Pitcher and Shawl

Pitcher and Shawl

What is shown was painted in the afternoon today. The pitcher and the red shawl captured my attention. Seeing them together reminded me of a painting I did a couple of years ago, titled “Pot and Shawl”. I sold the piece in a show, not too long ago. The shawl was the same shawl, no worse for wear. The pitcher was a rookie hoping the shawl would make her as known as the pot once was.

14”x 18” Acrylic on canvas board

Model "R" Evening Playing Golf

Model “R” Evening Playing Golf

“R” posed in the evening today for a costumed life drawing session. He posed as a golfer. Shown is from a longer pose. I added the golf course behind him.

The golfer behind is really just him, sketched in from another pose “R” provided earlier in the session.

18”x 24” Graphite on 80# paper. 

Model "R" Morning Looking Spiritual

Model “R” Morning Looking Spiritual

“R” provided a lot of poses during the life drawing session this morning. Shown is from one of the longer poses. He draped himself in a robe, and was looking a bit like Gandhi.

18”x 24” Pastel on 80# paper. 

Between Colored Fabrics

Between Colored fabrics

One of the characters for this still life, I have drawn before. The bottle and I are on a first name basis now, after spending five or six hours together, a couple of weeks ago. The bottle posed then for a still life titled “To Start”.

The fruit was new, but fruit always tends to be new. They have short careers especially in the dead state required of them to be part of any still life. Rotten fruit rarely gets selected.

The pot was new, but only to the setting. He interviews all the time. Today he finally made the cut.

And then there was the fabric. The fabric in the foreground and the fabric in the background weren’t content to lie flat. They insisted on forming a very hilly terrain.  The posing characters were forced, in the end, to fit in between.

14”x 17” Pastel on 100# sanded Bristol paper

Waterfront 2

Waterfront 2

The second in a couple of doodles I did the other morning while waiting for a setting to be arranged, and a model to show up, and for her to find a comfortable pose, for the rest of the day.

The first doodle was included in a previous post as “Waterfront 1”. 

I was thinking of old waterfront villages that started with the lumber trade, then fishing, and then attempted to survive catering to cottagers and tourists. I remember the old warehouses and dilapidated docks where outboard motorboats once tied. It’s what I remember as a kid when kids were free to explore. Of course these places have changed since then, those that have survived. The docks now hold large mobile floating homes pretending to be seafaring yachts. They rarely go anywhere.

5”x 3.5” Ink and on card stock

Waterfront 1

Waterfront 1

Looking through liquid

Glazed with reflections

Textured with scum

Filtered particles

Stirred up mud

Gold and silver gray

From the sun

For a long moment

Stopped in time

The conversation ignored

Until a sentence comes through

Reminding me

She still wants to know

Is it her

Or

The next wave

Disturbing the view

Into the deep world

Below the surface

The answer is so obvious

Why is she still

Trying to compete

The first of a couple of doodles I did the other morning while waiting for a setting to be arranged, and a model to show up, and for her to find a comfortable pose, for the rest of the day.

Although this doodle started from scratch, I was more aware than usual where I wanted it to go. The two standing on a dock was intentional, a memory, almost, a conversation without a voice to break the silence.

5”x 3.5” Ink and colored brush pens on card stock. 

Model "S" First Week

Model “S” First Week

I spent much of today painting “S” posing next to a china sculpture and a copper pot. Today was the first of a two sessions “S” will be posing in the same setting. I’m showing what was finished today. Next week I might work some more on this, or start another, from a different vantage point in the studio. I may just paint the sculpture. I almost finished “S”.

Below is the initial compositional sketch.

24”x18” Acrylic on canvas panel

Seltzer Over Brick

Seltzer Over Brick

The empty seltzer bottle insisted on being on top. For the brick there wasn’t really a choice, other than not having any contact at all. The small bowl wasn’t even going to be in the pose. I’m not sure, but I think the bowl is a finger bowl. I think she had someone pulling for her from higher up. I was visualizing some important woman with painted purple nails at the end of her long slender fingers, insisting the small bowl be included.

I have to admit they looked pretty good when they all game together to pose for this still life. 

14”x 18” Acrylic on canvas panel

Model "B" Front View

Model “B” Front View

I did a lot of drawings of “B” today. In the evening, she posed in leggings and a dress. In the morning she posed nude.

I’ve included here, one of my drawings of her posing in the evening, a front view. To see her in the morning, see the previous post.

18”x 24” Pastel on 80# paper

Model "B" Back View

Model “B” Back View

I did a lot of drawings of “B” today. In the morning, she posed in the nude. In the evening she posed again in a dress and leggings.

I’ve included here, one of my drawings of her posing this morning with her back to me. To see her in the evening, view the post that follows this.

18”x 24” Charcoal on 65# paper

Copper and Glass

Copper and Glass

Today’s still life for me wasn’t very interesting. The models just sort of stood on the stage, ignoring each other, ignoring me. I tried to pull a little drama from each of them, but they seemed determined to keep any emotions they may have had, to themselves.

17”x 14” Pastel on sanded Bristol paper. 

Slide Show

Slide Show

Images on a studio wall

Paintings he collected

And loved

By artists

All of them dead

Except for a few 

Painted by him

Long ago

His sight was fading

Had been for many years

But he could see them

Projected large

On the studio wall

A story was provided

For each image

Glowing back at us

About the artist

The movement

When the painting

Was done

How each made him feel

By the last slide

A few hundred years

Had passed before our eyes

Of art

Of history

Of seeing

Through him

I was doodling again, waiting for others to arrive. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m still surprised what comes forth when doodling, not having anything in particular clogging up my mind.

My doodles in a short time, before the session started, turned into the image above. When I finished, it reminded me of slide shows in the same studio a few years ago. A wonderful artist and instructor presented them. He retired a few years ago, as his sight faded further.

3.5”x 5” Ink on card stock

Bronze Cat

Bronze Cat

The cat was sketched with pastels last Tuesday. I’d finished the Still life “ To Start ” and had some time to kill. The bronze cat was beside the still life setup, feeling rejected.

So sketched the cat in his own still life.

17”x 14” Pastel on Bristol paper

Model "T" Good Poses

Model “T” Good Poses

Above are a couple of sketches, mostly to show some of the great poses “T” provided today. This morning I was at the Saturday drop in life drawing session, at the local art center.

I had one of those days. My drawings of her poses didn’t turn out so well.

Sanguine drawings on 18”x 24” paper

Model "A" Second Week with Flowers

Model “A” Second Week with Flowers

Today I spent most of the day painting “A” in the same pose she was in last Friday. I finished my first painting of her by the end of the last session, so I painted her again today, moving to a different vantage point in the studio.

The top painting is from today, followed by the painting of “A” I did last week. 

I painted “A” in a similar pose last June also posing with flowers. She wore a summer dress. It was much warmer then. You can see the painting here.

Top: 18”x 24” Acrylic on canvas panel

Bottom: 20”x 24” Acrylic on stretched canvas

Gourd and Friends

Gourd and Friends

I avoided the gourd, until yesterday. There were other options before. If the gourd were being considered for the part, I would move on to another still life. But the bottle and the grapes were friends, so I painted the three of them together, even though the gourd’s pose soon overpowered the poses of the friends.

14”x 18” Acrylic on canvas panel

Model "JO" Photographing Her

Model “JO” Photographing Her

Above was from a pose of “JO” with his camera. He was posing for a costumed drawing session yesterday. He was posing as himself, as “JO” is a photographer as well as a model. he probably does other things too I’m not aware of. Other sketches of the session are included in the previous post.

The woman being photographed, and the setting in the sketch I pulled from my head, as the pose lasted fairly long. He needed someone other than me to photograph. I was attempting to make her look a bit like his wife, another model I’ve drawn and painted in the past.

This could turn into an interesting painting. Another project to add to a list that is already too long.

18”x 24” Graphite on 80# paper

Model "JO" Morning and Evening

Model “JO” Morning and Evening

Yesterday in the morning “JO” posed for a life drawing session. Above are a couple of quick sketches of his back and front.

That same evening I went back to the studio and did some more drawings of “JO” posing as a photographer. Above are a few quick sketches of “JO” photographing others and me in the studio, as we attempted to draw him.

Drawing “JO” as a photographer fully clothed was easier, and more interesting for me than another long session of drawing him in the nude.

Both drawings: 18”x 24” graphite on 65# paper

She's Gone

She’s Gone

We left her behind

We sailed away

Heading back to the world

I spent so many years hiding from

Hiding away pursing her

She’s in the dark

Inside the open doorway

I know she’s in the shadows

Thinking I’ll return

Even as I sailed away

With you

She was the girl

Just out of sight in the woods

Watching me when I was young

She was the woman waiting on the rocks

By the evening shore

Who disappeared

Just before I appeared

To share the setting sun

Hoping she’d return

In the middle years

She was the young lady on the deck

Almost nude in the sun

At the cottage on the point

She watched me sail by

Waved sometimes

Went inside

When I sailed too close

She’s the girl I forgot to look for

When walking the trails

With you

She’s the woman I forgot to wait for

On the rocks by the shore

When the sun had set

And we shared the dark

Afterwards

She is the young lady on the deck

Under an umbrella at the point

I point her out to you as we sail by

The one I pursued

Until I found you

A small sketch of a few days ago. It started with lines searching for a meaning and turned into a place on a familiar bay. A place gone now these many years, sold to someone else.

3.5”x 5” Ink on card stock

To Start

To Start

A stein, bottle and ashtray. I guess these can go together. Someone thought so when placing them together in this setting to pose. I questioned the ashtray being used to hold the bottle. But I guess some purpose had to be found, now that smoking isn’t cool. 

They would go together as a way to start the evening, only a few years ago, some places in this world.

Today I used pastel. I was a little surprised how much the piece ended up looking like a painting.

17”x 14” Pastel on sanded Bristol paper

Staying Dry

Staying Dry

The end of land

The very edge

Can’t even turn

No place to move

Even the wind

Blows the wrong way

The water below

Goes on forever

Possibilities endless

If only I could let go

Allow myself

To get wet

Just some doodling while conversing on the phone with mom.

4.5”x 6” Ink of graph paper

Model "R" In Sanguine

Model “R” In Sanguine

Above are a few more drawings I did yesterday morning at the drop in life drawing session at the local art center. The previous post shows some of the shorter poses from this session with “R”, the ones I did in graphite. The two above were longer poses. I’ve drawn “R” so many times. I’m beginning to know his poses, even before he settles into them. Below are some of my drawings of “R” from last year, in similar poses to those above.

The sketches are both on 18”x 24” 80# paper

Model "R" In Graphite

Model “R” In Graphite

The Saturday drop in life drawing sessions have started again. Yesterday morning was the first session since mid December when the local art center basically closed down for the holidays. “R” was the model. He is very popular. He is asked to model often. My drawings of him end up on my blog almost every month. Above are some of my graphite and one dark colored pencil drawings from his ten to fifteen minute poses.

The sketches are all on 18”x 24” 65# paper.