Portrait Sketch

This is a sketch for one of my current commissions, a portrait of the president of Des Moines University. If the university accepts this compositional design, the final painting will start in a few weeks. This sketch is 11x14 on panel. The final work will hang in the university library. The intent is to emphasize not only the sitter's current occupation but also his past as a four-time governor of Iowa. So the golden dome on the right is the Iowa capitol and the dark shape on the left will eventually be the university's tallest building, the Clinic. This will be completed and delivered by spring of next year, in time for an unveiling during Commencement Week.

Another portrait

Here is a portrait in progress. This is oil on 2x16 panel. The portrait itself is posthumous but since I knew the sitter I think the colors and likeness are pretty close. I posted the sketch on this blog back in March and since then I've worked sporadically on this one.

My palette generally doesn't change much. For this one I'm using cad yellow, cad red, irg ruby, burnt sienna, raw umber, cobalt blue and ivory black. My mixing white is zinc w. and I also use lead white, mixing in about 1/3 titanium white for added opacity.

This one will be finished in a week or two, I think.

Starting Fresh

Yesterday I had the opportunity to start a new portrait. I love the beginning of a painting. Lately I've been toning my panels (I like linen panels from New Traditions) with Mars black. I take the paint, which is relatively lean, and add some underpainting medium from Studio Products, then thin with turp to a consistency of thin cream. I brush that on and then wipe back to about value 5. Then I'm ready to paint.

My sitter arrived right on time and we took some time to look around the studio before choosing a spot for her chair. After a few false starts, we settled on a well-lighted spot in front of the studio door. I shot perhaps a dozen reference photos and then started an oil sketch. I used zinc white and lead white, cad yellow light, cad red light, irgazine ruby, burnt sienna, raw umber, and ivory black.

I don't paint the the same way every time, but these last months I've been using raw umber thinned with turp to lay in an initial, rough drawing. The drawing is mostly simple outlines and landmarks at first, but then I begin to lay in the darkest masses. The toned canvas is the mid-range of values, and then I can add lighter values.

Here's a glimpse of about 90 minutes' work yesterday. I clipped the reference photo onto the panel this morning as I began working on the likeness. While the sitter was here I was much more concerned with color notes. Today we work on the resemblance.

Also, I put the finishing touches on that streetscape I sketched and posted below. Here's "Victor's," oil on panel, 12x16. It will be shipped as soon as framing is completed. I sent a jpeg to the patron and he was delighted. It's great to make somebody happy.

Victor's

Below you'll find a sketch (9x12) on panel of a street scene in Clifton Forge, Virginia. The owner of the building commissioned me to paint a view of his father's restaurant, a fixture on the main commercial street there. If you look below at the post titled "Virginia Art Festival," you'll see a photo of my booth with the "Victor's" sign peeping out just above the tent.

When I started this one I wanted to show the entire street, but after giving it some thought and doing perhaps a dozen thumbnail sketches, I settled on a tighter composition like the one shown here.

This is an oil sketch, intended to work out values and relationships of color, but I like it enough to show, so here 'tis. The colors are mostly earths, including pale yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and raw umber, but I did paint the tree with cobalt blue and cad yellow, and I punched up the reds with a touch of cad red. Lately I've been using zinc white for mixing color--much cleaner-looking--but for more opacity I often add lead white. I also used ivory black here and there.

Contemporary Realism

A few days ago, a friend sent me a score or so of digital photos of the work of Ron Mueck, the British sculptor whose work is in any number of important collections and whose huge and surprising "Crouching Boy" (in the photo at right) was a keynote of the London Millenium Dome.

In the same way, the monumental, masklike face shown here is also startling. It's startling because of the expression and because of the extreme hyperreality it exudes. I had a chance to see it in the Saatchi Gallery before it moved from the old London City Hall not far from Big Ben. The work is disturbing--like being in very bad difficulty with one's father--an effect no doubt intended. Although my friend sent me a lot of interesting pictures, I'm only posting these few, including that last one, a truly amazing piece. It's a newborn with the umbilical cord still there, and a truly huge piece, besides.

As an example of good

Contemporary Realism, it would be hard to best Mueck at his best. I enjoy work that has humanity and emotional content and Mueck's work has it in spades. There are many others working in a realist mode these days, but I see so much that looks alienated, aloof, distant, or sometimes just dull that my eyes tend to glaze over. Ho hum. Another distracted, unhappy image. Of course, the artistic

image is too often laden with angst and ennui.

And last, what's the big deal about size? So many of the Modernists before them and the people of our own era work in such gigantic sizes--Twombly, Close, and jeez, even that vacuum cleaner fellow. In my mind enormity in art is simply a gimmick unless there's some point being made. I think Mueck fools around with size for any number of reasons. His "Dead Dad" is considerably smaller than life-size while many of his others verge on the monumental. Regardless of his motive, Mueck never fails to interest me.

So here are a very few images of his work, just because I like it.

A New One

I've been working on a few pen and ink studies of railroading subjects. Pen and ink is a fascinating medium, and can be quite unforgiving but provides real opportunities for use of line drawing.

This is an E8 diesel locomotive of the 1950-1970 era, drawn from a reference photo. It is 6x7 on 2-ply Bristol board.

Portrait in Progress

This is the next thing on my easel. It's only a color sketch--the result of a two-hour sitting yesterday--done in preparation for a much larger portrait. The eventual portrait will be one of those "official" kind that includes background items commemorating the career of the subject, who is a former state governor.

The surface was toned with Mars black, wiped back to approximate value 5. Colors on the palette included zinc white, yellow ochre extra pale, cadmium red, a cool pyrollo red, burnt sienna, raw ochre, and ivory black. I sometimes use flake white or even a touch of titanium white when I want a bit more opacity.

This is oil on panel, 11x14.

A Couple of New Ones

Here are two of my newer works. I finished these early last month but in the flurry of activity that preceded the Virginia show, I had no time to post these. One of them (the more yellow one) sold before I left. A friend was visiting the studio and snapped it up. Both are 6x8.

According to some experts, landscapes and florals seem to sell better than nearly any other genre. Last year I did a 30x36 of the central rosette of an aloe plant but having neither time nor space to transport a painting of that size I made a number of smaller pieces. Altogether there were perhaps a dozen of these but most are no longer available.

Virginia Art Festival

I spent a good part of last week in Clifton Forge, Virginia, showing at an outdoor art and crafts festival. Called "Magic in the Mountains," the festival featured mostly local artisans and musicians. Clifton Forge is situated in the mountains of southwestern Virginia and is literally surrounded by beauty. This is a snapshot I took from one of the higher parts of town. The mountains seem to go on and on in the distance. And you can see the big Chesapeake and Ohio railyard in the center, rear.

The show was held on one of the main streets in the town, one side of which was cordoned off for the booths. Mine is in the photo. Anyway, the other side was busy all day with auto traffic. Other exhibitors I talked to thought that it would be a problem, but in the end I think the auto traffic added to festival attendance. Somebody who hadn't heard about it may have come through, seen the booths and decided to stop.

I sold a few paintings and managed to secure a couple of commissions, too. More on the commissions after the details are nailed down.

Overall, it was a great trip, a successful show, and some real fun seeing old friends again. We're going back.

Finally Finished

Here are the final versions of the two portraits I posted a couple of months ago. Both are 20x16 on panel. The portrait of Linda was done in three life sessions plus a couple of sessions based on studio photos. She was a real pleasure as a sitter, showing great good humor. She gave this to her husband, who I'm told was delighted--a great compliment for a painter.


The other (below) is of my friend David that I posted here earlier this spring in an intermediate state. He's a professor of biochemistry and nutrition. We spent three really delightful sessions discussing everything from global warming to English and American politics. Originally from London, he's a great conversationalist and friend.

Portrait of Roy, Redux

Here is the final version of my portrait of Roy, shown in it's initial stages below. This one took a while longer because I was struggling with the skin tones. Roy lives on the east coast and all I've had to complete this one was reference photos. I plan on giving this one to him in a month or so when my wife and I are in Virginia for an art festival and show.

Meantime, here he is.

Spring Fever?

As ever, spring brings the need to be outside. The few weeks of May we've had so far have kept me outdoors more than in, working the gardens, a situation that means less progress on several of the works that have been in progress for these past couple of months. That's not to say that I've not been working--I have. But I haven't started anything new, alas. And I haven't had time to do any photographs. I do have two new portraits in the works, one of which is posthumous, the other based on photographic references, but neither of which has progressed quite so well as I had hoped. And although I've no photos to post, I've also been working on and off on several small landscape sketches that I may turn into full-size paintings. Almost all of the sketched landscapes are 6"x8" on gessoed panels. Perhaps I'll have time to post photos of these as the next few days progress.

On the portraiture front, I did deliver the final version of the female portrait I posted in April--"Portrait of Linda"--and will be tweaking and delivering the other (of David, the biochemist) I uploaded at the same time. When that one is photographed and ready to go, I'll post the final version of that one, too.

The painting of those d***ed cats is approaching completion but needs considerably more work. I've wondered if I'm avoiding it deliberately, but decided that I'm wrong about that; I've simply needed more reference material. Yeah...that's the ticket!

Spring and New Paintings

Well, the warm weather seems to have arrived with a vengeance. I checked outside and it's 95 degrees. In Iowa. In April. Global warming? Or Satan? You be the judge.

I've been somewhat derelict in posting new work. My only excuse is that I've been quite busy these last weeks and haven't taken the time. During late March and early April there were several sitters in the studio. To the right is my friend David, a professor of biochemistry and nutrition. I've been working to complete his portrait before the end of the month, but alas, that clearly isn't going to happen. He's a very good sitter and great fun to have in the studio.

Besides David's portrait (which is 16x12 on panel, by the way) here is the other portrait I've been working on during April. This one is to be a gift to the sitter's husband when it's complete. Like the portrait of David, it is 16x12 on panel. And as you can see, this one is closer to completion, but still several tweaks and adjustments remain. I did give her an opportunity to look at this nearly-complete work and she was delighted. So as soon as I do some more work on it and make a final photograph, this one will be delivered.

Also this month I'm going to be initiating a series of still life paintings using various objects. I would imagine that I'll

make the paintings relatively small, probably about the same

size as these two portraits.

There will also be at least three other portraits in progress during the coming summer, and I expect I'll post one or two photos of those some time in May or June.

Oh, and about those cats. The painting is progressing slowly but reasonably well. I'm relatively satisfied with the composition and the cat's owner likes the colors and the progress so far. In the next few days I'll post a pic of the work as it now stands. Much to do on that one.

Gathering Momentum

These past few weeks, as I've moved into the new studio and resumed a more complete painting schedule, it's been something of a struggle to get going. Every time I'd pick up a brush there were literally dozens of other tasks--unpacking materials, sorting old paintings, etc.--that whispered urgently for attention. Nevertheless, like an old freight engine, I've been gathering a bit of momentum.

In other words, studio work is picking up. Over the past several days I've had two new sitters in for portraits, and I've two more portraits in the works. I've also managed a few more cat sketches, in preparation for that one, which is next on the list because the lady who asked me for it is starting to get impatient. And of course there are always drawings to do and ideas to sketch out. Come to think of it, I did a small, alla prima sketch today (8x6 inches) on a gessoed panel that I'll photograph and post in the next day or two.

Life is good.

Portrait of Roy

This portrait of my friend Roy is nearing completion. It needs some work on the dark passages, particularly in the hair and areas of shadow on the left side of the head and neck.

Portraiture was traditionally thought to be the most difficult of the various genres of art, and for good reason, in my view. Portraits require the painter to not only achieve a reasonable likeness (although everyone misses nuances here and there), but also appropriate color, a good pose, and some kind of emotional content. John Sargent used to say that portraits are paintings of people with something wrong about the mouth. I think that's a fair assessment.

Portrait Sketches

Despite my cat commission, life goes on in the portrait world, too. Here are a couple of portrait studies, color sketches on canvas panels. The male is on a 14x11 panel, the female on a 12x9. Each photo is a bit different from the colors in the studio.

Neither is completed yet, although the painting of the woman is pretty close. Each of these has been challenging in its own way. The male portrait is from two life sessions plus a reference photo, but needs a bit more work. The female portrait is a posthumous one, and done from a black and white reference besides, which is always difficult. Looking at them here online it could almost be that the reverse is true. I'm uncertain why that should be, except that the value contrasts are a bit stronger in the posthumous photo reference than in the male portrait, done in the studio, where the direction of light made the sitter's face look a bit flat. Clearly there is more to do on the central areas of his face, particularly to enhance values and color. Since there's more to do on each, so stay tuned to see what the final outcome will be.

In Like a Lion

This month began with a blizzard. Payback for the mild November and December. Over the last couple of days, a warm air mass overrode the existing cold air mass in the upper Midwest, resulting in snow, "thundersnow" (a woman in Des Moines was struck by lightning), and ice. The interstate highways are closed. All 99 Iowa counties are declared disaster areas. Eighty people had to be rescued from their cars at the Audubon exit of Interstate 80 yesterday afternoon. Dreadful weather. Don't go outside weather.

But here in the studio, I've been snug, warm, and happily working on those cats. I'm also working on a portrait of my friend Roy, who graciously sat for me last weekend, during our last big snowstorm. And there are always books and technical information to study. So the March lion hasn't managed to bite me, however much it's mauled the rest.

So here is a study of a cat. Actually, a sleeping calico.

Cats, cats, cats

These drawings are graphite on paper, ranging in size from 8x10 to around 5x7. They're studies for part of a commission I'm working on. Some of the fun of this is studying the anatomy of cats (and by extension, other quadrupeds). Most animals that go on four legs have similar articulations and bones, so understanding one helps a great deal with others. I partly accepted this commission because of the challenge of animal anatomy. I've painted a lot of subjects, except animals. So this is an opportunity to learn, and I'm treating it as such. These studies will probably not be part of the final painting, but they've taught me some very valuable things.

Studio

A roomy and comfortable place to work is the dream of most artists, I think. These photos, taken a few days ago, show my newly-remodelled studio as I've been moving in. Note that there are still boxes to unpack and shelves to rearrange (I'm doing it a little at a time). The walls are a beautiful dark green that will complement skin tones.

There is plenty of room for storage and room enough to step back and then forward as I paint. You can see the model's chair next to the easel, a couple of work tables by the windows, and the cleaning station in another corner.

It's mighty good to be home.

President

Since it's February, and also because I did a painting of our other February president not long ago, I dug up a famou old photo to copy.

I was trying out some Blockxx paint today and decided to do a sketch of one of our past presidents. This is 8x6 on gessoed panel. I used white, yellow ochre, cad yellow light, cad red, a DaVinci red rose sample, Blockxx Blue (phthalo based), mars black, and raw umber. I toned the panel to about value 5 first, then just painted this alla prima.

Now that my studio is finally less cluttered, I've been working more. The next few days will be color sketches for a commission I've been promising since last fall. Then maybe a final touchup of a commission I delivered a couple of months ago.

At least it's warm in the studio.

Cat Commission

Commissions are the life blood of many an artist's career. They're most commonly portraits, but once in a while someone is commissioned to do a picture of a home or a pet or even, rarely, a favorite car or motorcycle. I've just been commissioned to do a portrait of not one but three cats. Given that I've not done much in the line of animal pictures, this one promises to be challenging. It isn't that drawing and painting an animal is much different than doing a person or a still life; like any other subject, if you look critically, plan, and paint what is before you, you're likely to produce a reasonably accurate representation. In preparing for painting cats I'm doing a few graphite drawings of various felines. And just for practice on non-humans, I've been daubing away at the dog portrait on the right. It isn't complete, but nearly so. This is 8"x 8" on gessoed panel, the "sitter" is a friend's pug. I will probably give this one to the dog's owners.

Another silverpoint

These last few days I've been working in silverpoint, drawing skulls. Drawing skills are crucial for portraiture, particularly to understand the underlying bone structure and musculature. So I've been doing some skulls as a way to better understand the face. As to why I use silverpoint (a more demanding medium) instead of charcoal or graphite, the answer is mostly because it interests me and because it forces accuracy. With silverpoint I can't achieve truly dark darks the way I can with charcoal but on the other hand, close attention can give enough value steps to provide sufficient definition of form. It's rather like an exercise with paint wherein one starts with a relatively lighter color and can still manage to achieve decent contrast between cast shadow and light. And since silverpoint is pretty much indelible, intial accuracy of drawing is crucial if the drawing is to be even close to representation. Here's one of the skulls, done on an 8"x6" gessoed hardboard panel. The grouond is actually white, not gray, but that's the limitation of my photographic skills.

Silverpoint

I've started doing a few drawings in silverpoint as a way of working on my skills. Silverpoint is in some ways a delightful medium because of the soft gray tones you can achieve but it's also demanding because it isn't erasable. The tool is a rod of annealed silver that lays down a line that eventually tarnishes (just as real silverware does), turning a lovely gray-brown when exposed to air for varying periods of time. Early Renaissance painters who used tempera often made careful underdrawings in silverpoint since it doesn't smear and remains intact. Like those artists, I did the drawing at right on a small panel prepared with traditional gesso (hide glue and whiting) because I like the smoothness of the toothy surface and the sturdiness of the board. This one is "The Dying Woman," and measures 7"x5".

A New Study

Let's make it a record: two posts in one long weekend. This is a study I've been working on (now approaching completion) of an old Saturday Evening Post cover of George Washington by Joseph Leyendecker, one of the premier illustrators, along with his friend Norman Rockwell, of the golden age of illustration. This one was from the late 1930s and was featured on a February cover.

My version is 12"x 9" on panel and is a bit different than Leyendecker's; I added background wallpaper to emulate the Stars and Stripes and used my own palette of colors rather than trying to match those in the original. If you'd like to see some more of his works, try this website: http://www.curtispublishing.com/List/html/LeyendeckerMayer.html for a huge list.

The New Year

If you haven't looked in here in a while, welcome. If you've checked in regularly, mea culpa for the hiatus. Life got complicated during the fall, mostly because of the illnesses of two close family members. Henceforth, with family emergencies finally ended and life back to normal, I expect to post here considerably more often. So if I've disappointed you before, take heart and come back again, 'cause there'll be new stuff here on a more regular basis.

Studio remodelling is done and I've moved in (although there is still a lot of "stuff" in boxes) and gotten back to a wider variety of work. During the fall I managed to complete a portrait commission, which I've posted on the Heartland Studio site, and worked rather sporadically on sketches, drawings, and other items. Here's a look at the new space. Notice the commissioned portrait on the easel. This is the painting I delivered only a few days ago. Tough to work in the midst of such confusion...

Thanks again for being patient (if you are) and checking in once in awhile. I'll be in touch.

The summer's been dreadful for painting. The main studio area is still a shambles from remodelling; the walls aren't finished nor is the ceiling and there is dust everywhere.

I've been working sporadically, mostly on a portrait commission that's due in September, but even that work has been difficult to manage with workmen in and out and nowhere else to go to set up. If I had known how long this was going to take, I might have rented space elsewhere, but now it's probably too late. Live and learn I suppose.

We did a couple of outdoor festivals these past few weeks, one here in Iowa and another in Virginia, and those went quite well--well enough that we're considering a couple more this fall and in the spring. Festivals are a mixed bag, in my experience. It is important to choose carefully, for one thing. If you do a show, be sure of the emphasis. Some outdoor shows seem to emphasize crafts rather than fine art; that often means, in turn, that based on past experience the folks who arrive for the show aren't there for paintings. One of our outdoor shows was mostly crafts; we won't do that one again. The other was about evenly divided between the two and looks like it will develop into a good venue.

I'm posting a pic of our booth at the Virginia show.

The past month has been very busy owing to a summer show schedule. May 28th was a one-day show and sale; coming up this weekend is an outdoor, one-day festival; and the weekend after is a three-day event. Needless to say, I've been preoccupied with checking inventory, varnishing and framing works for the shows, and trying to occasionally make time to paint. I've painted around a dozen small works ranging in size from 6x8 to 9x12 but haven't had time to shoot photos yet. Maybe after the show this weekend.

There are a also quite lot of works in progress, but those won't be ready to show for a while, except the nearly completed portrait "Lily," which was posted at my online gallery, Heartland Studio.
More work later. Thanks for looking in.

Whitaker Workshop #16

And here is my own painting at the end of Day 5.

The photo is not only out of focus but there's glare on the top of the head. Still, this is close to the colors and values of the original.

I know you've read the postings here, so thank you, Bill, for such a great week.

Whitaker Workshop #15

And here is the demonstration portrait of Alexandra at the end of the workshop. Although the chest, blouse and arms aren't quite complete, the face is nearly so. Notice the use of warms and cools. The white patch on the background has been painted into with a lovely blue, giving interest and liveliness.

Whitaker Workshop #14

Here is the demonstration portrait on Day 4.
You can see how Bill used a painting knife to add white to the background. In order to make lively backgrounds he often uses a black glaze or a patch of white into which he paints color. Notice that the edges are cleaner and more detail has been worked in. The patches of mosaic color are now more fused and blended.

Whitaker Workshop #13

Day 4 of the workshop. We begin as always with a continuation of Bill's demonstration painting of Alexandra.

In part because so many demonstrations seem to show how to begin but do not show how to finish, he continues this through the entire week. You can go as far as you like, he says, finding and correcting detail after detail. If you're the kind of painter who enjoys a more highly polished work, this is invaluable assistance.

Today he spent extra time on the background and also on edges. Making some edges harder and others much softer by painting background colors closer and closer helps. At this point, working on the facial details requires using smaller brushes, especially sables. With the background, he advocated using a black glaze to push it farther away then working paint back into the wet glaze to create a more lively effect.

As he did each day, Bill spoke while painting. A few things he suggested that we remember:

• Always set up a "home position" for observing and painting.
• Work standing. There is no better way. It is vital that you move.
• Never stop correcting the form.
• Use the lightest touch possible with your brush. You can layer wet into wet that way.
• If you make a mark, you have something to correct.

Today, small details are starting to come into focus on the painting.

Whitaker Workshop #12

Here is an intermediate step in my profile portrait. Although it's not obvious, there are now spots of brighter color (alongside the nose, on the cheekbone, the back of the neck) worked into the painting. Much of the subtlety of color is lost in digital photos, unfortunately. I've also corrected the drawing in a number of places. In addition, the pose is changed by dropping the model's shoulder and therefore giving her a more erect and graceful posture. The ear remains unfinished; there is much to do on the eyes and hair.

Whitaker Workshop #11

Reviewing the posts from yesterday I see that I neglected to add photos of the works in progress. Note that the portrait continues to progress as colors are added, bringing more and more coherence to the initial mosaic. Note that the background is beginning to coalesce as well.

Whitaker Workshop #10

Day 3 began with a continuation of the demonstration painting. I found that watching these demonstrations and then painting afterward did a couple of things. First it gave me cues and clues that helped me to go further with my own work; second I had a sense of painting alongside a true master, which was a real privilege.

Today the painting became much more coherent and whole. The painting day began again with scraping of the painting to remove ridges and imperfections of strokes. Incidentally, by using Maroger medium, the paint is dry to touch by the day after. Some artists in the workshop used Graham walnut-alkyd medium, which also dries quickly. I brought along my personal stash of Studio Products two-part Maroger. Bill mixes his medium into his main colors--white, gray, flesh, asphaltum, transparent red oxide, and raw umber. I mixed mine only into the white.

During the demonstration and the painting day, he continued to repeat:

• Use a light touch.
• Violate your edges.
• Go slowly.
• Correct often.
• Always look for ways to improve the work.
• The only work that counts is your very very best.

And of course there were a lot of others.

In the first photo above, you can see Bill's painting as it stood at the end of today's demonstration.

Whitaker Workshop #9

My own portrait of Alexandra continued to progress, albeit more slowly. This photo was taken at the end of day 2. Although the picture is a little dark, you can see that I spend a lot of time on the lights and halftones. Note too that this is a profile, a view I've not previously attempted with any degree of success. Its a very unforgiving view because there is less ability to show depth.

Although it appears that I've painted the blouse, what paint you see is still underpainting. The colors are really more gray and less green. Again I spent a lot of time correcting the drawing.

Whitaker Workshop #8

This image should give you a good idea of the lighting and progress on the portrait. Here you can see that more color has been added to the background. You can also see the mosaic-like paint application. Adding color means putting in patches to match the value, chroma, and hue of each particular part of the subject. Later, these patches are joined by adding areas of intermediate hues and values.

Whitaker Workshop #7

This photo shows how ivory black has been glazed over the shadows. Note that the darks have been painted into with color. Bill kept the hair quite vague and indefinite through this stage, but as in every step he worked very hard to correct the drawing. He's fond of repeating "we all draw poorly--that's why we have to practice and work hard at it."

Whitaker Workshop #6

Although I made these notes last week, my Internet connection at the hotel gave out on Tuesday and I haven't been able to continue posting until now.

On day 2, the workshop began with a continuation of the demonstration painting of Alexandra. Bill usually starts each painting session by carefully scraping off any ridges in the paint. Today he started by oiling out using Maroger medium. This procedure unifies the painting surface, lubricates it, and brings up "sunken" darks. Today he glazed over the shadow area on the jawline with ivory black mixed with a touch of raw umber. He made this a transparent area of darks and then painted into the glaze and pulled some of it into the lighter surrounding areas.

During the demonstration he talked constantly, relating again some of his most repeated lessons:

• Violate your edges
• Paint across the form (it gives more solidity).
• Use the lightest touch possible.
• Set up a "home position" and stay there to observe and paint.
• Have your brightest colors swim in a sea of gray.
• With color, start strong; you can always weaken the chroma as you go but it's harder to punch up.

Bill added color today, spotting in areas of color and value as he saw them. You can see the effect in the next two photos above.
Working this way, he painted about two hours or so every morning and we painted the remainder of the day. Bill spent a lot of time simply watching, seeing how each participating artist went about the work, suggesting techniques, corrections, and exercises in looking at the subject.
Perhaps the most useful exercise he suggested was to spend a lot of time looking at the model but without looking at one's painting. He suggested that we simply look at the model, experience her, and not think about anything. Just look; absorb the person's appearance. Get to know the landscape of the face. In fact, he advocates that one not think too much during the painting process. Bill says that he makes 2 to 5 sketches of each of his sitters, trying very hard to get to know their features, coloring, and structure. He paints from life almost every day.
(By the way, our model is Alexandra, the daughter of Chris Saper. Chris is a fine portrait painter with whom I've worked in the past. Chris was participating in the workshop as well.)

Whitaker Workshop #5

Here is my own effort with Alexandra, the same model as in Bill's demonstration below. This is painted on a toned support (I used turkey umber/ultramarine blue, thinned and scrubbed onto the surface with a rag. This is after about three and a half hours today.

Whitaker Workshop #4

After about two hours' work, Bill has added color. Note that he works all over the painting rather than finishing one passage and moving on to another. He lays in color in mosaic-like patches and avoids blending at this stage.

Whitaker Workshop #3

Somewhat farther along, Bill adds more detail and masses in the darks. This is perhaps thirty to forty-five minutes' work.

Whitaker Workshop #2

This is the way Bill Whitaker begins his portraits--usually on a toned support, using burnt umber or Gamblin's asphaltum. He strongly advocates getting the drawing right the first time but knowing that you really can't, he stresses continuous correction and an unrelenting critical eye.

William Whitaker Workshop

Like many artists, I'm always working to improve. Painting portraits and other subjects well is difficult. It takes study, application, and a great deal of time. Naturally, when the chance to work with someone as accomplished and helpful as Bill Whitaker I try very hard to take advantage of that chance. This week I'm participating in a workshop with Bill at the Scottsdale Artists School, a private art school here in Arizona. The school has any number of well-known painters and sculptors (almost all representational artists working with traditional materials) including Sherry McGraw, Greg Kreutz, and others.

Bill has been painting for more than 40 years and has been teaching for almost as long, so he has enormous experience and expertise to share. It's a real privilege to work with him; this is my third Whitaker workshop. I learn more every time. He's a strong advocate of painting from life and doing so in natural light. His opinion is that working from life is "the hardest challenge there is" in art. He believes that to understand form and light one must paint from life--people, fruit, bread, old shoes, objects from Goodwill, whatever--in order to see properly and to paint well. Bill says flatly that while photographs are a useful tool for the painter, working from photos has made painting decadent because photos not only distort form, they distort color too. Instead of copying photographs, he advocates painting from life every day, and he's as good as his word. Bill paints study after study of heads and figures, and says that he destroys perhaps one in three.

There are several maxims that Bill repeats over and over to the students in his workshops:
"Go slowly."
"In painting, 90% is the drawing."
"When in doubt, use a bigger brush."
"Violate your edges."
"All I ask is perfection." (of everyone, including himself)

Today Bill started a portrait and spent two hours demonstrating his methods. He uses a palette of flake white, ivory black, raw umber, transparent red oxide, asphaltum (not the 19th century color but a modern convenience mix from Gamblin), yellow ochre, cadmium red light, sap green, and ultramarine blue. Bill advocates using an arm palette because it allows closer comparison of color with the subject and the work and allows the painter to cut glare on the paint. Bill begins with a rough drawing, generally using the "sight-size" method. Using burnt umber or asphaltum plus a lot of medium he sketches the outlines of the head and masses in the darks. You can see how he starts in the first photo in the next entry. In the second photo above, he's added more detail, always correcting the drawing. Bill pays close attention to angles and proportions, working very very hard to perfect the drawing before he begins laying in color. Eventually, using the palette mentioned, he begins to place patches of color in the appropriate spots in a sort of mosaic of color, as depicted in the third image above.

So check back over the next few days. I'll try to keep a daily journal of the workshop, complete with pictures.

Small, scared kid

This is a painting I did a few weeks back of a kid whose has seen too much war and killing. It's 11x14 on a canvas panel. Not intended for sale, but worth a look.

Remodelling

Remodelling in the studio continues...

Most of my equipment is either in boxes or other useless places owing to remodelling of the studio. About the only thing anyone can do is continue to produce whatever work one can in the midst of chaos. I know that some painters--Francis Bacon comes to mind--had studios that resembled a trash heap instead of a work space, but not me. My studio is often cluttered, but like so many people I know where everything is in the midst of the detritus and so having it all boxed up and in adjoining rooms or in unusual locations is a significant trial for me.

The builders have added two more windows (and two more to come) and an exterior door to the studio. Coming next is demolition of the wall between the studio and an adjoining bedroom plus a new wall between the studio and a sitting room. That wall will have shelving on each side with a pocket door between them to close the studio off completely. The added space plus new paint (probably "Leffel green") and a new floor surface promises to make the remodelling very much worth it.

Now if it was just finished, I'd be a happy painter.

I've just made arrangements to spend an afternoon at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, a local primate research facility, getting to know a group of pygmy chimps there. I know that sounds strange, but it's true. I'm going to be introduced to a group there that have very high communication skills--they communicate readily with humans and they also understand English--so that I can eventually do some portraits of the individuals and also perhaps, some group paintings. I'm fascinated by these creatures so it's going to be a real adventure for me. I'm giving the woman who is the primary research worker this portrait of the prodigy of the group, whose name is Kanzi, which I'm told means "treasure" in one of the African languages. This portrait is oil on linen panel, 16x20.