The Value of Vermeer...365 Days of Drawing.

Busy first day of my teaching workshop "Oil Painting - A Valued Approach". As a warm up exercise, I had students copy Vermeer's Girl With A Pearl Ear-ring, using just five values, with an image I had tweaked to produce that five value outcome, the whole exercise lasting about an hour and 15 minutes.

It was a rewarding exercise to make that five-value Vermeer statement ahead of time and then to see students nail those values so well, a sample of work shown here, before they tackled a real model in the afternoon. PLENTY of drawing going on today to meet my daily 2010 challenge but nothing I can post.

I also did a quick demo showing the value of using a mid-value dried toned ground to paint on rather than just plain white with a "borrow" from my teacher Mr. Everett Raymond Kinstler, N.A., who has always demo'd this in every workshop I have attended over the last eight years. A priceless lesson that I have learned so much from each time. Vermeer of course also worked on a toned ground - a beige color like the cream in your coffee.

Ah... the value of values... And of course my old valued stand-by friends Mr K. and Vermeer...I have learned so much from both. Anyone who comes to my studio, sees my Vermeer books first and the camera obscura next that I tracked down to try and understand how Vermeer made his magic. Hmmmm...Mr. K's books are nestled right by Vermeers.

One of my favorite moments in one of Mr. K's winter workshops at The Art Students' League of New York was when he suddenly pointed to a beautiful picture on the wall I had spotted earlier of A Girl With A Pearl Ear-ring. He then proceeded to talk about how great Vermeer was and why. I never quite knew how Mr. K, a big bold brush painter in the school of Sargent, felt about the more quiet, controlled Vermeer and hadn't liked to ask. Now I knew it really was fine for me to have my little obsession with Vermeer. Relief.

Plus, my favorite art man talking about my other favorite art man...well, it really doesn't get any better than that.

QUIET INTELLIGENCE...365 DAYS OF DRAWING

This little boy is very special. My daughter met him, and was holding him when the original photo was taken, at an Aids orphanage/school in Africa run by the Makobe Children's Foundation. He was one of three brothers there that had all been found abandoned after their parents died from AIDS. He stole her heart and she was sad to leave him especially when her time volunteering at the home came to an end.

This drawing caused me a bit of trouble. I didn't want to be exploitative of his sweet vulnerability in the shot. It took me two half-hour sittings to get it right over two days with a complete rub-out the first sitting, preferring to change the composition. I will paint it now. I have always wanted to paint some of the children my daughter took photos of there. The good thing about month eight of a drawing challenge is it makes you re-visit things looking for inspiration for drawings.

AS I was drawing this little boy, I was wondering what has happened to him. Three years have now passed since the photo was taken. His life will have changed probably very much.

AS for me, I get to teach people art this weekend at my workshop in Ventura. I have no complaints. How lucky am I?

Spectacle...365 Days of Drawing.

Nothing like making a spectacle of yourself with a public drawing challenge! This a drawing from last week which I put paint on today. A super interesting face of a teen student from my workshop last week.

The other, is my fast class demo yesterday at The California Art Institute yesterday. A value study of the set-up, a woman slicing bread, largely geared toward a more high key mid-value painting.

The strength of a value pattern makes a painting, I think. This left me less than enthusiastic to take it to a larger painting. Hmmm...could it have been because the model wanted to faint half the time? It wasn't the easiest of classes.

ARTISTIC PANTS...365 DAYS OF DRAWING

The client is happy with the photo shoot for the portrait commission. Do you really then want to do an on-site head study in less than an hour possibly flying by the seat of your artistic pants? What happens if you have a bad day? All could be lost with the client.

I personally think it is called 'doing your art homework'. I see so much painting a face that I don't see through the camera lense which so intrigues me - and this will aid my final portrait.

I am eternally grateful to my mentor Mr. Everett Raymond Kinstler, N.A., who has made me see the value of this discipline. It was a big jump for me in my portrait work when I started to request a head study at the portrait shoot.

This one is my drawing for the day yesterday. I sat the client by a window and painted this in about 55 minutes.

Revisit...365 Days of Drawing

In haste, off to a portrait sitting today where I will do a head study on site to meet the daily drawing challenge.

Yesterday's effort, was an earlier BIC drawing, that I redrew on canvas and put to paint at day's end.

Here is the start and end.

Open House at my studio and The Bell Arts Factory, Ventura, CA, this Friday 6 to pm. COME BY!

Draw OR Bust! 365 Days of Drawing

Another day, another drawing. Another bustier. Only five months to go in this daily drawing challenge. What was I thinking?

Got It TIed Up...365 Days of Drawing..

I have the seventh month of my uninterrupted daily drawing challenge all tied up like the back of a tight corset. Ready to start the eighth month today with some oomph and purpose.

Today's drawing, I revisited my earlier large format drawings , 18' x 24", using a mixed media approach I enjoy. Charcoal, oil, watercolor, gouache, and white chalk. Not quite sure this all comes together but it does if I take my time. Oil and water does mix afterall.

I am hoping this month is going to be easier than the last...drawing time here about one and a half hours.

PINK,

daily drawing series

18" x 24", mixed media on paper

$200