Several months ago, I sketched a figure that I liked quite a bit. However, it had an unfinished look. It was a figure in need of a background.
I finally decided that since this particular model has a thoughtful demeanor, that I should place her in a setting such as a library or a dorm room. My kitchen table, along with a computer, book, and pad, gave me enough to work with. As I worked it brought back memories of writing papers for school, hence the title.
After a long holiday with lots of excitement and guests, it felt good today to go to the watercolor gallery and paint for a morning. My plan for the year is to use these practice sessions to become more confident with technique. For now, I want to do more painting without pencil lines and to make expressive marks with a single sweep of my brush. This sketch was my most successful this morning, perhaps because I left quite a bit of the black paper unpainted.
So much of live painting depends on how the model shows her mood through her body language. I thought that the model today seemed to be in a hard place emotionally and that it showed in this particular pose in the way she held her head with her hand, which in turn was supported by her arm and knee. The oversized hand was a happy accident, and it seems to signify to me that she has the strength to move beyond present problems.
Wishing you and yours the very best as we go forward into 2020!
Yesterday at Windansea Beach I did several quick sketches of the surfers and the sea. My goal was to quickly show the colors and movement of the surfers and sea.
Sometimes place names are particularly descriptive. Windansea Beach, along the coast of San Diego, is one of those places. When you are there and ready to paint, it is clear what your painting needs to be about.
The blues of the sea and sky were set off by the yellows of the rocks and sand, and I wanted to capture all of it. I started by focusing on the geometric shapes in the sky, sea, and rocks, but after a photographer came and sat on the cliffs, I put her in it. This shifted the focus, but it still works for me.
I continue to work on backgrounds for the 20-minute figure sketches I do on Thursdays. This background is taken from a plein air sketch of a eucalyptus grove I did recently.
Our model today wore a mink coat and hat, which I painted purple with a filbert brush, a brush I use most often for grasses in landscapes. I added in the couple and the tree in the background to suggest a party setting to go with the outfit.
Deliberate Sketching 