Monday, March 16, 2009
Alla Prima Figure
I arrived back in Philadelphia today, after a totally marvelous 10-day vacation in Seattle with family, including a major side trip to Mt Hood in Oregon for skiing. I can't resist uploading a picture of the assembled family, with a shot of the mountain taken from the road (trail) in front of our cabin:
Patricia and I took the red-eye flight back to Philadelphia, which was hairy because of its late departure thanks (in part) to the need to de-ice the plane in Seattle. That squeezed our 4:00am connection in Minneapolis, but we made it. Barely.
Anyway, we made the connection, and I had just enough time to get to my apartment, drop off my baggage, grab my other pre-loaded backpack with painting supplies and get to Fleisher in time for my Alla Prima (completing an oil painting in one sitting) Figure Painting class.
We had a new model. Like everybody else, I began by laying out a drawing of the model to paint from. No. At the first model's break, we had a Come To Jesus meeting with Guiseppi. Absolutely, DON'T DRAW! Just start painting! Make mistakes, if that happens - that is how you learn, and make discoveries, and his job as instructor is to help us figure out how to correct our mistakes, or get the effect we want. He is very good on relationships - light/dark, warm/cool, spacial arrangements, etc. Besides, this approach makes painting FUN. Or at least, interesting and engaging.
So I wiped out everything I'd done and started in again. It WAS fun, and my painting of her did have much more feeling and interest than those I've done in the past. There is a lot to learn here, and to get comfortable with. Bottom line - - - What I came up with in a 3-hour class was:
Hmmmm: I just checked this post to see how the photos came out, and I am not happy. Blame my photography for the fuzziness in the painting, but the reproduction process for the absence of contrast and lack of blue, esp. in the couch.
Now we'll see how this impacts the other paintings I am doing, and whether my figures do become more graceful and interesting. I do love painting.
That's me in the front row, left. What a clan!
Patricia and I took the red-eye flight back to Philadelphia, which was hairy because of its late departure thanks (in part) to the need to de-ice the plane in Seattle. That squeezed our 4:00am connection in Minneapolis, but we made it. Barely.
Anyway, we made the connection, and I had just enough time to get to my apartment, drop off my baggage, grab my other pre-loaded backpack with painting supplies and get to Fleisher in time for my Alla Prima (completing an oil painting in one sitting) Figure Painting class.
We had a new model. Like everybody else, I began by laying out a drawing of the model to paint from. No. At the first model's break, we had a Come To Jesus meeting with Guiseppi. Absolutely, DON'T DRAW! Just start painting! Make mistakes, if that happens - that is how you learn, and make discoveries, and his job as instructor is to help us figure out how to correct our mistakes, or get the effect we want. He is very good on relationships - light/dark, warm/cool, spacial arrangements, etc. Besides, this approach makes painting FUN. Or at least, interesting and engaging.
So I wiped out everything I'd done and started in again. It WAS fun, and my painting of her did have much more feeling and interest than those I've done in the past. There is a lot to learn here, and to get comfortable with. Bottom line - - - What I came up with in a 3-hour class was:
oil on canvaspad, 9" x 12"
Hmmmm: I just checked this post to see how the photos came out, and I am not happy. Blame my photography for the fuzziness in the painting, but the reproduction process for the absence of contrast and lack of blue, esp. in the couch.
Now we'll see how this impacts the other paintings I am doing, and whether my figures do become more graceful and interesting. I do love painting.
