Master copies

Yet another thing I enjoy doing but don't do enough is master copies.  In this case, a copy of a piece by the amazing Nathan Fawkes.  (This link, by the way, is one of three, all of which are worth a visit).  On this one he posts mostly thumbnails...but they are the most amazing thumbnails!)  He does some really amazing work in watercolors and gouache, not to mention some jaw-dropping charcoal portraits.  They are not to be missed!  I should just take his online class one day.

In my copy, I like how the foreground turned out.  I kind of lost my way in the background.

...And here are a couple of really small but intimidating copies of Anders Zorn portraits.  I still kick myself because I missed his show when it came to the Legion of Honor last year.  It seemed everyone I spoke to, artist or not, agreed it was the most amazing thing ever.

Trees and such

These were pretty much just exercises...using reductive technique for tree branches - that is, scratching out the paint to get to the paper.

Well ok, these are clouds and not trees...inspired by a friend's vacation photo.

Shopping arcade

In Brussels last year.  It had been pouring rain and were thankful to drop in here.  A larger study from a photo. I was trying to go wet-in-wet while still maintaining some architectural details.  Some success here and there...The trick of course is to know when to let things dry and when not to....hmmmm...

Night

A painting based on a sketch I did while waiting in the car.  My feeling? meh...though I find it an interesting challenge, I haven't done a whole lot of night sketching.  Need to do more.

figures again

I sorted through pretty much all my work over the last couple of years, threw out a lot of crap, and am posting some of the things that don't suck too bad.  That in mind, here are some more figures from workshop:

Hollow

..and bad teeth.

Alpine hut

Another study from a while ago based off a fantastic photo my brother-in-law took.  I think this turned out pretty good by and large..though I feel the treatment of the trees is not all that great.

clouds

Among other things, I've been working on clouds...as it is not my usual predilection, this is also good high-key (that is, an image with predominantly lighter values) practice for me.

Also, just got a couple of new brushes which I'm really liking...a 14 round and 1/2" flat from Escoda, both synthetic Kolinsky...I have a couple of others from Escoda which are also quite nice synthetics, and which I still quite like, but these new ones seem to hold more pigment and are a little less stiff.