Greg Pastel

Greg was one of the three models we used for the model session at Butler Art Center this past Saturday.

The mouth was challenging because his fist pulls it to one side. 

A great place to learn technique is the Judy Carducci dvd on portrait painting.  The dvd is so full of great info... could watch over and over and still learn more. In fact we had Greg sit in a similar pose to the model on the dvd.

16x20 inches, pastel on mounted Wallis paper

Portrait Session

Another portrait session today. 

I reworked this when I got back to the studio. 

So I lost the likeness and the detail but feel the general shapes work better now.

pastel, 11x14 inches, 2 hours worktime

My Little Pony

Fun, 8x10 inch watercolor I did for a friend as an art exchange.

I found this image on her facebook and wonder what she will think when she get this in the mail.

It was from a vintage photo, a little faded and washed out but the values were still there.

Portrait Session

What fun I had today. 

Got to the session on time, great model and the sun is shining.

Pastel, 11x14 sanded paper, 2 hour session

Check out the winter class schedule for full day model sessions at the Art Center in Butler

http://www.aabcartcenter.com/

I took this back to the studio and fiddled with the background some to bring his face forward.

 (Boy the color really changes depending on where I photograph it.)

Another comment... I have been sampling pastels and am most satisfied with Terry Ludwig pastels.  I can't wait to share some at the next Butler session.

Late Night

This is a demo that I did for class today. 

We used night scenes with artificial light as inspiration. 

It is a good exercise to see and get the darks as dark as they need to be.  

(I often tell my students not to be afraid of the dark.)

Also good to see the contrasts and color of artificial light. 

I could have made the light warmer, 

but it really felt like daylight in Times Square that night.

 I hope to do this again, not as loose, since I like the way it feels.

watercolor 11x14 inches