The difference a week makes.

Week two

Summer Lemons

Hey there people, What a difference a week makes. Sometimes you can only see a difference when you compare the the two pictures from a week before and today. I finished the under-paint this week, with emphasis on the face and now can go into the next layer and start fleshing it out with details and correcting the values and details.

I also finished a still life, I like to do these studies just to keep my chops sharp and see how far I can push the realism. The still life is in my Etsy shop for those of you who are interested.

See you around and thanks for coming by,

Bill

New Painting Under paint

I started a new painting a couple of weeks ago, here is the drawing and the under-painting. At this stage its hard to image the finished image that I have in my mind, but I sort of like this also, I has an abstract quality to it that is appealing to me. I’ll keep taking pictures of this to show my progress every week.

Thanks for looking in,

Bill

 

The comforting thought of being forgotten. A sketchbook post.

I sometimes do not draw, paint or sketch things because I am concerned the impression people will have of me or my work. But I recently read a text about dying and being forgotten. That when you die your children and friends (if you have any) will morn you and remember you for who you are, your grandchildren will remember you as an older, maybe lively, maybe not, grandparent, but the memory will fade with them and eventually, maybe your grandchildren’s children will not know you and you will be forgotten. I somehow felt more relaxed, maybe freer after reading this. Now that sort of clicked in my mind and I thought yeah I take myself to seriously, I will be forgotten. No one will know that I painted or what I painted or drew or sketched. I felt more relaxed and creative after I realized that. Here are some sketches from my sketchbook, if you don’t like them or are offended, sorry, but you will forget them and eventually and me.

Thanks for coming by and stay safe,

Bill

Vou de dos, oil painting

I love to paint flesh tones. I think it was  Bouguereau that said painting skin is like painting plein air landscapes. It wasn’t always so though, when I had first started painting skin or portraits I failed miserably, but I just kept on doing it again and again (I think of a certain Muddy Colors post when I write that). I destroyed a lot of paintings in my frustration and finally I got to point where I was satisfied with the outcome of my endeavors. I still sometime fail, but I keep learning and finding out what works for me.

Thanks for coming by and reading my ramblings,

Bill

Houston, there’s no green men down here, but…

My first digital paint for a long time. To tell you the truth, I miss the pencils, paper and the paints. I have to find another process for working digitally, I just miss the feel of having the darn thing in my hand. Also I don’t like the look of it, it just doesn’t look like something I would like, and in the end you have to please yourself first (when doing personal stuff). Sooo, I will try a different process, a hybrid. I’ll draw the picture on paper, scan it and then paint over it in Artrage. I know of a few illustrators that do this and they even have online tuts for their process, which I’ll be taking a look at again.

Thanks for taking a look,

Bill

March of the flying space Marines.

Here’s a character from my new painting. You can still see the lines in the background. This is a cutout of a bigger painting that I am doing in Artrage. I am still in the discovery phase of painting with the PC, but I am enjoying myself.

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Getting the right reference shot for your painting.

This is my second metamorphosis painting I finished a while back. That is me in the picture, I had the idea for this picture after seeing Joseph Ducreux paintings of him posing yawning or pointing at the picture as if saying, “yeah, who’s a classy guy?”

When I get a good idea I usually sketch out stick figures at different angles doing what I was thinking about. Then I pick the best one or one thing leads to another and I’ve got two or three good ideas that I can pursue. I then use my small collection of miniature figures or I pose myself and ask my wife or children to take photos of me, which usually gets a good laugh but also some good reference photos to work with. Below is the reference photo I used for this painting.

And yes I thought Matt Smith was the best Doctor so far, I know there are a lot of David Tennant fans out there, but for me he was the best.

See you around and wash your hands,

Bill

My excursions in digital painting (searching for a process)

In my last post I said I would be doing my fantasy-Scifi stuff in Artrage. These are my first tries, they aren’t bad but they are not good either, and to be certain these are not polished off and finished. I think one of my main problems is thinking of something to paint (like always). I will have to stick with a theme and work on that trying to find a start to finish process along the way. I like to try and build a story into each painting and add character to the figures to add a sense of depth and make them more believable.

Stay safe out there and don’t forget to put lotion on your hands after washing them for the fifteenth time, I know I could use my hands as sand paper now they are so dry.

Bill

 

 

We are living in crazy times.

I have been working on this on and off for the last three months and now I am closing in on the final glazing and highlights and detailing. This is for a art contest that I don’t even know if it will be taking place anymore. Crazy how your life can change within a short period of time. For me things haven’t changed much, I still go to work (we practice social distancing), go shopping for the family and I go jogging when I feel fit enough, which is most of the time. If anything I have less time to spend on painting and drawing. Trying to find the things we need has become one of my forced hobbies (toilet paper). Because I still have to go to work I don’t have the chance to get to the store in the morning and by the time I do get there most everything that we need is sold out (I’m looking at you horders 😦 ).

One thing that has crystallized for me is that I will be doing my fanatasy -Scifi drawings/paintings in artrage or sketchbook. I’ve been sketching and painting digitally and selling my traditional paintings online through Etsy. I feel freer to experiment with the computer and don’t have the feeling I am wasting resources when painting on something I know will be just taking up space in my small mancave. Somethings I will still paint traditionally, but most figure stuff  with be done digitally and this my take a while until my digital chops are up to my traditional, but what the hay, I ‘m still working my day job so I still have the freedom to experiment on my process. I don’t depend on my art for my day to day expenses and can pay my bills with my day job.

Thanks for stopping by and be careful out there,

Bill

The humbling experience of not getting a portrait just quite right.

I got threw this winter on a combination of vitamin D supplements, training for a half marathon for this coming year ( I’m up to 6-7 miles currently) and sketching in my ink figure sketchbook. I was feeling good, really good, it seemed like I had finally found a way that was perfect for me to get through the winter blues and still feel full of purpose and drive to get things done. I even sold a painting for an good price and felt like I was finally getting somewhere with my hours of painting and sketching what not.

Then tragedy struck ( to my Ego), I asked a good friend of mine, if I could paint her portrait, she was happy I asked. We took pictures and I proceeded to paint and I painted and I painted, it wasn’t coming out like I intended, in fact there was a slight resemblance, but it didn’t look like her. I blamed everything, I had bought a new oil paper and blamed that, the picture was bad, in the end I gave up and started working on something else, mad at myself and the world. I just thought, leave me a lone I just wanted to paint and retreat into my comfort zone. The picture above is what I felt like, my subconsciousness laughing at myself bruising my ego.

This was humbling experience for me, but it was good. I stopped painting for a few weeks and experimented with other mediums, water color washes, digital painting, did some charcoal and white chalk drawings and cleaned up my painting corner. I did a much needed spring cleaning which also helped. So lets get back in the saddle and get back to work, spring is around the corner and good things are in air.

For those of you who made it this far, thanks for reading my rambling,

Bill