"Kat" Figure Study

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"Kat"

8 x 10 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I have not painted from the figure in a while, so when the opportunity came up, I jumped on it. I have been doing most paintings from imagination lately.  It was nice to have a break from that, and paint from the figure. This painting was completed in 3 hours in a smaller size than my usual figure paintings. I enjoyed painting this figure in a smaller size since it allows you see the values as a whole. First, I drew the figure with a dry brush articulating each shape as simple as I can. Then I applied a middle base color for the shadows and the lights.  I attempted to paint in the middle tones and not get too light or too dark.  This allowed me to go in either direction when adding smaller and subtle forms without getting too muddy. Instead of starting with the darks after laying the middle values, I painted smaller forms into the lights. This allowed me to shape the form and address textures along the figure. I did the same with the shadows once the lights were complete. What I enjoyed most about this piece was playing with different skin textures on such a small scale. 

Thank you for stopping by, cheers!

"New Years Paintings"

This New Years celebration was such a great time, ending a great year and looking forward to this special year.  After posting last I was inspired to keep painting and that's what I did, every moment I was able to I was trying to paint the people around me.  For the most part they were resting on the couch, usually that's the only time they were willing to pose (At times they were not aware I was painting them).  

These paintings are executed in a very quick manner, just capturing the essence and gesture of the subject.  I stopped myself from spending a long time rendering these paintings, I wanted to only treat them as a sketch and capture the gesture of the pose.  The longest I spent on one painting was about 45 mins.

My first painting of 2013!

Detail.

Painting at the cabin

We are at the cabin for New Years to celebrate with friends and family. It's about a two hour drive north from Minneapolis in a small town named Alexandria, when you arrive it's pure beauty from every direction. Growing up in Florida I never knew about having a cabin, since moving to Minnesota I've learned what it is and appreciate it. Every time we come to the cabin I never paint as much as I want to, this time I feel l I'm finally producing the amount I should be doing. These paintings I am doing are on the spot and completed within the hour, more or less. I am able to treat these paintings as drawings in my sketchbook. The first painting is of Greg playing the guitar, he was practicing the whole time and I don't think he even realized I was painting him. It was fun listening to him play great music and see the passion he has for it. The second painting I did is the view from the cabin looking out to the lake. When I was painting I was fortunate to see our friends playing on the ice and digging some ice fishing holes. I tried capturing those moments in the painting. I hope to produce more of these little guys while I'm up here, they're great visual memories to look back at. Happy New Years!