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.
Here are a few more of my recent sketches. I did this first one a couple days ago, in about half an hour, using a pen. I like using a pen because you can’t erase your mistakes, which makes me concentrate harder. As the saying goes, measure twice, draw once.
Geoff Watson, “Sketch of a living room,” pen on paper, 11” x 14,” 2020.
This next one I did a couple weeks ago, from life, at the Art Students League in New York. It was the last open-sketching session of the year, I think.
Geoff Watson, “Study of a nude,” ink on paper, about 6” x 8,” 2019.
And here’s a sketch from a couple weeks ago. About 10 or 15 minutes, from life. Nothing spectacular, but I like the diagonal construction lines that I inexplicably included.
Geoff Watson, “Sketch with construction lines,” ink on paper, about 6” x 8,” 2020.
And lastly, a sketch in oil paint, from today’s life class. Our instructor urged us to mass in shapes and worry less about contour lines and other niceties of precise drawing. My results were somewhat mixed, especially as I never got around to putting in the ear, but it was a good experiment. About 90 minutes.
Geoff Watson, “Unfinished sketch of Moe,” oil on linen panel, 11” x 14,” 2020.
My New Year’s resolution was to spend more time on each painting — to make some really finished pieces. This is one of the few New Year’s resolutions I’ve ever kept, at least so far. I’ve spent several days on this “brunaille” — an underpainting made in just two colors, brown and white.
I imagine it will take even longer to glaze it (i.e., paint on top of it) with color. I’m not sure, because I normally don’t do underpaintings; this is an experiment. I think it’s a good start!
Geoff Watson, “Brunaille for a portrait,” oil on linen panel, 16” x 20,” 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.
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 couldn’t stand looking at that bad start, so I resumed my little 6” x 6” self-portrait today. After a couple more hours work, it’s better. It’s getting closer to a likeness, and it’s no longer bad, lol. I will work on it again on the next rainy day.
Geoff Watson, “Improved self-portrait (in progress),” May daily painting #25, study, oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 2019.
I didn’t have much time for today’s daily painting, so this is a goofy start of a tiny self-portrait. I’ll work on it a bit tomorrow, which will be another busy day for me. Normally I wouldn’t post something this bad, but part of the point of the daily painting movement is to keep a daily journal. So, look and giggle!
Geoff Watson, “Goofy self-portrait (in progress),” study, May daily painting #24, oil on panel, 6” x 6,” 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.
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.
The lighting at today’s life class was confusing because we had to deal with three light sources. (1) A warm spotlight; (2) slightly less warm overhead lights; and (3) behind us, a wall of bright windows (covered with ineffective curtains) casting cool light on the model -- and glare on my painting surface. I found these conditions difficult.
Anyway, I did my best. We had the model in front of us for a couple hours (minus breaks). But I confess I spent a half hour touching things up after class at home, working from memory with no photo reference — not a great way to improve the likeness. At least I had my new Revelite easel light illuminating my panel properly. "Jolene," oil on panel, 11" x 14."
Geoff Watson, “Jolene,” oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
A quick watercolor sketch of a woman lost in thought.
Geoff Watson, “Lost in thought,” watercolor and pencil on paper, about 5” x 8,” 2019.