More work on Tyler

I am slogging through it right now learning how to work when I don't really feel like working. It is time to hash out the rest of the composition of this piece and I feel like I won't find the answers to it today. So maybe I should put this up for a while. There are still some drawing issues to work out in the figure as well...

Desert Eve

I am finally finding the patience to build some complex compositions again. I am really enjoying working on this portrait even more so now that I am constructing a rich environment for the figure. The introduction of the cacti was precipitated by a hot and sweaty stroll through South Mountain this morning - which was inspired by Sina's continued postings of her encounters with Sabino Canyon.

"Eden"

I haven't posted any images of this painting in a while because I haven't been working on it. But it is time to get cracking as it is becoming more of a chore than a "delight". I think I made some marked improvements in the composition today and it has refreshed the piece in my mind.

Adam and Eve

Well of course I can't get blogger to format this post the way I would like it to. In the "compose" mode everything looks fine, but when I publish the post it goes haywire. The painting of Tyler is the lefthand panel of the diptych. I only began his painting today and it is still very rough. I was hoping that blogger would allow me to view these two images side by side as they are too large to view in the studio...need more space...

Eve

I have been working on this thing all day! And my eyes are beginning to bug out of my head. It is going well, but I have some challenges with my source material namely the photo of myself. I am not quite able to work out what is happening in the detail areas and may need to shoot the scene again in order to work out the face, hands, and feet.

Eve 42" x 42"

There's a lot to say today. I got back from a weeklong vacation to San Francisco and was eager to return to my paints. So I began mapping out and sketching in a whole new painting. The canvas is one I stretched myself - a beautiful fine weave linen that I picked up at the art shop round the corner at a fantastic price. I had some trouble with the first stretch and had to undo and restretch the entire thing. This has been a long time coming. I initially bought the linen with the idea of doing a similar composition but using my husband as the subject. Today I knew I couldn't wait until the weekend to begin and so started a piece from a photograph of myself. I think it is a happy accident...As now I see this piece as part of a diptych - using my husband in the other panel.

Diptych

It's a twofer today. I laid down the first bit of paint on the panel with the grackle on it. Yesterday I added the patterned box next to the apple blocking out the veins that used to be there. Hmmm....

Dry Point Etchings

Here are two pieces I made in my printmaking class I am taking at the Shemer Center. I love the results of working with dry point. The lower image of the onions looks especially moody - like a small ink painting. Both copper plates have been reworked a little after these prints and I have yet to proof the corrections, but these images are only undergoing slight adjustments. The etchings are tiny. I think the onion were scratched into a 4 x 6 plate? (perhaps even smaller). And the hibiscus plate is only 4 or 3 inches square.