Very restricted palette.

By the way, notice how I have forgotten to implement all I learned about painting eyes.

I use one brush for a whole painting but I must get into the habit of using a small, flexible brush if I want to introduce some life into these dead eyes.

This week we were restricted to using just TWO colours plus white !

Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue.

I can't say I enjoyed the experience but on seeing everyone else's work, it was astounding to see the variation in colours we managed.

Lost edges in pastel

Areas of the painting were to be left as mid-tone like the background colour.

This meant drawing in the brighter areas and highlights.

It was quite effective.

Eye, eye.

We had a model for our oil painting class but only had to stare at her eyes and ears.

I find eyes difficult when in a painting but much easier in isolation like this. The white of the eye is never white, is usually a different shade of grey on one side of the iris from the other due to catching the light at a different angle, is darker in a line under the shade of the eyelid and also darker in the corner of the eyes - so much to think about just for the whites of the eyes.

The iris is surrounded by a dark margin (more pronounced in young people). A "jellybean " of paler iris colour placed opposite the catchlight gives an impression of transparency and the catchlight is never white.

The lower lid is hardly painted at all.

This was a sketchier version.

The tear duct is a warm red.

2,2,2,5,10,20,30,30

This is the 2,2,2 drawing.

We always start off with quick sketches to loosen up and get to know the model's dimensions and form so these drawings each took 2 minutes. The tutor always lights the model beautifully to achieve shadows and reflections but the 2 minute slot doesn't leave much time to put in the darks.

After these very short poses, which are usually more dynamic than the model can hold for a longer time, the poses get longer until we have two 30 minute (or one hour-long ) usually sitting or reclining pose.

This is a 30 minute pose on brown wrapping paper, which I enjoyed drawing on. I used the more shiny side. Pastels come in astounding colours and I can't resist adding more and more colour. I could probably spend 30 minutes on a foot.

Trials of a Life model

A bitterly cold morning and the Life model is surrounded by electric fires 

and lying on a cushioned podium. 

Then the fire alarm goes off.

Is it a practice ? Do we ignore it ? No.

We grab what we want to keep safe but no time for coats and we congregate on the terrace in front of the coffee bar/restaurant. 

The tutor has waited for the model to grab a thin house coat, her warm coat and her shoes, which she is holding in her hands: she is barefoot. 

She said that this is the sixth time that this has happened to her !

Three cheers for Life models !

They are getting thin on the ground around here. For £10 an hour, soon to rise to £12, they are refusing to make the journey to Bracknell. 

This was a contrasting mediums exercise. I used acrylic ink, graphite and my usual hard pastels.

Whitefaced Woodland sheep

I don't think you'll find better looking sheep than this breed of supernatural grazers, who live on the blasted shingle meadows at Orford Ness, Suffolk.

This acrylic is slightly larger than an iPad and is not quite finished: I need more definition 

i.e. more darks but it is 100% better now the background has been changed to a sandy yellow.

I will be eradicating the wink.

The photo below is not the exact one I used for reference

 but I can see more of the snout on this one.

The painting below was done quickly as a dark underpainting, then painted over and it lost its vitality

but not all of it. The trick now is to reinstate the darks, eliminate the fussiness and then decide when it is finished.

I am quite pleased with this one.

Portrait of Claire

The colours are not true to life in these photos and neither is the rough textured 

appearance. In short, the portrait is better than it appears here :)

This top view was taken after one two hour session. 

My easel was directly underneath a bright ceiling light

 and so I was shocked to view it at the end of the session in a dimmer light and saw, again, 

how dreary and dismal my colours were. 

I hate the brown/green background but the likeness is good.

This is after the second two hour session.

I have brightened up the skin tones, changed the foul background colour

and neatened up the features.

 It is so useful to see both versions together because I can clearly see that the relaxed facial pose of the first has been replaced by a tighter expression.

Is this because I "neatened up" the features and profile  ?

Does the highlighted upper eyelid alter the expression ?

Have I lost too many shadows (under the nose, for example) ?

I'll have to look at the painting again to see if these failings are as obvious 

as the photos show.