Profile on Tan Paper

14" x 11" Charcoal and White Pencil on Tan Paper.

People who run drawing sessions like the one I go to every week often get their relatives to model for the class. Yesterday it was the 19 year old grandson of the person who runs the drawing session. I've never had to stay stock-still for twenty minutes at a time several times in a session, but I'm impressed when the person modeling does, like yesterday's subject did. Maybe he's a still-hunter.

The new drawing pad I've been trying out is by Strathmore, and is called "Toned Tan." I also have it in gray. Toned paper provides sort of a middle tone, allowing you to work up the darks and punch in the highlights more expeditiously. I wish the paper was a little less grainy, and I ought to find a pencil that has a warmer tone for highlights, more in line with the tan paper. But I think these drawing pads are going to find a lot of use for me in drawing sessions and field sketches.

The drawing sessions I attend are held in the north end of the Springville Recreation Facilities Building, 443 S. 200 E. in Springville, Utah. It's directly east of, and across the street from the Springville Museum's parking lot. The sessions are every Thursday evening from 5:30 to 8:30, and cost $8 a session. Yesterday's subject wore street clothes, but the models often come from all over the world, all decked out in colorful ethnic outfits. Either way, it's a great opportunity to sharpen your drawing or painting skills. Anyone looking for a place to practice their art is welcome to come and work in whatever style and medium you prefer. We sometimes even have sculptors working in clay!

For more about drawing sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "sketching" or "drawing."

(Edited to clarify second sentence in first paragraph.)

Welcome To My Blog! / Summer Solstice Demo.

"Welcome" is probably the way most new blogs start off, but that's OK. Now I can get right to the "art" of the matter.

Painting and drawing will be a couple of the main concerns of this blog, so I think I'll start right off with a demo. The following is of an 8" x 10" oil painting on panel I did yesterday, summer solstice 2011. The way I paint is continually changing, so this is a demonstration of how I generally paint now. It's a rough demo and I wish the photographs were better, but I hope this might be helpful to anyone interested in this kind of painting process.

Here is the intended victim; the trees, and my weapon of choice; the 8" x 10" pochade box:

First the initial block-in:

Re-establishing darks and lights as I add color. The speck in the upper right is NOT an eagle flying majestically over the Rocky Mountains. It's a bug stuck in the paint. I'll let the paint dry and then just brush him off:

Adding the foliage:

Paint highlights, add distant cows, and voila'! It's finished! At least as finished as it's going to be out here:

The cows were actually in a different pasture, but with a few strokes of the brush I herded them onto my painting! I've seen them here before, and thought they would be good for adding interest across that part of the painting.

 A parting shot of my setup: