Finally! I've been working on this painting for almost three months and because my studio time has been limited, I haven't worked on anything else! So glad to be finished. The hardest part though hasn't been painting this. It's been photographing it! I have a lot of cool skin tones in here and the light in my studio is either too dim or too warm when I turn on the lights. I finally found the right combination of warm and cool to photograph it in. I hope to enter this in some competitions. A couple of times a year, I paint a piece strictly for this purpose. That means that this won't be for sale for awhile, but that's OK. I'll enjoy looking at it for a bit. Thanks for stopping by.
I run a life drawing group on Mondays at my studio. I have about seven loyal friends and students who enjoy this time with me.
Carlton is one of my favorite models and I particularly enjoyed this pose because of the warm and cool contrasts.
For the past few months, I worked strictly in graphite to get back in practice but since we have switched to longer poses I'm back into paint. I'm a bit out of practice with painting directly from the model as I haven't done it since last June when I was in atelier, but I hope to whip these out a bit faster and more accurately as I get back in the swing of things.
By now you probably think I've lost my mind. This is a pastel done of the same figure I've been working with. I've changed the colors quite a bit here and played around in layering and glazing some pastels. I had some 2 ply cotton rag sitting around the studio and although it's not generally used for pastels, I realy like it because it allows me to layer lightly and glaze one color over the next. Look at the cloth and the bottom of the painting, for instance. See all those lovely colors playing off each other? You really can't get that with a lot of the newer pastel papers on the market. They're very good for handling a lot of the medium, but they don't allow you to put light layers on like this. I'm beginning to see the merit of working in a series because it actually has been giving me quite a few ideas for other works I'd like to try.
What a great day. I woke up feeling totally exhausted after a very late night having worked until midnight. But despite feeling dragged out, the day went pretty well. I worked on my commission painting and really brought it to a great place. For those of you who are following my teaching blog, the painting is really looking up. I changed quite a bit since my last post early this morning. However, I've decided to wait until I'm finished with the painting to post the rest of the lessons. Don't worry - I'm documenting every step! The reason for this decision is that I feel it is important that my customer be the first to see the finished painting. After all, it is for her. However, once she's approved the piece, I'll post the last two lessons. So getting back to today...I got into the studio at 8:00 AM and brought the painting to it's resting place for the day and then realized that I still had shopping to do for my class next week and won't be able to do it between now and when I leave. So I cleaned up my palette, grabbed my purse and ran out the door. Three hrs later I'm back, but pooped. I just had time to dash off this figure sketch from an earlier one done in class. So my "daily" obligation is met and I can relax tonight. I won't be publishing again for a few days as I will be attending atelier in Seattle and won't return until Tuesday evening. With teaching on Wednesday and homework, my studio is disarray from the construction, it may be Thursday before I post again. Have a great week!
I spent a good part of the day starting a commission for a large peony painting. Check out my teaching blog for peek at the beginning stages. Just when I had wrapped up the first session and was ready to start another small oil for this blog, I received a phone call from my good friend and walking buddy who's snow birding in CA. Chat, chat, chat...and nothing got done for the space of an hour. So I decided on a quick watercolor for a change. I could keep the lights bright and play for a bit. Hope you enjoy her as much as I did.
You probably think you've seen this one before. And you have - sort of. This is a large painting of the earlier small format figure study I did. I painted it in glazes and started with a full monochromatic under painting to make sure that the skin tones will glow more as the painting ages. I wish there were some way to really show this piece off. Photos just do not do it justice. As you turn the light up or down on a dimmer, the painting takes on a brighter luminescence that emanates from within the piece. There are some corrections that I can see still need to be made, but overall, I'm happy with it. Funny how things become apparent when you take a picture. No matter how much I look over my shoulder with a mirror, putting paintings on camera always reveals new things to my eye. I won't bore you with the changes by posting the painting again. But you can always check back to my website at www.susanspar.com in a few weeks to see if you can notice any subtle differences.
I'm not sure if I'll get the time to publish over the holiday, but just in case I don't, let me take this opportunity to wish all of my collectors and friends out there a very happy Chaunukah and a very merry Christmas. Above all I wish you health and prosperity in the coming new year. I'd also like to take this opportunity to say a heart felt "thank you" to my collectors and customers who have purchased from me over the past year. Your purchases are always a compliment and so very much appreciated.
I hope to be able to provide you all with lovely new and exciting pieces as the new year progresses.
This is the fifth in a series of small format figure studies I'm doing. I really like the subtle colors and skin tones in this piece. I meet with my figure drawing group today and hope to complete something there as well. It's a lot harder in the group because I can't always get the spot I want and have to agree with eight or so other artists about the pose. I sure wish my studio were done so that I could have the models coming here more often. Things are just in too much disarray right now with the construction to have a model. You could hide a body in the old studio at this point.
Here's a larger study than the one I did yesterday. Although it doesn't show here, in the larger piece I'm working on, I've rearranaged the models legs. Although this little study came out well, I'm beginning to get excited over the larger piece I'm preparing. Tomorrow, I'll do another piece about this size with the new leg composition. I spent half the day preparing a panel for the new piece which will measure 20" x 30".
"Figure Study III"SOLD This one was great fun! In fact, I liked it so much I've done another larger one. I'm planning to do this image in 24" x 36" or similar size format and I'm trying to work out color and lighting. This study and the one I'll post tomorrow are in warm light, but I'm also planning to try a couple in cool light. The model is Angela who posed for this piece about a year ago so I can't claim that this one is from life, though I've painted Angela enough times to feel like I have a sense of her skin tones and postures.
I've decided to post most of my paintings for sale direct through this blog and http://www.dailypainters.com/ for awhile. Things are slow on eBay and since most of my collectors come to me through DP anyway, it makes good sense to avoid the eBay fees. Except for an occasional test piece, no more bidding for awhile. If you're interested in having a larger version of this or any of my small format pieces, just e-mail me.
I've been spending more time on figure sketching these days. Sales have been a little slower than usual and this has reduced some of the pressure on me so I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to explore and improve in other areas. I'd really like to work on my figures more and hope to do some more oil and pastel sketches during the winter. Here's one I particularly liked. The model was quite relaxed during this pose and consequently I was able to relax as well. It shows, I think.
