Week-13 Fall Semester--more Baby Skull! Thanks fer' Nothing Break

The turkey is in the fridge and the stuffing is ready to go along with the Yams and the holiday break has officially started!

And boy--how I can use this break! Things have been cramming at all side here this week, this weeks of Judge Parker strips had to be delivered early and I had two crits along with teaching, my Monday portrait class and freelancing Magnus and more. I feel a bit behind due to missing a few days of class while I had to sit home while the furnace was repaired so I am a bit behind painting wise, but by next week I think I'll be back on track. There are just two weeks of class left, really just one full week for classes and then the crit week. Some teachers forgo an official critique and use the last class the draw or paint. I'm all for that as I really feel unless its a one-on-one with the teacher, the peer crits are as useful as grits on 100 degree day.
I inched a bit more along on the baby skull drawing in Pat Traubs class, I don't think I'll get to finish it in class but I can probably finish it from the photos I shot of the set-up.
This week we started blasting in the color on the portrait in the Incommanatti class. this pic is a little blown out as I snapped it with my iphone, but its really hot anyway. It honestly was a fight to wrestle with their chromatic palette which is based on the teachings of Henry Hensche, who Nelson Shanks studied with. Kerry Dunn was really pushing me to blast that color in and then you can work up or down and neutralize the color. I have two more sessions on this to try and get it as close as I can. I also lost a bit of the drawing here and need to go back and re-establish that.
I also made a lot more headway on this painting for Bruce Samuelson's class. It's probably the most abstract piece I've done to day besides the one I did last year in the Medium and methods class. I don't know where this piece is gong yet, I'm actually sailing without a compass but Bruce gave me some good feedback and I figure i just have to wing it--if it works great, if not--oh well.
This is the painting I have going in Scott Noel's class, I have two more passes at it, this week the light was very different so I had to go back and repaint and adjust some areas and colors. This is almost a speed painting class as I have to cut out early to teach that afternoon. I don't know if I'll get as far as I want to go on this with the time left, but the class has been great--i get a lot out of just debating whether Nicoli fechin is a "show off' as Scott would call him.

I feel like I am in seperate worlds or domains of painting some days. Mondays i go from tight pencil rendering with Pat Traub to Scott's painting class in the afternoon--too Incommanatti in the evening after teaching--and the very different approach there.

Henry Hensche vs Degas or Lennart Anderson, one of Scott's big influences. It really keeps me spinning on my feet and palette. Some of these ideas stand in direct conflict or contrary to others and its up to me to decipher and apply those concepts as I feel they apply to my sensibility as a painter. Some days it's easier than other---that's for sure.