I finished the block in of all the square shelves and keepsakes, I still have to do the vertical and horizontal fronts but it is a good milestone.
Pattie: Wonderful Details
I think it is the small things that make up the majority of our lives and who we are.
Pattie: Another Square
I had lots of driving today so I made only a little progress on the painting, but something is better than nothing.
Pattie: Slow Progress
The past couple days have been short sessions and today is no different.
Pattie: Short Session
There are some days when it is good to recognize that my focus is just not there and the minimum is okay.
Pattie: Different Colors Every Session
I have a bit of an issue with different colors being used for the background with every session.
Life Drawing: Sarah
It’s been a while since I’ve used oil in a life drawing session and I’m really happy with this first of two sessions.
Pattie: More Cubbies
I’m enjoying the relaxed painting of cubby holes that I’m doing currently, I a few more of these to go before I return to the portrait for more refinement.
Pattie: One Square a Day
The shelving unit behind Pattie neatly sections off my daily art work it seems.
Pattie: First Layer
I’m still working on the background, this may take the longest even though I’m not planning on going super high detail with it.
Pattie: Background
I started on the background today to get away from the portrait for a bit. Her face is not done yet but it is good to work on something a bit different for a while.
Pattie: Refinement in Oil
I’m very new to this and I’m not very sure of what I’m doing. I’ve never painted oil over a well defined acrylic base so I’m going slow.
Pattie: Oil
I’ve started with oil now and I’m taking my time, I don’t want to rush this as it is the first time I’m trying oil over acrylic.
Life Drawing: Nicole
After an hour of drawing from the model I decided to play around a bit.
Pattie: Neck
Painting in the areas surrounding the head really adds depth to the painting so far, I’m even happier with the face as I start on the neck.
Pattie: Closer to Oil
I feel that I’ve achieved what I can with the acrylic and the major features of the face.
Portrait Session 4
In today’s portrait session I decided to try acrylic, at first I thought it would be fun, but I found it very frustrating.
Pattie: More Eye Refinement
I worked on the right eye a bit this session and moved into the structure around the eyes to see if I could figure out why the emotion isn’t there.
Pattie: Back to the Eye
The emotion is paramount, yet I don’t feel the painting is capturing it. Which is why I decided to work on the eyes again today.
Pattie: Constant Refinement
The morning after every session I post about my progress and review, which creates a loop of constant refinement and improvement.
Life Drawing: Steven
Normally I move around the room and do a different drawing every 20 minutes but today I felt like staying in one place and working on one drawing the whole session.
Pattie: Covering Some Ground
Today’s session was all about getting some paint on the canvas, in later sessions I will work into each area and give it the attention it needs.
Pattie: Transparency
In small ways I keep experimenting with how acrylic uses transparency because the dry time is so quick that I can try many things quickly.
Portrait Session 3
After last weeks portrait session I noticed that my drawing was very flat, so this session I focused on planes and the form.
Pattie: Back to the Fundamentals
Every few sessions on a painting I have to revisit the fundamentals, in this case drawing, and focus hard on getting it right.
Pattie: Subtle Value Changes
I’m using tech to help me see subtle value changes when the intensity of the colors are super high.
Pattie: Trial and Error
I must admit that I’m floundering a bit here as I’m playing with acrylic and it’s transparent properties.
Life Drawing: Gloria
Gloria is a wonderful model that I have drawn over the years here and today’s session is no different except I experimented a bit.
Pattie: The Acrylic Experiment
I’m trying something new, I’m painting with Acrylic, but not for the whole painting just for the beginning layers of the figure.
Pattie: Ready for Paint
I’m done with the initial drawing, but I will continue to refine it through the whole painting process but I’m excited to begin painting in the next session.
Portrait Session 2
Young smooth faces are much harder to draw then a face with some history.
Pattie: Anxious to Paint
I’m so close to finished with the drawing that I can’t wait to start painting. But I need to finish the drawing well if the painting has any change of going well.
Pattie: More Drawing Refinement
I think I will have about two more sessions before I actually begin with paint on this painting.
Pattie: Everything Represented
I have everything represented on the surface now. It needs refinement, but at least I have everything placed.
Life Drawing: Randy
Some days are easier than others. Today was an easy day and it seemed that drawing Randy was almost effortless.
Pattie: More Photos
I needed to take more photos of the shelving today after trying to refine the keepsakes I’ve been drawing, I needed more detail.
Pattie: Chipping Away
Like Michelangelo with his “David” I’m chipping away at this painting one day at a time one small piece at a time.
Pattie: Keepsakes
The background of this painting is a large shelving unit full of keepsakes. I’m excited and a little overwhelmed at all the detail to capture.
Pattie: Lots of Straight Lines
I’m focusing on the background of the painting now which has a shelving unit with lots of square sections, lots of interesting perspective.
Pattie: More Photos Less Drawing
For this session I’m moving to the background but I wasn’t happy with the pieced together background images that I have, so I began to take more.
Pattie: Moving to the Background
I think I’m done with the drawing of the figure and now I’m moving to the background.
Pattie: Shading Helps
At this point I have so many lines going all over the place that I need more information to separate them, so shading helps a lot.
Pattie: Constant Refinement
For the most important parts of this drawing I do constant refinement until I’m certain I have what I want.
Pattie: Folds
Folds in clothing can get super complicated and as I move down the portrait I’m having to deal with more and more folds.
Portrait Session
For the month of February I will be doing a portrait drawing/painting session ever Wednesday. Today was the first day.
Pattie: More Drawing
More drawing on this painting today. I’m moving slowly through the figure, from top to bottom with a focus on accuracy.
Pattie: Beginning Drawing
This phase will take the longest, or it will seem like it. The most important thing is the foundation, the drawing.
New Painting
The idea for this painting has been in my head for months and I finally had time to take the photos.
Trust or Measuring
I don’t measure while I draw anymore. I find it halts the process of drawing too much and creates a since of mistrust in yourself.
Caught Up in Shading
I would liked to have finished this figure drawing but I got caught up in shading rather than focusing on line like I said I would days ago.
Even Slower
Today I’m drawing super slow, I took my time and just enjoyed the tiny details and building up the portrait of this figure.
One Figure
Today I focused on one figure throughout the whole session.
More Line, Less Value
I don’t think my current medium lends itself well to value so the next session I’m going to focus on describing the form with more line that shading.
More Time
I started drawing 1 minute poses of a model from DrawThis on YouTube, and after a few cartoon looking head I decided to spend some time and capture the person.
Just Heads
Working from YouTube and DrawThis, I’m finding it difficult to get the shape of this model’s face correct.
Life Drawing: Gary
Having trouble at life drawing today, for some reason all my figures are coming out stiff, awkward and inaccurate.
Drawing Side to Side
I practice comparative drawing, I barely measure anymore, and what helps me the most to get more accurate drawings is working the drawing side to side.
Distraction
Even though I schedule my art time and try to protect it from distractions some things just can’t wait.
Only Heads
Today I did a bunch of 1 minute head drawings from the DrawThis channel on YouTube.
Needs Work
I focused on the face of the model today and I discovered that I need to work on drawing faces.