Still life

One of the things I try and do when I go out west for vacation is do a little painting, drawing from life. I never get to do as much as I want, but I am working harder at it now and seriously want to spend more time painting. I even took a class this summer, I previuosly posted some of the results. But summer is so crammed with conventions it makes it very hard to get stuff done pre San Diego con. Now school is looming only a little over a month away.

Where did my summer go?

My pal Bret is a fantastic artist and has been making headway into the gallery scene. I know he'll end up a huge success and leave comics behind, but it's our gain to see his great paintings. He was participating in a life class at Yavappai College in Prescott, so I went to the class one night. the model didn't show, so several artist took turns posing for the class. Here are a few sketches I did.



The next day instead of going back to the college we decided to set up a still life in Bret's studio, this way we could paint all day and not have to worry about breaking down for lunch etc. After we set up the still life we both went at it, painting side by side. It was great fun and in 4 hours or so I had finished my painting. I am going for a bold feel, trying to mix the paint on the canvas and use a limited palette, something I picked up from my class this summer. A bold rough out, to get the forms blocked in and then I tried to get some paint down to help establish some values quick. Still lifes are great for this type of practice because they never change and you can come back later and pick up where you left off.