Sargent day 5

Complicated composition!  Didn't quite get the drawing right, and because I'm working small, didn't quite get the people on the gondola.  I'm thinking he used some kind of red and viridian in this painting instead of just burnt sienna, yellow, and ultramarine.

Sargent per day

I'm attempting to be more disciplined about doing some actual (as opposed to digital) painting every day for an hour before i start work, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to really look at and copy some of the watercolors of John Singer Sargent.  I find it slightly terrifying to try and copy this genius, but so far I feel like I can distantly glimpse some of the decisions he made.

These are only little thumbnails, so I'm not trying to be too slavish:

Jack the Ripper

As I have had Victorian costume on my head, I did this today.  Kind of more grim than I had planned on, but I decided to just go with it:

Dickens Faire

I went to the Dickens Faire in San Francisco the other day do some costume sketches.  A lot of fun, as people really go all out with their costumes, and stay in character!  There are definitely a good sized steam punk contingent there, but mostly it seems people try and stay realistic to the time period.  Originally I had planned to hit a model salon but by the time I got there (kind of late), it was finishing up, so I was relegated to trying to sketch moving targets of opportunity, relying often on memory.

Here are some more successful ones:

Bartender

Cad

Standing room only at the Adventurer's Club Lecture.

Rough gentleman

Victorian cellphone use

figure drawings

Watercolors...it has been several months since I've been to workshop, so not bad for all that.

I was particularly pleased with this two minute pose (almost without fail, I get the most interesting results in the quick poses):

This was 20 minutes I think..done on toned paper with a bit of gouache:

 Either 10 or 20...don't really remember:

This last one was 15 or 20:

vampire centurion?

...or capuchin monkey in Roman armor?

Salesforce Tower going up fast!

A relatively quiet Sunday afternoon.  It had been a while since I visited this construction site, and it's pretty mind blowing how fast it has been rising:

Although my focus had been on the tower under construction, I was a little thrown off by the complicated angles and glass patterns on the building in front of the site.  In my attempts to de-emphasize it, I decided to knock it back in value, which in retrospect, I think I went too far.  The building (with the exception of the tinted glass sheath) was actually a bit warmer, and I should have just kept it as it was.  As a result, not only did I half-ass the other individual windows, but the buildings don't separate very well.  Meh!  Next time.