Portrait of Delia, and Hanford Cloudscape by Laura Gable

"Delia" oil painting sketch on 8x10 canvas, ©Laura Gable

"Clouds Above Hanford" 8x6 oil painting on oil paper, ©Laura Gable

Working on the daily paintings allows you to paint all manner of things. My artist friend Delia popped by the studio yesterday, so she sat for a quick portrait sketch. The light from the window shifted quickly, so we wrapped it up after about 1.5 hours, but it was fun to capture the nuances of color on the beautiful high cheekboned planes of her face. She did a lot of chatting, as she filled me in on her life, so I'm not quite sure that I got the smile on her lips to move to her eyes. Oh and as John Singer Sargent said, "There's something about that nose that's not quite right." (Or did he say it the mouth??) Yah I do like portraits and will give it another go soon.

The other painting is a small one I did on a piece of Arches Oil Paper, which I mounted to gatorboard.  It's from a photo I took up around the Hanford site near the Ringold entrance... a great spot to go do some storm watching. Working with the paper is interesting. It has a soft vellum texture and holds up to oil paint and washes surprisingly well. According to a few "how to" sites, it's best to put a thinned wash of oil paint down first which seems to keep the heavier strokes of color from absorbing totally into the paper. I've got a few spare pieces sitting about, so let me know if you want to practice on it. ;-)

Happy creating!!

In a Crowd

In a Crowd

Ever feel invisible in the midst of a crowd of people, or lost in a world of your own imagination? Gives the mind pause to think how visible or invisible we can seem at times. When I was little I had recurring dreams of being invisible. Wonder if that's normal for shy children? I also dreamed that I could fly a lot. I'd go running and my feet were really springy, and then I'd bound up really high with each step.

"In a Crowd" 6x6 oil on board, ©Laura Gable, (I'm available)

I looked at our Art-a-Day blog stats this morning. We've been averaging about 150 page views per day. Pretty amazing! Keep it up everyone.

(my personal blog is: http://LauraGable.blogspot.com)

First ever portrait from a live model

So after about 15 years' worth of New Year's Resolutions about starting drawing again or even taking some formal lessons again for inspiration, I finally did it. After spending this Christmas drawing with my Dad back in the UK, I signed up for a portrait drawing class at Chicago's wonderful 'Palette & Chisel' Academy. I've never drawn from a live model before. Except the pen and ink sketch of my sister that I did on Boxing Day Evening. Which isn't quite the same..!

I've drawn from loads of photos of people, and drawn my own hands and feet more times than I can remember - but I've always felt more comfortable drawing 'things' and 'stuff' rather than people. Today reminded me why. Although I think it looks like a the woman who posed, it's not a great 'likeness' of the woman. Ironically I think I got a better likeness of my sister with the quick sketch. Probably as I've looked at her for 36 years though :)

I am pleased with it as a first start to live portraiture. My goal is to free myself up a bit and focus less on shading and layering - and more on proper measurement to achieve a model's unique features and expressions. The woman next to me did the most amazing charcoal sketch - beautiful expression, movement and likeness - with so few lines and subtle shading. Anyway - wanted to share.

Tiny Businessman

Hello all! Did you enjoy your Sunday?

For a good portion of it I Youtubed, painted and drank lots of lemon tea, my new favorite beverage. Yum! Tomorrow is the day I would normally work on the space mural , but unfortunately I have a dentist appointment. Blah, I'd much rather be painting, but good dental hygiene has it's perks.

After all that stimulating lemon tea, I sat down and knocked out this little portrait. It's of a goldfish Businessman. He is the CEO of a successful edible-seaweed food chain, and his name is Linus. Isn't he smart looking with his green tie and black suit?

I painted Linus on a tiny canvas, which is why his portrait was so quick! This isn't the only tiny portrait I done, the first one being this. I'm thinking that I'll make a bunch of these tiny portraites and hang them in a grouping on a wall...

Stay Artsy,

Sarah Bosserman

~Sarah

More Adventures in Face Paint

After yesterday's exercise in ceramic mask painting I still found myself wanting to decorate with designs. Using my newly bought Sharpies (Hurray!) I made this pattern-filled portrait of a girl.

I may have gone over-board with the designs, but I was having such fun!

A close up of the braids.

Stay Artsy,

~Sarah Bosserman

Mini Portrait #13 (revised)

So the tweaking of the last post became a full-on revision, with this mini portrait taking 2 painting sessions instead of one. But I am now happier with it ... the darks weren't nearly dark enough, and the midtones were revised. In reality the eyes aren't nearly so blue ... but in this photo they vibrate. (funny). But for an attempt at painting from life, I'm happy with it.