archival prints as gifts

I recently purchased a super-duper printer that spits out archival prints of my work. I needed an awesome thank you gift for some folks so I fired off a print of their choice and framed it up! I can get used to these sketches getting framed! 

Whoa, it's been a while (part 1)

It's been a while since a meaningful post, so here it goes:

I've had a very busy July and am finally back in town, caught up and ready to dump all of my sketches in one post. It'll be a long one so bear with me. 

I bought a cool sketchbook at one of the oldest art supply shops--Sennelier in Paris, France and had to give it a run for the month of July. I started this book on July 7th and almost completed! This may be a new record for me. 

I broke in the new sketchbook during my visit to Neeburyport Mass.:

Now that I enjoy sitting on a beach I got some sketching done on Plum Island, Mass. 

And as Scott and I toured some breweries like Riverwalk Brewery and Newburyport Brewery, I sketched a little to capture the occasion. 

Some quick bar sketches at the Grog.

I had the most awesomest opportunity to join 40 other art teachers from 20 states at the Mass College of Art and Design for a 7 day TAB institute. And my goal was to learn as much as I could and to sketch as much as I could. Mission accomplished. 

This first one was our first dinner out at a cool restaurant just outside Fenway Pahk. Who just got pummeled by the Yankees three games in a row. I reminded a lot of people that as they walked by. 

Our first talk at the institute. People presenting are perfect subjects! 

More presenting. 

We had some seasoned teachers present some station ideas for our rooms and I had a 5 minute window to capture them!

A quick sketch between lunch and class--I still want to add color to this guy. 

We had this cool thing one night where you got to present 20 slides and had 20 seconds per slide to chat. Your subject could be whatever! 

We got to tour Fenway Studios which are artists studios that have been there for 100 years! These studios were to die for! 

During a tour of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, I snuck away to sketch a 5th century sculpture. 

Our last night in Boston, we trekked down to the ward and dined on seafood. There happened to be a concert right next door so we stuck around long enough for a...

Portrait PARTY! 
We passed around my sketch book and we all did blind contour line drawings at dinner! Only with 6 art teacher can you get away with this at dinner! 

Mall creepin'

I hate, and I mean, HATE, Starbucks coffee, tea, desserts, even their napkins are horrible (try using them to clean brushes while painting). BUT the devoted fans lined up tapping on their cell phones, ordering half-calf, double espresso, caramel, non-fat, non-sweet, chocolate, cappuccino, latte, iced coffee dessert drink make for great subjects! 

[pilot V5 pen, PITT cool gray markers, a gigantic PITT white marker in a gray toned Strathmore sketchbook]

Sketchin' at the Louvre

wednesday night painting!

My better half brought home some lovely sunflowers and all day wednesday I was super excited to bring them to painting class and paint them! I've attempted flowers before and it didn't go as planned. So after a few false starts I pounded out a 12" x 16" painting! It was a ton of fun and yet another painting where I feel like I am "getting it"! 

[oil paint on 12"x16" canvas]

wed. night paintin'

It is (was) wednesday! That means painting night! I was digging for some reference when I remembered this cool picture a local photographer friend had taken. I saved it to my phone and thought "this would make a cool painting". I set up my phone, turned the auto-lock off and got to work! 

This is probably the first painting I have made where I am super-excited about the outcome, and during the whole process I had a clear direction, and an idea where I wanted the piece to go. It was awesome! 

After the hour it took to paint, I wasn't in the mood to paint another panel. So I grabbed my sketchbook and sketched one of the women who was working. She is very animated when she works and made a great subject. 

[painting: oil paints on 8x10 gessobord panel]
[sketch: pilot V5 pen with PITT cool gray markers, and white gel pen in a NEW Strathmore Toned Gray Sketchbook]

last wednesday night painting

Whoops! I forgot about these guys! 

The first painting was an edit to a painting of the Canandaigua boathouses that I started a few weeks ago. I was unhappy with it and edited some of the shadows and pushed some colors. Much better! 

The second was a small plant in the corner and I decided to make an impromptu still-life. 30 minutes later--Voila!

[Oil paints on 8x10 gessoboard]

wed. night paintin'

wednesday nights mark my excitement for the week because that means i get a sloppy burger and i get to paint with oils. i haven't found my subject matter i am married to yet, bouncing between still-life's and painting from photos. i am not a fan of painting from a photo because it isn't "fun". i don't get the depth from seeing something in real life, if the lighting is off, i can't just turn on a light and adjust--you are stuck with what you are looking at in an photo. so while a few artists were eating lunch the other day there was this little butter container that a finger had pushed into creating a little wave of yellow aluminum and some neat shadows. it was a neat little object, a fun composition in a tiny little butter container. i immediately thought "cool! that's going to be my subject--a little butter container!!". of course i left it at home and forgot to bring it! there is always next week! 

instead i was stuck with painting from a photo--more boathouses! 

[oil on gessoed MDF panel, 8x10]

wed. night painting

i was uber-excited to get to my wednesday night painting class. i got all setup, all ready to go, and i ad no idea what to paint. another student had the idea to paint this still life. a cliched wine bottle, carafe, and some grapes. i wasn't feeling it and neither was my instructor. so i wiped it down and started again. i am still unhappy with the results and i think the MDF panel is going to meet mr. turpentine and mr. sander next week. 

wednesday night painting!

here is tonight's adventure. i was trying to capture the progression of the painting process. but i got too into the painting and forgot some other shots. oh well. there is always next week!

tools: [oil paint on board]

MAG

my sketching buddy, genine and i met up at the memorial art gallery for a little sketch outing. we parked ourselves in a room with a lot of sculptures. i was intrigued by a pair of wooden sculptures from the 1200s--more specifically, st. john. the lighting was perfect, and my human model didn't (couldn't?) move! it was perfect. 

about half way through our sketch outing, the pipe-organ in the next room kicked in and we quickly relocated so we could hear the ancient musical instrument. we were serenaded with a wide-range of musical selections and i sketched some odd fountain with a boy and a fish on top. the sculpture was very dark, and so i started with the darks only and worked towards lights. it was tough since my brain was fitting in things that were there, but i couldn't technically see. stupid brain. 

palomino blackwing pencil, warm gray PITT pens, triton colored pencil (for the shadow), cheap white gel pen, in a strathmore toned sketchbook