Mary in Maine

     I wanted to practice what I had learned, hopefully it will help the lessons stick better.  This is a painting I have wanted to do for a while just because she was lit so beautifully and also those lovely eyes.  I had turned around to look at someone asking a question and Mary was sitting next to me in this very pose.  I immediately grabbed the camera and snapped a pic, the photo is still one of my favorites.  I prefer to working from life when possible but for these practice pieces a photo will do.

Day 5 - Male figure detail

     This is from my 5th day in Robert Liberace's class.  I have learned a lot in this class.  The one lesson that stands out the most, for me, was learning to slow down and look carefully.  I had lost that in trying to get information in quickly but then miss subtleties that can really make a painting sing.  This is a fine balance because the danger in slowing down can also go towards being "overworked".  This is one of the common problems in art, knowing when to stop.

I am going to put this one up for auction on the Daily Paintworks site when it is posted tomorrow.

Day 2 - Male Figure

   I am currently taking a class with Robert Liberace at the Scottsdale Artists School in Scottsdale, AZ. Robert is an incredibly talented artist and teacher and I just can't say enough good things about him.  He has a wonderful way of simplifying his techniques.  He assesses each students work, kindly, but also thoughtfully so that you are pushed in the direction you need to work on.  He is passionate about learning the figure and you can see it resonating throughout his works.

     This is the second day's lesson.  I am not sure about my first day attempt since I put it away at the end of class yesterday and haven't got it out since.  I will have to decide whether it is worthy of sharing when I take a look at it tomorrow.   We had started Monday with a simple burnt umber and burnt sienna grisaille painting then mixing burnt sienna with white making a middle flesh tone, blocking that in then working in highlights and gradation into the shadow.
     Tuesday, todays lesson, we added some color, mixing flesh from white with red, alizarine, yellow and blue, pushing the colors, red, yellow, blue or whiter as needed and also doing the same with the shadows.   This was really tricky for me because color is one of my bigger challenges but I got through it with Roberts help and I think it worked out okay.  This is a rough shot from my cell phone.

     This pic shows, left to right, my buddy Carol's painting, Robert Liberace (in the middle) and mine on the right.  It almost feels like you are learning from Michelangelo or DaVinci!