War Art

This is the almost completed image of the coffee still life I completed some time ago. I said that I was going to repost it, and forgot. Here's the piece without the finished background.

Billie Holiday - Lady Sings The Blues

I believe it was November of 2011 that I posted the video to the making of this painting. I just realized that I've never posted a photo of the painting. The calligraphy that's in the video was done by me as well, and if you'd like to purchase the painting, the calligraphy comes with it. It consists of the lyrics to the song, 'Lady Sings The Blues.'

The painting is on 4 16x20 canvases. It's in acrylic and the entire painting is blue with the exception of the stark white portions. Even the darkest areas are a very, very dark shade of blue.

Coffee Sketch

Here is the beginning of a sketch of a still life - coffee. Coffee is by far, one of my favorite subjects. I Loves It. Anyway, this is kind of a repost in a round about sort of way. The finished image was posted some time ago, but I never showed the sketches of it, so I thought I'd post them here. I'll repost the completed image so you don't have to scroll through to try & find the finished.

Head Study - Complete

This is the final. I'm pleased with the level of depth & shading. But I'm not too pleased with the way the face looks slightly off and cocked wrong. I guess that's what happens when you start the foundation wrong. If you lay the foundation to a house wrong, it doesn't matter how pretty you make it, it will be wrong. I laid the foundation to this thing wrong. It looks nice, no doubt, but it's all off.

Head Study

Head Study

Some images of a head study I did awhile back when I was at AAU. I believe I sketched this out while in Iraq. Some of the proportions are kind of off, but this was my first "from life" so-to-speak drawing. Up until this time, I'd always drawn from photographs. There's a HUGE difference when drawing from life. No matter how much depth a photograph has, it is still a flat, two dimensional piece. Drawing from life gave me an understanding of proportions that a photograph doesn't allow. You may notice all of the mistakes I've made, but that's good. Learning from our mistakes is how we progress.

Progress

Over the next few days/weeks, I might be posting some charcoal drawings/sketches that I've done through the years. Part of this is because most of my artwork has taken a turn towards oil portrait painting. I have already posted one or two, and I'll post once I get a few completed. Right now, I'm working on a bunch of those small, cheap canvas boards. I find it's easier to mess up a $1 canvas board than a $50 canvas.

That being said, if anyone is interested in canvases, two of the best places to find them are on Craigslist, or at the Goodwill/Thrift stores. At the Goodwill/Thrift stores - or even on Craigslist for that matter - often people have already painted on them. Scraping off excess paint and painting over the image is a great way to save money and create your own masterpiece. Heck, it beats going to Michael's or Ben Franklin. A $5 canvas that needs a few applications of paint beats a $50 canvas any day of the week.

Well, that's my two cents for the day. Anyway, hope you enjoy.