Happy Valentines Day!

Here's my coffee shop sketch:

There's something nice about getting out to a coffee shop to draw. Maybe it's because I love lattes.  I was thinking of Portland and the Dahlia fields.  I might paint this sketch.  I like how the flowy hair turned out.  

Since Valentines day is just a few days away.  I thought I'd also post one of my favorite poems to go along with it.  :)  Enjoy!

She Walks in Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

Thus mellowed to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impaired the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

But tell of days in goodness spent,

A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

by Lord Byron

Christmas Card 2013!

Another husband and wife team effort card.  John drew the angel and instrument and I painted it in Photoshop.  It was a rush to finish but fun to work on and I think it might be one of my favorites.  :)

Master Painting Class Update

Here's the finished under painting:

This is about 8 hours of work.  It was scary at first to start painting over the under painting but it was nice to have a second chance to correct.  

This is a picture of my progress from the last class.  I'm going to have to finish up at home.  Still not sure on what to do for the background. 

Painting Juliet

Wednesday Class

Today felt like a struggle. This was the best of the 3 paintings in class.  The pose in class was for 45 minutes.  I worked on it after class a little too.  Models in the past were all elderly or at older with more lines.  I think it was harder to draw someone young and ideal and still get a close likeness   I wish I had more time to get it right.  

Sunday Class

The same model is posing for the rest of my Master Painting Technique classes.  So I thought I'd post the progress photos in this entry.  I worked in class and then took a photo of the models face so I could continue working on it after class so this is more then 3 hours of work, maybe closer to 7 and 1/2 hours.

Fall Art Classes

Last Wednesday was my life drawing class.  It's uninstructed and the models are all the same people from when I took the class a year ago so if you see familiar faces you're correct.  After some pencil sketches I switched to the ipad.  These were half hour poses.  I feel pretty happy that I was even able to finish a painting in that amount of time.  I liked the colors.  I see some progress in my color choices.  The skin tone isn't pasty white like some of my earlier paintings.   I worked on it a little after class to try and fix some things but I see it's still off  in areas in the portrait.  

I'm also taking a Figurative Master Painting class that teaches old master techniques.  Last class we practiced under painting in oils.  We used just one mid-tone thinned down with Turpenoid and then erased back to the white of the canvas by dabbing with a cloth wrapped finger.  We'll have a model in the next class.  I'm looking forward to trying this technique on the human form.  :)

Ipad Sketches

I've really had a lot of fun sketching on my ipad.  I use the Procreate ap because I love the simplicity of the interface.  Here are a few of my favorite sketches so far.  The woman's face below is part of a sketch I'm not finished with yet but I think her face will probably be my favorite part.  We'll see how it turns out.  

I really like the colors in this next sketch.  I was inspired by a Loreena McKennet song, The Highway Man.  It's a sad Romeo and Juliet kind of tale where love doesn't win the day, instead it belongs to tragedy.  

Sketch

Last weekend I went sketching with my hubby at a cafe.  It was fun and thought I'd share.  :)  The camera perspective is kind of strange.  

ZBrush: Luggarth model

This is something I started on in the Intro to Zbrush class.  It had a lot wrong with it so I spent some time yesterday trying to fix it up.  I began the body in Zspheres and then converted it to a polymesh and then turned on dynamesh to correct the proportions.  I know that's a lot of geek speak if you don't use the program.  I like where it's going so far.  I can't wait to paint it! : D  

ZBrush Intermediate Class

This was a screen grab from a 3d model I'm working on in Zbrush.  I'll post more pictures as it progresses.  Maybe we'll even get into texturing in this class. :)  I can't wait!

New in progress picture.  I love the software update addition of dynamesh.  It redistributes the spans of the 3d mesh in such a work flow friendly way.  So I just kept on modeling down from the head for the entire body and it kept giving me the geometry I needed.  Today I'll be working on the feet and the hands and maybe I'll do some sketches of for the final pose and armor.

I started using reference for the abs.  Still a long way to go.  I'm trying to come up with some armor sketches next. :)

Statue of Mary Restoration

Before photos of the statue:

In Progress:

After Photos:

This statue was pretty challenging.  As always the difficult part is the sanding/smoothing of the cracks.  In this case the cracks were in the statue itself not the paint.  So I smoothed them and then filled and sanded the rough spots.  Next up was quite a few priming coats.  Then the best part...the actual painting!  I used Nova color acrylic paints.  I painted the robes first because it's the largest area and then began the skin tones.  I'm always happiest when all the bright white is off the statue.  Then your eye can really see the colors.  I gave it a matte varnish finish but it still made it glossy.  This was a really fun commission! 

Our Christmas Post Cards 2011

In past years my husband and I work on a Christmas card together.  He usually draws it out and then I paint it.  But this year he was really busy with work so it was just me working on it.  It was a 3 day rush job to get it finished up and to the printers in time.  :)   I was pretty happy with the result even though the brush strokes are sort of sloppy.  I need to get better about trying new brushes in photoshop.

Elver Park

Today I went with my friend Helen to paint at Elver Park.  I love the fall colors.  It really gives some wonderful range in contrast to landscapes.  I think it's my best plein air landscape yet!  I tried to keep in mind some great advice that really helped me define the form of a tree.  (Thanks Eric!)  This will probably be my last outdoor painting of the year as it's been cooler and windy out.

DRDC Roller Derby Poster

This is a quickie photoshop paint project that I did for my favorite roller derby team. :)  Graphic design by Jenny Terstriep.

Restoring a Statue of Joseph and Jesus

While John and I were in Nebraska visiting his parents we went with them to their Bible study that Msgr Nemec was teaching.  Stella told him that I just restored a statue for my parish priest.  Msgr Nemec asked if I'd like to do another one and I said sure!  He disappeared up to the church attic and came down with this broken plaster statue of Joseph and Jesus.  The statue had a large part of it's neck missing with a few holes and cracks in other areas.  I said I'd love to restore it!  :)

When I got it home I washed the statue and decided to fix the broken parts of the statue with Spackle because plaster is very chalky like drywall.  

 I sanded it smooth after a night of drying and primed it with a few coats of gesso.

 Then I began blocking in colors with acrylic paint and adding highlights and shadows to the robes.

 Next were the skin tones and hair and finally the gold edging.  I'm really happy with how the statue turned out.  It was so nice to get more experience restoring statues.  I look forward to more statue work in the future. :)

Statue height: 27"

Plein Air Painting Class

I'm really enjoying my Plein Air painting class.  Here are some photos from our last class.  We met at Allen Gardens and set up under cloudy skies.  It got a little rainy but thankfully there was no wind and we could continue to paint under umbrellas.  I really want to go back to finish this one but it's been too hot to get out there with the temperature a few degrees shy of 100!    It's sort of addicting to just pack up and go paint outside.  I wasn't expecting that when I signed up.  I love to paint portraits but landscapes have always been more challenging for me.  I'm going to keep working at it. 

Here's an update today, hopefully I"ll finish up next time. :)

A special thanks to Veronica for giving me this great easel! I think of you every time I go out to paint!