Apples and Honey

Just a quick study with pastel that I did to get some color in my life after all that charcoal/graphite activity...

"Apples and Honey"
9"x12"
Available for Sale Here

Classical Drawing Report

 

 

 

 

I feel incredibly happy and at the same time very nostalgic from having finished my classical drawing class. It was a lot of work, but I also miss the camaraderie and the environment that develops when you put several artists together. My professor David Y. Chang was able to top himself (NOT an easy task) by giving us a morphology lesson as well as bringing old books to exemplify some of this teachings. One of them was Luca Pacioli's "De Divina Proportione" where Leonardo Da Vinci illustrated complex geometric shapes with silverpoint, a medium that cannot be erased. This demonstrated to the world how confident he was about his skills.

Here are some of the drawings I produced during the class. Please note they are not necessarily finished, since we had limited time to work on them in the classroom. From top to bottom:

Sphere Study (from imagination)
The Silver Cup after Chardin
Geometric Shapes study
Fruit, metal and glass still life
La Jeune Femme study

These were all done either with graphite or charcoal. I will post some more of my drawings soon...

A little French in your drawing?

In case you didn't know, the French were instrumental in the development of drawing and painting in the world. The Palais des Études of the École Nationale Superieur des Beaux-Arts also known as the French Academy or Beaux Arts proved to be the preferred source of great art for kings and emperors alike. It is also the origin of the "pedigree" of great american artists like Thomas Eakins, Robert Beverly Hale, Norman Rockwell, Daniel E. Greene among many others. Pictured above is the writer of this blog in the courtyard of the school in Paris back in 2008.

If you do your research, you will find most great contemporary figurative painters are somehow connected to this great institution, not necessarily because they attended that school, but perhaps their professor, or the professor of their professor went there. Hopefully one day somebody will be researching me and finding that I too, was connected to this school ;)

Well, my homework for this week is to draw one of the most famous faces in art, studied by thousands of students throughout the world. Most people don't know the face belongs to the death mask of a lady that was found drowned in the Seine River. No one ever claimed her, but she became a legend because of her beauty and pleasant expression: "La Jeune Femme." 

For now I am only sharing the struggle of just having to draw her, but I will report my process soon...

 

Classical Drawing & Wisdom from my Parents...

Like my parents always insist, if one sets out to do something, one should work to become the best at it. Art, like most other things in life, is like math, if you don't know the basics you can't really get better at it. That is why I decided to take a classical drawing class again. I took classical drawing more or less six years ago, but since then, my professor restructured it to cover topics I never learned. It was the hardest art course of my degree and I had always dreaded the thought of doing it again.

Guess what? It turns out it is one of the best decisions I have ever taken. I am soooo happy with the new found knowledge about composition, veiling, the golden mean, among lots of other cool stuff. I am confident that I will become a much better painting because of this course. I can't wait to start trying out my new skills with paint!

Above is one of the master studies I worked on for "home studio."  The original is by Da Vinci, and although I am not there yet, I am definitely closer than I was six years ago when I tried it last. This time I actually enjoyed the exercise!!! Who would have thought??? (Back then it was mere torture).

I leave you with another bit of wisdom from my dad... "You can't learn how to swim by reading a book, you just have to throw yourself in the water" and that is exactly what I'm trying to do, figuratively, of course.

P.S. The study is not done, I mostly worked on working the value right on the shadows. I still have to work on the transition from light to dark and the lights :)

Going Back to the Comfort Zone...

I'm sure fellow painters can all relate to having some moments when you feel you have forgotten how to paint. One feels down and depressed and that usually causes you to avoid painting some more. What a vicious cycle!!! It is not very different from trying to lose weight and then giving in and eating whatever delicious treat comes your way (believe me, I know...) So! I have discovered that one of the best ways to get back into full gear is painting a subject that comes natural to you, that gives you back the confidence you need to get back on the saddle (I have not discovered the strategy for the losing weight part, if you do, let me know). For me, bromeliads are that subject.

I named this one thinking that it was almost obscene to pack sooo much delicious color into one painting. My original thought was in Spanish: "Descarada!" Oh well! It was just what the doctor ordered. Especially, after having a horrible cold for the past week...

"Daring Bromeliad"
16"x20"
Pastel on Board
Available for Sale Here

Meh!

I was debating whether I should show this one or not. It is the only little painting I have been able to fit into my schedule lately, and I am not happy about how the composition turned out. I do like other components of it like the creaminess of the paint on the guavas. Anyway, I figured this is about showing the struggles of being an artist and how every time you paint, it will not necessarily be a masterpiece!

"Three Little Guavas"
8"x8"
Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas
Available for Sale Here

Hot! Hot! Hot!

After painting this same subject on pastels, I decided to give it a try in oils and on a big scale. I really enjoy painting this type of compositions. I have noticed it is "my thing" to paint big, simple and colorful arrangements of the same element rather than a lot of different things on the same canvas.

I will try to get a better photograph of this one soon... I got home only an hour ago and there was not enough light. I was away with my hubby during the July 4th weekend visiting Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC. Beautiful towns!!! By the way, if you are ever is Savannah, you MUST go to dinner at the Olde Pink House, and please don't forget to stop by for a drink at the wine cellar/tavern on the basement...

God bless America!!!

"Double as Spicy"
Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas
24"x48"
Available for Sale Here