Portraits

These were painted as half-figures in the studio, but the constraints of my scanner forced me to crop them as portraits. Probably better that way anyway.

Leaning Female Figure

Still practicing the figure in watercolor. I recently took several paintings to show a friend whom I respect as both an artist and critic. Among other things, he suggested I try to unite my backgrounds with the figures by sharing the lighter, fleshy hues a bit more. This was painted soon after, and yes, I think it's an improvement. I'm particularly happy with the pillow and stool.

Standing Female

It was great to return to figure drawing at Manifest this Tuesday after a 6-month hiatus. I'm struggling with showing subtle modulations of form, but I like the looseness. For the first time, I employed opaque white. I like it on the braid in back, not so much on the shoulder. I think I need to be less of a purist —but judiciously so.

Reclining Female

Last week was my first figure drawing session since mid-December. I was dreading the return to the art horse after being away so long. Maybe my low expectations gave me some added comfort, because I felt surprisingly relaxed throughout the short poses. I then painted this watercolor sketch of the reclining model —no face, which makes things considerably easier.

I'm thinking of going back into it. Not sure.

Seated Figure

I'm back at Manifest after a month-long hiatus. Been feeling very rusty for the past few weeks, but I kind of liked this one from Tuesday's session.

The details in the face are comprised of about ten brush strokes and a couple of scratches with a knife. Less is more.

Warm-Ups

After a three-month hiatus, I'm back at Tuesday evening sessions at Manifest. And It's been a struggle. Hopefully, tonight's session will show something encouraging. In the meantime, I decided to photograph some short poses I've collected over the past year.

Seated Female Figure

I forgot to bring my brushes to drawing last night. Fortunately, I had a few cheap hake brushes in my box, and I was able to lay in some light washes with those. This forced a change of style, which probably wasn't a bad thing.

A very helpful fellow artist lent me a small soft round brush during the break, and I was able to drybrush those dark gray areas in the background with that. The highlights were created with a large wad of paper towels and I was happy to let the pencil sketch do the heavy lifting in the facial area.