Drawing in November

More charcoal drawing from the Saturday morning drawing group. Done on newsprint or charcoal paper. Loved every moment of it.

Charcoal portraits, end of October

These two portraits were done with charcoal pencils. Having drawn with vine charcoal during my art school life drawing class, these charcoal pencils are a little different. Still, they are easy to use and not messy. Once after class in art school, the instructor asked one of the students "How are things in the coal mine?" --- that's how messy vine charcoal can be.

Charcoal portraits -- October

Back at it with the Saturday morning drawing group of the Skokie Art Guild. I'm using charcoal pencils and also the charcoal sticks (hard -- Winson Newton) that I used 45 years ago when I was in art school. These were all done either 15 or 25 minutes.

Wabash Avenue Bridge

Painting with the Plein Air Painters Chicago on a Saturday morning about 3 weeks ago, I did this painting along the Chicago River at the Wabash Avenue Bridge. It is about 7" x 9" and I took my time and painted it in two hours.

End of season for the drawing group

Three charcoal drawings on charcoal paper all done in about 25 minutes. This was the last class until September so the kiddies can have the room during summer camp. So I will be out painting during this time most Saturdays during the summer, although I must admit I don't like hot weather and standing in the sun if shade isn't available is really unpleasant. I keep telling myself to get out and paint, but I am either lazy or I find Chicago very uninspiring. Also, I have been working on my yard every day.

Charcoal drawing, 5 minutes to 25 minutes

My Saturday drawing group is nearing the summer break. These were done on either newsprint or on charcoal paper. I've been using charcoal pencils unlike my days at the American Academy when I used vine charcoal.

Watercolor portraits and a drawing

This week there was a new model at the drawing group, always interesting to have someone new. I did these two portraits in watercolor in 25 minutes. I begin with washes of color, never drawing them in. The charcoal was done on Strathmore paper. The charcoal was done in 15 minutes.

More portraits

These were done with the Saturday morning drawing group of the Skokie Art Guild. The charcoal drawing was done in 15 minutes and the watercolor portrait was done in 25 minutes. I am not liking the texture of the charcoal paper and don't think I would buy another pad of that. The watercolor is on 140 pound Arches paper. I'm only specifying the time because I could d a much more thorough job with more working time.

More portrait drawings/ paintings and a study from the New Mexico trip

My Saturday morning drawing group has been something I look forward to each week. This group of drawings has a 5 minute drawing (it's the one with the lightest tone done on newsprint paper) a 15 minute charcoal drawing on charcoal paper, and a watercolor done in 20 or 25 minutes. The model is Grace who is a wonderful model but like many of the models her expression does not change. Maybe it does when she is asked to, I don't know. Finally I did this 8" x 10" oil painting on a photo reference I took on our trip to New Mexico last fall. We went to see the Audubon area and an artist's house outside Santa Fe. Driving down Upper Canyon Road I saw the way the light looked hitting the adobe style houses along the road, stopped, looked and took a couple pictures. This just doesn't look anything like the area I live, so that was just much more compelling.

Portraits from the drawing group

My art guild has a Saturday morning figure drawing "class" -- it's not a class, there's no instructor. We begin with 5, then 10 minute poses which I usually do on newsprint paper. After that are two 15 minute poses which I do on charcoal drawing paper and finally three 25 minute poses which I either do in charcoal or in watercolor. When I do the watercolors I do not draw, but just used the color to block in the areas of color and value. Here's a selection from last week.

The latest

As March enters, I am hoping to do much more plein air painting when it warms up a bit. The latest paintings are the little portrait I did in watercolor of one of the folks at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina, David Brose, the historian and banjo player and singer/composer at JCCFS. I also did a nocturne of a street in Dixon, Illinois. One of the pictures, with the green ribbon, was the painting I had in a show in Dixon at the Nest Picture Show Gallery....the doorway of the building next door to the gallery. Despite the local connection, nobody bought it......which seems to be the norm now --- put your paintings in a show and hope you get an award because no one is going to buy it. Finally there's a picture of me with my entry in the Skokie Art Guild spring show, Nature's Palette. I managed a first place with this painting and will receive something in the mail....a card with some money on it. Will this painting sell? Stay tuned, although judging by past experience something tell me "NO".

Post #200 -- a milestone

Today marks my 200th blog entry. If Facebook hadn't come along there would have been many more, but while I am still entering things here other artists that I have followed in their blogs no longer keep them going. I chose to put up some of the latest work I've done in the drawing "class", parenthesis, because there isn't a teacher in this class. Just a watercolor and a charcoal drawing of a live model posing for the Skokie Art Guild drawing group. Another picture is the three entries I have in one of the Plein Air Painters of Chicago shows. Finally there is a little 8 x 10" oil of a monument (actually most likely a headstone in a cemetary) set back in the woods from the rest of the cemetery. I was out painting last fall with two old art school friends in a churchyard while the sun was getting low in a late afternoon.