Two More Oil Portrait Sketches

10" x 8" Oil on Panel

Here's a couple portrait sketches in oil paint, made a few weeks ago at the weekly portrait sessions. Unlike the paintings in the "Profiles" post, I managed to get to these two sessions early enough to set up in front of the model.

12" x 9" Oil on Panel

My usual three color palette was used in these paintings; yellow, red, and black, plus white. The specific colors can vary from painting to painting. For me, the yellow might be cadmium yellow, or yellow ochre. Red can be cadmium red, medium, or deep. So far the black used has always been ivory black.

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

Early Summer 2016

8" x 10" Oil on Panel

Technically, it's not summer yet, but the weather feels like it, and the painting kind of looks like it, so that's what I'm calling it. Early Summer. I haven't posted a plein air piece in a long while because I've been focusing on painting portraits from life. However the season, and the weather, are beckoning me to come outside and paint, and it's about time I did.

Profiles...

10" x 8" Oil on Panel

...are what happens when you're late for a portrait session. People who are on time for the session get their choice of where to set up, and that usually means a spot right in front of the model. Latecomers have to take what's left, which often means a spot on the periphery. There's nothing wrong with profiles of course, but you learn a lot more by studying the human head, and face, from many different angles. If you're always late for the session and always get stuck way over on one side or the other, you'll probably only get really good at profiles.

10" x 8" Oil on Panel

Here's a couple profile portrait studies in oil paint I made at the portrait sessions last month. Both are painted with a limited palette of yellow, red, and black, plus white. Sometimes I'll do a profile portrait because that was my choice. Other times I'm just late.

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

A Walk in the Wasatch

The Mouth of the Canyon

I love painting outdoors, but on occasion I feel the need to leave the painting gear behind and just hike. Last Saturday was one of those times. I gathered my day pack, canteen and hiking stick, and headed for one of the local canyons in the Wasatch Front.

A Little Ways Up the Trail

The canyon trail is a little steeper than some people like, but it's been one of my favorite places to hike for many years.

One of the Few Wooded Sections

The lower canyon was full of birdsong; spotted towhee, canyon wren, chickadee, jay, with many other avian songsters adding their notes to the open air concert. Even the humming birds joined in with their high pitched chatter.

Towering Cliffs

A Couple Miles Up the Trail

A Look Back Down Toward the Valley

Another Wooded Section of Trail

First Meadow, Right Fork in the Upper Canyon

Upon reaching the meadows near the top of the canyon, rainy weather caught up with me. I decided to keep walking up canyon anyway.

Rain clouds Move In

Up in the Aspens

Provo Peak, Viewed from the First Meadow, Left Fork, Upper Canyon

I passed through a meadow I call Moose Meadow. It's the first meadow up the left fork trail in the upper canyon. It was here last September I was chased out of the meadow by a big bull moose. There was plenty of moose sign, but no moose showed themselves this time.

Buckley Mountain, Seen from Moose Meadow.

Violets That Are... Not Violet

Wild Forget-Me-Nots. With a Particularly Memorable Pink One

Up through More Stands of Aspens

Closer to the pass, the view opened up again and the rain cleared up. Up on the 8130 ft. pass the aspen trees were just beginning to bud.

Just Below the Pass

The View South from the Pass

Looking North from the Pass

I know where I am when I reach the pass, but I guess it's not official unless there's a sign there. The sign did make a handy place to dry out my rain gear.

State Forest Coat Rack

The Rest of My Things

The meadow on the pass was a good place to sit down, rest, have another drink of water and something to eat. After that, I went up a little higher for a better view of the Wasatch Mountains.

Mt. Tinpanogos

Time to retrace my steps and head back down. I refilled my canteen at a spring in Moose Meadow, then headed back into the canyon and down to the trailhead.

Provo Peak with Moose Meadow in Shadow

Rock Outcrop in the Canyon

Evening Light

Final Image: Firecracker Penstemon

It was, for me, a long hike. But with the birdsong, wildflowers, wildlife seen (a couple lizards, a squirrel, and three mule deer), the brief rain shower that overtook me and moved on, and the wonderful views, it was a great day for a hike!

Presentation at UVAG

A few weeks ago Linda Paulsen of the Utah Valley Artist Guild asked if I would do a presentation for her group. Or maybe it was more than a few weeks. Anyway, yesterday evening I finally did a presentation for them.

Linda was kind enough to snap a few photos for me to put on my blog. She took the photos from the front row, so you'll have to take my word for it - the were, I think, thirty or so people there at the meeting.

Most of the presentation was about plein air painting. We talked about portraits a little also. I brought some examples of both to show. Part of the display also included a few pochade boxes and other pieces of equipment for them to see. I can't say that I'm an expert presenter, but the group asked a lot of good questions and we had some good discussions. The presentation touched on things like: Why to paint on location, equipment for painting outdoors, The challenges and rewards of painting "en plein aire." Also, a few resources such as workshops, blogs like James Gurney's or Stapleton Kearns, and online forums like Wetcanvas' plein air forum. There were also a few stories told of the kind outdoor painters have, and are scattered throughout this blog. 

Many thanks to the Utah Valley Artist Guild for inviting me, and for helping to set up and take down the display. For more information about UVAG, click anywhere in this post where the group's name is highlighted. 

Grey and Bronze

9" x 12" Pastel on Toned Textured Paper

The model that was supposed to sit for the live portrait session at Howard Lyon's studio yesterday canceled at the last minute, so Howard got one of his kids to sit for us. I was a half hour late for the session, so decided to use a medium that was less complicated and more familiar to me than oil paint. This portrait began as a charcoal drawing, but somehow my fingers found their way into the pastels in my sketch box, and it changed into a color drawing.

The young man who sat for us recognized me. Turns out I had sketched him before, nearly a year ago, at Casey Childs' studio. That session I had used charcoal in a sketchbook. The sketch from then can be seen here.

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

A Little Peace

Charcoal Pencil on Paper

Here's how I used to draw. They're simple pictures. Pleasant pieces done quite a few years ago. They aren't things that delve into the challenges of the human condition. There's nothing wrong with doing that, of course, but it's not what these drawings are for. At some point I'd like to deal with more challenging subjects, but when I do I hope I can deal with difficult things in positive ways. In the mean time, one of the qualities of these drawings, and something that I think works it's way into most of my finished pieces, is a sense of peace.

It encourages me when others describe my paintings and drawings as peaceful. Installing peace in my artwork isn't something I consciously set out to do, but I think it just happens. Perhaps deep inside I feel a personal need for greater peace, and that attitude finds its way into my work.

There are some deemed “artists” who create extremely obnoxious and even repulsive works which, they say, “push the envelope” and “open dialogues.” Such sensationalized works usually tend to polarize dialogues rather than open them. They wallow in the kind of misery that damages lives and degrades communities. We see sensationalized misery in the entertainment industry and in news reports. We might witness it's effects firsthand. Sometimes we might even feel it's toxic effects in our own lives.

Graphite pencil on Paper

It's been a quite a while since I moved out west. The last few years I lived in Pennsylvania, my parents allowed me to set up an easel in the corner of the family room where I could work on graphite, charcoal and color pencil portraits and drawings. These drawings were my only source of income during a time of economic hardship in an economically depressed town. While at the easel I was able to tune out everything else and focus on commissions that came in from people throughout northwest Pennsylvania. At least, I could tune out most things...

My mother knew a woman in town whose family was very poor. Her husband was disabled, and they and their children struggled with health issues and a lot of other problems. They didn't practice good hygiene and the resulting smell made them hard to be around. As far as I can remember, any conversations I ever tried to have with the woman's husband were unsuccessful because he seemed to live in a world of his own. Mom was one of the poor woman's only friends. Sometimes, it seemed, the only friend she had.

During this time my Dad took a few of my smaller drawings to work and showed them to his co-workers. One man he showed the drawings to commissioned a 22” x 30” graphite drawing of his three children sitting at the beach.

Graphite Pencil on Paper

It was one day when my nearly finished drawing of the three children was on the easel that my mother's friend came to our back door and was invited in by Mom. Something was terribly wrong. The woman was crying hysterically. Her husband had just been arrested for molesting her daughters. Authorities had placed her two children into protective custody. She paced around between the kitchen and family room, inconsolable, as Mom tried to comfort her. This unsettling scene of pacing and crying went on, it seemed, for several minutes. I knew nothing to do but stay out of the way.

Then, as the distraught woman continued to cry and pace around the family room, she came to the easel with the drawing of the three children. She suddenly stopped and quieted. She gazed at the drawing of the three children – children she didn't know – for several seconds. To my surprise, a slight smile came to her tear streaked face. For the first time since coming to our door that morning, a small measure of peace seemed to come to her. Mom continued trying to help her poor friend as best she could. The remainder of her visit the woman continued to pace and cry at times, but returned a few more times to look at the drawing, and momentarily quiet herself.

My drawing wasn't going to fix this poor woman's terrible problems. It couldn't rebuild family ties that had been undermined so terribly and collapsed so catastrophically. But it had eased her misery, even if only a little.

This story might be an extreme example of what kinds of trouble people experience, but everyone struggles with whatever kinds and levels of problems in their lives. Works that deal with serious issues in positive ways can positively enable people. That's something I hope to do in the future with some of my own works. In the mean time, to whatever degree it might help, I'm happy to spread a little peace.