Tag Archives: live model

Excellent Watercolor Workshop – Thanks, Wendy Artin!

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This past weekend I spent two grueling days knee-deep in watercolor.  Wendy Artin, a fabulous artist and lovely person, was our instructor, at Glen Kessler’s Compass Atelier.  Talk about ‘alla prima’ painting!  She dives right in – no rough sketch, no gesture drawing, no nothing — just her eye, her paint & her brush to guide her relentlessly down the sheet of paper.  Her tonal nudes, in which she paints ONLY the ‘shadow shapes’ yet leaves you believing the whole body, are exquisite.  Her colorful fruits & veggies are more fully rendered, but are also beautiful & light.

Here’s one of her nudes:

And one of mine — a half hour pose during the workshop (quite a difference, yes??:

I was VERY happy to be able to switch to vegetables in the afternoons!

Calling Those Interested in iPad Art! Local Demos and Workshops!

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Those of you in the Washington, DC area will have several opportunities to check out the iPad as a tool for making art during the next few months.

There will be manageable 2 1/2 hour workshops during which you can get a good feel for ‘what’s the big deal about iPad art’; ‘what if I don’t know anything about iPads’; or ‘what if I don’t know how to draw a straight line!’

And then, if you want to learn more, we offer a couple of day-long workshops during which you can explore some of the details of the intuitive ArtRage app for the iPad.

Here are some of the many uses you can make of ArtRage on the iPad (click image to enlarge):

Illustrated-eg-of-iPad-use

Nudes in Charcoal

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A couple of weekends ago, I spent a pleasant two days in lovely Tilghman Island, MD, at a figure drawing workshop offered by Walt Bartman, of the Yellow Barn Studio and Griffin Art Center. Walt’s wife Robin provided superb hospitality, while Walt kept the seven of us busy with charcoal, graphite and conte. Maria, a professional model par excellence, served as our muse. Here are a few of my sketches from the weekend.

IMG_6518 IMG_6523 IMG_6525 IMG_6528 IMG_6529 IMG_6533 IMG_6534

Quick Sketches, Another Nude

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Last week at the Yellow Barn, we were graced with a fit and angular male model, Wayne, who maintained a very difficult pose with few breaks.

I chose somewhat unconventional compositions. For the first, I was seated at roughly eye level, looking from the top of his head down the length of his prone body (he was laying atop a series of folding tables that seemed none too stable).

nude 1

For the second, which was done more quickly than the first, I sat behind Wayne, a vantage from which his body looked like a lanky wedge.

nude 2

From whatever angle, Wayne is a wonderful model.

Quick Sketches, Nudes

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Working from a live model at the Yellow Barn, I made three quick iPad sketches week before last. I’m putting the best one first – you don’t need to look at the other two unless you REALLY want to.

nude 3

nude 2

nude 1

Fingerpainting Maria & Her Cool Sundress

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Maria and her sassy sundress were posing at the Yellow Barn this afternoon. I think I’m getting hooked on using my iPad & ArtRage rather than those messy oils! Here’s the result of today’s session.

Maria in sundress

Maria models in her sundress.

Dancing Dervish – more ArtRage/iPad Sketches!

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At our Yellow Barn class last night with Walt Bartman, our wonderful bellydancer model danced for us while we made quick gesture sketches and 15 minute studies of still poses. Exciting and intimidating all at once. We had to push way out past our comfort zones, especially those of us who aim for fairly representational paintings. I used ArtRage on the iPad, in support of my continued efforts to prepare for the class I’m teaching at Yellow Barn.

Latest iPad/ArtRage Images

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Yesterday, my husband and I got a bit lost in the wilds of Virginia after taking my cousin to the airport. (We’re Marylanders — Virginia is terra incognito to us!) While we meandered toward home, I doodled an imaginary Fall landscape, using the ArtRage chalk tool to capture the beautiful colors we saw.

the colors of Fall in Virginia

Fall Fantasy

Here are some other doodles, made last week while trying to dip a toe into the watercolor tool. As you can tell, I’m not ‘swimming’ yet. Ick.

The Belly Dancer - Back View

The Belly Dancer – Back View

The pale pears

The pale pears

Recent ArtRage/iPad Activities

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I’ve got 3 weeks down and 7 to go in the Intro to iPad Art class I’m teaching at the Yellow Barn Studio. We have covered some of the most basic how-to information about the ArtRage app and are now exploring/practicing various tools.

In the last week, at the suggestion of Walt Bartman, I tried simulating a traditional oil painting technique – making a monochrome value-study by rubbing out highlights in a toned canvas and then adding color at the value levels developed in the preliminary study. In the iPad framework, I used the paint roller to make a solid underpainting and then used a soft eraser to ‘rub out’ the lighter passages and then added a few darker areas using the chalk tool to capture the darks.

Here are the two stages of the first work I did with this method, painted from our lovely live model Kuniko. First, the study:

Kuniko

Kuniko in kimono, monochromatic iPad study.

And then the colored version:

iPad Kuniko

Kuniko iPad study, developed with color.

Keeping a Gouache Painting Simple

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In developing some PR for the just-ended Labor Day exhibits, I pulled out a photo of one of my earliest gouaches. Made on black paper at the suggestion of Yellow Barn teacher, Walt Bartman, I incorporated the paper’s rich black for the composition’s dark values — also his suggestion. I loved the outcome. Here it is.

Blue Girl, gouache on paper.

When I did the painting of grandson Max for yesterday’s post, I had intended to do the same thing, but wimped out in the end — not wanting a lot of black on a sweet baby’s face. I’m going to try again on my next gouache, but the restraint needed to achieve the simplicity of black shadows, etc. is hard hard hard.