progress update - Lil and Mike

My progress so far with the portrait of Lil and Mike Campbell, which is being painted in oil over Italian gold leaf. 

Portrait Pickup!

It was great to have a visit from Dick Marshall today, who arrived to pick up the framed portrait of him and Kat.  Many thanks, Kat and Dick, for commissioning a portrait, and thanks Dick for coming to NYC to pick it up!

preparatory drawing of Lil and Mike Campbell

Here is my preparatory drawing for a portrait commission of Lil and Mike Campbell.  The medium for this painting will be oil on gold-leafed panel. 

Update #2 on my egg tempera portrait of Frances & Dylan

"Frances and Dylan" brother and sister portrait in progress, 8" x 10" egg tempera on true gesso panel

Here's a progress update on the portrait commission of Frances and Dylan.  Still more work to come on the eyes, eyebrows, and layering in general, but getting there.....

Knit Scan Detail #2 from the Portrait of Dick and Catherine Marshall

Knit Scan Detail #2 from the portrait of Catherine and Dick Marshall

And to follow up, here is a second detail of Dick Marshall from the same portrait, this time created from three scans which are knitted together from top to bottom.   
To learn more about how to knit scans, just google the topic, or click on this easy tutorial I found at about.com.

A knit scan detail from the portrait of Dick and Catherine Marshall

Knit scan detail of Catherine Marshall from the recent portrait commission I completed of Kat and her husband Dick

Lately I've been improving my skill with knitting scans.  Sometimes when a work of art is too large for my scanner I try scanning portions of the image and knitting them together in photoshop.  It's a tricky business to line up the pieces seamlessly, but with care, a knitted scan can provide an even higher res image of a work of art than a single scan.  If I can pull off knitting six parts together, I may have even more to show you.  Scanning is worthwhile because the detail level and the color quality are far superior to a camera shot as an accurate record of the art.

SVA Drawing Sessions - 2012 Highlights

"Emily", approximately 9" x 12", carbon pencil and pastel on gray Mi Teintes paper

And a camera shot of the entire drawing of Emily, 11" x 14"

(regrettably I did not get this model's name, am working on it and will add it here if I can), approximately 9" x 12", carbon pencil and pastel on gray Mi Teintes paper

"Teddi", approximately 15" x 18", carbon pencil on paper

Happy New Year everyone, and I hope it will be a great year for all of you!  
Here are some of my favorite drawings from the SVA Alumni drawing sessions in 2012.
Some don't entirely fit on my scanner and some are cropped from a camera shot, which is why they are labelled "approximately" in size. My thanks to Tom, our moderator, and to each of these great models for posing for us, and I'm looking forward to more of these drawing sessions in 2013 when they resume later this month.

Frances and Dylan, a brother and sister portrait in progress

             "Frances and Dylan", and brother and sister portrait in progress, 8" x 10", egg tempera on panel

While I'm finishing up Peggy and Marcelo's couples portrait, here is another portrait commission currently in progress, of brother and sister, Frances and Dylan.  I've known their extended family all my life, and it has been such a special pleasure for me to be working on this portrait of Andrea Littell and Daniel Stephens' daughter and son.  Thank you Andrea and Dan!

Kat and Dick's completed portrait

19" x 26", pastel and carbon pencil on Pastelmat

And here is the final version of the portrait of one of my favorite couples, Kat and Dick.  I'm tickled with how it came out.  
This a lamp-lit camera shot, so if I get a better record of it in daylight, I'll replace it here.

An Award for Portraiture

"Self Portrait at 34", 3 3/4" x 3", egg tempera miniature portrait on Kelmscott vellum

the framed portrait

I'm delighted to learn today that I have won a portrait award for my self portrait in miniature!  It's an Honorable Mention in Portraiture from the Miniature Painters, Sculptors, and Gravers Society of Washington D.C. in their annual international miniature competition.  I hope to be able to attend the opening weekend of this great show on Nov. 17 - 18, and the first public showing will be on Sunday, Nov. 18, from 2PM to 4PM at the beautiful venue of Strathmore Mansion in North Bethesda, MD.  This show, which is the 2nd largest miniature painting show in the U.S., continues through Dec. 29, 2012, and my portrait along with two other miniature paintings of mine will be for sale at the show.  

To read more on the development of this painting which was done from photos I took with the self-timer of my camera at a younger age, please visit my earlier post:  

"Self Portrait at 34 Completed"

And for details on attending the show in person, please visit this link:  mpsgs.org

Dick Emerges

A detail of Dick, in progress.

 

                                                           Portrait of Kat and Dick in progress, with ground being laid for a basket of wood to the left of Dick on the fireplace.

My portrait of Kat and Dick is nearing completion, with some pinstripes and background details still to establish.  Looking at my progress on the computer is a big help sometimes, making it obvious what needs to be done next.  After taking an update photo, I subdued the light on Dick's head a bit more before making a scanned detail.

Peggy and Marcelo, nearing completion

"Peggy and Marcelo" in progress, 19" x 27", pastel on Pastelmat

                   An update on Peggy and Marcelo's portrait commission, now nearing completion.  

Progress on part of a couple's commission

Still a few more refinements to come on Kat, but here is a detail in progress from Kat and Dick

Kat and Dick's portrait in progress

Here is a progress update on my commission of Kat and Dick.  Dick is next!

Further Progress on Peggy and Marcelo in Color

Further progress on the color pastel of Peggy and Marcelo

The color pastel of Peggy and Marcelo is moving along.  There is still work to do in many areas
such as the turquoise pillow, the hands, etc., but I want to get everything blocked in and then I will pull together
 the details and nuance the values a bit more.

Peggy and Marcelo, a color pastel

Peggy and Marcelo in progress, 19" x 27", pastel on Pastelmat

Here is my start on the color pastel commission for Peggy and Marcelo.  Some of you may recall the black and white version:

"Peggy and Marcelo, Study #1", 21" x 25 1/2", charcoal and pastel on acid-free gray board



I'll be overlapping my work on Peggy and Marcelo with the start of another couple's commission,a black and white portrait of Kat and Dick.   Kat and Dick chose this concept drawing for their portrait, which will be rendered similarly in charcoal and pastel, and more soon on this one too:

"Joe"

"JOE",  15" x 18", black and white charcoal on Mi Teintes paper

A portrait study drawn from life of model, Joe, that I did at one of our last SVA Alumni drawing sessions this Spring.

"Eric", a portrait of my nephew

A scanned detail from the pastel of Eric

"Eric", 19" x 23", pastel on Pastelmat


Coming up is a couples portrait I have in progress, but first this portrait of my nephew Eric.  It was started from a live sitting and completed with the help of a few supplemental photos we took during our time together.  It provided me some needed practice in working in full color directly from life.  Live sittings in full color are not easy, especially at this size, and I only succeeded in developing a rough version in the time we had, but through this process with Eric, who sat very patiently, I noticed a few things I might have otherwise missed ~ about slight camera lens distortions and skin tones.
The rest I pulled together from the supplemental photos.  Above, I've added a scanned detail from the portrait, and this one goes to the Mendoza Conner family.

"Amelia's Starry Night"

"Amelia's Starry Night", 3" x 2 1/2" (6 1/2" x 4" framed), egg tempera miniature portrait on Kelmscott vellum

(shown slightly larger for detail)

And here is a picture of little Amelia in April with her first ponytail!  Is this  little girl cute or what?!!

This is a portrait of Amelia, daughter of Erika and Brian Boccia.  Amelia's mom, Erika, is my sister-in-law's niece.  As with the portrait "Carol By Moonlight", I used a new gemstone pigment in my pigment collection made from  lapis lazuli along with the other blues in the sky of this painting.

"Carol By Moonlight"

"Carol By Moonlight",  a miniature portrait of Carol Curtiss,  in it's silver oval frame

"Carol By Moonlight", 3 3/4" x 3", (shown enlarged for detail), egg tempera on Kelmscott vellum

This portrait is for a remarkable friend of mine, Carol Curtiss, who has done so much for the Miniature Art Society of Florida.  ---- 
P.S., as I forgot to mention this earlier in my post, Carol's portrait was the first where I included with my egg tempera a pigment powder that I bought this year which is made from real lapis lazuli (ground from the actual gemstone).  It is mixed in with the other blues in the sky and water, and it's subtle, but the pigment seems to have a slight shimmer to it.  It was fun to try it out in a painting with lots of blue.

Portrait Drawings From Recent Wed. Evening Sessions

"JOHN, Study #1",  15" x 17", carbon pencil and pastel on Mi Teintes paper

"JOHN, Study #2",  19" x 16", carbon pencil on paper

"SELENA" (detail), 17 1/2" x 14 1/2", carbon pencil on paper

"CHARLIE" (detail), 22 1/2" x 19", pastel pencil and pastel on Mi Teintes paper


This week I'm beginning a color pastel of Peggy and Marcelo, and Kat and Dick have chosen sketch #2 (see below), so I am really looking forward to starting their portrait soon too!

Two miniature portraits will post later this week, but here is a selection of some of my favorite drawings from recent Wed. Eve. Alumni Drawing sessions.  Several of these are scanned details for now until I have a more satisfying shot of the whole image .

Our models continue to be so wonderful! --- a different person each week, alternating men and women.  In Study #1 of John, I tried to convey his gentle side, and in Study #2, his strength.  With these qualities, I can envision him as John the Baptist.  Third is my favorite pose by Selena.  And Charlie held this truly challenging pose with raised arms for 40 minutes and only one break in the middle - Whew!

Kat and Dick

Here are three sketch options I've offered to Kat and Dick for their portrait commission.

"Roman"

"Roman", detail from a 40 minute pose, carbon pencil, white charcoal and white pastel on  Canson Mi-Teintes paper

I'll be posting two new portraits soon which I've been working on over the last month, but meanwhile, Wednesday evening SVA Alumni drawing sessions have happily resumed after the holiday break, and will continue through mid-April.  Here is my effort to capture Roman.  

"Yves"

detail from "Yves", carbon pencil, charcoal and white pastel on gray paper

"Yves", 18" x 18"

"Yves Hands", carbon pencil on newsprint

Professional dancer, Yves, was our kind model for this week's Wednesday evening drawing session.  He hails from a city in France which is a complex of small villages known as Marseille.  The first drawing was from a 40 minute pose, and the hand study was 20 minutes.  As with "Carolina", I embellished both drawings further from memory after 

the live session.  Merci,Yves!  

"Carolina"

"Carolina", 9" x 12", detail from a 50 minute pose

My portrait of Carolina, a beautiful model and professional dancer who posed for SVA alumni at this week's Wednesday evening drawing session.  I spent another half hour or so at home, strengthening the values of this study.

Progress on My Spiritual Portrait Series

"Amma's Devi Bhava in Kimberly", in progress, 19 1/2" x 15 1/4", egg tempera on panel

Here, you can see some changes I am making to the leaves in the lower right corner of the painting, and a gold sash I'm adding.  After some consideration, I also decided to remove the shadow from the right side of the painting in order to open up the space more and I hope it will help me deepen the picture plane as I attempt to show the petals going back in space by varying the size of some of them, showing them smaller and further behind her.  Some of the petals have been redone, in one instance on the right-hand side, three times, in order to get a feeling going that I have been aiming for, and I think it is there, but more petals are still needed for the feeling of a 'petal shower'.

There are many mysteries to Amma's Devi Bhava flower petal blessing, and having experienced it for myself, I wish I understood it more deeply on a metaphysical level, but physically, it is a 'shower' of flower petals, from all of the flowers Amma has received in three days of darshan, so perhaps you can just imagine how wonderful it feels.  In this instance I have portrayed Kimberly with a rose petal shower for several specific reasons, and you can read more about this in my latest post on Grander Joy of Spirit

Benjamin

"Benjamin", 15 minute pose, charcoal pencil

We had another great model at the SVA alumni drawing practice session this week, and his name is Benjamin.

from Wednesday evening live model drawing sessions at SVA

Drawn from a live model at the SVA alumni Wed. evening drawing sessions

An important part of portraiture for me is honing my skill with figure drawing from a live model, and as an alumni of the School of Visual Arts, I have been enjoying the free Wednesday evening drawing sessions they provide to all SVA alumni.  Student RA Shane has been coordinated these sessions, providing us with professional models who traditionally pose nude.
  
Nude poses help artists enormously to understand correct anatomy as it appears in various dynamics of the human figure.  The timed poses warm us up, and vary from several minutes to one 40 minute pose within each session.  The above is a detail from a 20 minute pose from last Wednesday's gathering.  Shane and the models have been great, I enjoy the camraderie, and I hope to see more of my fellow alumni and SVA buddies taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity!

Shifting the Light - More progress on the pastel of Sandra

photo of "Sandra" still in progress, pastel on La Carte pastelboard

 A scanned detail of the pastel in progress

I'm still working on shifting the light source on this pastel portrait of Sandra, so for a progress report, here are some views of it at it's current stage.

Victorian Nostalgia Portrait

"Four Sisters At Bloomingdales," (detail) from a 12" x 15" egg tempera portrait

If anyone out there has a favorite old photograph of family members or relatives, I love painting nostalgia portraits too, and the Victorian era is one of my favorite times to paint. I've even "adopted" a few relatives, as I love to collect vintage and antique photos.  One of my rare finds was a photo which was actually taken in Bloomingdales department store professional photo studio (it bore the 'Bloomingdales seal') around the turn of the last century, and I could not resist painting this scene.  Although it's an older painting of mine, done circa 1984, it still remains a personal favorite.