Category: Figure
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CMA Bust
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A few weeks ago, I went to the Cleveland Museum of Art with my sketchbook, and some pencils. I sat down on a bench looking at a bust, and spent five hours trying to draw it. This was an incredibly valuable exercise – it’s something I definitely want to try again. It highlighted two really…
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Getting Better
Some of you who have followed this thing for a bit know that I struggle with depression. This year been very challenging for a number of reasons, but I am doing everything I can to get better. A few months ago, I participated in an intensive outpatient therapy group to work on things. I met…
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Gesture Practice
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A big part of my recovery is focused on doing things. I spent a lot of time trying to reset by taking time away from things, and just slowing down a bit. Now, part of my next steps are getting back into things, though I’m trying to do so without putting so much pressure on…
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How do you get to Broadway?
A long time ago, in 1997, I wanted to write better poetry. I would regularly get together after school with my friend Kevin Vincent. We would go to the grocery store and buy a few apples, and some limes. Then we’d go to my house, eat the apples, chew on the sour limes, and compare…
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Winnie at the Piano: #2
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I tried that painting of Winnie tinkling on the Piano again today. I paid very careful attention to the proportions in my sketch, which helped the painting significantly. However, I am starting to feel like sketching so many details at the beginning results in “coloring” instead of painting. By penciling in every shadow and crease,…
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Winnie at the Piano
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I took this photo of my daughter playing around on the piano a while ago, and I have wanted to paint it for some time. Today, I decided to sketch it out, and give it a go. I don’t paint figures often, so I don’t feel that I paint them particularly well. But I’m reasonably…
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It’s all part of the journey
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in Achitecture, Animal, Failed Paintings, Figure, Landscape, Sky, Studies, Trees, Water Color, Year 2I have to remind myself over and over… you are only a year and a half into this. I’m a sophomore in high school… I should expect to paint like I’m sixteen. I have been running into a slew Of failed painting again. I’m not sure why exactly. For some reason I’m no where near…
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Glitter War: Final
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I bit the bullet and just went for it today, and painted that Glitter War painting my brother asked for a while ago. He lives in North Carolina, and they are in town for Christmas, so I figured if I paint it now, I can save myself from having to mail it. This painting has…
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Canton Bridge: #3
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I went for another try at that city Bridge. I should probably go out and paint from life, instead of making this up from my imagination, but it’s really freaking cold outside. I wanted this to read like it was painted here in Canton, Ohio. Even though this isn’t a real bridge anywhere in Canton,…
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Canton Bridge: #1 & 2
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I guess I’m on a bridge kick? I haven’t practiced urban scenes very much lately, so I decided to give it a shot yesterday and today. On the first one, I messed up on the perspective of the buildings in the background. On the second one, I messed up on the value, and tonality of…
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Creek Bridge: #1
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Tonight, the goal was to paint a creek, paying attention to perspective, and atmosphere. When I started, there was no bridge in my mind, but a bloom seemed to suggest one, so I went with it. I don’t have a reference sketch or photo for this one, I’m just kind of laying down layers and…
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Log Bridge: #1
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I wanted to practice figure painting a bit more, so I invented a scene, and tried to paint it. My idea was to try to paint a picture of a guy carefully walking across a log. It’s something I’ve done more than a few times fishing, but I’ve never photographed it, so I had to…
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Tree Sketches
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I wanted to explore some ideas for how I might style the trees in this painting that I’m going to do. I think I know how I’ll tackle everything else (at least I have a strategy for how I plan to attack it) but I haven’t decided on a style for the trees yet. This…
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Glitter War: Studies
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My Brother asked me to paint a picture for his daughter like the illustrations I did recently. I’m pretty intimidated to paint something for him to be honest, because he is such a talented and accomplished artist. (Did I mention he’s the lead VFX artist for Epic’s Fortnite?) Anyway, I took him up on it…
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Gervasi Gazebo: #3
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I’ve been getting frustrated with a lack of progress again. And this time it’s because I can’t seem to get the effects I want. I’m trying to emulate other painters because I admire their work – and I never get the same kind of results. I know, I know – paint the way you feel…
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Gervasi Gazebo: #2
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I tried to execute my plan on my second attempt. I went off the rails in a few places. I’m following the “five steps” from Tim Wilmot’s video. The steps he recommends are pretty much the same steps I see again and again. Some say: “paint dark values over light values” or “sketch large shapes”…
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Gervasi Gazebo: #1
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When I was at the Gervasi Vineyard a while ago, I took a photo of a gazebo because the light was striking in an appealing way. I wanted to paint this gazebo, so first I decided to take my time to create a strong sketch/value study. I particularly liked this sketch, and decided I would…
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City Rach: #1
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So… on to the first attempt at a final draft. Here’s the recipe I had in my head at the beginning: Mask figure highlights Paint sky in a light, flat wash. Paint the window frame. Warm with a drop of cool in the upper left corners. Paint the wall cool up top, cool down the…
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City Rach: Compositions
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I decided to attempt a few different compositions, one left, one right, one dead center, and one with an exaggerated perspective. Each one of these is as simple as I could make it, just a few flat washes. This helped me practice flat washes, and helped plan out the order I’ll need to use to…