Back to the drawing board

After a partly unintentional hiatus, I have decided to rejoin the living (or the blogging) world with some pics of current work. Recent events have caused me to shelve certain projects, and I am slowly reorganizing my priorities. One of the greatest difficulties I have found being an artist (and there are many) is knowing where to invest precious energy. A single decision is better than a million possibilities, but it is difficult to know which course is best. Currently I am working on another complicated still life (the photos are bad iphone camera shots) pictured above. One shot is the drawing before transfer and the other is the oil transfer and beginning stages of the grisaille. I have also continued figure drawing sessions and hope to reopen the studio in the fall for classes and open sessions.

Completed Figure Study

Hired the model back for one more session to complete the painting, making it a total of six 4 hour sessions. I am going to use this as a study for a larger painting that will put the figure in an environment and hope to post some progress shots on that project soon!

Slightly Less Tiny Figure Painting

Here are some progress shots of a figure painting I am working on now from the preliminary drawing to the oil transfer and form painting. Given the short duration I will have with the model (2o hours total), I omitted some of the preparatory stages I usually like to precede my finished paintings and just went straight for the finish. This one is small, 15" x 16", but I am thinking of using it as a study for a much larger painting. So far we have had three, four hour sessions.

Tiny Figure Painting

From today's open session. 3 hour pose 8" x 10" panel.

More Drawings and Shots of the Studio (Farm)

Thought I would post a few more drawings done over the past several months from the open figure sessions and some shots of the studio environment. My studio is situated on a 5 acre property much of which is wooded by melaleuca or paperbark trees. I am finishing up a painting and will post as soon as it is completed.

Drawings from Open Sessions