Recent oil paintings

Made In China
The severe expression of this small clothed doll
I found in a thrift shop captured my fancy--I imagined
I could feel the resentment of the assembly line
worker forced to paint an endless stream of these
small masked portraits.

Although I've been a complusive sketcher since childhood and have always drawn from life at every opportunity, over the last few years I've made time to paint for no other purpose than to express my own spirit. I've been fortunate in my illustration career to earn a living as a visual storyteller, and I love to bring a narrative to life through artwork, to animate and understand characters and explore their emotions and behavior in myriad situations. I expect to tell stories with artwork for the rest of my life, but I can't deny the intense pressure of creating vast amounts of intricate drawing under deadlines--often unreasonable ones--has lost the appeal it held in my eager adrenaline-charged youth. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m choosing projects carefully and arranging the rest of my affairs and responsibilities to allow me to give my best at a pace I can enjoy.
This improved schedule is also driven by the desire to draw and paint as a window to my intimations, to make visible my reactions to stimuli and experience free of the specific parameters that shape hired work.
The pictures above were painted from life over the last few years, usually during a brief respite from a pressing deadline. With each painting I am more amazed at the subtlety that can be expressed with oils—the medium draws forth ever more sensitive perceptions as you paint because it is so responsive to every whim and observation. Although I love watercolor and casein for the unique results possible with each, oil is the richest medium for the painter.

Pencil and wash studies

Two other studies from the same session as the prior post--the leaning pose is strengthened with a bit of black watercolor wash.

Two Pencil Studies

These two drawings were done several months ago--late 2006 I believe. This model is a favorite of our life drawing group--she's gifted with an inherent grace that inspires a beautiful image from every pose.

Sepia Ink Life Drawings

These three life drawings were done in sepia ink with an old fashioned steel nib dip pen (Gillott 303) and sable brush. It was a bit nerve racking because there was no chance to correct a mistake or backtrack over a line too many times without irretrievably damaging the paper, but for some reason I had the impulse to tackle the sessions tightrope style, with no net. I had to work slowly but it was a good bout of discipline, though I probably won't attempt it again for a while!

Conte, pencil and wash on gray paper

Conte on pale paper

This drawing was done in 15 or 20 minutes using conte crayon on very light gray toned paper, with a touch of white gouache to catch the sparkle in her eyes.

Opening Chat

The initial post of this blog (March 20) was my foray into the blog world, instigated as a step in learning to revamp and maintain my website. I didn't expect so many days to pass before delving into regular posting, but I intend to begin a constant flow now--so here goes!
I'm balancing various pursuits at the moment, and enjoying them all--after more than two decades of an almost constantly exhausting pace of producing thousands of images for countless clients in many fields of commercial art, I've recently moved into a new pace of choosing projects that inspire me to my best effort through some particular attraction of the subject matter. I'll be posting art from some of these works over the next few days, but today I'm sharing some of the personal work this new slower pace has allowed me to explore. Above are examples of recent life drawing sessions--a welcome chance to play with various mediums and relax into a study of the beautiful nude human body, unpressured by deadlines and format restrictions---