Figure Paintings

Here are a couple of recent figure paintings. One girl turned tropical on me. Must be getting in the mood for the second annual Tastes of Hawaii luau at the studio on First Friday! The second one has two models who seem to be having some issues between them! She seems to be mad and he is sad...Both are acrylic on gessoed watercolor paper from live models.

Still Life Painting

OK Call me a wimp, but plein air painting when it is 112 degrees is just a bit much. So instead my pals and I stayed indoors and painted a still life. Lots of lessons can be learned when trying to capture the textures of the different objects, make a pleasing composition, keep the colors bright and the strokes fresh. Although you are not a slave to time like you are in the changing outdoors we did our work in three hours just like the plein air sessions. I think it helped to keep us moving and not fussy.This Tiki still life is 16x20 oil.

A Different Look

Here is a completely different look for one of our favorite models. She surprises us every time with a new look. What fun it is to paint her! We also had a new young man model in costume as well. It is a fun change from our usual nude models.

Painting at the Winery

I was with a group of friends and family at Granite Creek Winery today. It is a really neat place with lots of cute funky buildings and grapevines. We listened to Shelby James and the Crying Shames which includes my niece Jane Hilton on the violin. The huge trees shaded the tables as folks watched the band. I loved the big lanterns and lights strung overhead. I set up an easel and painted the day. It was a challenge to paint that much information, but I really wanted to paint those lanterns so I painted everything in that view. Painting the people was a fun challenge. I couldn't include everyone or all the details so I focused here and there to suggest the crowd. The owner of the winery ended up buying the painting so I guess I succeeded in catching some of the mood of the day.