Caroline's Profile - Session IV

Pencil on paper, 11 x 14 inches

This is the finished drawing of Caroline. To see the previous session click here.

I built up layers and layers of cross-hatching to build up the tones - if you click the image you can see a larger version that shows more details (the photo is slightly blurry, but you get the idea). I have never cross-hatched so much in my life!

I am happy with the drawing, it is a real advancement for me, probably the best drawing I have ever done.

Art Envy
Sometimes I find an artist who makes me green with envy. Nathan Fowkes is one of those artists. He combines rock-solid drawing skills with highly expressive marks, both in his drawings and his painting sketches. I found his blog four days ago and I have gone back every day since to drool over the work. He has another blog just for his landscape sketches, which he says he does in 20-40 minutes. Daunting.... and yet inspiring.

Art Shed News
My little art shed is allllmost done. Of course the final details are taking forever to wrap up. As a final step I got a quote to paint it. Maybe it's San Francisco, but I never imagined it could cost so much just to slap one color (white) on the inside of a 100 square foot room, and another color (to match the house) on the exterior. Holy cow. Now I have to decide if I want to do it myself, or go looking for other bids. My housepainting experience is nil, but maybe it's not very hard?

Caroline's Profile - Session III

Pencil on paper, 11 x 14

I didn't get much done this third session (see Session II), partly because during the pose our class took some time away from drawing to participate in an online chat with Dan Thompson through American Artist Magazine.

My favorite Dan Thompson quote from the chat is "I have to go through a period of awkwardness before a period of revelation". You can see the full transcript of the chat here. And you can see Dan's website here.

The classical realism school I attend, BACAA, is hosting a workshop with Dan Thompson July 30 - August 10. You can register for the class at the BACAA website.

Friday Cast drawing - Session IV

Vine charcoal on Canson paper, approx 18 x 24 inches

This is my 4th session developing my cast drawing. See the third session. I'm finally starting in on the shading. I heard recently that some teachers of the classical method require their students to spend an entire year practicing the block-in, no shading at all!

I'm in the newspaper!

San Francisco Examiner, Peninsula Edition, Page 4, June 9th, 2007

That's me working on my cast drawing! A "community beat" photographer dropped by our class and asked to take some pictures for the paper. Too bad he spelled my name wrong! Also, he mentioned the school where I take classes, BACAA, but not the web address, so here it is: www.bacaa.org

Drawing with Dad - Session II

This is the second session, see the first session.

Today is my birthday! What better way to spend the day - Dad took me out for sushi, and then we came back to the house to work on our drawings. We worked on developing the block-in for quite a while, then moved into the shading, which is more exciting. But it does reveal mistakes.

As I tell Dad, we have to be disciplined and go back and check the proportions over and over. It's easy to correct them now, but much harder the further we develop the drawing. For example, I found that I'd incorrectly placed the the ankle of the forward leg, and therefore the dramatic twist of the statue's torso was being "unwound". I moved the whole leg to the right by almost half an inch, and the twisting gesture of the pose came back to life.

I'm learning to always be ready to do major surgery to make a drawing as strong as possible. Why be happy with a "sort of right" drawing? Drawing is an investigation, we may as well do what it takes to record the form accurately.

Dad and I are very similar - we focus very intensely and we forget to take breaks. After hours of drawing we look up with a start and realize how late the day has become. We've decided next time we'll set a timer to remind ourselves to take breaks - this particular model does not need any rest, but we do.

Caroline's Profile - Session II

Pencil on paper, 11 x 14

This the second session, see the first session.

I have three more sessions to go on this pose, 12 more hours of drawing. I'm looking forward to doing a completely finished drawing, it's so fun to finally get to the details. My whole art education I've been told to "loosen up". I'm so sick of it - I spent 18 years "loosening up" and now it's immensely gratifying to finally start to learn to draw the way I have always wanted to draw.

Friday Cast drawing - Session III

Vine charcoal on Canson paper, approx 18 x 24 inches

The third session I spent refining the block-in and starting with the shading. (See the second session.)

It's amazing how subtle portraiture is. The original sculpture looks like a 17-yr old girl, and somehow my drawing looks like she's about age 22. I have no idea what it takes to shave just 5 years off a face. I'm hoping I can resolve it in the later stages of the drawing, I've done everything I know how to do at this point!

Drawing with Dad - Session I

charcoal on paper, 18 x 24 inches

charcoal on paper, 18 x 24 inches

My dad & I drew together today, guess who's drawing is who's?

In his retirement, my dad has begun studying for his Bachelors of Fine Arts at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. He has just completed his first year as an undergrad. I've been telling him about the classical methods I've been learning and he asked if he could come over and draw with me to learn the method.

This statue we drew from is one of my most prized possessions, it's a 4 foot replica of the 9 foot original, the Victoire de Samothrace a.k.a. Winged Victory. The original stands at the top of a dramatic staircase in the Louvre, and I drew it on my very first trip to Paris in 1988.

I taught dad to draw a straight-lined, simplified "envelope" around the entire shape, and then refine the drawing with more and more sub-shapes, all using straight lines. After a while we put in some rough basic tones to help us see the form, but we will still spend more time on the block-in and refine the contour more before we begin detailed shading.

Dad says he's really happy with what he drew today, and I think he now shares my enthusiasm for the method. At first he kept saying "But don't you measure? How do we get the proportions? Is it all just angles?". But this method is so intuitive, the form just seem to emerge from the page as if by itself. Just keep checking the angles.

It's very exciting, and was very fun to teach what I have so recently been learning. We hope to continue the same drawing for the next few Thursdays.

My dad posing with our two drawings

Baby Leah

Pencil on paper, approx 8" x 6"

My sister's first baby, a girl named Leah, was born just last Friday. This is the first of what I am sure will be many studies of this newest member of our family.

Caroline's Profile - Session I

Pencil on Paper, 11 x 14

This is the same model and pose I drew last week in charcoal. I started this version in pencil, I'd like to work on it a few more sessions and do a completed drawing. The model has soft delicate folds of skin I would like to spend some time on, and the pencil will allow me more detail and softness than the charcoal.

Friday Cast Drawing - Session II

Vine charcoal on Canson paper, approx 18 x 24 inches

I spent this session refining the block-in (see Session I here). It has been an interesting challenge, to be sure her face is reasonably symmetrical even at such an angle. I find myself tilting my own head at a similar angle while I draw.

Caroline's Profile -- Preliminary Drawing

Charcoal on paper, approx 18 x 24

Last Wednesday I started a portrait of this model (see the block-in session here), but when I arrived for the second session today I was not excited about the light and decided to change position.

It was fun to try a profile with the classical block-in method I have been practicing, and I found the drawing went very quickly and I jumped into the shading within the 4-hour session. This is supposed to be a 6-session pose, so going this far this fast wasn't really the plan, but I had fun.

Looking at it now, I may have gotten the forehead too short and therefore the top of her head too low. But I had fun capturing the drama of the light from the dark side of the model.

Painting News
Drawing to me is a joy, but painting makes me tear my hair out. I wiped away the yellow daisy painting completely a couple days ago out of frustration (apologies to my two young cousins, Kailey & Julia, I know you liked that one!). But I'll try again to save it.

Workshop News
I am thrilled to be attending two amazing workshops this summer and an intensive Master Residency Program this fall: Figure Painting with Dan Thompson, Still Life Painting with Juliette Aristides and Figure Drawing with Ted Seth Jacobs. I feel very fortunate to be training with such amazing artists.

Art Studio News
My little art shed is slowly taking shape! Here's a picture. you can see the three holes for the skylights.

Portrait of a Young Man

11 x 14, graphite pencil on paper

This drawing was completed in a single 4-hour session on Saturday, the "shortest" pose I have drawn in the last couple months. Where I was sitting made me look up at the model, and the block-in process really helped capture the likeness at an angle. At an earlier stage the block-in was just as abstract as the cast drawing from earlier this week.

Friday Cast Drawing, Session I

preliminary sketch on newsprint, 6 x 8 inches

block-in phase, 18 x 24 inches

I've been reading a lot about cast drawing recently, which are formal studies of plaster casts of sculptures, so I decided to try one. I'll be working from this cast for several Friday sessions.

The first drawing is a small 6-inch sketch done on newsprint in about an hour, done just to quickly analyze the form and begin to understand the proportions. I included my hand in the shot so you can see how small the drawing is.

The second is the block-in stage of the large drawing, about 18 x 24 inches. I used what I learned from the first sketch to start mapping out the main planes and proportions. I was impressed by how easy it was to draw it large, after learning from the small sketch.

Art Shed News: The floor has been laid and one wall is up! I can stand on the floor and imagine my little space more clearly than ever. The huge white north sky is overhead, shaded from the south by the main house. It will be a tiny studio, but it will have perfect light. Hopefully I'll be moving in on or before my 36th birthday, June 7th.

Portrait Session 1

I've begun my first of seven sessions on this new portrait. This is the rough (very rough) block-in. It's not much to look at now, but so far I am really happy with it. I can tell I am getting faster and more accurate, and it's getting a little easier to see what is wrong and how to fix it.

I've finished Juliette Aristides' drawing book and am now reading Anthony Ryder's figure drawing book and am really enjoying it. Like Juliette, he really emphasizes spending a lot of time and attention on the early block-in stage to get the gesture and proportions right.

Wednesday Portrait Session 6

"Bridgette", charcoal on paper, 18" x 18"

My six session drawing of Bridgette is done. I'm pretty happy with it, but mostly I am looking forward to starting the next portrait next week. I felt like I learned so much through each stage of this drawing, and I am hoping the next one will be more consistent in its development.

For any Bay Area artists who are interested, I did this drawing at the Bay Area Classical Artist Atelier in Belmont. BACAA runs ongoing open studio sessions with a model several days a week, including Saturdays. Its one of the few Bay Area life drawing classes to offer extended multi-week poses. They also host workshops with a highly notable roster of teachers from all over the country, such as Juliette Aristides, Ted Seth Jacobs, Dan Thompson, and Michael Grimaldi. Learn more at the BACAA web site.

Wednesday Portrait Session 5

I am reading Juliette Aristides' book "Classical Drawing Atelier" right now, and two ideas jumped out at me that I kept in my mind while drawing this week:

Juliette points out that if you see a very blurry black & white photo of a family member, you will easily recognise the person. She makes the point that it's the big shapes that make a true likeness, not the "infinite minutiae" as she puts it.

The other idea was a quote she attributes to John Berger: "Strangely, you can tell whether a likeness is in a drawing or not when you've never set eyes on the model." I think it's true somehow: an inaccurate portrait may look human, but it is not convincing.

With these two ideas high in my mind, I was determined this week to do what it took to get a likeness of the model. Again, I wiped down a lot of a charcoal and re-analyzed all the features and their relationships.

I raised the chin and made the lips a bit fuller. I repositioned the ear significantly, which had a huge effect on the shape of the cheek on the light side. I think it is a better likeness.

One more 4-hour session to finish it up!

Wednesday Portrait Session 4

Wednesday Portrait Session 3

This is the third, four-hour session of a drawing I started two weeks ago on April 5.

I have finally, just in the last hour of the session, started applying values. I am struck by how much easier it is to make tonal decisions, once I have already made so many decisions about proportion and placement.

Still, despite my hours of attempting to be precise, I have still managed to set the right eye slightly higher than the left. I think it's a minor adjustment, but I am glad I am not any further along with the tonal rendering.

The more charcoal on the page, the more there is to erase.

As you can see, the model has a very striking face. When I asked she said she is half Peruvian, plus a lot of other nationalities including Greek. Something about the deep shape of her chin, and the sculptural quality of her top lip, gives her a classical look.

In other news, construction on the art shed has not begun yet, but I am assured that building will start very soon. In the mean time I'm having fun picking out my skylights. It will be tiny studio, barely 6 feet x 16 feet, but with THREE north-light skylights. I can't wait.

Wednesday Portrait Session 2

This is a continuation of the drawing I started last week. I will flesh it out to a fully toned drawing as the weeks go on, but for now I am still working on capturing the proportions and the shapes in line.

I am itching to start in with the values: The far side of her face is in complete shadow, and the reflection under her chin is especially interesting. But I am trying to be disciplined and not rush ahead.

I erased and re-drew every mark several times today. At one point I wiped out all the features completely and began again. It's a real luxury to have the time to focus on accuracy. Eventually, it would be nice to learn to be both accurate and fast. Someday.