Art Show Opening

Ball point pen gestures in my sketchbook.

Its been a long time since I posted. I have been very busy with prepping for a big show coming up. I will be participating in a great show with three other artist in Minneapolis. The show is on May 9, 2015 from 5 - 10 pm. You can find out more details on http://www.neartshowcase.com/ . I am very excited for two new paintings I have produced for this show. I am showing a total of 6 pieces and 4 - 5 collaboration paintings. I have been experimenting a new approach to painting with the new direction I am going for. I have wanted to do narrative paintings for a long time and have finally dove into it. Doing this has slowed down my production with daily paintings, but it is something I needed to do in order to progress my artistic voice. I will go into depth more of the technique I have been exploring with and the reasoning why once I upload photos of the paintings after the show. The paintings for now are under wraps until the show. For now I sharing my gesture drawings from my figure drawing class I teach and some gestures I have done in my sketchbook.

Gesture demo's for my figure drawing class. These were done in graphite.

Drawing of the model while she was on a break between poses.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you at the show. Here is the info again,  http://www.neartshowcase.com/ 

Gesture drawings

Since revamping my blog I really have not put anything other than my alla prima paintings on here. I want this blog to showcase all the things I like to draw and paint. 

Tonight I went to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and attended their open figure drawing sessions. It's vital for all artist to keep up with drawing no matter how much one paints. Drawing is fundamental to everything. It's obvious when someone is lacking with their drawing no matter how well they can paint. These drawings are one to 10 minute gestures.

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!