The Studio Owner's Friend

11" x 15" Charcoal and "White Charcoal" on Grey Paper

Last Week I attended an event hosted by the Center for Academic Study and Naturalist Painting (CAS) in Springville. Painters were invited to a presentation of art supplies by the Trekell Company. There was lots of good food (of which I had way too much!) After the presentation was a free portrait session. The man who sat for us is one of the friends of the painter who runs CAS. I was certainly interested in the art supplies, and thoroughly enjoyed the food, but the portrait session was the main draw (no pun intended) for me. I love drawing people, specially from life. The picture above shows the drawing I made of the model that evening.

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

A New Group Exhibit Coming Up!

This coming Friday, November 20th, a new group exhibit will open at The Evergreen Gallery, 3295 South, 2000 East in Salt Lake City. Some of my newer plein air paintings will be in the show. Come enjoy the show, and maybe do some early Christmas shopping for gifts that can't be found in any big department store!

Young Woman from Russia

12" x 9" Charcoal on Paper

The models who have sat in the various portrait sessions I've attended over the years have come from all around the world. Probably most of the models have been locals, but a large percentage of them have come from other places, drawn to Utah for a variety of reasons. 

They've come from Mexico, Guatemala, the Caribbean, Peru, Bolivia, Brasil, and other South American countries. They've come from Hawaii, New Zealand, and other Polynesian cultures. Others have been from Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia, and India. Some have come from various West African nations and Europe. Not to mention - or maybe to especially mention - the Navajo, Sioux, Kiowa and other Native American tribes who have been represented in the different studios I've drawn in. This week has provided me with another opportunity to draw someone from Russia. 

The wide variety of nationalities, races and customs presented in the portrait sessions I've attended have been important to learning to draw individuals. To me, the individual is more important than the "ideal" that some painters pursue. It's the variety of individuals that bring a variety of good to the world.

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

A Recent Pastel Portrait Sketch

12" x 9" Pastel on Coated Paper

Running a little bit late posting on this blog! Here's a pastel portrait sketch I did last month at the portrait session in Pleasant Grove. It started out as a charcoal study, but color found it's way onto the drawing. It was drawn with charcoal, Faber Castell Polychromos hard pastels and conte pastel pencils on Art Spectrum Colourfix pastel paper. Hope you enjoy it!

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

Rural Road in a High Mountain Valley

24" x 36" Oil on Panel

Here's a painting from a couple weeks ago. I've painted this scene before, but never this big. It was painted on a beautiful early autumn day in Heber Valley. At least, the day began and ended nicely. A strong gusty wind picked up during the afternoon. It became a real struggle to keep the easel from blowing over. The leaves of the willow trees turned over in the wind, dramatically changing how the trees looked. Even painting became difficult as the painting and easel wobbled around unpredictably in the wind. I considered quitting and wiping the panel. In spite of all this I kept on keeping on, using the initial lay-in and memory to paint the way the trees looked before the wind came galumphing through the valley. Later in the day, the wind died down, allowing me to focus more on painting and less on avoiding disaster. The painting was finished a little after sunset.

Drawing Neural Pathways

12" x 16" Charcoal on Paper

This is a drawing of the woman who modeled for us at the most recent portrait session. The sessions last for three hours, broken up into twenty minute segments with five minute breaks in between segments. I never intend for my drawings from these sessions to be "finished" works. Generally, when the timer sounds at the end of the evening's final twenty minutes, I'm done, even if the drawing isn't. Rarely do I work on a drawing after that. One of the main reasons I attend these sessions is to continually improve hand/eye coordination for drawing. Exercising neurons and strengthening neural pathways related to drawing are probably more important at these sessions than coming away with any "finished work of art." Skills developed and refined at drawing sessions (and, of course, at other times) can later be used on your own time and at your own place for drawings and paintings that are intended to be finished works.

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

Late Summer - Ranch Trees

8" x 10" Oil on Panel

This is a little plein air painting I did around a month ago. I'll probably never tire of painting trees. This stand of trees on a ranch west of Springville has been painted by me before. I'm often drawn back to paint scenes more than once, but they never look the same - that's one of the draws for me. I'm always kind of sorry to see late October storms strip the leaves from trees. Bare trees can be interesting elements in landscape paintings, too, but they don't have that glorious "full" look summer foliage has.

The owner of the ranch stopped to visit with me as I painted. During our conversation he said how this ranch was under water during Utah's flood of 1983. He took some photos of me painting to show to his wife later, then got back to his ranch work.