Workshops – Carol Schweigert

Demo – drawing on Dura Lar

Photos courtesy of Kai Alexis Smith, Architecture and Design Librarian at MIT Libraries

Exercises or Exorcises? Did I mention a productive 3+ months?

WOW! I’m a bit amazed – I knew it but there’s nothing like a Catherine Kehoe class to ramp up exploration and rethinking the work habits. This semester? how little do you need to make a head? The vertical image has all my exercises (plus drawings) – each piece presenting a different challenge: B&W, aContinue reading “Exercises or Exorcises? Did I mention a productive 3+ months?”

2 evenings in contrast: sketchy, sketchy and snip, snip

The MFA’s Wednesday evening Drawing in the Galleries has been a wonderful discovery, only pencils allowed, and followed that up with a Thursday evening at Catherine Kehoe’s Collage Factory at Mass Art. Feeling productive!

Head Homework -drawings in charcoal

Again, a couple of charcoal heads from a historical painting: a self-portrait by the Polish painter Anna Bilinska-Bogdanovich (1857-1893) I admire the fearless directness of her self-portrait. This artist died of a heart condition at 36. She was best known for her portraits.

Heads, week 10 homework: with Catherine Kehoe at Mass Art

The homework from week 10 – colors are a better match than last week, the drawing not so much. One of the challenges with the use of historical paintings to recreate in these exercises is they are all about subtle techniques and shading; seems simpler to do with a live model lit in the studio.Continue reading “Heads, week 10 homework: with Catherine Kehoe at Mass Art”

Now for an evening of palette knife

There are times when painting with a palette knife is really satisfying, and tonight, when with the last strokes I added the cheeks hinting of rose, I felt like I did it right. Enjoy your week everyone! The details: 6×6 inch oil paint on carton board, applying paint only with a couple palette knives. JustContinue reading “Now for an evening of palette knife”

A head from history- 40 (-ish) strokes

This challenge? Homework complete? My colors are off – done in 40 or fewer strokes with a 1 inch brush. The painting I’m using is Artemisia Gentileschi”s Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638–39, Royal Collection. The original and I were both visiting Vancouver in January 2018 – what a treat to see it!

Time for focus, so I’m off to Mass Art and Catherine Kehoe’s The Head Examined.

The secret to being a bore is to tell everything.— Voltaire (1694 – 1778) And so we eliminate details, aiming just for the essentials. Andrea and Paul were terrific models and I went 3 hours without checking my phone. I added the gouache to the drawing of Andrea at home. My studio assistant was ofContinue reading “Time for focus, so I’m off to Mass Art and Catherine Kehoe’s The Head Examined.”