My Left Hand

I love drawing hand gestures. I used to avoid hands altogether, but after hearing some inspiring words about making your weakenesses your strenghts, I started drawing them. My sketchbook has pages of them now, and I think I'm getting better at them.

November Studies

Head Paintings

2-Hour Head Paintings

Painting from Daguerreotypes

Here are some recent head paintings I've done at Whitaker's studio. He has me painting these old dageurreotypes. A dageurreotype is an obsolete photographic process, invented in 1839, in which a picture made on a silver surface sensitized with iodine was developed by exposure to mercury vapor (Dictionary.com).
I usually do one each day, or work on one for two days. It's a great exercise but makes me appreciate working from life.

Drawings 2007-2008

Head Paintings 2007-2008

A few of my head paintings in oil, pastel, nupastel, charcoal, and graphite pencil.

Apprenticeship: William Whitaker

I have had the opportunity for the past two months to apprentice with William Whitaker. I work with him three times a week where I am currently mastering drawing and will work my way up to painting. One of my favorite parts of the deal is watching Bill at work. I recently sat for a head study he painted. The accompanying image is me in paint. Check out his website, www.williamwhitaker.com

Bargue Complete

I finished my first Bargue drawing. It took a really long time, but I learned a lot. I am starting on my second that hopefully won't take quite as long. I really enjoy drawing and am excited to begin painting exercises in preparation for Fall.

Robert Barrett

Not only am I a teaching assistant for Robert Barrett, but I am a big fan as well. I mostly love watching him draw, but I also enjoy listening to him talk. He is extremely knowledgeable and eloquent with his words. His humble personality and thoughtful character are what make him a great example to me, not to mention his outstanding drawing abilities and designer skills. Check out his web site, www.roberttbarrett.com.

Mancini

I really loved this painting Portrait of a Man by Anotnio Mancini. I saw it in the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard in Boston just recently and got a rough snapshot of it. I love the realistic, yet painterly quality of the piece. It is so much better in real life. Sargent's A Venetian Woman in a Scarlet Shawl hung right beside it, and I couldn't help but sit and stare at the two. There were other Mancini paintings in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I would like to go to Philadelphia on my next trip where there are a few more.

Bargue drawing update

I have been working on my first Bargue drawing for over one month now. My last few working days have gone really well though, and I'm feeling good about it. Working on the Bargue challenges my patience and requires me to slow way down. It's almost like some kind of therapy in which I literally have to - or rather, get to - forget about everything that is going on in my life. When I'm drawing, that's all I have to think about. It's really a neat experience. I can't wait to be done, but I am enjoying the daily learning I get from working on it.

Mark Stahmann works at Bill Whitaker's studio also and gave me a miniature lesson on Bargue and cast drawings. Check his drawings from the Angel Academy out on his web site http://www.markstahmann.com/