Figure Study in Graphite

Figure Study

2017

Graphite on Paper

8" x 10"

Hi Everyone! Wow how time flies since my last post, I promise I do not mean to leave for such a long period of time, I've been super busy since May. My wife and I have had a baby and have been adjusting to the new daily routines in our lives, wouldn't change it for the world. Graduate school has been going really well it's been really busy with a lot of writing, research and producing paintings. I have been learning a tremendous amount during my time in school, it has been an amazing experience so far and can not believe I have one semester left to complete my Masters! I am getting to the thick of it with writing my Thesis paper and continuing my research phase. 

This drawing I completed not to long ago as a sketch and exercise, they serve to sharpen my rendering abilities and observe nuances within the figure. As you can see from the bottom picture the various stages the drawing goes through all the way to completion. 

I wanted to let everyone know as well that I'm way more active in my Instagram account than on Blogger, I wish there was a away I can automatically post onto Blogger from Instagram. You can follow me at @jonallerpaintings.  

Thank you for you stopping by and viewing!

"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!

"Adam"

"Adam"

11 x 14 in

Oil on Canvas Panel

I did this painting of a good buddy of mine. I painted his portrait in the beginning in the manner of dutch painters, starting with a monochromatic underpainting. To do an underpainting in this manner is beneficial, it lets you work out the tonality of the painting before worrying about color. Essentially all you have to worry about is color when the underpainting is complete. As you can see I changed the background to a lighter color than just using black. This approach is not for everyone but its something to try out at least a couple times to see if you like it. 

Thanks for stopping by.

"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.