Portrait Class Week 3

>This is my first portrait from my class with kerry Dunn over at Studio Incamminati, the atelier founded by Neslon Shanks. It's located just a few short blocks from PAFA and I have wanted to take some classes there for a while, In fact I looked into going there before PAFA, but they don't offer the student aid or a degree.

This was the second session of a two-week painting where we are doing an open grisalle using a chromatic palette of Cad Red Deep, Cad Orang, Van Dyke Brown, Ultramarine blue and white, I also added a little Cad Green to the palette. You can see my first week's block in on a post below, and this week following Kerry's talk we went straight in using this pretty dam intense color palette. In fact that is one of the areas where the approaches between between PAFA and Incamminati really stand out . Nelson Shanks paints with a very chromatic palette compared to the more earth tone based or classical palette mostly used at PAFA. As always I wish I hand more time to work in more transitions on the face and work on the eyes more and the mouth, but I'm still fairly happy with this one now.

Judge Parker

This week's JP Sunday.

Fall Semester 2010 week 5

The fall semester has entered the full force stream this week. I had my second week of my evening painting class at Studio Incomminati, I'm taking a portrait class with Kerry Dunn. The painting above is last week's work, the burnt sienna rough-in, next week we will continue with the Open grisaille, we'll add colors to it.
This is the final state of the painting from my class at school with Bruce Samuelson. man this was a bit tough, I needed more time and the light was very inconsistent from week to week since it was natural light--which changed fast on the shorter fall afternoons.
This was the painting I did last Sunday at the PAFA Sunday open painting which is hosted by Scott Noel and Peter Van Dyck. This was about 3 hours work. I seem to be doing a lot of faster one-shot paintings which are good for training and working out big concepts as well as always honing the good old 'observational' skills.
This is a painting I had to attack quick in last Monday's painting class with Scott Noel as I also had to start teaching my illustration for the After school program at PAFA. The classes overlap, so that means I loose the last hour of the class, so I did go back and work on this from memory. the idea, or concept Scott is pushing is to get very clear areas or domains of color. Inside or outside, warms against cools. And to push those concepts beyond just what you see to make this idea the main emphasis of these smaller, faster paintings.

So it was a very heavy week between the teaching, painting Judge parker and laying out a Captain America storybook for Disney and laying out Magnus for Dark Horse. The pace won't really lessen till November so I hope the momentum will just keep me building week upon week.

Scott Noel's Painting Class

I had another great class this week with Scott, the best one yet, maybe it also had something to do with the fact I had a bit more sleep than usual...

Scott is my favorite teacher, he's demanding, dynamic, talented as hell and challenging. He's right there, like a keg of TNT every week, POW! BAM!

Scott revs you up and takes you to the mat at the same time. Its always my most challenging class and often I have the greatest feeling of absolute failure and frustration---though I probably learn the most.

This week Scott had us painting in the 4th floor elevator landing and racing the sun. He's really trying to force us think think quick, but think well--make good choices and plan, but to also be brutal and be willing to wipe out and change what we have done as the world changes before out canvases. He always brings plenty of books to cite examples of what he,s talking about--this week it was Antonio Lopez Garcia, the great Spanish, realist painter. You can see an movie of him on youtube of him battling the crowds and elements live as he works on one of his monster size landscapes.
Scotts wants us to see the big picture, the inside vs outside and to push our thinking and grouping of colors to create these domains of envelopes, of color. Its observational, but its also not literal, it very much a very demanding idea. Is this a cool or a warm? A warm cool? Do you need to push that color more into this group or that one?
Scott doesn't abandon you but he will ride and chide me a lot, which is good, I will flat out get him to paint on my painting to demonstrate a point--too me that is the best way to work--to see what he means literally. He did this on this painting by taking what I already had down with the male figure and basically just mashed it more together, unifying the model and the foreground shadow and then basically mashed the lights there together there as well. To little moves and it really united the two distinct areas. Working fast is where my years of doing storyboards and comics give me the upper hand with the drawing chops--that really helps when you have to block in fast so you can race the light.

Fall Semester 2010 week 4

The semester is cooking off fast--the fourth week has come and gone already, or really the third and a half week. I had my first crit with Bruce Samuelson this week which was really a way for him to get to know me better and to see what I am working on and what I'm about right now in my artistic development. It was a good conversation and he gave me some ideas and points to explore further, painters to look at like early Dibencorn , Soutine and Nathan Oliveira and some of the bay area painters, knowing that they also might not quite be my taste. He also suggested looking at Rembradt and Rubens. He liked my train paintings, the night scenes and the interiors, and thought some of my other work was not as interesting, though well done. he also liked the idea of me pushing my color where Scott noel likes the idea of me compressing the color range---this is where I have to decide what works for me as it will be very common for the critics and teachers to give you very opposite opinions that clash and contradict each other.

I am still working on the painting of Lou in Bruce's class, I hacked at it again this week, but the time I can effectively paint on it gets shorter every week as the light will change after 90 minutes to the point I really almost have to stop painting.
Bruce giving me the "once over" in my studio...
In Pat Traub's class we brought in some objects to draw, she wanted us to bring in something from nature to draw, so I brought in some cool funky old pieces of wood from the woodpile in my back yard. Then she had is draw that object for a little over and hour, put it away and draw it again from memory. Most of my classmates stopped after 10 minutes or so, but I kept going to the point pat basically made me stop. In a way I think she expected me to be weak or fail in this part of the exercise, but my memory is really very strong I think from all the years I've had drawing which trained my brian to retain as much info as possible. next week we start a drawing we will work on for several weeks in class, I think I will combine drawing some of the great selection of animal skulls we have along with something from nature. All in all a good week, I still struggled in Scott's painting class this week, I was pretty beat after working late so I'll make sure I get rested before the next class. I also subbed for Al Gury for his Life Drawing class over at Uarts on Friday, it was fun to teach that class for the day, it was a good group of students and i even had one former student Paul in the class from my days teaching at DCAD.

I will also be taking a portrait class with Kerry Dunn over at Studio Incamminati starting this week, I like his work and I've wanted to take a few classes over there for a long time and now finally have a spot in my schedule to do it.

Its gonna be a busy week!

Judge Parker

This week's Sunday strip.

judge Parker

This week's Sunday strip

Fall Semester 2010 week 3

The third week has come and gone at school, next week will be the 4th and the fullest week so far. Due to the early start and the holiday the weeks have been broken up, so while we are in the third week some classes have met only once. These two paintings are from my figure painting class with Bruce Samuelson.
He's a popular teacher at school and his classes fill up quickly, so I felt good I was able to get in this time. The class is large and the heat and light in Studio 1 are notorious this time of year. Bruce is noted for setting up these poses where the figure is either laying down or just standing in a rather non-dynamic pose under natural light. The study above was done in my first class as a way to just get the juices rolling and was a once class painting. The one below is a much larger painting of the same pose I started last week. You can see where I started in and then started making a lot of changes, especially to the legs. This next week I'll jump in on them first and work my way back out to the rest of the figure

I have a lot planned for this fall painting wise and Bruce is also one of my critics for my 3rd year, we haven't met in my studio yet, so it will be interesting to get his feedback on what I am working on. Right now I have a few more SEPTA or commuter paintings in process and have plans to start my biggest painting to date which might be roughly 50 x 80. Bruce is noted for doing very large works so between him and Scott Noel I think I should get a lot of useful feedback.

Arizona Clouds

This is the latest painting I had going in the studio this week, its based on some pics I snapped on vacation last month.

The Dells and Scott Noel's Studio

I did this painting yesterday afternoon in my studio after coming back from Scott Noel's studio in the morning. he had several students from his class over to his studio in Manayunk. it was a great morning and very inspirational, very revealing as well. Scott is a firebrand type, he's like a preacher fired up to give you the best sermon from the pulpit you've ever heard, and he always gets me fired up and inspired. I also think seeing an artist's studio is like seeing them in the raw, in the buff, it reveals them to you in many ways. Scott's studio is almost alarmingly spartan in set up and decor. There is no show off lushness, no rich carpets, not a lot of toys or trinkets, now even a lot of books.





Its clear Scott's is there to work, not to hang out or socialize, not that obviously he isn't a passionate caring and sharing person. But he's serious and you feel that when you walk in, his two studio rooms are chocked full of his work, pastels and paintings line the walls, you are as radiated by the power and aura of his work as you are from the sunlight shining down from the skylights.
Here is Scott's palette and set-up. He likes to mix large quantities of paints, he even has one palette knife he's used for almost 30 years!
Scott and Me.

Judge Parker

This week's JP Sunday.

FALL Semester Week 1

here is something I knocked around on today in the studio. Today was one of those 'eh' days...I just felt kinda' down and in kinda' a bad mood, out of sorts maybe. Had a nice day, lunch with friends and all, but I was still just kinda' blah...

Maybe it was my post-vacation blues, I don't know. But despite that I kept slinging the brush and ended up with the painting about. Sometimes I feel I could go way tighter and get more realistic or specific, but when I do I also feel like I leave too little to the viewer to add in themselves. Anyhow, despite my mood I slugged away at it, often the only way out of a funk is to just slog at work.

Fall Semester 2010 week 1

Today was the first day of the fall semester at PAFA and the first day where it seemed most people were back in school since last spring and a whole new batch of first year students got to know the ropes a bit. they had free water ice and Dick Blick raffles and give-a-ways in the lobby.

Alina is back from Canada, Lexi is moved into her Apt, Joel and Dave were in the studio and Will stopped by, so we had most of the DPC in the studio today at some point. We also had a few drop-bys of new and old friends. I had my first critic meeting with Michael Gallagher, on of my 3 critics this fall, I meet the other two next week.

I have been in the studio all summer painting away, and just got back from 10 days in Arizona, so to kind of start the school year off I knocked out this little painting from a photo I snapped on vacation to kind of christen the semester. Things hop into full swing on Monday but I'll be back down in the studio for a while tomorrow.

Willow Lake

This was the last painting I did on my vacation in Prescott, AZ, and the biggest at 12 x 16. My buddy bret and I went over to Willow lake near the granite Dells and found a great spot to paint. It's also the monsoon season in the south west, so we also got soaked once really good. In fact we had to stop painting for a while as it was just too wet to continue, my painting was so covered with water we had to wait, and then blot them dry!

I wish I could have stayed another few weeks and traveled more to see more of the great landscapes, but I snapped a ton of photos to work from later.

Ranch House

Today's quick PA done in the afternoon, of the house across the way. 8 x 10 in oil on Fredrix canvas panel

Arizona Wash 2

Today I went out and painted the reverse view of the previous post, this time in the bright AZ sun, and biting flies! I knew the Sun was on the march and so I had to plan a bit for the angle and shadows to change and I'd have to make some adjustments--the race was on. 11 x 14 on Fredricks linen museum board, oil. i was all pumped from spending yesterday down in Scottsdale looking at the art in the galleries. I visited the Overland, gallery Russia, Legacy, Scottsdale Fine Art and the Trail Side to name a few. The best work for me was in the Overland which had great examples oft he Russian painters from the Soviet era.

In all of the galleries whenever my eye was attracted it was always first to the paintings by the Russians or Chinese. Sure thera re great American painters too, but the Russian/Chinese painters just have such high skill combined with a poetry that I think stands out because they were not so influenced by western media or pop -culture and their development as artist outside that bubble gives then a poetry and strength.

Arizona Wash

This is the painting I knocked out today before the rain forced me indoors. It's of the wash behind my buddy's house with a nice view of the mountains behind. Its 12 x 16 on a linen Fredricks panel which I gave a single wash of raw siena too yesterday. Altogether I'd say this was around 3 hours of painting.

Arizona Painting

I am on vacation in Arizona for a few days and I finally got the chance to do a quick painting this afternoon in my buddy Bret's back yard as the storm clouds rolled in. I plan on cramming as much painting in as I can in the next week.

judge Parker

This week's Sunday strip

Blasts from the Past

I came across two more old pieces on my G4 today while cleaning up stuff. one is a page of sketches of that Gen 13 character Roxy, and another old commission, this time of Batman, Ithink the buyer wanted this for his wife's office.

Blasts from the Past

I came across these tow old drawings while going through some files on my old G4. they are pretty old now, 10 years or better, one was a commission and one is a rejected cover idea for the Bongo Simpson's Halloween comic.

Super Sad Study

Another one-shot painting/study. With each one of these there are parts I like and things I don't, but its a great exercise to paint something like this every day. You gain a momentum and a flow which i think is essential to growth. 9 x 12, oil on museum board.

judge Parker

This week's Sunday Strip

Super Sad Study

Here is another one of my one-day studies. This week I'll be shifting things up a bit with more western based landscapes. 9 x 12, oil

Super Sad Study

Here is another of the quick little studies I am doing to further develop the ideas for suture paintings. Still using the limited palette as well which is a great exercise in getting better with mixing colors. 9 x 12 in oil.

Burger Girl

Here are two designs I did earlier in the year for a restaruant somewhere down south, they were looking for designs featuring a gal holding a burger and wanted a urban-hipster/pin-up feel with a animation feel to it. They didn't pick my designs, but they paid--which is great. So often its hard to get at exactly what a client wants, they can't quite describe what they want and soooo often use contradictory terms when trying to explain what it is they are looking for. But that's commercial art.....

Super Sad Study

I jumped back into this painting after nearly a year off. I initially started this from life, working from the model in my living room. Luckily I snapped plenty of pics to use later as I am no longer able to work with the model, which is a shame. Its interesting to revisit something like this after a long time, not only has the idea of what this would become change but I've changed or grown as a paint a lot in that year. The background is completely made up. I'll let this set up for a day or two and the go back into it.

Super Sad Study

Here is another study for one of my Super Sad paintings. I decided to do many smaller paintings or studies, and then yake one of then and work on a larger painting. I'm also using a limited palette on these, Van Dyke Brown, Yellow ocher, raw Sienna and titanium white. Its pretty amazing the variety of color you can get out of such a limited palette. My goal is to do a few dozen of these and see where it goes.

Judge Parker

This week's Sunday strip

Down to 46th

Here is another one-shot painting for my Commuter series, its looking down at the 46th street EL stop, just before you hit the curb and go into the tunnel and the EL goes underground through center city.

Super Sad Study

Here is a quick open Grisaille study for my Super sad series. I have decided to do a bunch of smaller studies and then go for a big painting. My goal is to do at least 20 of these and really get a great building up of energy on these so the bigger pic will have a strong impact. I have been hitting the "art gym" hard this week, in the studio every day, long hours and it feels great!