Pho Food

3/30/11 - It's almost time to get knives and pans out and get cookin'. mmmm... I can almost smell the coconut and, um, whatever these odd green things are, I think they're tomatoes but they are a strange color. And of course, I have no idea how you actually make Pho, but no matter, the fixin's look yummy. I think it's cold enough out in the garage for them to keep one more day. Hope to finish tomorrow with the usual "just a few tweaks" and then... soup's on!

3/31/11 - OK then, I've swapped out images, this is done! Coconut oil is in the pan, knives a'ready. Can't wait for dinner tonight!

Pho Food - ingredients

3/29/11 - I love living so near an Asian market! My models this week will become dinner as soon as I finish this painting! Here's the underpainting, and an intermediate stage.

Sarah #2 - Final

3/25/11 - OK, thanks to some encouragement from "the peanut gallery" (and you know who you are!), I have made some adjustments, and given her the earrings. All rightey then, I'm calling it good... or anyway, DONE!

Sarah's palette

I think I'll let this one dry up and frame it! What the heck... looks like art to me!

Sarah 2 - The Movie

3/25/11 - Well, only four frames from the movie, 'cuz I didn't really shoot one, but here are the stages of "Sarah 2", just for the record.
3/24/11 - OK, she's not getting any earrings. After I did a bit more refining, I then realized--I have a major gaff in this thing. In the source photo, her head is torqued slightly, which is why she has the tension in her neck, and the tendon is taught. Well, I decided to depict her head-on, looking straight at me.... ergo, her neck should have no tension in it. OOPS. Doncha just hate that?!! I do. (Several expletives deleted!)
3/23/11 - Update. Spent some time refining... added the glasses. I always see a few tweaks I want to make, when I get the image on the computer. And earrings are left to add... should finish it up tomorrow, no problem.
3/22/11 - Yes, this is the same model from Girl with an Earring of a couple of posts ago. Sarah returned for a reprise, and we used a different technique to do an "underpainting" this week--still in monochrome. Well, I was not at all happy with it, and so it didn't upset me when Aimee did a bit of a demo on it and then wiped half of the painting off! With 10 min. left to the class. haha Thanks, Aimee!
So what the hey, I decided to use it as a base for a play day. I intended to do something wacky and Soutine-ish with wild colors. I picked Montserrat Orange and Egyption Violet! Ha! Can't get too serious about that, right? Oh well... wrong again. By the end of the 3-4 hrs I spent on this, it had kinda gotten back to my "business as usual" painting style. Erck!! Expletive deleted. Well, I will finish this anyway by adding the glasses back in, and the (more demure this time) earrings. Good for me for getting some painting time in, at least... as Daniel Coyle would say, I wrapped another layer of myelin around my neurons!
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OK, here's a little something extra. I thought I might include a quote once in a while, when I run across a really good one. This one seems to be appropriate to my latest series of works:

"You must draw first, to cultivate the spirit and to be able to lead color into spiritual paths." - Matisse

Girl with rosey ruffly hairband in her curly do

Sat in on an indie session down the street from me tonight... a terrific model, very cute with an emerald green retro dress on. The ruffly, rosey tie-back in her hair was sooooooo cute! Too bad I didn't leave room for it in my composition. GRRRRRR. Oh well, otherwise it worked out OK. 3 hours, minus the 4-5 breaks of 5-10 min. ea. for snacks and... (ahem), beverages. I was mixing paints before she arrived, thinking to continue the tonal-study theme from Aimee's class, for the practice and since I missed a class. If I'd seen who I was to be painting first, I would have gone for color. Perhaps I will, still... I have photos. Hm.

Girl with earring - Part 2

3/14/11 - Here she is, after second session working on this. I had saved the sepia tones from the "indie" painting session, and decided to just use them. So this is kind of a mash-up of warm and cool grey tones now. Works OK, except for an area around her mouth, which is too blue-ish. Ah well... I'm calling it good and moving on.

3/7/11 - Yes, Aimee had a hand in this one too... guess where... yup, the nose! I think I need to go paint a thousand noses. She did a few other tweaks, here and there, but mainly it all revolves around getting that nose and mouth barrel right. Oh, the eyes weren't aligned correctly. Anyway, I guess about 95% of this is mine, but that little percentage of tweaks sure make a big difference. We will continue with this one in the next session, so stay tuned for Part 2.