A Portrait of Joe

Recently, I had the good fortune to paint my friend Joe, who came to sit for me several times for this portrait. It's the first time I've had someone model for me at my home and it was a lot of fun. Joe has a great face. I think the painting looks a bit like him, and strangely, a bit like Shia LeBeouf.  I like how it turned out.



Julie Devine, Joe, 2011
Oil on board, 14" x 11"





Self Portrait in Cobalt

This was started as a homework exercise in Anne's class. It was painted at night with directional lighting on part of my face, and diffused flourescent lighting in the room behind me. I wasn't satisfied with it in its earlier state, but the geometrical shapes felt promising, so I went back into it over break and made some color adjustments among other changes. I like it better now.




Julie Devine, Self Portrait in Cobalt, 2011
Oil on Board, 14" x 11"


Funny how there is always something a little sad or intense looking about self portraits. Painting a mirror image of oneself for hours over several sessions must account for the curious expressions.

Three Charcoal Portraits

Here are a few more portrait drawings I did in Geoff's class. Each is from a 2.5-hour sitting.

Julie Devine, Portrait Study III, 2011

Julie Devine, Portrait Study IV, 2011



Julie Devine, Portrait Study V, 2011



One Catherine, Two Primary Palettes

Sometimes I'll return to a homework assignment to complete it if I've run out of time, or push myself a little further if I feel there is more to explore. This was the case with a primary palette homework assignment given by Anne Petty this quarter. We were asked to paint two loose reproductions of a master painting using different primary palettes. We could choose from three self portraits by Catherine Kehoe. I chose this one because the brushwork and color combinations seemed the most challenging to take on.

  

Original Image by Catherine Kehoe

       



With the first palette, I was unable to get really satisfying red-violets. Having alizarin crimson available in the second palette felt wonderful, but with yellow ochre as my only yellow, I was unable to get the chartreuse colors with the second palette, and chose to strive for a rich gold as a substitute.

I spent quite a bit of time on these, making three or four passes on each. I was fascinated with Kehoe's sharp, flat brushwork, and tried to mimic her shapes and strokes as much as her colors.  My favorite part is the collar. I love the structure and solidity of it.





 

Julie Devine, Kehoe after Kehoe, Palette 1, 2011

Oil on Board, 12" x 9"

Palette 1:

Titanium White,
Burnt Sienna

Cad. Yellow Light
Ultramarine Blue

Julie Devine, Kehoe after Kehoe, Palette 2, 2011
Oil on Board, 14" x 11"

Palette 2:

Alizarin Crimson
Yellow Ochre
Colbalt Blue
B. Sienna

Titanium White

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November Nudes



  

Julie Devine, Autumn Nude, 2011
Oil on canvas, 16" x 20



Julie Devine, November, 2011
Oil on canvas, 20" x 16"









Two Portrait Drawings

Julie Devine, Portrait Study I, 2011

I'm working on my drawing skills this quarter with Geoff Flack. Two years ago, I studied artistic anatomy with Geoff in a week-long workshop, and as a result, my figure rendering skills improved significantly.

Understanding the stuctural planes of the body and paying attention to a figure's linear rhythms have proved incredibly valuable. So I'm back for more  - this time focussing on the head, neck, and shoulders in his portrait drawing class.

Here are two studies from the second and third weeks of the quarter. For each, I used a combination of vine and compressed charcoal. Both are drawn from life.




Julie Devine, Portrait Study II, 2011

 

Mint-Chip Master Studies



Julie Devine, Nude After Uglow, 2011

This fall, I'm taking several classes at Gage Academy of Art, one of which is Foundation Figure Painting  with  Anne Petty.

 

For homework last week, we were asked to make quick, broad temperature studies of two master paintings; one by Euan Uglow, the other by John Dubrow.



For my palette, I chose Burnt Sienna, Prussian Blue, and Lead White, a color combination that has me thinking about mint-chip ice cream.

For these 14" x 11" studies, I used a size 12 hog bristle flat brush.

There is a loose, chunky, expressive quality to these quick studies that I'd like to bring into my larger work.



Julie Devine, Figure After Dubrow, 2011



Creatures

Julie Devine, Creatures, 2011
Oil on canvas, 22" x 24"



 


 

Self Portrait



Julie Devine, Self Portrait, 2011
Oil on panel, 20" x 16"

 I've been working on this self portrait on and off for several weeks. I set up a mirror in my studio to paint myself from observation in natural daylight. The studio has windows on three sides. On a sunny day, diffused warm light comes in through white japanese screens from the south side, while the northern light is always cool.

The challenge in this portrait was to observe and represent the color and value shifts of reflected light, and model form using these shifts instead of relying heavily on chiaroscuro to turn form. The background is largely invented, but I like how it turned out.

Workshop with Jordan Sokol

Last week I had the opportunity to study with Jordan Sokol, a principal instructor from the Florence Acadamy of Art.  In one intensive weeklong workshop, he taught an extraordinary amount of information about classical figure painting. This was my first brush with the sight-size method, which we used to locate proportions and evaluate our paintings in relation to the model from several feet back. I also found a new tool - a black mirror to reduce reflected light and enable an artist to better judge relative values.

I think the biggest learning for me was the emphasis on shadow shapes and half-tone shapes as a way to simply and effectively describe form. The workshop also uncovered my weakspots in judging values and my tendency to narrow forms, giving me much to work on to improve my drawing and painting.

I greatly appreciated the hour-and-a half morning lecture and demo each day. We spent the full week on a single painting. Having this much time with a live model in a single pose was a luxury. Here is my resulting painting.


Julie Devine, Figure Study, 2011
Oil on linen, 27" x 15"

From Abstract Collage to Charcoal

In this week's abstract composition class with Julie Ricketts, we drew upon our earlier collages to create charcoal drawings. I continued with my abstract dragon shapes and created the following four drawings in wonderfully messy soft vine charcoal.

Julie Devine, Abstract Dragon I, 2011

Julie Devine, Abstract Dragon II, 2011

Julie Devine, Abstract Dragon III, 2011

Julie Devine, Abstract Dragon IV, 2011

Dragon-Inspired Abstract Collage

Summer seems like a good time for learning something completely different. I decided to take a couple of short abstract classes with Julia Ricketts to learn a bit more about non-representational art, and take time to think about composition and mark-making.

This week we did an interesting collage exercise. We chose an object to mine for shapes ideas. I chose this fellow from a pile of action figures at home.

This dragon has some nice shapes. I picked out a few, transfered them to black paper, cut them out, and then arranged them (or pieces of the remaining negative shapes of black paper) on a white square. We had the option to place the cut out pieces over the edges of the square and crop them to create more compelling compositions. Here are a few I came up with.





Julie Devine, Dragon Collage 1, 2011





Julie Devine, Dragon Collage 2, 2011



Julie Devine, Dragon Collage 3, 2011



July Plein Air

I've been trying out some plein air painting this week, and have noticed a couple of things. My glass palette is very large and heavy, but having the room for mixing and keeping piles of colors separated is still worth the inconvenience of lugging it around. Also, I'll be using significantly more cad yellow and lemon yellow when painting outside in the summer. This should be obvious of course, but was still a suprise to me.  Here are are the two from this week.



Julie Devine, July at the Atomic Ranch, 2011
22" x 18"




 


Julie Devine, North Walkway in July, 2011
16" x  20"



Painting Interiors Workshop

Julie Devine, Gage Interior With Rhinos, 2011

Last week I participated in a painting workshop with Susan Bennerstrom at Gage Academy of Art. 

For five days we painted interior spaces on the third floor of the school, paying close attention to subtle shifts in the value and color of light on architectural forms. I spent most of my time on this view of the hallway, with my back touching the wall next to the door to the classical atelier studio. The Best of Gage exhibit was up, so a couple of student rhino scultptures made their way into the painting.
We also did several oil sketches during the week.

Julie Devine, Gage Interior Oil Sketch 1, 2011

Julie Devine, Gage Interior Oil Sketch 2, 2011

Wrapping Up Spring Quarter

Here are two more paintings from my spring quarter classes with Anne Petty.

Julie Devine, Nude, 2011





Julie Devine, Still Life with Cone, 2011



A Figure and a Still Life

I'm greatly enjoying my time off of work, and am thankful for the extra time I have to pursue art training. This spring I'm taking two painting classes with figurative painter Anne Petty.  We're about two-thirds the way through the quarter. Here are a couple of paintings from class that I'm happy with...



Julie Devine, Vertical Nude, 2011




Julie Devine, Still Life with Yellow Glass, 2011

 

Morning



Julie Devine, Morning, 2011








   


Shed at the Ship Canal



Julie Devine, Shed at the Ship Canal, 2011



Greenhouse



Julie Devine, Greenhouse (In Progress)



Julie Devine, Greenhouse (In Progress)



Julie Devine, Greenhouse, 2011



Eva in Summer Light

Julie Devine, Eva in Summer Light, 2011

Eva in Summer Light (In Progress)



Julie Devine, Eva in Summer Light (In Progress), 2011



Marsh Walk Landscape

I'd promised a landscape painting to my sister and brother-in-law many months ago, but hadn't settled on the specific subject matter until recently. The subject is a small peninsula filled with winter trees in Seattle's Arboretum Marsh Walk.


Julie Devine, Marsh Walk, Seattle Arboretum, 2011

The Abduction of Ganymede

Prince Ganymede, son of Tros and Dardania, was abducted by Zeus in the form of an eagle to serve as cup bearer to the gods. There are several famous paintings of the scene. I chose Correggio's painting as inspiration for another colored paper diorama setup.

Using the same process with torn and folded colored paper, I created a rough, three-dimensional diorama of this image, lit it, and painted it. I think it has a children's storybook quality about it.



Julie Devine, The Abduction of Ganymede, 2011







Correggio, The Abduction of Ganymede