Some Experimentation

I was revisiting a recent Friday open studio portrait that I had done, and was pondering some of the things that Stanka Kordic was trying to get across to us in her recent workshop that I attended.
I think I may take this portrait and do a little experimentation. I've already done some on this one by doing some glazing, which I don't ever do since my preference is to try to paint more directly.

But what the heck. If i wreck it, it's only a painting, right? And I will have learned something in the process.

Bill

Today's open studio effort. Some values in the shadows need tweaked and some temperatures started running a little wild, but overall I'm happy with the result. Hope you like it.

Bill

Oil on Canvas Paper - 11 x 14

Sentinel

We spotted this little guy at the Great Trails Festival in Malvern and he seemed to be really getting into his role. I asked him if he would let me take his picture and he went right into his pose like he was seriously out to do some bad bidness to protect his posse from the enemy.

There is a bit of annoying glare here that I couldn't seem to eliminate and I should have taken the painting off the easel to avoid the shadow at the top.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy here. I think good things are happening. The important thing though is I feel like I'm continuing to learn and grow and make progress.

Sentinel

Oil on Panel - 14 x 18

Stanka Kordic Workshop or, Do Things You Don't Usually Do

I did a two day workshop with Stanka Kordic at our local art center. My way of working is pretty far away from the way Stanka paints, which is why I chose to do it.

I had been feeling like my paintings needed an infusion of something different. I like a lot of different representational painters. Some of the ones I like make great use of the textural qualities of paint. Nicolai Fechin comes to mind. Stanka's work is in this vein as well and I've greatly appreciated it for a few years now. She's a great experimenter, which is one reason why her paintings are so interesting. There is a real sense of depth and mystery in them, I think, because of her willingness to cast aside fear and just go for it. This is what I was hoping to get just a little bit of into my paintings. I'm never going to be a Stanka clone, which is good news for everyone, right? But if something of that fearlessness works its way into future paintings, I think that will be a good thing.

Here is the practice painting I did from the workshop.

Trey

This little portrait is of a young model that I'd painted previously. I rather like the way this one came out. I completed this in around 2-1/2 hours. I really like the surface it's painted on. It's a Sourcetek panel covered in Claessens 66 linen. Really nice weave and texture on this which I tried to exploit. 

Hope you like it.

Trey

Oil on Canvas Panel - 11 x 14