Practice from live model thread - 2012

[dustonpaper]

Bethany - thank you so much. I admit that I'm quite happy with these. Not satisfied, a lot to learn, but happy with the progress myself. No reason to get jaunty though.

John - thank you very much. Yes, days off are so great. And more to come. Next weekend will be 3 days, Monday is a public holiday. And 2 weeks after a 4-day long weekend again. The calendar is so great this year, most public holidays fall on Tuesdays and thursdays so the company I work for closes on mondays and fridays and I plan to make use of these free days to the best of my abilities.

Carol - thank you so much and your great support. Yes, constant practice is the key. I never believed in talent other than the talent to keep at it and work hard. I read all the Sargent biographies and they all say when he was studying he was the first in the atelier and the last to go, often painting friends after the paid model left etc.

Here is the one from yesterday. 24x30 cm on canvas panel. about 5hrs 45min working time.


High resolution (might load slowly): http://dustonpaper.smugmug.com/Art/P...nzxxv&lb=1&s=O

In the last quarter of the session I saw that the values were all too light and reworked the face completely with the big brush. Also dabbled a little with the palette knife in the background. The new dark-green background I have seems to work nice. The model sits very close to it though, that's why I have that shadow on the side if her.

Today I started rearranging my room completely. Not done yet, looks like a bunch of Elephants walked through my room. But when I'm done I will have a much better setup than have the model on my make-shift thing on the bed like until now. I will have the possibility to light it from all sides, move my easel to different positions and also can step back a meter or so more than now. Looking forward to the new setup.

C&C always welcome.

[carolkay]

Sascha,

Dont know if I spelled it right,

Man you are a growin, . I love what you said about talent---( talent to keep at it and work)

This is so true.

My attorney once asked --- how long did it take to paint that one---
and I said--
3 hrs and 25 years.

He laughed so much--- and said he was gonna keep that one--
when someone will ask--
how long it took to do the trust=
he'll say.... 3 hrs and 30 years. LOL


But I really admire you for what your doing and your an inspiration, the facts of practice show here.

Great !!!!

[beetee]

You are inspirational Duston,
This has to be nearly the best.
Keep going where you are going.

Brian

[kevinwueste]

Sascha - nicely done! Keep those shadows ( on a woman) a bit warmer but really see the improvements!
-KEvin

[Descartes]

Sascha, those last two posts seemed to have leapt forwards. I admire your determination, it's already starting to pay off. I also find it useful to hear your thought processes (about design and things).

[KingCrimson]

Keep those shadows ( on a woman) a bit warmer

Hey, I was thinking exactly that before I read Kevins' comment!
Duston, this looks like a great leap for you, and the eyes are magnificent!
Once again, love the brushstrokes in the hi-res, you're inspiring me to use more paint instead of my habitual miserly scrubbing

[dustonpaper]

Thank you all so much for your kind, encouraging and helpful replies.

Today it did not go too well . Not happy with the result. But I am now used to highs and lows, so I know that I cannot expect to get better and better with each painting but have to expect downfalls every once in a while. Though I feel they come less often and are less terrible bad.

I also feel how important it is to work daily if possible. All this week since my last post I have not been painting or drawing at all because I was so busy after work to rearrange my room and build a model stand. Before I was using my bed with a plate of masonite on it. Now I changes everything, have the model in a different corner of the room and a new model stand. But not touching a brush or charcoal for 5 days sure left some damage.

Today I was trying out my new setup for the first time. It works quite well I think, a few little adjustments will be necessary though.
The model was really good ... when she came and I first saw her I was like "this is going to be great", she is 5ß+ years old, had a nice tan and this turquoise shirt and shawl. Plus feather earrings with bright red in it which made a nice contrast to the turquoise. She studied something with design, so I guess she has a really good sense of clothing and color composition.
She also is into natural healing and asked if I would mind her meditating, which is why her eyes are closed. I thought "well, never painted a model with closed eyes before, why not". Quite unusual proportions in the face as well.

I tried to keep the shadows warmer. Thank you Kevin and John for that suggestion. I was thinking that something is wrong with the shadows but could not figure out what exactly ... I will pay more attention to it from now on. did not succeed though in all parts which makes a pretty non-homogeneous appearance I think. Near the end I recognized that the head was much too large towards the back and the ear was off and then rushed to correct it as best as I could. I did not really get to do the shirt, shawl and earring I looked forward to paint. Also forgot the shadow of the earring, which I dabbled to put in after the model left. I dont take photos from the models, so that shadow is not places well.

So here is the result


High-Resolution: http://dustonpaper.smugmug.com/Art/Portrait/19438152_g4N8pb#!i=1868876388&k=nH6DRVz&lb=1&s=O

Here is the new setup, thought it might be interesting for some readers to see. For these small sizes (24x30cm) I use a pochade box:


I enjoy if you call this thread inspirational, which I hope it is for all who think painting from model in a single-room flat might not be possible. I thought that for over a year before I just gave it a shot and was surprised that it does work. So I wasted a year of precious time, nearly not painting at all except a few from photos, because I thought "nah, that will not be possible" instead of thinking "let's try, if it works it works, if not I tried".

I will continue to practice through this long weekend (public holiday on monday again, the 2012 calendar is awesome, too bad they won't stick with it).

Thank you all for commenting, C&C always welcome. Sorry that I do not reply much to other threads, I'm always short on time or sometimes just quite tired.

[carolkay]

But I am now used to highs and lows, so I know that I cannot expect to get better and better with each painting but have to expect downfalls every once in a while.

I know what you mean here Sascha, Life just gets in the way at times.

But I sure comend you for all this and yes you are gaining ground here.

Its great : ANd this is a another nice study along that pathway.

quote]

[dustonpaper]

Thank you Carol . I'm glad also you like the model stand.

This is todays study, painted at a friends place who I share models with. We painted plein air during the day (very hard to do well, I find it harder than portraits to really make a good plein air ... I also think it is good practice to do plein air). We had a very cool light this time (don't think you can get lights any cooler) ... quite challenging I found, the model was rather pale to begin with (but a good model with interesting features. It is not quite finished, could have used some more time for details, need to get faster and more correct in my initial lay-in, so I do not have to correct so much later (means I need to draw more). I tried some thick paint application this time. Not that happy with it, but it everything is practice.

Size is 24x30cm, about 2h45min:


Hi-Res: http://dustonpaper.smugmug.com/Art/P...wBxR9&lb=1&s=O

Got to prime some more panels now, planning to practice a lot the upcoming week.

C&C always welcome.

[lovin art]

You put yourself on the line Dear Man .. .. I dig that!! and any artist that shows the stuff that works and that stuff that well doesnt always hit the mark... god knows I know that feeling ....

I dont have answers for becoming better , I just know with each one I do I am stepping stones to a path that seems to be getting wider and not so small and tight as it once was ... you were Lovely to seek me out in Art from life I was touched you would look like that for me ... humbled by you and your wonderful driven self !!!!

[bethanyt]

You are powering on there! I see so much development with your structure, modelling and paint handling! Great to drop in and see your progress- fantastic!

[KingCrimson]

Duston, the warmer shadows look much more lifelike.
These last two are really nice!

[dustonpaper]

Sandra - thank you for stopping by and commenting. I know I do not much good on WC in posting at other threads. There are a lot of other threads, a lot I might want to say something on whatever topic they might be. It is just the little time I have. So I try to keep this thread updated in the hope it might stay interesting and encouraging for others as well as myself.

For that I find it important to also post works I find are not the best I could to ... just to show the rollercoaster learning can be sometimes for me (and maybe for others as well).

There really were times where I was on the edge of stopping the learning and search an more easy hobby. But I think and hope that extreme self-doubt wont occur anymore. Like this weekend I was quite unhappy and think the 4 studies of the long weekend before were better ... But I know I learned with the not so good ones too and recognize that not every time can work well for someone at beginner level and that failures have to be accepted and analyzed as part of the learning process.

Bethany - Thank your for your encouraging comment.

I figured out some nice paint handling stuff by accident this weekend. Like when I did the background lay-in of the last one I posted I used way too much OMS and it ran down the panel. And that formed some quick drying random structures at the points where the thinned paint ran down which seem to make interesting stuff for funny backgrounds and maybe other stuff too (like maybe painting an old washed out wall in landscape I could imagine).

When laying thick strokes over that with holding the brush nearly parallel to the canvas and pull it away really fast so the paint (not thinned) will break apart and leave funny stuff I quite like, especially with the other funny structures from the OMS wash.

Even though I know I still have to learn a lot of basics (and especially draw more), I enjoy experimenting with stuff and have stuff happening by accident as well.

John - thank you and yes indeed, many thanks to Kevin and you for pointing that it needs warmer shadows. I begin to see them in the model now too ... before I really took care of it thanks to you guys pointing it out I just saw somewhat grey-ish in the shadows, but did not really recognized the warmth except maybe the more obvious reflected one.

____

So this here is todays study, 24x30, working tine about 5h30min plus pauses. It did not work that well today either. The light came from the back of the model at a sharp angle to her right. I found it was an interesting light for a profile, but I found it also extremely hard to paint. I guess since much of the face was in shadow there were som many really subtle value and color changes I had great difficulty to paint or even see right. Also with this angle of the light even the slightest movement of the model changed the light drastically. But it was a good model really doing well.

The photo has quite some glare, as well as the painting, which gave me quite some trouble while painting.


High Resolution: http://dustonpaper.smugmug.com/Art/P...62Zq4&lb=1&s=O

I'm still experimenting with quite busy backgrounds. Need to take care of not overdoing it though and find some more tricks to make them interesting, not wanting to do them all the same. I kind of find completely smoothed out backgrounds somewhat boring to do. I might try some other backdrops, like some really busy ones and see how that looks. But still I have to solve much more basic problems than that. But I guess a little experimenting even in this stage of learning basics hopefully wont hurt.

Thanks for looking, C&C always welcome.

[lovin art]

Sandra - thank you for stopping by and commenting. I know I do not much good on WC in posting at other threads.

Hey , I am not that Great either at doing that... Especially atm ..... I am self absorbed for the most part in my own learning , but what you need to realize to understand here is I do show mostly all my work the ~ good , the bad and dare I say crap , we are not perfect we are humans and I never dare to dream I think I am .....I posted my thoughts on here because I thought you would like to hear them and because I was trying to be nothing short of caring ~you know one artist to another ! ... Yeah sure I know that feeling of seeing something working , then for me its like hitting a brick wall as I climb to the next jump in skill and mostly for me this happening in consession of my drawing atm and after every session I do away , I come home disillusioned with myself ~yeah makes no sense but thats just how it goes .... Like I said theres no magic answer to getting better , its just pure time and practice, and learning t0o roll with the good n bad ones , I wish you well on your Journey muchly!!! Looking Good !!!!

[Darius K]

Hey duston
You have some fantastic portraits going on here. Post 61 is my favorite so far but all have a lot going for them. I like your backgrounds too, great texture and I do think they compliment the subjects as well. Nice work mate. Watching on with interest.