The Florence Academy of Art Fundrasier

I feel very fortunate to have graduated from The Florence Academy of Art. During my time there I met inspirational artists that still encourage my artistic pursuits today. They are having an art auction, "Drawing on the Masters". It is a fundraiser to support their educational programs, the pieces are either copies of master drawings or original works that were influenced by a master drawing. I wanted to contribute so I squeezed in a little copy of Peter Paul Rubens:) The art work that I've seen for the show is stunning, check it out if you can:) I hope the auction goes well!

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Here is my copy of Peter Paul Rubens' Study for Christ for ‘The Elevation of the Cross', 5"x7" pencil & white chalk.

Fall Clearance at The Palette & Chisel

The Palette and Chisel will be having a fall clearance sale Saturday, November 11. It's a great opportunity to see a lot of work by many artists all in one day:) I will have theses studies available, they are all 8"x 10". I hope to see anyone in the area there! 

Emily

I finally made it to another open studio this weekend. It's been a while since I've painted from a model, it's great practice. Emily posed during The Palette and Chisel's open house, which if you came out Saturday thank you for leaving your house in the pouring rain. Another benefit of making it to an open studio is I was able to see their current show, Open House Chicago, there are some really nice pieces and it's healthy to get out of your own workspace for a while and see what other people are doing. The show features mainly Chicago themed works and will be up until October 22, stop by if you can!

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Here is my study of Emily, it's 8''x 10'' oil on panel.

Chicago Architecture Tour 2017

The Palette and Chisel will be having an open house during the architecture tour this weekend, I hope to see anyone in the area there! I've lived in Chicago for 6 years and I've still not gone on an architecture tour. I've planned on it a few weekends but life gets in the way I guess, or you don't realize what you have at you fingertips until you move.

Luckily, The Museum of Science and Industry is not too far away and it is beautiful. The building was originally built for Chicago's World Fair to exhibit fine art, which I learned from watching EXPO: Magic of the White City. If you haven't seen it I'd recommend it. Plus it's narrated by Gene Wilder and who doesn't love him?  I could probably work from the museum every day and still find little details I didn't notice before.

 

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Here is a drawing of one the reliefs going along the building. 

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The framed drawing, with my tiny little house plants.

Alex

I dream of being prepared and early for everything but often that doesn't happen. This was an unusually busy weekend since the restaurant I work for was open for Mother's Day brunch. Which means doubles for everyone and less time for me to pull my life together. It was a great turn out though and I hope all of the Mothers enjoyed their day!

Sunday after midnight I realized I forgot to put an imprimatura on the panels I use for these studies. They are also in a box somewhere and I did not feel like rummaging through to find them. Instead of giving up and skipping the open studio I used an old canvas that's been sitting around my apartment. I wasn't able to finish it because the model couldn't make it anymore or some sort of scheduling conflict, there is always a scheduling conflict.  

The old painting was so much darker than what I usually have for my imprimatura so I massed in the lights earlier than normal. I also used charcoal to roughly block in the figure this time. For me seated poses or reclining poses are more challenging. I hope with practice to get better with them. Near the end of the session I re-established the outline and shadow shape, trying to hold on to the drawing. Unfortunately this pose was too uncomfortable for the model to continue with it.

Here is the final sketch. 8 x 10 in oil on canvas.