More done on this second alla prima still-life study. I mainly worked on the tall bottle and the glass bottle, this evening. I need to do a little color correction on the background and on the drape. I also need to work a bit more on the glass bottle. And paint in some last bits on the skull. So... maybe two or three more sessions and this should ( Read more... )

I had such a block about alla prima painting... and now, halfway through my first Painting quarter, I am past that block and I get the allure. I'm so glad I took the Color for Painters class; not only did my instructor take the time to get me up to speed on alla prima painting in general, he is also a great color teacher. I've learned more about ( Read more... )

Took an hour and a half out of my evening, tonight, to finish this alla prima still-life study. There is a lot more I could do to this but the set-up is taking up some valuable real estate in my studio which I will be needing for work, tomorrow. So, I did what I could and then put it all away.


( Read more... )

It's all about the verdaccio, right now. This evening, I worked primarily on the baby and a little bit on the Madonna's face. While these parts are drying, I'll move on to the Madonna's hands and I may start the far background as well. Things are a wee bit blurry but that's to be expected since I'm working to establish the shadows and highlights ( Read more... )

I have done some editing to this cartone since last I posted - mostly, the removal of the third figure, some tightening up of the space around the figures, and roughing in of all the necessary sections. At this point, I'm feeling confident enough to leave it be and move over to finishing up the panel/ancona construction and preparation.


( Read more... )

Made some decisions, this evening. I've abandoned the single window background in favor of the low wall and vista. Roughed those in and will leave them be at this point. For the rest of this week, I'll be working on the drapery, which is the last big thing I need to get finalized. Otherwise, I think I'm about two weeks away from transferring this ( Read more... )

I've settled on the first of the two large cartoons and have moved forward with it. This evening, I worked on the under structure of the figures and the background. It's not super visible, thanks to my camera phone not being able to really take good shots of drawings but it's there and I'm kind of excited about it. After pulling the photo into my ( Read more... )

Brushes in the Renaissance and making them has become my new obsession. I dreamed about it, last night. Yesterday afternoon was a little frustrating but, after the three brushes I made, I think I get what's going on and how to make it better. I wish I had time today but I just don't. In any case, I did do a wee bit of wandering around on the ( Read more... )

Worked on learning to make brushes, this afternoon. I de-haired an entire squirrel tail doing so; of the three brushes I got out of it, only one is marginally useful. But I learned a lot. In referencing Cennini, I followed what he proscribed to the letter and finally got the hang of the mechanics on the third brush. I need to now learn how to layer ( Read more... )

Thumbnail composition studies, this evening. I've been meaning to do this for awhile but was waiting to take that class at Gage - we would have gone through this exercise several times and I would have been able to really explore this composition tool under the watchful and much more experienced eye of an instructor. Alas. I must muddle along on my ( Read more... )