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"