Life Drawing Class Studies

Life Drawing Studies

It's been thirty years since my last life drawing class and, at long last, I'm finally taking another. This one is taught by David Everett at Laguna Gloria and it's great to have found such a capable teacher. The instruction is geared toward finding the correct proportions, strictly in horizontal and vertical terms, which I am finding very helpful. The standing poses were twenty minutes, the center one, forty minutes. Not that there's much difference in the level of finish. They were done using a peel-able charcoal stick, which I have not yet learned to shade with. For the time being, I'm roughly cross-hatching to indicate shadow areas.

Homework

Glass Cube With Stem, 12x16
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This attempt is for a class I'm taking at Laguna Gloria, taught by Laurel Daniel. The class is focused on painting glass objects in still life. If this particular exercise taught me one lesson, it is to not be late to class! Still life classes often have several set-ups, and it's usually the case that the most challenging set-ups are the ones that always have room for a late-arriving student. With only so much painting time available in class, the simpler set-ups are at a premium. As a result, I was stuck with this little monster, which still has me seeing spots.

The Road Out II

The Road Out II, 8x10

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I painted this landscape from photos I took a year ago in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. My college buddy, Bruce Powers, hauled me up there to help him build a tool shed on the property he and his wife, Peggy, bought there a few years ago. This view is from the road that fronts their scenic property.

Lake Austin Piers

Lake Austin Piers, 5x7

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Our friend and fellow Plein Air Austin member, Cindy Ridge, hosted today's paintout. Her shady Lake Austin property was one of the few cool outdoor spots around Austin today. Torrential rains earlier in the week and today's sunny skies made for a hot and extremely humid day. Luckily for us the water temperature in this part of the lake is around 70º at the moment, thanks to a release from Mansfield Dam, upstream. The water temp and a slight breeze kept Cindy's shady yard nice and cool. When can we come back, Cindy?

Colonial In Color

Colonial In Color, 5x7

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The shapes and angles of this house in the late afternoon light attracted me. In reality, the house is all red brick, black shutters and the small addition at bottom left, sadly, is covered in white vinyl. This being the case, and because I wanted to accentuate the myriad shapes and angles, I decided to give each wall a color of its own. I like the festive, bungalow feel of the colors, even more so when I recall that this house is, in real life, the rectory of a church.

Barn On Avalon Road

Barn On Avalon Road, 6x6

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These farm structures stand about a quarter-mile outside Malvern, Ohio, heading south along Avalon Road, toward Lake Mohawk. The evening before I returned home, I drove all over the area to get as much photographic reference as I could. I was intrigued by this scene, in the way the buildings were nicely tucked into the road embankment and how their geometric shapes radiate out in different directions. The telephone pole approximates the vertical axis of the group.

'40 Chevy

'40 Chevy, 8x10

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This 1940 Chevy sedan was my Uncle Louis' first new car. It was restored several years ago by my cousins, Donald and Charles Furey and Donald's son, John. If I've left anyone out, Fureys, let me know and I'll update this post. Everyone involved did a magnificent job.

Not Dead Yet

Salt Lick Shack, 6x8

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This morning's Plein Air Austin paintout was on the property of a famous central Texas Bar B-Q joint, the Salt Lick, in Driftwood. Before this image convinces you never to visit said gathering place, rest assured this is not the actual restaurant. In fact, this forlorn structure is a good quarter mile away, back where some maintenance and repair equipment is kept. I guess you could call this a supply shed, as it's full of all sorts of, "supplies." I don't think you'll find any of them on a working inventory list, however.