Daya in Egg Tempera

Daya 9x12 egg tempera on traditional gesso panel
This portrait took about 32 hours and was immensely helped with the excellent critique and wisdom of Douglas Safronek.

Daya actually smiled when I showed her the painting, she likes it!

Progress shots:

Drawathon Painting and an Artist Rant on Rude Semi-Artists

The High School of Art and Design holds fundraising Drawathons to help the school.

I have no idea why LaGuardia does not do this, I did ask back in 2019 but got a non-answer.

I did exactly one painting, and it took around 5 hours because I am not as experienced in figure painting, and I am extremely out of practice.  I LOVE figurative work but it is also more expensive to do because of the model fee. (And I do not need assvice suggestions to work from photos.  Go eat canned vegetables instead of fresh ones, that's the difference. Figure drawing from photos is NOT a substitute to working from the live model, it's not even close. If it was, there would not be live figure drawing/painting sessions.)

I started at 11:30 and finished at 5:30, but there were many model breaks, probably about an hour's worth.

This September I'm going to start getting back to The League for figure practice.  Or maybe Minerva's studio, who I have been hearing about for YEARS and haven't been able to go bc Life.

Its important to keep balance, because everything we do informs everything else. I really also should do more still life, but I can't keep myself at home.

This painting is 9x12 oil on arches oil paper, which is brilliant stuff.

I used my plein air setup which everyone admired and loves, because it is truly awesome.

(I also used leftover plein air paint from last night's painting.)

My goals were to 1) get the whole figure on the page, 2) S L O W  D O W N, 3) don't get too detailed too quickly. I did accomplish all those things.

Does she have issues? Yes.

Does it matter? No.

Which brings me to my rant.

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Some lady who I don't know except I guess we are Facebook friends decided it was very important to tell me she thinks the head is a little too large.

1. This is extremely poor etiquette. Actually it is downright rude.

Why? You don't ever give critique unless someone asks for it.

I am fortunate enough to be around some REALLY proficient people in very serious art settings. Wizards. If you haven't been around it, you honestly have no idea.

No one - ever- would just come up to someone's work and point out flaws. We just don't do that.  In fact, yesterday I was commiserating with some other artists who are extremely experienced and proficient- and basically we all complained it's not fair that everyone still has drawing issues and it sucks and no one ever escapes it, not ever. And Corot was complaining he never got a certain color right on his deathbed.

THAT is how highly trained and skilled artists speak with each other.  We do not ever go point out others' problems etc, because we know 1) it's a study and doesn't matter  2) we're all in the same freaking boat, and 3) we already know and don't need someone to tell us about it.  Unless we ask.

There is a shared understanding that goes beyond words.  I have consistently experienced this only with proficient and experienced artists- particularly ones who can work from life.

2. The only people who do this are what I think of as semi-artists- people who are usually older and have just enough training to make them think they know a lot more than they actually do.  Often they are people who only render copies of photographs and do not work from life or even know how to. The people who have just enough training and think they know a lot are absolutely THE WORST. 

The reason they feel the need to pick at others is to show that they know some stuff. It's their ego, nothing else.

My friend Leah and I had a chat about this once, she said they are also the absolute WORST to teach.

It's true.

This lady who had to pick at me definitely falls into that category.  Sorry, I'm not impressed by your generic renderings of photos you didn't even take yourself done with a mechanical pencil. I will never tell you that, I will be nice and encouraging because I know you truly don't know how a real environment is, and also I think it's great that anyone is making art at all, but if you're going to pick at me my judgmental hat comes on. (And also you do like 2 paintings a year.)

3. It's not about perfection. We're all trying to get it right all the time, but we make way more errors and mistakes than successes. Any proficient artist knows this, that's why quantity is such an important thing. 

I am very aware of my issues and shortcomings and every time I'm out painting I'm thinking about it, trying to resolve it a little closer each time.  When you have the advantage of quantity you aren't so precious about every single little thing. It takes SO MUCH PRACTICE.

There are SO MANY PROBLEMS to deal with in any given painting and often I'll go out with only ONE (maybe 2) of them in mind to work on. Painting and drawing problems are like expenses- you get one solved and 10 more pop up. It is never-ending.  And the more you do, the more experienced you get, the harder it is.

It truly is-as I think it was Van Gogh who said- the more I paint the harder it gets.  Or, painting is easy when you don't know how.  And it's a thousand percent true.  When you don't know what you are doing, it's easy. And the more you learn the more difficult it gets.

These semi-artists never get to that point.

The have a very basic mentality.

Ok my rant is over.

__PRESENT__PRESENT__PRESENT__PRESENT

NYC Urban Sketchers Portrait Party

Today was the annual NYC Urban Sketchers Portrait party.

It takes place at the High School for Art and Design.

Everyone who signs up is divided into groups of 12.

One person didn't show for our group so we were 11.

Paper is provided- 9x12 watercolor paper.

Then we take turns sketching each other.

We have 10 minutes for each portrait.

At the end we have a drawing of everyone in the group except ourself, and each group arranges all the portraits in a grid.

There were probably about 5 or 6 groups.

Sone of the work was pretty good.

These are my 10.  I worked in graphite for a few, and for most of them just a black Prismacolor pencil.

I gave them away.

Here is the grid and a few pictures of other groups I liked.

Thee is some pretty good high school work on the walls.

I wonder if this school might be better than LaGuardia for visual arts.

Graphite and Cats

 Here's a quick 2 hour study of a Bouguereau painting, I'm going to leave it unfinished I think.

And the cats were snuggling in Daya's room.
I love when they snuggle.

Studio Cleanup & Other Stuff

 I have been s l o w l y been going through the chaos pile where my couch used to be.  I have old paintings that need to be destroyed and discarded, and I just need to get rid of junk in general.

So I have been working on the storage that's on the top of my studio shelving.

I threw away so much, it feels great.

In the midst of Really Old Stuff From Pratt, I found my Templeton animation cel that I thought missing for good since.... since my first apartment in Astoria!

Front

back

Full cel with production marks!

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Also while going through ancient archives, I found this historical relic handbook:

My mother and aunt were freaked right the hell out about Y2K, the disaster that never was!

Me? I couldn't care less. Like not even a little bit.

They annoyed me by sending me printed websites with paranoid fear-mongering information and also they thought it was fine to add my email to email lists without my consent.

So I got flooded with Y2K spam.

I also think "helping others understand..." if they think differently from you is a really arrogant and condescending mindset. Have your beliefs but stop trying to impose it on others!!

Religions can be like this too with their "think like we do" conversion mindset and this absolutely definitely applies in the case of my family. And if there is a fear bandwagon to jump on... they're right there.

It was very annoying.

I can't get on-board with paranoid hysteria.  I just...couldn't back then and I can't now.

This 72 hour checklist is pretty fantastic...

It lists, among other things, "stress relief" (do they mean alcohol, which is not listed?) and.... a hatchet, which I hope is not the intended stress relief item.

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Oh, ok, some art... I have been working a little in my sketchbook this month, face practice but I havent posted it anywhere.

Tonight I went to the Reuters art session and just did what they were doing since I didn't have something specific going on.

I don't think the photo we worked from is a good reference because it was all airbrushed out but whatever. Some drawing is better than no drawing.

Graphite

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And here are some cats:

Marshall Jones Week 3

Last night was my last class with Marshall Jones.

It was a great class and a good use of time and money.

Here is my unfinished and never-to-be-finished painting, 8x10 oil:

Notes:
Brush cleaning!

I have been using those nice Utrecht synthetics that everyone loves- including me- but they just don't last. And I talked to Marshall about that because they do last for him, although he did say he has heard others say the same as me, that they don't last. But I want mine to last!

I thought it was friction against the painting surface but he thinks it's paint in the ferrule.
And I'll own that I suck at brush washing.
I have made a vow to take better care of my brushes.
Especially when I plein air, I'm so bad about just swishing in solvent and calling it done, and that's just not good enough. 

I am going to try Marshall's brush regimen which involves putting that hand cleaneer Goop on the brushes after use and before cleaning.

*Wide vs tall again
*Don't make things too human too quickly

*Burt Silverman- I need to look him up.

Brush cleaning-
goop, ivory soap and scrub with one of those soap saver holder thingies, then cheap hair conditioner or The asters brush cleaner.

Art Grind- Marshall's podcast

I restarted the painting three times to get the placement right on the page.
At least I knew to look at the proper placement at the very start. Marshall didn't have to tell me that but he commented he was glad I was aware of the overall placement.

If you're off to a bad start it just can't go well at all.  So if it takes three times to start over... it takes three times. That's the nice thing about oil paint, just wipe it off.

*****

One of the most valuable things I got out of tonight's class is a very strange weird thing, and it had to do with not being able to "see" / resolve the model's eye.

I was in front, so it wasn't a distance thing. Squinting didnt work.  Staring didn't work... i just could not make it out.  She has light grey eyes and there was a large reflection from the spotlight right over her pupil. All the values were the same. I just.... couldn't see it, no matter how hard I tried.

And because of my own vision issues I am always unsure how I am seeing (missing stuff) differently than others... It's something I worry about a lot.

Marshall came over to check how I was doing and I told him I just can't see the eye...and you know what?  From my angle, he couldn't either!! We both really tried. I told him I was wondering if it was my vision and he said no definitely not, it was just at such a weird angle and lighting it wasn't visible.  Which is a weird thing to happen when looking at someone right in front of you.

Anyhow that really made me feel so much better.  I really needed that confirmation. Like honestly this was one of the best things that happened in the class.
Because I do doubt my vision sometimes, and I'm not sure I'm seeing everything.
It comes from... well a life of wacky eyes and not being able to read the board in school and crap like that.

I always worry- how can I be a good painter if I can't see?  Especially working from the live model; it really is so different than working from photos and is the most ideal situation. 

Commission, Update

This is the absolute final painting and yes I made yet another tweak last night and the reason it is dry today and shipping tomorrow is Liquin which is a miracle substance that has saved many an artist's life.

Hudson

9x12 oil

So...I learned some things with this one.

The client is my manager at work and this is his grandson.
We have a good relationship and have known each other for like 12 years.

He's a good guy in general.  We get along.

He's still ambivalent about the painting, so is his wife because they are just not seeing the super-frowny-pout in the reference.  Their experience of him as a smiley happy baby is all they can see, and the painting doesn't match that perception.

So, we chatted and it was a good chat.
We are both friendly and professional people.

I told him I had 4 extremely experienced artists critique it, and everyone loves it.

But also that his opinion really matters and I want him to be happy, and I'm sorry I missed the mark.

He said he understands things go through human filters and no one ever has the same perceptions.

He said it's "growing on him".  And who knows, maybe he will like it more in-person.  Paintings ALWAYS look better in-person.

And to be fair he loves everything else about the painting, he did have some really nice things to say about it.

*******

I never charged the deposit on this painting, so I told him if he doesn't want it, it's really ok and I know sometimes these things happen.  Babies in general are a huge risk aside from being really difficult to paint properly. And clients are weird about portraits. And he knows I really vetted this one.

I gave him the option to just pay what the deposit would have been, half, for time and supplies and it's ok, this does happen sometimes, and I'm not upset.  (I was, because it sucks when someone isn't happy with my work and it's only the second time it ever happened and the first wasn't a commission but just sketchbook work that simply never made it to social media. But in these cases professionalism has to take over.)

I also gave him the option if he still wanted the painting that I wouldn't charge shipping and he would pay the agreed-upon price.

He said they definitely still want the painting, so that's what happened.

And he paid me in full.

Because this is a long-term-friendly work relationship, it could be a sticky situation but I think it is a credit to our relationship that we were both able to navigate this difficulty in a friendly professional way and we are both ok.

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I LEARNED:

• I'm not painting babies again for a LONG time if ever.
• I am really going to CHECK WITH THE CLIENT BEFOREHAND ABOUT THE EXPRESSION in the reference.
• I learned how to navigate a difficult situation professionally.

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TOTALLY UNRELATED:

I got my booster shot last night and I feel achy.

Commission, Disliked

I have a commission.

It's my manager's grandson.

It is a baby.
That is always THE WORST.
I think I might not ever do it again.

I had 4 extremely experienced artists critique this painting.

I also traced for major placements, that's how scared I was of the drawing and also I just didn't have time to do a 10-hour drawing before even painting.

They gave minor tweaky feedback, which was all good advice and I made the changes.
But the overall response was very positive.

He doesn't like it.

He doesn't like the expression because the baby is not smiling and he thinks he looks unhappy.
But in the reference this kid has a serious frowny pout going on, which lets be honest is completely adorable.

REFERENCE

I changed the mouth to turn the corners up.
My lovely artist critiquers are all yelling at me to leave it alone, that it really does look fine, and at this point I will.

I actually am happy with the painting, I think I was true to the reference and the issues my client is having are not ones that come from drawing issues- they are because he wants something different than the reference.

But I just can't make a pouting baby be all smiley.
I don't think anyone can.

I don't know what else to do.

Here is the painting, it is 9x12 oil

There is silver in the background.

The mouth is off-reference.

I really, really want my clients to be happy with my work.
This is something that does happen to all of us at some point, and it really sucks.

My client is the only one who doesn't like it.

Jo on Wednesday

Drawing is only Wednesdays now, I miss going three times a week.

Jo was our model, she's amazing.
Musical theme was The Sound of Music.

20 mins charcoal.

The 1 hour pose which was more like 40 minutes.

Friday Oils

Here's another 1 hour oil portrait..... it's hard working so fast.
I'm not sure how far I can take these but I'll explore for a while.

I might try pre-mixing the palette and maybe also working with individual brush strokes... there's a practice thing some people do with counting brush strokes, they do something like a 125 brush stroke painting. I'm sure I'd lose count though. I guess I'll see where it goes.

Still using Zorn palette.

The model is Lisa Marie Cook, she is a wonderful musician and she also played several songs for us.

Rosa Parks

Leah gave us quite the challenge tonight- eyeglasses and a smile on a 3/4 portrait we are slightly looking up at.
Geez and wow, it was very difficult.

I know this is a bit off but....
Rosa Parks has such a great smile it felt great to draw her.
Whenever I do a portrait I always feel the person is there with me, and I think Ms Park was definitely present with her amazing energy and grace. Even writing this, I still feel her.

Graphite on Strathmore 400, a little less than 2 hours.

Drawing Self-Portrait

We did self-portraits tonight.

I was hesitant at first, although self-portraits have been in the back of my mind for a little while now, because Beth did them in her class.
(She also did a really fantastic self-portrait.)

But they are difficult and personal.
It is the most intense way to face yourself.

I liked the discussion around it from an artist viewpoint.

This is not meant to be a "pretty" self portrait, nor is it supposed to be a likeness documentation.
It's not about that.
It was about an hour and a half of drawing.

Simon had really, really nice things to say about my drawing.
He said it's also an artist's portrait and he drew composition comparisons to music.  That was really nice to hear.

From my viewpoint, this was a tough self-portrait not from a composition standpoint, but from struggling with vision! I have trouble holding my eyes still enough to look at myself at the right angle!

I left my right eye blank intentionally for two reasons- one reason is it is an artistic style thing that is somewhat common to build one eye up more than the other as a focal point.

The other is that I have so much trouble on-camera with my eyes- both seeing stuff and also my right eye doesn't behave.  This difficulty is such a huge thing I deal with over Zoom.

I could not do a self portrait like this without acknowledging that in a significant way.

I Have Homework

I'm now in Week 2 of the Kevin Wueste portrait class.
Week 3 if you count the pre-work.

Class is every Sunday, today was the second live class.
It is AMAZING.
It runs 12-1:30 but he always goes until 2.

What's even more amazing is Kevin is doing individual video critiques on everyone's homework, these videos are ranging from 17-20 minutes EACH... and there are 30 people in the class!!

Pre-class homework, before/after:

Week 1 Critique, before/after:

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This week I am expected to work on homework for 3-5 hours.
This is difficult because class is Sunday afternoon and homework is due by Wednesday at midnight!
We can turn it in later and Kevin will still critique it, but it's a preferred Wednesday turnaround.

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Game of the week: Subnautica.  I have been wanting this one for years (literally) but never got it.  There was a summer sale on Steam so I did.
It is AWESOME.

There are 2 subnautica games, I got them both but am still on the first one.

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In other news, Pebbles took a nap in the couch.

30 Faces- Done

I completely and suddenly lost steam with 30 Faces in 30 Days after Will Weston.

But I wanted to see it through, so I did. Even if I am a day late. I just didn't have the energy last night, between the dishwasher and battling a stuffy-cold.

It felt a lot like homework.

But it was worthwhile and good practice.

I'm glad I finished,

Now I am going to continue with Will Weston stuff.

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DISHWASHER UPDATE:
Someone is coming on Sunday to look at it.
I had to wash all the dishes that were in there.