My first entry for a Daily Paintworks Challenge – The Fish Challenge.
8×10 on Gessoed MDF using Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics.
And We All Float On
Blog
Last painting of 2016
My last painting of 2016 was completed on December 31.
What do I circle back to? A blender, of course. Acrylic on Ampersand Gessobord- one of the most responsive materials that I have ever used. Rosemary Brushes and Gessobord are a match made in heaven!
This year I’m going to try to sell more art. Last year I sold three pieces without putting too much effort in, so this year I’m going to hustle.
I’ve reopened my Etsy, just waiting on a name change to finalize.
In my personal life I’ve got a few updates – my husband and I just moved from San Jose to Redwood City to shorten our commutes by 45 minutes each way. I can bike to work, and we just built a portfolio carrier for my bicycle based on this Instructable which should work really well! I’ll be taking a figure drawing class through Stanford Continuing Studies this next quarter.
When we moved we ditched the TV and it’s been a month. I haven’t missed it yet.
Charcoal Portraiture part 2
I had the chance to copy the likeness of John A. Carrasco (model mayhem) for two sessions and here is the result. I am astonished when I look at this. The level of detail that I was able to pack in amazes me.
My portrait class is now done. I’ll be exploring figure drawing in charcoal in January.
I hope you enjoy.
Portraiture in Charcoal
I’ve been silent for a month, forgive me. I’m not sure if I’m asking for forgiveness from you or from myself for neglecting to update.
I’ve been taking a class at Stanford on portrait drawing with John Peck and I have come to enjoy it more than I thought I would. Before I had never invested any time in portraits out of fear. I took this class because of that fear, and while there is still much to improve on I have pleasantly surprised myself.
I’m using Canson Mi-Tientes toned paper and Nitram charcoal.
First session:
Second session:
Third session:
…and the most recent session. I neglected to take a picture of the 4th, so here is the 5th:
However, I have been putting minimal effort towards my homework, either out of travel out of town, laziness, or exhaustion. My teacher appropriately called me out on it and I will work harder.
It is fun to see the progression from the first class onward. Looking forward to a new model this week.
Working hard, Hardly working
Two weekends ago I celebrated my one year wedding anniversary with my husband in Tahoe. Of course, I bought my easel and spent an hour painting. Here’s what came of that.
It’s difficult to work a full time job, paint, have side gigs, and work out. I want to blog more, but it’s easier to post to Instagram.
I was promoted at work, so if you’re looking at my blog because you’re interested in admissions for Stanford Civil & Environmental Engineering I am no longer in that role. However, please stay and enjoy the paintings! With the new role my responsibilities have greatly increased, and in transitioning to my new role I have been extra busy wrapping up old projects.
Kennedy Space Center
Brought my easel from California as carry on and KSC let me in!
Plein air in the rocket garden. 😎
Florida, Blender, NASA
Tomorrow I leave for vacation to Florida – we’re going to see the OSIRIS-REx launch on my birthday in Cape Canaveral.
The mission for this launch is amazing – the plan is to hurtle through space to Bennu, an asteroid that comes in near-orbit to the earth roughly every 6 years. They will land on Bennu, mine a sample, and bring it back to earth some time in 2023. Because my mother in law worked on part of it we get to go to the launch!
My Mom and brother Chris will also be in Florida to visit my Grandpa and Oma. I’ll be able to see them on the trip, which will be fantastic. Chris just got his commercial pilot license and will graduate in the spring.
I spent this morning painting the blender featured above – a gorgeous yellow waring nova 1 blender. Yellow like the sunshine and citrus in Florida.
No rain
It hardly ever rains here in California. When I moved here I was surprised how brown it is. Anything green is because of irrigation unless it’s December.
I spent this morning working on a logo design for a friend and the creative juices kept going – what came of it is the illustration above, walking in the rain in rubber boots. Great thanks to Kyle’s Megabrush pack.
Swimming with the sharks
During my trip to Mexico we took an excursion to swim along side whale sharks. Once I get the pictures I’ll post a few of me with the sharks.