Hopper House session 12

Our model was just fantastic- Bobbi Golden. I'm working on getting the form and trying to convey the gravity, weight- not be too sterile. The trick is not too much finessing- but not too little- to simplify, but be fresh. Visual editing. Good practice for my upcoming trip back to Guantanamo next week.

More, more more.. figure drawing

Last night's figure drawing session we had a great male model, Nick- just fantastic to draw. He came through in a pinch due to a cancellation and it worked out well. Excellent poses that pushed perspective, foreshortening, challenging. Here's one of mine. Another great thing for me is meeting all the other artists.
Have a great Memorial Day weekend! I'll be back and posting next week.

digital portrait painting

I've fallen off showing my latest work- here are a couple of portraits I did last week, using photoshop in layers. The technique is covered in an earlier post on this blog, 'digital deliciousness'- if you're curious, check out the archives!

At the Hopper House session 9

This was the latest session at Hopper house figure drawing, with Lalainya and another model. Great to be back and
continue working from the figure. It really is like a sport, you have to work to stay loose. Here, I was feeling a little tight and am hoping this Thursday to open it up a bit. Practice, practice...

another Gitmo update

I'm settling back in after my trip to Guantanamo and finally posting these other drawings I did while there. The new courtroom was put into use, so I drew the vantage point that anyone observing the tribunal has- from behind very thick glass panels, in the back. There are three panels, so the view is fairly panoramic, but it was tough as an artist because the detainee was much further away. In this case, he is holding up sayings and graffitti claiming his alliance with Al Quaeda. The other is Al Jawad, with his translator.

It don't gitmo better

I am in Cuba with the Canadian Press, covering Omar Khadr - detained in Guantanamo Bay. I was happy to get a fairly detailed drawing this time around. A new courthouse that will be used more frequently will truly be tough for any artist to draw; you sit behind a 3-pane window far away from the detainee, straining to draw.. fortunately Omar's commission was in the old building, where I can sit in the courtroom and not too far from him with no glass between us- so, so much easier to draw. Thanks to weekly figure drawing at the Hopper House, I feel like these went much smoother- the practice really helps.

Session 8 at the Hopper House

We had a fantastic clothed model, Betty Fraza, who wore a very Hopper-like dress for the session last night. I pulled out the color pastels since it looks like i'll be going to Guantanamo Bay next week to draw in court there. I'll post if so. It never hurts to practice, practice, practice..