Frederick C. Wolff | Painting

Frederick C. Wolff

I finally got back to my studio today to work on this portrait of Fred that I’d started last week.  It may still need a few finishing touches, but I think it’s mostly finished.

Thomas Jefferson by Gilbert Stuart

I happened to be at the Boulder library the other day, paging thru a book of American art, when I noticed a portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Gilber Stuart.  I never had paid attention to his work before, and his Jefferson portrait rocked me.  I loved the color scheme, and thought it could inform the portraint of Fred.

Fred Wolff | Character Study | Drawing

Frederick C. Wolff

Here’s something I worked on today; a drawing of my son, Fred.

I’ve been wanting to do a new portrait of Fred for some time.  The problem was he doesn’t like to pose for photos.  Although he did agree to a few photo sessions (for a Father’s Day request), his obvious discomfort was apparent in the pics.

Then I was rooting thru some photos I took last summer, and found this pose, in which (I think) Fred looks at ease.  I think I originally rejected this pic because it was taken in shade, with no strong contrasts or highlights.  Looking at it this morning, I realized it would be hard to capture Fred looking more comfortable, so I printed out the photos and took to my studio.

The original has a lot of background stuff; he’s standing in front of an old shed, of brick, with a wood door, with vines and leaves hanging down.  I’m pretty sure I’m going to leave those details out of the painting I’m planning from this photo.

Here’s the last painting I did of Fred, about 6 years ago.

Enjoyment

Robert Goldsworthy | Character Study

Robert Goldsworthy

I think I got close to ‘finished’ with the painting of Robert today.

What I discovered with this painting, and the one of Graham, is that photos taken in bright sunlight can be ideal sources for paintings.  My thinking has been going the other way; that I had to set up lights and situation to control the environment to get the best results for painting.

Robert Goldsworthy - Detail

I also think I’m progressing closer to my goal of getting a looser feel in my work.  But that’s the problem with being your own teacher . . . . are you grading fairly?

Life Drawing | 01-15-10

Life Drawing Friday, January 15, 2010

While I’m working on the painting of Robert, I’ll share this week’s life drawing.

The drawing session of Friday was crowded; I never know what kind of attendance to expect.  I did arrive early enough to get a good spot, front and center.

I didn’t really set the composition well . . . didn’t mean for the foot to extend off page.  I’ll spend more time laying out the form on the paper next time.  Also, it’s an ‘ok’ likeness of the model, but I didn’t quite capture her.

Study of Robert Goldsworthy

Robert Goldsworthy

I dug thru my some recent digital photos, and found a batch I’d taken of Robert in September.  I had attempted a painting from this group of pics, but was disappointed with the result (so you’ll never see it).

But I was short of source materials for both a new portrait and still life, so I looked back at these pics of Robert.  It struck me I might be able to do something with this pose, so I went for it.  I think I’ll follow it up with a painting; I can try to build on what I learned when doing the portrait of Grahame.  Actually, I took both sets of photos on the same day.

Life Drawing | 01-08-2010

Life Drawing "Brit"

It was a bitter cold morning, but I managed to make it to the life drawing session anyhow.

As usual for me, even though the session is for 3 hours, I stopped around the 2 1/2 hour mark, feeling any more fussing with the drawing would ruin it.

The Bibliophile | Painting

The Bibliophile

Here’s the painting of Grahame.  I’m getting closer to the ‘feel’ I’m searching for in my paintings.  I’m trying to control my impulse to be overly tight, and keep things loose, while maintaining a likeness.

The Bibliophile

The Bibliophile

Here’s a sketch of my friend Grahame Atkinson, a fellow artist in the town of Longmont.

I often run into Grahame at the Longmont Library.  I’d been pestering him about posing for a portrait for years, and our paths happened to cross one sunny Sunday at the library.  I had my Nikon with me, so I ambushed him into posing outside for me, holding the stack of audio books he listens to while working on his celtic art.

I then printed out the photo, but left it lying as I wasn’t sure it was the ‘right’ pose and setting for a portrait of Grahame.

Then came the holiday season, and I had a week off from work, and had nothing in mind to work on, so I pulled the photo out and did this sketch.

I’m Your Puppet | Part 3

The Yearning

Continuing my posts about the ‘Puppet’ series, here’s what I consider to be the defining image of the series, “The Yearning”.

One of my intents as I developed this series, was to use the puppet to symbolize the human condition.  In part 2 of the series,  The Tempting’, I attempted to show basic human curiosity.  With ‘The Yearning’, I tried to symbolize the search for love and acceptance.

This set me off on a variation of the seven deadly sins treatments; using the puppet character to portray vanity and greed, and . . . well I didn’t do a complete list of seven.  I’ll show you these, plus some other paintings in future posts.

Colored Pencil Drawings

Red Haired Girl

A while ago, I did a series of colored pencil drawing based on photos in a book about red haired people.  I was searching for a subject, and was looking for some photos of interesting looking people who were not celebrities.  Here’s the first of the series.