Pages

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Sonia at the Firehouse

We had two very vibrant models at the Firehouse sessions last week, Sonia and Prudence. In the evening session Sonia modeled in a new bright red floor length dress that had a scalloped hem. The group did some wonderful paintings of her and I  used bold colors to record what was going on in the room.  It is an 18 by 24 acrylic on canvas.  Karen

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Karen's Paintings and Linda



 oil on masonite, 20" x 16"

I am trying simplify my approach to the figure. The smooth masonite makes it easy to brush out earlier steps until I get a shape I like. I used a photo I took of the background to finish the area behind the model. It's nice the paintings bring in other colors.
    Betsy Kendall


  

Tough Pose



We had a new model who took a great pose she had trouble repeating. Because I was sitting to the side I was able to correct a bit. I loved the way her skin took the light. The artist sitting opposite had to leave early; maybe I can capture her features some other night! I loved the way the two sets of blue-jeaned legs joined at the knee.
Oil on gessoed cardboard, 32" x 28"   Betsy Kendall 




Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Tracy

I hated every one of these drawings while I was still at the Firehouse. But when I came home and worked on them a bit more, I liked them a little better. They're all done in pastel and colored pencil, with a little india ink. The paper is watercolor paper treated with sauce.







Sunday, March 6, 2011

Invitation to a Show

Kanna Aoki who paints in the Tuesday morning figure group will be showing paintings in March at Neilson Arts, 1537 Solano Ave in Berkeley. The opening receptions is Sat. March 12 from 7 to 9. She is showing with Barbara Maricle and Wilma Wyss who are both on our Reemerging Artist list. Hope to see you there.


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Firehouse at Night


I have started scratching the surface of canvas covered in a thin film of dark paint. At night, it seems easier to start from the dark, instead of from a light-colored canvas. Then I paint on top of this film and the values stay dark enough. For the light areas, I scrape the space they occupy with a palette knife... if I remember to bring one!