Another Portrait

Jada 11" x 14"

oil on linen

Jada posed for our Saturday morning group. She is eighteen years old and moving to California this year to go to college. I think I've made her look a bit older than she actually is.
Jada won Miss Buckeye State, which is a huge honor. You have to be smart!

This painting was done 90% from life in one pose and I finished her dress and the background home using a photo reference.

Tegan

This young lady modeled for our portrait group last week. She was so professional and we appreciated her steady gaze, excellent posture and ability to return to the pose--and her beautiful costume, of course!

Mallard Lake Oak Openings

I used a photo taken by one of my students to paint this demo for a weekly painting class I'm teaching this month. It's a local metro park near the place where I am holding the class. I photograph every step then throw them into a Powerpoint presentation so they have a step by step map for their painting. Many of the people taking this class have never painted before so it's very helpful. They also have a print of the original photo so they can see what I modified to create the painting.

Teenager in a Volleyball Uniform

I can't remember this model's name but she came to our group through  a modeling agency and she did an excellent job with her pose. We don't have many people pose looking downward and her face was tilted slightly as well, making it especially challenging for both her and the artists who were drawing and painting her.

This was my effort. I will try a side view next time, where the light is not likely to change if she moves slightly.

16' x 16" pastel on Canson gray paper

Two Hour Painting Classes

I am teaching a two hour class at the Senior Center near my home on Tuesday afternoons. The students must sign up for four weeks and we all paint the same thing from a photo I borrow at http://paintmyphoto.com. 

Last week everyone did pretty good. It's a challenge for people who don't paint very often to start and finish a painting in this amount of time. I'm sharing their efforts here. It's amazing how different they all turn out. Each has their own personality. My version is below the collage.

 11' x 14" oil on canvas

Indiana Barn

Lamont from our Portrait Group

11" x 14"

oil on canvas

Lamont posed at our portrait group last Saturday. Thankfully, whoever set up the model turned out a bank of lights in the front of the room, allowing the spotlight to do its job properly. Many times they forget to do this and the fluorescent light from the overhead creates cool and arbitrary shadows that reflect back into the model's skin.

Lamont has great eyes. They are very very deep set and he held his pose very well.

Watercolor pencil portrait

Jessica, our monthly model at the Hyter Group for June, has so many faces and such a great wardrobe. Love her.
This is a new experimental medium for me: watercolor pencils. You block in the basics in pencil, wet a brush and create a wash with the dissolvable graphite. Scary- as there is no going back once you put the water on.

I used two grades for this portrait. HB for the light areas and mid tones and 2B for the very darks.

15" x 20" on Cold press ill. bd.

Plein Air Paintings

Tis the season! Warm weather and sunny spring days mean it's time to break out the easel and get outdoors to paint. I attended the first paintout of the season in Waterville June 5-7. The first day I arrived late and painted down by the river.

My first painting is a view looking westward down the Maumee River. I stood on a rocky riverbank and enjoyed myself.

11" X 14" oil on canvas

The second painting I completed that day is the Route 64 Bridge. It was built in the 1940's. The light was nice on this metal monster but I wonder if I painted it because it was a comfy place to paint; I was lazy and I didn't feel like moving my easel. I've heard the old adage that a good painter can find a painting anywhere but in my case I struggle. I like to be inspired and not have to make too much up.

11"x14" oil on canvas, Route 64 Bridge

Oak Openings Prairie

The Ohio Plein Air Society is hosting a show at the Springfield Museum of Art later this year. The show will feature paintings of Ohio prairies in all mediums. Monday a friend and I visited the Oak Openings area and painted one of the old growth prairies in the park. I've painted this prairie a few times and it's always interesting to see how it changes with the seasons.

Spring- Oak Openings

11" x 14"

Riva, A German Shepherd Dog, oil painting

My final painting in the 2013 Canine Parade of Christmas Pet Portraits: Riva!!

Riva will be a Christmas gift for Kira's parents. Their German Shepherd passed away this year and they miss her greatly so hopefully this painting will provide some comfort and a nice remembrance of her. When your children are grown and out of the home your pets can become almost like children. I know mine are very close to my heart.

The reference photo had some problems. You know how the animals look in the road at night right before you slam on your brakes to avoid hitting them? They have this unholy gleam in their eyes. Well, Riva's picture had that too and this was the best reference I was offered. Once again, Google to the rescue! I found a dog at L.A. German Shepherd Rescue that looked almost identical to Riva and I used her as the reference for the eys and a few other details that simply were not clear in the low res blurry photo I was given.

People- I can't stress enough how important a good reference is if you want a good painting. I could never produce a head and shoulders painting of Riva from the photo provided but I was able to make a pretty good painting of her guarding the door to her home. This was her parent's favorite picture so I really tried to work that door into it. And the red does look wonderful against the black fur and accented by her red collar.

Cityscapes

Someone asked me to bid on a couple paintings of downtown cities. They didn't want detail, just something suggestive of the city. It's for a gift for their boss, who is expanding the company's market to Ann Arbor. I had never done anything like that before but I am willing to try anything.

Needless to say, this took a lot longer than I imagined it would and I was doing it at the same time I was painting a lot of other commissions.

One thing I learned: You can't just suggest buildings very well if they are close the viewing angle. Ipainted the Toledo version first because there is a lot more detail in it and I wanted to get it out of the way. I was happy with it in the end but after painting so many angles and perspectives that change and curve, I am not looking forward to the Ann Arbor scene.I started it last night and I'm showing the underpainting here so you can get an idea of how little I think about where things are until I actually begin to paint them. It's a matter of putting something in and then correcting it until it is right. I would never be a watercolorist.

Yes, these are a rush- they are a Christmas gift and need to be dry by next Wednesday.

16x20 oil on canvas 

Downtown Toledo

The Beginning of MSU Stadium 16x20

Shall We Have Tea?

You might think I haven't been painting, as I haven't posted much lately. You would be wrong. This is my busy time of year, and I am up to my ears in commissioned pieces for Christmas. I have stopped accepting them as of now. I want to enjoy my Christmas too so I plan to have the last one of the seven I still need to paint in the mail by December 15. There- I have said it and posted it publicly so it WILL happen.

Still, I could not miss the opportunity to paint Jessica form life again. She is such a great model and I loved her outfit. I had the distinct advantage of arriving with an underpainting done form a photo my friend Jim emailed me. so it was just a matter of making some adjustments and coloring it when I arrived last Saturday.

I wish I had used oil primed linen. The canvas I used has a glossy look that is hard to photograph. It looks fine in person but I'll have to take it outside to photograph it without glare sometime soon.

Time for Tea?

11" x 14" oil on canvas

Ami, a Portrait from Life

I like how this one turned out. Our model, Ami, posed nicely. She hardly moved, and I had a very good place to paint in. This is a 9" x 12", oil on linen, painted at our Saturday morning painting group.

Colleen from our Portrait Group

Colleen posed for the Hyter Group yesterday. She wore a black blouse but I am not that fond of black so I changed the color to a violet. A great model who held her pose well and didn't complain. I have located my pastels so I decided to use them! The day was perfect except for the opera music playing loudly in the back of the room. Oh well.... can't have everything I guess.

14" x 18"

Pastel on Canson paper

Toledo Botanical Gardens

Saturday I painted at Toledo Botanical Gardens after I left Inside Angles. It was a great day to be out painting, with temps in the high seventies and a light breeze. This is a statue near the back of the park in the perennial garden.

Another Painting of Michelle

Inside Angles, 6831 Angola Rd, Toledo, Ohio, is hosting a portrait show featuring many works from local artists, including the Hyter Group, through August 17. Saturday our group painted at the store and the owner, Sue, was very gracious. It is an awesome show with over 60 portraits hanging. I have two in the show, including the last one I did of Michelle.

Michelle told us she is moving to Houston to be near her daughter in August so she will not be able to model for us anymore. I was sorry to hear this. She has personality, she can hold a pose and not move and she wears lovely costumes. Plus she's a really sweet and accommodating person. The two times she modeled for us she wore costumes given to her from her friend who frequently visits Nigeria. We will miss her, that's for sure.

The lighting was more natural than we can create in our normal space, an old school cafeteria that sits below ground level. There was a big open window to her left throwing in cool light. I like the pose here, where she is staring into the light.

Michelle

11" x 14"

oil on linen

I asked Michelle to pose with the first portrait I painted.

A picture of the setup at Inside Angles

Saturday model at Hyter Group

Jennifer

11" x 14"

oil on linen

Jennifer posed for our portrait group when she was eight months pregnant. I decided to just do a portrait but quite a few of the artists showed the baby bump and did a full-figure piece.
I love painting redheads-- or "gingers" as they're now known- courtesy of the TV show "Glee", I guess. Somehow I ended up with a good position too; I was right in front of the model. That never happens. Great model and fun to paint.

Lasting Memories

This is Mac, who lived to the ripe old age (for a dog), of 14 years. His owner, Ron, commissioned me to paint a picture of him after he passed away recently. Ron loved Mac very much and although he owned many other dogs, Mac was special. He thinks that might be because Mac was acquired after their children left the nest. I think we do spend more time with our pets when we're not busy raising children.  It's only natural that our animals might become like children too, especially if they are bright and energetic, as Border Collies tend to be. I own a Border-Collie mix and he is a sweet, yet determined boy who is fiercely loyal but too smart for his own good.

Ron did not have many good photos of Mac, so I used a combination of pictures to get the details right. He had one request that could only be accomplished by an artist-- remove the cataracts that clouded Mac's eyes in the last few years of his life. We know he's seeing clearly in Heaven so why not have those lovely bright eyes looking out at the world?

Mac 

11" x 14"

oil on canvas

Man in Fedora- Open Studio

He posed for our Saturday drawing/painting group. I loved the hat and the scruffy looking beard. I used a 'reclaimed' canvas for this painting: an unsuccessful painting from a previous session at the Hyter Group. I like the fact that the white of the canvas is already gone and I don't waste a lot of paint covering it. Derrick posed in front if a green backdrop and hsi hat was green so it kind of faded into the background.

He wanted it so I sold it to him for a very good price. Two hour pose-- 11" x 14"

Jessica from our Portrait Group

Thought I had better be doing some painting from life in preparation for my upcoming workshop with Nancy Seamons Crookston at the Scottsdale Artists School.

This is Jessica from our Saturday morning portrait group at Common Space II- corner of Hill and Holland Sylvania in Toledo, Ohio.

She loves to dress in period costume and I have a feeling we will have her back again because she is a great model! Bruce found her at the Toledo Museum of Art when he was up there to see the Manet Exhibit.

I focused on the face while she posed and finished the hat when I got home.

14" x 18" oil on linen