I’ve been painting every day, but I’ve been a bit remiss about updating this blog. I’ll try to catch up over the next week or so. I did this sketch in life class. I was going for a Rembrandt feel, which is great except (1) I didn’t use a dark background, and (2) I’m no Rembrandt, lol. Still, I love it when I get to paint with a lot of red!
Geoff Watson, “Study of a dude in a big hat,” oil on linen panel, 9” x 12.”
I did this quick study in about 90 minutes in life class yesterday. The instructor asked us to experiment with a loose start, massing in shapes without any explicit drawing. I was surprised how well this method worked; I got a pretty good likeness pretty fast. It’s not as finished as I would like, but it was a good foundation.
Geoff Watson, ‘Quick study of Chris,” oil on linen panel, 11” x 14,” 2020.
I had my final life class of the semester today, so I tried to make the most of it. This little profile study took about 3-4 hours.
Geoff Watson, “Profile study,” oil on linen panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
I did this study of Moe in life class today. It took about two hours. I like it!
Geoff Watson, “Moe (portrait study),” oil on linen panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
This was the second session of a two-session pose. I didn’t make as much progress as I’d hoped; there were a lot of distractions in the classroom today. But it’s still a decent likeness.
Geoff Watson, “Sheba,” oil on linen panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
I started this painting in life class today; it was the first session of a two-session pose. Pretty good likeness already, but I need to refine everything, and I’ve hardly done any work on her torso. Still, a good start.
Geoff Watson, “Sheba (Day 1),” unfinished, oil on linen panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
I attended an "open studio" life-drawing and life-painting session tonight. No instructor; just a monitor. We did an hour's worth of short poses, then a two-hour long pose. I had a lot of fun with this one.
Geoff Watson, “Drunken sailor,” oil on linen panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
It’s been a very busy September at work, and I hadn’t touched a paint brush for two weeks until today, so I felt a bit rusty. Still, this two-hour figure study, painted in life class, turned out better than I expected.
I should have a bit more time to paint in the coming weeks, so I hope to post a bit more frequently!
Geoff Watson, “Study of Emily seated,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
When I’m in New York, I like to attend at least one life-drawing session at the Art Students League on West 57th Street. I chose a long pose of Sasha, an excellent model. I started with an indifferent gesture sketch of her full figure, then did this 35-minute portrait sketch.
Geoff Watson, “Sasha,” graphite on paper, 6” x 8,” 2019..
Before life class, I took my little portable paintbox and stood on the corner of 57th and 7th Avenue, looking downtown, toward Times Square. I had trouble concentrating: there was no place to sit, it was hot, and it was crowded. But at least I got a few ideas down on the canvas. I was interested in contrasting the dark mass of green (the backstop for the 57th Street subway stop) with the very bright buildings on the left. And it’s always fun to sketch figures in the city.
Geoff Watson, “Sketch of 7th Avenue at 57th Street,” study, July daily painting #6, oil on canvas panel, 6” x 8,” 2019.
Today’s model, Amy, was wearing a slightly surprised expression, and I seized on it as the focus of my portrait study of her. This was a single-session pose; it took less than two hours.
Geoff Watson, “Amy,” June daily painting #23, oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
At today’s life class, our model was a nice woman named Dakota. I painted her portrait in about two hours. She held her pose perfectly, which helped me get a reasonable likeness. She was concentrating hard to stay still, and I tried to capture her rather serious expression. Alas, I forgot to indicate her shoulders, heh, and by the time I realized it, the model had left. Oh well.
Geoff Watson, “Dakota,” June daily painting #16, oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
I had great fun painting this model today. I had about two hours — not a lot of time. He was wearing a gold chain around his neck, but I didn’t have time to put it in. He was also wearing a turban, an earring, and a rather curious expression; I did have time to put those in. :)
Geoff Watson, “Turban and earring,” June daily painting #9, oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
Today’s life class featured a man wearing a turban and billowing pants, and brandishing a blade. A very fun pose to paint!
Geoff Watson, “Man with Turban & Blade,” May daily painting #19, oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
Laura is a new model at my life class, and today she sat for the second session of a two-session pose. I didn’t finish polishing and smoothing out the colors in her face, but I like a lot about it. The likeness is pretty good, and the picture has some character.
Geoff Watson, “Laura,” May daily painting #12, oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
Today I painted a new model, Laura, in life class. This was the first of a two-week pose, but I think it’s off to a decent start. She holds her head nicely, and her features are strong, so she’s fun to paint. Next week I’ll refine her features, balance the lights and shadows better, model her head in a more 3D way, and work on her hair. All in two hours, natch!
Geoff Watson, “Laura (in progress),” May daily painting #5, oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
Mallina is one of my favorite models: she holds a pose perfectly! This portrait doesn’t do her justice, but I hope it captures some of her spirit.
Geoff Watson, “Portrait study of Mallina,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
I’ve been slowed down by back pain the past week or so, but I managed to drag myself to life class today. Wouldn’t you know it, I wound up sitting with a view of the model’s … back. When I got back (heh) home, I watched hockey fans shout “back to back” while cheering on the Washington Capitals, who are trying to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. And I watched men twist their backs violently while playing golf at the Masters. All in all, it was a back of a day.
Geoff Watson, “Back study,” oil on panel, 11” x 14” (2019).
This painting was really fun. I had originally planned a light background on the left and darker background on the right, to set up contrast with the light and shadow sides of the model’s face. But I had second thoughts when I noticed the awesome earring the model was wearing, which would’ve disappeared had I painted it against a light background. So I sorta reversed course — darker on the left, lighter on the right. I wimped out a bit; I think a darker background on the left would’ve looked cool. But it worked out pretty well, and I think the earring looks pretty neat.
Geoff Watson, “Woman with a silver earring,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
This was the first time I’d painted this model, and I enjoyed it. I was aiming for a higher-key, sunnier vibe than the more serious “Gentleman” I painted last week. I also experimented with what Charles Reid calls color “tie-ins” — that is, linking color in different parts of the picture in unexpected ways. For example, I tried some flesh tones in the hair, some overlap between shirt and background, and some blues and greens in the model’s face.
It’s also a pretty good likeness, though I think I shaved off a couple years. Most models don’t object to that.
Geoff Watson, “Pete,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
This was the second session of a two-session pose. I spent a bit less than 4 hours total on the painting. At the end of the first session, the likeness wasn’t great; you can see it in my March 4 post. So I focused hard on improving the drawing at the start of today’s session, and within a half hour I had a good likeness — and it got better as the session went along. I’m quite pleased with the final result, though as always I needed more time. The shadows on the side of the face need a little smoothing and refining, and it would’ve been nice to add more detail to the outfit.
Alas, neither of the photos below does it justice; the second photo shows off the color better, I think.
Geoff Watson, “A Gentleman,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
Geoff Watson, “A Gentleman (detail),” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.