Figure Drawing (at the zoo)

Yesterday I finally did something i've been meaning to do for a while. I went to the zoo and drew animals from life. I have been drawing a lot from photographs, but there's nothing like the challenge of drawing a living, moving creature in front of you (that doesn't know you want it to stay still). The ostrich was the hardest, as I liked one particular head position it went into, and I had to keep waiting until it did it again.

An alpaca that everyone kept identifying as a llama (understandably)

2 recent plein air paintings

Along the path at Harms Woods

gouache in Stillman & Birn sketchbook

Kessem Pond at Emily Oaks Nature Center

oil on board

I have been trying to get out lately to paint while fall colors are happening and before it gets too cold. Hope to do so some more next week.

Last Summer Portrait

oil on canvas board

This is the last painting I did in Ken Minami's class at EAC. I feel a little bad as I managed to age this lovely young woman by a few decades, but I still was pleased with the painting so here it is.

What I made on my summer vacation (2015 edition)

I went to Michigan City, IN and South Haven, MI this summer.

Below are the drawings and paintings I brought back.

watercolor & gouache

Lake Kai

pen & ink, ink wash and gouache highlights

My attempt at catching a fleeting light/color effect in the sky

gouache

A scaly-barked tree that caught my eye

gouache

attempt at painting a nocturne

watercolor

study of a wave

pencil

ubiquitous plant

pen & ink, ink wash and white pencil highlights

The sloop Friends Good Will, which sails out of South Haven harbor daily

pencil & marker

colored pencil

Summer 2015 figurative paintings

3 figurative paintings done this summer in Ken Minami's class at Evanston Art Center.

oil on canvas panel

Roots

Tree roots, Monhegan Island, Maine

pen and ink wash with gouache highlights on Canson Mi-Teintes toned paper

Male back study in oil

oil on board

Figure study of male back

Sojourner portrait

Portrait of Sojourner

oil on 20" x 20" canvas

I finished this one a while ago, but never photographed it for posting.

(And for a while it was on display at Noyes Cultural Arts Center.)

Begun in my Friday morning EAC class & continued at home.

oil sketch of Sojourner

oil on Arches oil paper

Oil sketch of Sojourner

Man in Suit

oil on linen panel

A portrait of Ralph from my Friday morning EAC class

3 Recent Figure Drawings

pastel pencil

charcoal

markers

The lovely Mugsie was our model for the last 2-week pose in Eleanor's class

Maine oil sketches

I may develop one or both of these into larger paintings.

both oil on Arches oil paper