The Portrait Sketch

Portrait Sketch of Mark  11"x11" Oil on Linen

Portrait Sketch of Mark - Profile  11"x11"  Oil on Linen

 

 

A portrait sketch is an attempt to capture the essence of the model in a limited time frame.   The artist makes sense of the essential information, including basic shapes, value structure and color notes.  

Skagit Valley Plein Air Sketches

It was a scorcher last week in the beautiful Skagit Valley of Washington.  Temperatures in the upper 90's on some days kept us scrambling for shade.  We painted in the early misty mornings and later in the afternoons, with hopes of capturing the warm light and distinctive shadow shapes of the low-to-horizon sun.

View from Margaret's House  10"x8" Oil on linen

Along the Dike - Afternoon 10"x8" Oil on linen

Along the Dike - Morning 10"x8" Oil on linen

Early Morning Mist  10"x8" Oil on linen

Misty Morning  10"x8"  Oil on linen

New Horizon

This painting was finished in June, 2012. 

New Horizon  29"x18"  Oil on Linen

Birdhouse

For this plein air study I used a very limited palette of titanium white, cad yellow medium, yellow ochre, Indian red, alizarin crimson permanent, ultramarine blue, viridian green and ivory black.

Bird house 7"x7" oil on linen on board

 

Skull on a Fence Post

Skull on a fence post 6"x4" graphite and white chalk on toned paper

Loved this new Strathmore paper, Toned Sketch!  My friend, John Unbehend sent me a sample packet to try and I really like the surface.  Not too smooth, not too rough.

Funny thing, this skull looks like it has a baseball cap on, but, really, the "cap" is dried hide, curling up toward the sun!

Lolly's Studio

Here is a picture of my summer studio.  It sits 15 feet off the ground!

Lolly's Studio

Tonal/Compositional Studies of the Landscape

A lot of times I like to relax by sitting and composing pictures of trees, plants and the landscape.   Doing several small studies prior to jumping into a painting is extremely useful for working out the composition as well as the overall tonal design. 

I like to experiment using a variety of media and papers because I'm always on the hunt for the perfect "marriage" of drawing implement and paper.   

 

 Sage Study

 Outcrop Study

Sumac