Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Week 11

The hands on the clock seem to be spinning and the pages on the calender are flying off like in an old cartoon and the final month of school happens. In a month we are done and out the door for summer. hard to believe that the semester seems to have evaporated so, but this is true and i am playing catch-up here in Casa Manley. Like a factory calling in extra shifts the lights burn long into the night and smoke pours from the stacks. At the end of the month is the Spring Prizes at school where you enter into multiple drawing, painting, sculpting and print making competitions. I already have some pieces ready and I am working on a few more, so I plan on entering into as many categories as possible.

The painting above is my wash in-wipe-out under-drawing I completed in my Figure painting class yesrteday with Al Gury. I spent the whole class really paying close attention and working slower, even wiping out things many times. I learned that if I don't feel confident about the shapes and the drawing--I always go wrong. At the recent eakins competition I ended up making the major mistake on not spending enough time drawing and always felt wrong about what I had done as my start and then tried to save it as I went along--major, major mistake. I should have wiped that dam thing out till I felt like I got down what I wanted. So my new saying is in the beginning of the painting "If in doubt--wipe it out". Next week I'll start massing in and blocking in the tones.

This is one of the homework assignments in my figure comp class is to take a painting, do a study of its as a drawing, then arrange a still life ourselves borrowing the composition and do our own painting. So of the pieces the teacher had I choose a Cezanne still life. The painting above is an in process shot of my painting. I'll finish it up in the next week. I'm trying to distort the perspective in the same way Cezanne did and hope to get to see the show of his work currently on at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

6 comments:

William R. Moore said...

Mike,
Do you have an email address that I can send a comment with jpegs or how they could be included here?

Mike Manley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Manley said...

I don 't think you can post images here, but my e-mail is on my my name +actionplanet.com

William R. Moore said...

Mike,
Soon as I saw the still life, I thought Cezanne. It also looks a little surreal. The plate is hovering over an alien planet. Looking forward to the completed version.

Mike said; "I always like my small studies better than the finishes and I really want to get the same feeling in this last painting I got here.


Mike I like the sketch better and what is happening on the large canvas.(Compare the two side by side.)I especially like the gesture of the sketch, the tilt of the head, the tension in the arms and shoulders (the shoulders are lifted shortening the neck), the light patterns on the face and upper body (how they are connected and the shapes they make). The soften edges of the hair and left shoulder against the purple backdrop is good. Also the background drape connecting with the chair drape works well. The model seems to be expressing a bit of anxious vulnerability which I like here. My only nitpick on the small sketch is that her left thigh seems thicker, larger and trying to compete for the forward position of the right leg. I realize that the larger painting is in the early stages, and your canvas may be positioned slightly left of where you were while painting the small study but I think it would be best to rely on the sketch as your reference for the composition and drawing and to use the model for painting.

What are your thoughts? I know you have a lot on your plate and time is of the essence. I know you will be able to pull off a good painting with this start on the large canvas, but I don't think it will have what the sketch has without first changing the composition and drawing.

Mike Manley said...

William, some of your comments I am in agreement with and they were going to be addressed in the next session tomorrow. I didn't have my little study with me as I left it at home when I scanned it. The set up and pose will never be exactly the same week to week as the entire set=up is broken down and moved as well as our easels, so you can only get close again to what you had before. I think the pose is better now and my drawing, though here head must be more resolved as I did that from memory since the pose was over. luckily I have three more session in which to further ruin what I started :-)

William R. Moore said...

Mike,
Good Luck! All the school assignments, commercial assignments, teaching and the work for shows is a difficult challenge. I think you have been doing great in all areas. I enjoy following your progress. Many or all of the other students are being exposed to deadlines for the very first time and are probably a little rattled. Your comic book career has prepared you better for dealing with deadlines, although it sure would be great not to have so much on your plate, You are in school under quite a handicap and I and sure it gets to you knowing you could produce more and better if you had the luxury of more time. Hang in there, My money is down on you. If there is a school "Tenacity Award", I think it is yours.