Demonstration - Charcoal Drawing on Grey Paper

14" x 11" Charcoal on Paper

This is another drawing made from a live model at the drawing sessions I attend. It's charcoal and "white charcoal" on grey paper. During this session I took progress photos of the drawing. Later I combined those photos into a video showing how the drawing was made. You can find links to the video below.

Because of time constraints, my concern early on in the drawing is to put basic shapes down as quickly and accurately as possible, but not very neatly. At that point I'm not too concerned about details. About halfway through the video the drawing might not look quite right, but things are basically in the right places. Details and refinement come later.

It's a short video, roughly a minute and a half long. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful!

If the embedded player doesn't work for you, you can find the video on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmzPTso4i-U

Or on Vimeo here:

https://vimeo.com/118313403

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

Indian Woman in Purple Blouse

Today's blog post features a Southwest Indian woman dressed in purple, white, and turquoise. The drawing is pastel on gray paper and was made a few years ago in one of the weekly drawing sessions. I so wish I had finished this drawing, but the timer for the session went off, the model had to leave, and I never got back to it. Still worth a look though, I think. Hope you enjoy seeing it.

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

A Japanese Indian

14" x 11" Charcoal and "Charcoal White" on Grey Paper.

The models for the drawing sessions I attend often come dressed in outfits appropriate for their ethnicity. Sometimes they come dressed as they want. It keeps things mixed up and fun. Pictured above is a drawing from life, made a few years ago, of a Japanese woman who decided to come as a Native American. She was a fun model who sat for us a number of times. A couple other sketches I made of her can be seen here and here.

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

Three Color Palette, Part 2

8" x 10" Oil on Panel

Here's another experiment using a very limited palette. You can read the first post about a three color palette here. In the earlier post the three colors I used were cadmium yellow, permanent alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue, plus titanium white. In the painting shown above, my palette was cadmium yellow, permanent alizarin crimson, and ivory black, plus white. No blue. I had read about using black instead of blue for cool tones and wanted to try it. My understanding is that ivory black has a slightly bluish cast when mixed with titanium white. When lightened and placed alongside very warm tones (yellow and red), ivory black appears rather blue.

This painting was made on a hazy, mostly overcast winter day in Heber Valley, using cad. yellow, alizarin crimson and ivory black (plus white). That palette fit the day perfectly. I'm not about to give up my split primary palette, but becoming familiar with other palette combinations increases the "tools" I have in my "painter's toolbox". That allows greater variety in the overall body of work. It also enables me to say what I want to about particular landscapes in different ways.

Incidentally, a couple who live close to where I made the painting shown above (and many other paintings) have stopped to visit me as I've painted a couple of times. On the wintry day I painted this they invited me into their home for hot chocolate (dairy free) and homemade apple pie! That was a good day!

My New Bag

The Old Bag

...or "What to do with an Old Bag."

This is an update of a post I did a few years ago which has been a very popular post on this blog. When I first wrote about this bag it was used to carry either a 6 x 8 or 8 x 10 pochade box into the field. Earlier this year I built a couple 9 x 12 pochade boxes. Those boxes didn't fit in the old leather bag very well, so I made a new leather bag. Here's a picture of it:

The New Bag

This bag is used to carry a 9 x 12 or 8 x 10 pochade box. A separate bag is used to carry the rest of the painting gear, as described in the older post mentioned before. A tripod to mount the box on is carried separately.

So, what to do with the old bag? As it turns out, the old leather bag is perfect for carrying not only a 5 x 7 pochade box, but also all the painting gear that goes with the little 5 x 7 pochade box. (Except the tripod, which is still carried separately.) A separate bag isn't needed.

New Use for an Old Bag

Here's what is now carried in the older bag:

1. The 5 x 7 pochade box.
2. Apron
3. Case containing other painting gear.

The little grey case was a close-out item I found in a store. It largely (no pun intended) takes the place of the separate leather bag carried with the bigger pochade boxes. Here's what the case contains:

And here is what those items are:

1. Several folded paper towels for paint clean-up.
2. Can of odorless mineral spirits.
3. Plastic bags for used paper towels. I always carry extra.
4. Small jar used as a brush washer, in a metal cup that clips onto the wooden palette.
5. Brush washing soap, if ever I need to wash brushes before arriving home.

This outfit is small, light, and so easy to carry even on long hikes in the mountains. The brush washer and soap are stored in little plastic bags to contain any leaks that might happen. Undoubtedly there will be adjustments made to this gear from time to time as needed. For instance, I no longer carry any sort of mediums when I go painting. If I need to thin paint I use odorless mineral spirits - and (except for initially toning the panel) that is rarely and only in tiny amounts.

I hope you've found this post informative, and thanks for visiting my blog!

Three Color Palette

5" x 7" Oil on Panel

It isn't shaping up to be much of a white Christmas around here, at least not here in the valley. The general appearance of the landscape is of various grays and tans. Nothing in the way of the brighter colors of summer or fall. The first image in this post is of a little painting made on a mostly sunny day in late November. It shows a little more chroma than the next image, which was painted on a very overcast day and is much more subdued.

5" x 7" Oil on Panel

For these paintings, instead of laying out the usual split primary palette, I thought I'd try a very limited palette of just three colors, plus white. Those colors were yellow, red, and blue.

The third picture shows the colors laid out on the palette board in the 5 x 7 pochade box. Although the painting shown at the top of this post was painted on a traditional white panel, the second painting was made on a dark panel.

Here's the colors used for these paintings:

1. Titanium White
2. Cadmium Yellow
3. Permanent Alizarin Crimson
4. Ultramarine Blue
5. Mix of Alizarin and Ultramarine, with a touch of yellow.

Cadmium lemon yellow would have provided cleaner, brighter mixes than cadmium yellow, but I wanted the dirtier mixing qualities of cad. yellow for more subdued colors. Perhaps earth tone paints such as yellow ocher and transparent red oxide could be used in place of more expensive cadmium and Anthraquinone (perm. alizarin crimson), but there's no room in the little paintbox for two more tubes of paint!

Here's the second painting still in the box:

As I was finishing up the painting shown directly above, someone with the COOLEST pickup drove into the parking area where I was set up. I asked him if I could photograph his truck and he happily agreed.

This restored model T pickup would be so much fun to go painting in, even if it would probably also be necessary to bring along tools and spare parts! It's almost Christmas. Maybe I could write Santa and ask for one...

Merry Christmas everyone, Model T or no.

Holiday Shows and Exhibitions 2014

Two weeks until Christmas! A little less than two weeks left to do your holiday shopping. If you're looking for a unique gift for someone, a plein air oil painting would be a gift to enjoy for a lifetime! Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery in Salt Lake City is showing several of my plein air oil paintings, plus a wide variety of works by other Utah artists.

The picture at the top of this post shows some of the paintings I have at Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery, along with some paintings by David Meikle and works by other artists. The image directly above is another angle of some of those paintings.

The third image shows a few of the paintings I have at the Window Box Gallery in Provo. As with all the galleries showing my paintings, the Window Box Gallery also has a wide variety of works by several artists. They include Kimbal Warren, part of whose painting shows in the lower left of the above photograph. The picture below is a closeup of a couple paintings of mine at the Window Box Gallery.

More of my paintings can be found at Logan Fine Art Gallery in Logan, Utah, and at Juniper Sky Fine Art Gallery in Ivins, Utah (near St. George). Click on any of the links in this post for more information about these galleries. If you're able to visit one or another of the galleries, you might find an original painting of mine that would make a wonderful gift for someone on your list, or for yourself!