Titus

Dinosaur

Dinosaur King and Dino Dan

Ice Age

Dinosaurs: Babies and Eggs

La Brea Tar Pits documentory

Dinosaurs Alive

I'm painting Titus now, he's watching movies and shows just like Verity did while I painted her.  This one is going much faster than hers, Titus sits still a lot better than his sister, of course he's two years older, so its not a surprise.  I skipped the underpainting this time because I'm working on a panel I'd already painted on, so I just did a basic alla prima start on the drawing.

Portrait of my father

Under-painting

Block-in (first color layer)

Layer 2

Layer three... almost done!

Still Life with Prudhon Academie

Drawing on board

Under-painting

Block-in first color layer

second layer

Final Layer

Simple new still life, my ubiquitous pewter pot (this is the third or fourth painting to feature it) and a Prudhon academie. Giving credence to the adage "well begun is half done"  I'm moving quickly through this painting, which is good because I have my next still life in mind already and I need to start it before cherries are out of season.  Its 11x14, I'm starting to really enjoy working smaller, mostly because I can complete them faster, which suits my ever-present readiness for the next painting (which in my head is always better than the one I'm working on).

The Anatomy of a Painting

Recently I was selected to be a part of an exhibition that combines my love of history and passion for painting. "Warrenville Inspired" is hosted by the Warrenville Historical Society and brings together 20 diverse artists to create pieces based on the history of Warrenville and/or the artifacts in the museum. For this exhibit, I have about 6 weeks to create a painting from concept to completion, which is not much time for me. Since I have to work so quickly, it is important that I follow my process very closely, which makes it the perfect time to record that process. So here is the step by step process of how I make a painting.

Step one: The Concept
For this exhibit, the artists were all invited to the Warrenville city museum to chose artifacts from which to take their inspiration. My inspiration came from the museum's exhibits of family life: a parlor set from the Warren family, the city's founding family, as well as the myriad of personal items on display, including a lovely white dress, and a beautiful drawing of an enigmatic young woman with black hair. My concept is a moment in between. The passage of time and the growth of people, the small moments, the in between moments that are forgotten the next day, but that create our lives and so create history.

Step two: Initial Drawing
As I begin to clarify my concept, the questions I ask myself begin to shape the direction of the painting. What story do I want to tell? What mood or feeling do I want to convey? The answers will help me decide on the subject of the painting as well as things like value and tonal range that will create the emotion. Then I begin to reach into particulars of subject, pose, and lighting and doing so I make a number of thumbnail sketches. Usually 6-10 before I hit on one that suits what I want to convey. These are small sketches done in pencil in my sketchbook, that help me decide on the composition.

Step Two: The Poster Study
Once I have decided on the composition, I hire a model and costume and pose them to fit the composition. I make more drawings and color studies (mini paintings focused on the patterning of light and patches of color). I also take a lot of photographs if I won't be able to work with the model later. Then I begin to work out the next steps, still focused on my concept. What will the light look like? What color and tones convey the feeling I want? I make a small (8x10), full color painting of the composition.

Step Three: The Full Size Drawing
Here I make a finished drawing in charcoal on paper of exactly what I want the painting to look like, to the exact size. In this case, the drawing is 22x28. Here I try to solve all of the problems I can with regards to proportion, line, and overall composition.

Step Four: The transfer
Once the drawing is done I transfer it to the panel. I always paint on high grade oil primed linen that is fixed to a wood board. It is expensive but worth it. I lay a piece of tissue paper over the drawing, tracing the large shapes. I don't trace the small detail because they won't read through the paper. Then I flip the tissue paper over and trace it with soft charcoal. Then I flip it back to the right side, lay it over the board and trace it again with a ball point pen, pressing hard enough to transfer the charcoal lines, but not hard enough to mar the canvas. At this point I use a small brush and a bottle of India ink inking it in and adding all of the small details in.

Step Five: The Underpainting
Next I wash over the entire board in raw umber thinned with turpentine, which helps give the painting a cohesive tonal effect, and makes it easier to judge value.

Then I wipe out the lights with a paper towel.

Next I darken the darks with more raw umber. This results in a complete value drawing, which acts as the underpainting. This step is important so that as I start the painting, I have all the values worked out so I can simply focus on color. The real advantage to working with a process is that it simplifies what you're working on, so you can focus on one thing at a time. First the drawing, where the only concern is shape and proportion and line, then in the underpainting you focus on value and finally when it's time to lay in the color, you can be sure that the drawing and the values are accurate so the focus is entirely on color.

Step Six: The Block-in
Here is where the color comes in. In full bodied paint, not thinned with anything, I begin to lay down the color. I work with a limited palette of Ivory Black, a mixture of Flake White and Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red,Ultramarine Blue, and Raw Umber. I begin to paint, section by section until the entire canvas is covered.

The last and final step is the finish. Here I gradually build up detail, mixing a medium of linseed oil and turpentine into my paint until I am satisfied with my finish, and the painting is done.

Serenity on the easel

Layer 2 out of four. Here I've started using medium and I'm beginning to develop the detail, especially in the dress.
Here is my current piece. I just finished the block in stage, so layer 1 out of 3 or 4, although with the detail on the kimono, it will probably be 4. This layer is strait tube paint, with little detail. My model is a friend of mine, who has sat for me before. She is sitting once a week and then I'm using photos and the kimono, to work when she is not there. It's 24x36, I'll probably work on it through January.


This is from the last time Melissa sat for me, about 5 years ago.

Place Setting

I should subtitle this one : "ellipses are hard to paint" Here is the still life I have going. I'm doing an entirely different set up from my normal work. It is in front of a window, so it's lit from behind, casting the whole scene in shadow. I have the underpainting and the first layer done at this point, with a lot of work to go. As I head into next week my primary focus will be getting my shapes right, and developing the airiness of the shadows. This is a neat challenge for me. 14x18

Bougereau Master Copy in progress

I started work on my fall paintings last week, and they are moving ahead rapidly. I've got three paintings on easels right now, a master copy, a still life, and a portrait that I'm doing from life. This is the master copy. I'm working from a poster-print of a William Bougereau painting. So far I've completed the first two stages of the painting. I did a tonal under painting in diluted raw umber on the canvas for my drawing, and then have done a simplified version of the painting, the block in , in straight tube paint. from here I will go on and continue to refine and fix in subsequent layers. The painting is 18X24.

Summer Atelier

This summer I attended the summer Atelier at The School of Representational Art in Chicago. The Atelier was two mornings a week, one with a model and one just to work on a still . I had attended there seven years ago and it was nice to see that nothing had changed and to reconnect with a few people.

Two unfinished paintings, each with approx. 15-20 hours of work into them. The zebra painting is 11x14 and the figure is 18x24. I should have been able to get it further along, but the model missed several days because of heat. The school is at the top floor of an old building and isn't air conditioned, not only that, the windows are closed and blacked out for light control and their is black fabric hung everywhere insuring that there won't be any air flow. But I'm a trooper and made it in every day and stood at my easel with sweat dripping down my back. Just to let you know how I suffer for my art, I also had to walk about 5 miles to and from train stations each day, uphill both ways barefoot,without a Starbucks in sight. Ok, not barefoot or uphill and I pass about a dozen Starbucks.