Module 14

Roses in a copper vase. Not my favorite.

Module 13

A low-key still life. It's supposed to be kind of dark and brooding. The abstract ceramic head in the box was made by local artist Nina Cork, it was a real challenge to paint because of the colors involved.

Module 12

This was supposed to be a high-key painting, where all the values are on the lighter half of the scale. It is light, but just not a big success. That's a red and yellow onion with garlic.

Module 10

Drapery study in oil. This is tedious, but fun. It's easy to get lost in the folds. I need to do a lot more of this if I'm going to do draped figure work.

Module 9

A bird's eye view still life. I tried to get artsy with this one. The translucent plastic glasses kicked my butt.

Module 7

For module 7 we had to use a reflective item, I got the bright idea to go with a chrome jigger, it was all downhill from there. I just couldn't get into the feel of this one. I like the idea of it, and may do something like it again later, but this one was just not how I wanted it to be.

Homework #2

Ok, same as before, we started with sketches and worked our way to a finished painting. This one cost me a few brain cells. I could not match the color of the red satin cloth. Most of this was painted and repainted at least twice.

Homework #1

This involved drawing 4 setups and getting one of them ok'd to paint, then submitting a 50% completed painting to be critiqued. For the final painting we had to make any changes the professor recommended and finish.

Module 6

Copper, not my favorite to paint. Need I say more?

Module 5

How do you paint clear glass? You don't, you paint what's behind it. That's the theory anyway. The small glass to the left has a rippled surface, not a wise choice for the first time. I'm going to need a lot more practice with this stuff.

Module 4

Finally working with a full color palette, so what did I do? I went with primary colors, of course! I was actually trying to loosen up a little and did this one pretty fast. A little too fast though, since I forgot my horizon and didn't get good shadows under the bowls to keep them from looking like they're floating.

Module 3

For module 3 we got to add cad yellow to the mix. The proportions on the gravy boat are off, but I'm pretty happy with this one. Again 11x14 canvas board.

For figure modelling I give you.........my left foot!

Module 2

Ok, yes I've been a slacker and not been posting much. I'm going to try to get that caught up. Here's my module 2 exercise, still life with a limited palette consisting of; terra rosa, yellow ochre, ivory black and titanium white. It's on an 11x14 canvas board.

I'm leaving my figure modeling homework off here since at this point it's just some geometric shapes.

Module 1 of the fall semester

I actually finished my mod 1 homework before the due date. Looking ahead, it looks like this might be the only time that happens. I've got major amounts of work to do, in two subjects that are totally new to me. While I'm looking forward to it, I'm a little worried about getting it all done.

In Still Life I'm using oil paints for the first time in my life, actually this is the first time I've even attempted to paint a picture since probably grade school. We started out just working in shades of gray, cool since I've been working in charcoal for a while. Next week we'll be adding some color to the mix. I can tell I was concentrating so hard on getting the paint to bend to my will, that I totally messed up the structure of my forms. All in all, I'm still ok with how it turned out.

Figure Modeling was pretty easy this week, but it's going to ramp up quickly to hurt me, I can tell. The main part objectives this week were to build our armature, which is the skeleton we'll be putting our clay on, and gathering our supplies. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Two more weeks!

Fall semester is just around the corner, and I'm ready. Fees are paid, books are purchased, supplies are present and accounted for. Today was the first day we could log in and download the files we'd need, demos and lectures and such, and that's done. Nothing left to do but get started.
On the menu for this term we have FND-131 Figure Modeling, one of the few foundations classes I have left, and FA-110 Still Life Painting in oil, the first of my fine arts classes.

Since I don't have any post-worthy artwork at the moment, I'll leave you with a pic of the present I gave myself for my 46th b-day.

Get drawing!

Well, at least the half dozen that may see this anyway.
Saturday, June 6th is Drawing Day, so draw something and post it here or at the Drawing Day web site. Check it out here
http://drawingday.org/index.php

Spring semester grades

Looks like I did better than I thought. I got an A- in both my Figure Drawing class as well as English Composition. I'm doing much better than in high school. I guess paying this much to go to school is more motivational for me. I'm sure it has nothing to do with being older since I'm still a kid in my head.

The last of spring semester.

The last 15 weeks have went way too fast. Here are my final two works for Figure Drawing. I think they're my best so far. The mad dash to the finish has left me exhausted. I may sleep for 24 hours.

I'm not taking any classes at AAU this summer, but I'm going to be studying on my own and will still be posting work here.

Last of the exercises

Here's the last of the exercises for figure drawing. Now just two more drawings for my final homework and I can put this class to bed.

A first

More foreshortening this week.


Can you guess what "first" it was for me?
Only two more weeks of spring semester!

And, foreshortening time

This week we worked on foreshortening. That crazy thing that happens when you look at a long object from the end, instead of the side. This crap is hard, people! So, enjoy the booty show!

Whoops!

Almost forgot the feet! Nothing special here, just trying a different technique. I built my tone up slowly with many layers instead of blending it to death.

A couple more hands

Michelangelo is spinning in his grave. The reference for this is obvious, the models were my daughter and ex-wife.

Now, on to the feet!

Can I get a hand?

While they have their flaws, these are the first hands I've ever drawn that I don't mind people seeing. Hands are HARD!

Another Master Copy

Here's the latest of the old masters work that I've butchered. Michelangelo deserves much better treatment than what I've given him here. Anyway, here's my version of the study for the Libyan Sibyl.

Module 8 "Raphael"

Ok, so we had to copy a Raphael, no pressure right? I must admit, the intimidation factor was running pretty high on this one. I judiciously measured for hours to get all the parts in the right places. In the end it was worth it though, I received my first "A" in Figure Drawing.

Module 5 and 6

I'm late again. To catch up I'll post my homework for 2 weeks.

First up is this drawing of a head for Module 5. I sucked bad on it, the mouth is totally wrong and my values leave something to be desired. The drawing we copied from was a lot darker than this. I actually received a decent grade but I don't know how.

For Module 6 we were supposed to concentrate on positive and negative shapes to find our forms. I used charcoal and General's white charcoal pencil on grey Canson paper. I'm pretty happy with this one, she has a few problems, but on the whole, I'm satisfied. I also seem to be able to find my forms a little faster, this only took me about 3 hours. I remember doing a lot less in a lot more time.

Enjoy!

I've been bad

I haven't updated in quite a while. The truth is I haven't done anything in Figure Drawing that I thought was post-worthy. Were not even going to talk about English. So, here I am and week 4 of my second semester is over and I need to post something. Here are a couple drawings I did last week. I'm not too happy with them, but I guess they'll do.