Life Studies

So we just relocated from beautiful southern California to the Raleigh area in December and I've started going to a figure drawing group every week. It's been good for me to get my wrist loose and to try to start meeting other like minds. The poses range from 30 seconds to about 25 minutes. No long extended poses to fuss a whole lot with (which is probably a good thing). It's hit or miss what kind of results I get each week. I'm REALLY hesitant to share these here, because by no means are these "finished" works of art... but as long as you the viewer promises to take these as exercises, then I guess, I'll share them...

Life Studies of Megan

charcoal on paper

Cecilia Beaux

I love the work of Cecilia Beaux, particularly this painting of Henry Sturgis Drinker. She was a Sargent contemporary and in many ways his strongest competition. I remember when I first found this painting in a book in my college library. I was so pleasantly surprised to find out that it was painted by a woman artist. It's not that I don't appreciate male artists, it was just a sudden realization that I didn't have many connections to women of art history's past. I know there are the handful which are now more known from the Renaissance (Anguissola, Gentileschi) but in Cecilia Beaux I found an incredible female, figurative, American painter of the not so distant past.

Cecilia Beaux
Man with a Cat, 1898
oil on canvas
48" x 34"
Smithsonian American Art Museum

Cal Tech Dancer

I danced with Leslie at Pasadena Dance Theatre. She is such a beautiful ballerina AND she's a rocket scientist to boot.

Leslie, 2008
oil on panel
26" x 20"

Because Golden Pearls sounds 'dirty'

The gold necklace in this painting was my Great-Aunt Hazel's. My mom was trying to decide if she should sell it or not. I told her I would at least do a painting of them no matter what her decision was. But sorry mom, you aren't ever getting these pearls back.

Heirloom, 2008
oil on panel
10" x 10"

Babysitters

Having children changes your life, usually for the better. Children offer clarity, a sense of purpose, and help to put our sometimes crazy lives into perspective. Beyond that, I have also discovered that babysitters make for beautiful models. Over the years, we have been fortunate to have had some AMAZING sitters. These women have become part of our family. Knowing someone, and having them know you and your habits so intimately, makes a tight connection. I can't help but find these women beautiful, and want to paint them.

Allison at Mirror, 2008
oil on panel
26" x 16"

Farewell, 2008
oil on panel
28" x 22"

Lasting Image, Damaged Goods

This drawing was recently returned to me by a gallery. The glass had been broken during transit, which pierced and scratched the drawing beyond repair. Perhaps it will find itself a part of another creation someday...

Charisma Seated, 2008
charcoal on vellum
17" x 14"

Would have, Could have

This portrait is of another artist friend's beautiful wife. Ted and Cary Ann came for dinner and a quick painting session. Wish we could do it again, but alas we are now 3000 miles apart. At the time, Cary Ann worked in a Fashion Designer's studio. I so wish I had taken the opportunity to capture her at work... my romantic image is of lots of bolts of beautiful fabric, raking light thru loft style windows and shiny tabletop surfaces with a shadowed standing female figure... ahhh 'would of, could of'

Cary Ann, 2008
oil on panel
18" x 14"

Nude Reclining, 2008
oil on panel
34" x 54"

Nude Reclining, 2008
charcoal on vellum
25" x 38"

Another Preschool Drawing

Burnt Rose, 2008
charcoal on vellum
8" x 8"

Preschool Drawings

I call these my preschool drawings, because they were nice little drawings I could finish in the short amount of time that I had to my self while my kids were in preschool (it was a co-op preschool, so I never felt like I actually had much time of my own).

Miss Dior, 2008
charcoal on vellum
8" x 8"

Kidney Beans, 2007
oil on panel
8" x 8"

Nude Seated, 2008
charcoal on vellum
17" x 14"

Nude Seated, 2008
oil on panel
17" x 14"

Humbled by life

The practice of painting directly from life is a humbling thing. These still lives gave me a sense of the struggle of making order out of chaos. Painting these images was a sort of penance and escape at the same time. I’d go into my studio and try to find ‘that’ grain of rice or sand where I had left off the night before. It was both numbing and exhilarating. Once I got this painting going I realised it was a composition of dashes. The weave pattern on the bowl made little dash shapes, the rice too, even the stiches in the hem of the cloth. Love when that stuff happens unexpectedly.


Jasmine Rice, 2008
oil on panel
10" x10"

And so it begins...

This is one of the still life paintings from my most recent show at Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara, CA. The Show was titled 'Beautiful Vessels' and included both still lifes like these and the female figure.

Sand, 2007
oil on panel
8" x 8"