Saturday, October 13, 2012

2 Gourds


We’re into the autumn season. So, here’s a season appropriate still life for you. Gourds make such interesting subjects to paint and these two offer a nice circular eye path to follow with their “pinstripes” and stem directions.

Medium: Artist quality oil.
Painted on: Ampersand Gessobord.
Dimensions: 6x6 inches.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Pastel Sketch of "Bill"

This is a pastel sketch I did of “Bill” our model for an evening at a local drawing group that I attend. I used a 5x7 inch grey toned Pastelbord made by Ampersand. I’ve included a picture of my drawing before I started to layer the pastel on top of it. The dark area on the bottom right of the drawing is just a shadow from my camera phone. (Click on the image above for a larger view).

Although I want the initial drawing to be as precise as possible I know that it’s only a starting point. I will make many small adjustments throughout the painting process. It is to be expected that the model will sit slightly different after each break, shift, tilt or a change expression during a session. Maybe these slight changes could be better for the painting. Over the course of a few hours many decisions must be made for the integrity of the final image.

This painting is unfinished and I find certain freshness in that. Much of the “process” is still evident and that can also give life to a painting.

Sunday, May 20, 2012




Even though I haven’t posted in quite awhile doesn’t mean I haven’t been painting. Here I am hard at work in a beautiful poppy field during the grand opening of the Duke Farms in Hillborough, NJ over the weekend.

Duke Farms is one of the largest privately-owned parcels of open land in NJ. Created by James Buchanan Duke and preserved by his daughter, Doris Duke. This is a huge 2,000 acre property with 18 miles of roadway, 9 lakes, 45 buildings, 2 ½ miles of stone wall, 35 fountains and more subjects a painter would know what to do with…basically a plein air painters dream!

"Poppy Field" is one of 3 paintings I produced during my first time visit. I look forward to a long season of painting and exploring this great new resource.


Painting info: "Poppy Field", 8x10 inch Oil on RayMar panel.