Sunflower Field

Oil on Canvas
15 x 36

As much as I love to draw let's break the string of drawings. This one was finished up not too long ago. It's a scene I wandered across last summer at a local wildlife reserve. I've been going to this place for as long as I can remember, at all times of the year, but I don't remember ever seeing fields of sunflowers like this. They always planted smallish fields of corn and other things that were mainly used as feed plots for the deer, geese and other assorted critters, but this was totally unexpected. Judging by the number of people that slowed down or stopped completely when they saw this field I wasn't the only one surprised.

White Lace Mask

silverpoint on bluish gray prepared paper heightened with gouache
8 x 6

A little while back I started an allegory of painting piece. ( I really need to get back into that seriously again.) Part of that allegory involves a masked woman, a subject that I found fascinating as it turns out. I'm not really sure why this is, but it seems to be a fairly widespread fascination. I suppose it has something to do with mystery, or hiding yourself and becoming someone else for a while. I'll leave you to ponder that yourself. This is one of the drawings from what is turning out to be a series of masked and veiled women. I liked the soft, lacy look of this mask. It made the perfect subject for silverpoint.

This mask in particular was made by the model who just happens to run eyefeather.com . So if you are ever in need of a mask you might want to take a look at her site. She's got all kinds of masks for all kinds of occasions.

Morning

silverpoint heightened with gouache on bluish gray prepared paper
9 x 6

Another little silverpoint drawing. So the question is does the world really need another picture of a woman looking out a window? I thought one more probably wouldn't hurt.

Behind the Veil - Pencil vs Silverpoint

People occasionally comment on how many different media I use, oil, watercolor, egg tempera, and a bunch of different drawing media. They'll ask how I decide which to use on a particular piece. Sometimes it's just a matter of what I feel like. Right now I'm thinking I haven't done a watercolor in a while so I'll probably dust them off and do some. But sometimes there actually is a good reason for using one medium over another.

Each medium has it's strong points and weaknesses. Let's look at some drawing media this time, specifically silverpoint as opposed to pencil. They are very similar in a number of ways, and I tend to use them in about the same manner with a couple exceptions. Silverpoint is difficult at best to erase so what you put down, be prepared to live with. No going back to pick out highlights with an eraser. Pencil is a quicker medium, good for sketching and exploring a form. It's really a more forgiving and versatile medium. Pictures are worth a thousand words and that's good because I'm much better with images than words, so on to the pictures.


Silverpoint on blue gray prepared paper

Silverpoint, to me, is best used for something like this, small and intimate. It holds details well although that isn't particularly important in this drawing. The down side is you can't produce a very dark tone. As a result they won't capture your attention from across the room. So don't try, play to its strengths. The pale gray lines produced by a silver wire will give a very sensitive treatment of the subject. As the silver tarnishes the drawing will become slightly warmer further adding to intimacy. It's a very subtle warming that you really won't notice happening. You'll feel it more than see it. I've talked a lot about silverpoint in earlier posts, no need repeating myself any more than I already have.


Pencil heightened with white chalk on gray laid paper

So here we have a similar subject. It's slightly bigger (the silverpoint is about actual size in the larger view) and the paper is darker, but still similar. The major difference is in the treatment. A pencil allows for much darker values letting me create an image where the figure emerges from the shadows. I couldn't have done this with silverpoint simply because silverpoint won't give me a dark that dark, but with pencil -- no problem. The choice for pencil here was an easy one.

Let's say I had done the second one in silverpoint, the darks would have been about as dark as the paper, maybe another step darker, but that's it. I might have made that work, but instead of a dark, mysterious piece it would have been much airier, more like a cloud than a shadow. It would have had a completely different feel and not what I was going for at all. Somebody is probably thinking that I could have done the first one in pencil. It wouldn't have looked that much different and probably would have been easier. That may well be true. So why silverpoint over the more versatile pencil? It's largely a matter of feel that doesn't translate well to photography much less the net. Besides I felt like it and I have a lot of silver wire to use up.

Reclining Nudes

Silverpoint
5.5 x 13


Silverpoint
5.5 x 13

I don't really have much to say about these, just a pair of reclining nudes. The two make a rather nice set though. Same size and medium, same basic subject, but different enough to make each interesting itself, I hope.

Since I have so little to say today, maybe it's a good time to thank everyone that has stopped by and especially those of you that have taken the time to comment. It's greatly appreciated.

Transcendental Landscape

egg tempera
20 x 30


Most of my work is pretty approachable. The subject matter is right there and it really doesn't require a whole lot of thought. But maybe if you were to take the time to give the piece some consideration, maybe, just maybe there really is something more there. This painting is different. It's not a particularly pretty picture. It wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be looked at and thought about. Maybe there is something worth looking at.

I remember having this in a show once upon a time. Most people glanced at it and walked on. A few people said it reminded them that they still had to rake the leaves, but there was one woman who seemed to get it. She stood there for the longest time, just staring. I found that extremely satisfying. She has no idea how close I came to taking it off the wall and giving it to her.

Hard Candy

Still no new camera so I'll have to dig back into the vaults. This is actually one of my favorites.


Egg Tempera
10 x 16

Back in high school I had a science teacher that painted a bit. When he found out that I also painted and sold he couldn't understand how I could stand to part with a piece. He said it would be like selling one of his kids. Assuming that to be true, it's probably a good thing I don't have any kids. Most of the time, once something is done, its done. Get it out of the way and move on to the next. Being a good capitalist, I consider sales a good thing. There are a few exceptions though. This one I would have trouble parting with for some reason.

Here's a detail.

A Bird in Hand

Silverpoint heightened with white

Let's see, the last two posts have been about critters and hands. This image seems to be a good way to tie those together and then maybe move on to something else. This was actually based on a stock photo by the lovely Longstock that I just couldn't resist. For more of her stock work take a look here. link

Critters

I used to do a lot of pen and ink drawings. For some reason I got away from it. I may have to take another look at in drawings because I really like the look. These are some of the things I did, again older work until the new camera comes.


Sorry, not a really good picture of this, but it will have to do for the time being.


Every year the World Bird Sanctuary would invite their members out for a photography day. They'd place their birds in a more natural setting than the usual perch. It was a good time and you could get some pretty good pictures. They had this little guy sitting in the crook of the tree, and people were having a terrible time just finding the bird. It almost always had to be pointed out.


We seem to be lousy with raccoons around here. There's a family down the block that thought they were so cute. So they started feeding them. Well, that's fine except they don't stay down there. Just about every night they come up here and raid the bird feeders. Again, I can deal with that, just don't put out much seed before dark. Well, one night I look out the sliding door in the kitchen and my cat starts slowly backing away. That was strange because she usually ran around the house like crazy when she had a raccoon visitor. So I looked a little closer and saw that there was a family of five out there.

Hand Studies

Many people find hands to be the most difficult part of the human form to draw, and I'll agree they can be. Unfortunately they are also one of the most expressive parts of the body too, so learning to draw them is pretty much a necessity. So what tips do I have for drawing them? None at all other than practice, practice, practice. Sorry no real words of wisdom here, but I'm open to suggestions. That being said I do take my own advice, and I do a lot of hand studies. The following examples are all kind of old now. (My camera bought the farm and the scanner isn't much better, so for the next few weeks there will either be older things or nothing at all.)


pencil heightened white white chalk

This is the oldest one of the bunch. Hopefully these will show some improve with time. It is a study for a larger piece that I never got around to doing. Maybe someday, but until now the hands are all that exist.


pencil heightened with white chalk

Another study for a larger oil, this one was done. This study is actually a good example of why it is good to do studies. Not only do you work out any potential problems before the actual final work begins, but you may wind up with a nice piece in itself. People love to see the process leading up to the final work. In this case the study was bought by a violin teacher. Apparently my model has perfect technique, and the teacher wanted to use this as an example of what should be done. Really more of a compliment to my model who is a wonderful violist than to me, but I did wind up with two sales instead of one.


silverpoint heightened with white chalk

You might remember a similar piece back in the beginning of this blog. This one, like that one, is really more of a stand alone piece. It was never meant to grow up into something bigger. Just a practice piece that works pretty well all by itself.