And Spring Break Begins....

Yesterday was the last day of classes at PAFA before Spring Break which starts this week. It was also the last pose of our third model in Carolyn Pyfrom's figure painting class and Friday's are uninstructed classes without the teacher. I am pretty happy with most of this pose, many little issues with edges, etc. but this one worked out much better and maybe it's because I was better able to concentrate on this pose as my personal life has settled down a bit from crisis mode. The chunks of glass in the peanut butter of life are cutting a bit less.

As always, it's a battle with the light in Studio 4 of the Academy’s historic landmark building designed by Frank Furness. When the school was built the new Hamilton Building where the bulk of the school is now, wasn't there, so as a result in the afternoon the lighting changes dramatically as the north facing skylights bathe the studio not in the once steady northern light, but reflect the changing sky colors of the setting sun, etc., like a mirror directly down into the studios, so if you have an afternoon class it's a big chase with the blues changing to oranges in about 1 hour. So you kind of have to pick a moment and try and go with it. Not always easy. I always struggle with making the model too idealistic, like a plastic surgeon, because of my billion years as a comic artist drawing idealized people I have to be careful not to give the model and extra few inches in the waste or shins to make them taller. That means I have to slow down and really play more attention. I guess the main thing is each painting is a building step on the path.