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!

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/ 

Saint Paul the Hermit

"Saint Paul the Hermit"

11 x 14 in

Graphite on Paper

It's been a long time since I last posted and apologize for the absence. I have been producing a lot of paintings and drawings which I'll share with you guys soon. I created this drawing for my show at Ciel. Excited to show at this wonderful venue. The show opens with an artist reception from 6 - 8 pm on August 28, 2014.

It was fun breaking this process down which was a little different from my previous process. The left picture shows the initial drawing with key points. These key points consist of width, height, length and shadow placements. The picture on the top right is where my process changed a bit. In this stage I would just go ahead and do big form modeling, instead I skipped that stage and just "roughed" in where the middle, light and darker values are in those key areas. Doing this allows me to get closer to the look I am going for with the whole drawing, kind of a rough draft of what the final should look. It's important to understand though I keep this stage light and not go too dark with my values as they may shift. Just because it is the "rough" in stage does not mean you give up the quality of the drawing, I am still going for subtle transitions and values turning with the form. The third picture, the bottom left, I start working on the smaller forms and bring the first top half to a finish. I shorten my strokes in this stage to get a nice subtle transition in the areas that need them. I keep going from darker to lighter values making sure each form is corresponding to its value relationships. The picture on the bottom right shows the same procedure applied to the beard. Once the beard is complete I look at the drawing as a whole and evaluate my values again. At this stage I put the final touches and call it done!

Thank you for stopping by. Cheers!

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.

Figure Drawing Demonstration

Figure Study

8 x 11 in

Graphite on Tracing Paper

I have renovated my blog to show more of my drawings along with paintings other than alla prima's.  I recently did a demo for my figure drawing class, I copied one of Anthony Ryder's figures from his book "The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective On the Classical Tradition".  I did the drawing on tracing paper with just using 6b lead from the beginning to end.