image the half figure is a little less interesting and reading very zombie movie. The distortions of the figures im trying to make them look less gory more that is an intrinsic state of the figure.

Today I toned the canvas with Cadmium Red then worked in Raw Umber for the initial under painting.

I think tomorrow im going to start on the dead palette.

Anatomical Drawing Long Pose - Day 3

Anatomical Drawing #1 - Reign and Dave, 18"x 24", Graphite on Paper, 2017

Day three of the long pose is all about details.

Dan Thompson's lesson today was all about the knee so it felt only right to focus on the knees of the models. This drawing is great for comparative purposes. There is a lot of difference between the male and female model's knees.

There is balancing act  between what is there observationally and what should be there. The puzzle of observing a body and relating it to a theoretical system individual to the artist. Keeping it interesting is always the challenge of these poses.

Before class next week I hope to get the background nailed in.

Anatomical Drawing - Long Pose Day 2

Anatomical Drawing 1 - Reign and  , 18"x24", Graphite on Paper, 2017

Anatomic drawing with Dan Thompson-- this is Day 3 of class and the second day of this long pose.

Dan structure his class with a lecture then a demo and then a long pose for the rest of the class.

The drawing is progressing nicely. I have the major forms in and now need to work on the details of the smaller forms.

HMoA Figure Drawing 11/04/13 - Shilo - Long Poses

Shilo - 11/04/13 - Page 2, Mixed Media on toned Paper, 18"x24"

I decided to go back to working with the oil pastel this week. I am drawing on top of older drawings that I am not all that happy with. I am working on a pretty heavy duty paper so it's able to take the repeated abuse I inflict upon it. I used two pages that night.

Above is a magenta page that I used for the second and third pages. There is a lot happening in this page.

Shilo - 11/4/13 - Gesture 6, Ink on Paper, 9"x12"

I initially did not like this pose, although a couple days later I added the black lines and it made a lot of difference to the figure. Simple changes can do so much to the over all drawing.

Both of these pages I think will need more work.

“You might as well ask an artist to explain his art, or ask a poet to explain his poem.

 It defeats the purpose. The meaning is only clear thorough the search.” 

~ Rick Riordan

Kayla on her Cell Phone - Final

Kayla on her Phone, Oil Pastel on Paper, 18" x 24"

So here is the completed drawing of my sister reading on her cell phone. I really like how the background makes the figure spring forward. I also like the shadows under the chair.

"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties." 

~ Erich Fromm

Asheville Trip - Mural for My Mother - Preliminary sketch

Koolau Mural - Preliminary sketch, Colored pencils on paper, 4"x 11"

So one of my major projects to do here while visiting Asheville is a mural in my mother's house. She loves the Ko'olau Mountains so I decided to paint them for her.

I spent a few hours planning and beginning to block out the space.

I want to try and play with abstracting the shapes of the mountains and having fun with the colors and shapes. I think it will look great on the wall.

This final mural is going to be on two walls and measure 40"x 110" or 3'4" x 9'2". I am really happy with the space and this is going to be a lot of fun to do. 

I am really excited to see what I can get done.

"Love is an endless mystery, 

because there is no reasonable cause that could explain it." 

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Working Mural with Mom

Zwick Studios - Burnt Umber

I was unable to go to Zwick Studio this week thanks to a previous engagement. However last week I did get pretty far into the Burnt umber of the painting. I am pretty happy with the pose and the figure.

I am thinking of doing more with the rest of the picture then what was presented in the still life. I need to do some research, but I was looking for legends about woman near bodies of water.

"Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize 

how close they were to success when they gave up."

~ Thomas Alva Edison

Zwick Studio - 04/27/12 - Betsy Day 4

Day 4 on this painting; it is progressing nicely. I am very happy with the figure and there are minor tweaks I need to do to the figure.

The surface irregularities of the page are making the painting hard to photograph.

The green background is making the figure look very nice.

"There's a way to do it better—find it."

~ Thomas Edison

Zwick Studios 04/20/13 - Betsy - Day 3

I had a really rough time painting on Saturday. It was the normal Zwick Painting sessions I just was having a bad morning.

I am slowly cleaning my house clearing clutter. Maybe the dust got to me this morning.

I forgot my fine paintbrushes at home so I was unable to work on details this session. I did not get as much accomplished this session as I would have liked. 

Let's focus on the positives. There are some things I did accomplish that morning.  I got through my main goal of defining her legs this session. I also love how I rendered the left knee. The proportions are looking a little more accurate. I slimmed her torso Though I need to fix her arms a whole bunch. I like the green for the background. It's really going to set off her flesh tones.

It's only a failure if I give up. 

Zwick Studio 04/13/2013 - Elaine

 

So, on Saturday I went out to Zwick Studios. The regular model, Betsy, was sick so Billy called a replacement for the session. The replacement was Elaine.

I took a walk down the street to Fisher's Hawaii in downtown to get a canvas. 

I was surprised how everyone at the class didn't know there was a Fisher's downtown. I think I may have spurred a few more painters to use that store.   

I am happy with this painting. I need to put about two more hours into it to get it complete. There is a nice mood to the painting.

Let's see what I can do with this.

Self Portrait - Hour 1

So it's been a while since I did a self portrait. I started work on this one and this is it after an hour.

Looking at this drawing, I have a couple of things I need to work on.  I need to make the shadows a little darker and refine the half tones on the face. The details of the hair need a little work, there is also something odd with the shape of my hair in this drawing that needs a little work.

I am pretty happy with this drawing. 

"What a man thinks of himself, that is what determines, or rather indicates his fate."

 ~Henry David Thoreau

Zwick Studios - 04/06/13 - Betsy

So another morning painting session at Zwick Studio.

The painting is progressing nicely. I was a little unsure about how the layout of the page would read; I thought I made the figure too small, but I am finding with more of the details on the form, it looks pretty good. 

I am a little unhappy with the face. I am not quite getting the likeness the way I would like.  Although the portrait is by far the more progressed part of the piece. I think for next week I need to focus more on the body and get color into the background.

 "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop."

 ~ Lewis Carroll

Zwick Studio - 03/30/13 - Betsy

It is a new session at the Zwick Studios. Our very talented leader, Billy, has gone above and beyond trying to make the pose more interesting with a still life behind the model.

The model is Betsy. I actually know her from the show I had last year at Ong King. She was one of the other artists who contributed to the show.

During the three- hour class, I worked on the umber sketch for the new canvas and did a sketch in oil pastel. I felt like I managed to accomplish a lot in the time frame.

The point of the above sketch was to try and work out how to define her hair. Betsy's hair has an always wet look as well as prominent bangs, both things are a little tricky to render.     

This is the start of the oil painting. I wanted to fit the whole pose into the canvas. I think I could make the figure larger. I will have to think on this for a little bit.

"There's nothing like a debate to teach one quickness. I often wish I had gone in for them when I was a youngster. It would have helped me no end." ~ E. M. Forster

Zwick Studio - 03/18/13 - Sergio - Starting Color.

So last week I had a work meeting and couldn't make it out to the Zwick studio for the painting session. I had begun a canvas with burnt umber the week previous (Regrettably, I cannot find the photos of the day). So after a two week break, this weekend I began putting color into the painting.

At the studio that day, I thought the flesh tone was a little too yellow, but it photographed really nicely in the sunlight.  So I may have to keep it. 

I am having fun with this painting. As I'm painting I keep thinking of Caravaggio because of the pose's prominent shoulder. I chuckle to myself and imagine putting in a giant grape headdress; the idea fades quickly. 

I think i will try and push the Baroque feel to this painting. Push the Chiaroscuro and make the figure a little more defined.

I have a little room to define the anatomy a little more. The chest and the arm resting on the pedestal could use a little punching up. I could also make the shadows in the body darker.

I have three more hours with this painting next week.

Zwick Studio is located at 1041 Maunakea St. Honolulu, HI, 96817. His open studio is on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm. There is a $15 class Fee.  www.williamzwickart.com

"Love is the perfect sum

Of all delight." 

~ Tobias Hume