Confusion

Alan Seated
Oil on canvas

Alan is a young, handsome athletic young man. But while posing, as much as he exemplified a youthful physical peak, his face also showed youthful confusion and disorientation.

Confidence

Lara Seated
Oil on canvas

Lara is a beautiful young Eastern European woman, and the daughter of one of the members of the Cincinnati Art Club. While posing, she exudes confidence in her beauty and sexuality.

Reflections

Fernald Nature Preserve (Pond)

My painting club met at the Fernald Nature Presever the second week in a row, and this time I decided to paint a pond. With glorious autumn colors bursting all around it, as well as reflecting in the water, there was no shortage of inspiration.

Autumn Freeze

Fernald Nature Preserve (Field)
Oil on canvas

My painting club met at at nature preserve that I had never heard of, waaaaaaaaay over on the west side of Cincinnati. It was freezing cold that morning, but the autumn colors were in their full splendor.

Pathway

Mt Airy (Pathway)
Oil on canvas

After painting figures and portraits all year, I was happy when my informal painting club resumed so I could work on some new landscapes. This painting was done at Mt. Airy, at the tail end of summer.

Anxiety

Julia Seated (Anxiety)
Oil on canvas

Julia is one of my favorite models. She has such an interesting, expressive face. This pose, with Julia seated pensively, the direct light creating a big, dark shadow behind her, depicts a state of anxiety and foreboding.

Comfort

Seated Female Nude (Serenity)
Oil on canvas

When it comes to my paintings of people, I've realized that what I'm  most interested in is depicting the emotional state of the model. This model at the Cincinnati Art Club exuded a sense of serenity and comfort in her own skin.

Homage

Brian with Staff (portrait)
Oil on canvas

I had already painting Brian, a model from the Cincinnati Art Club, once in the exact same pose, standing with a staff (See May 2013), so this time I decided to paint a portrait instead of a full figure. I think it came out looking a little Van Gogh-esque.

New Blood

Seated Female Nude (2013)
Oil on canvas

Although I love the frequent models, I kind of get excited whenever I get to paint someone I've never painted before. This lovely, caramel skinned young woman was brand new to modeling, but did a great job. This was the final model I had during the summer Figure Painting class at the Art Academy.

Light Source

Dexter Dozing (2013)
Oil on canvas

Dexter is a frequent model at the Art Academy, a former professional athlete who's in amazing shape. The Instructor set up a weird, misshapen lamp next to him in order to create more dramatic lighting, and I thought it looked so interesting that I decided to incorporate it into the painting.

Stylized

Julia with Shadows (2013)
Oil on canvas

This was actually the first painting I did in the 8-session Figure Painting class with I took with Matt Wright at the Art Academy, but it's the last one of the paintings I did during the sessions that I actually finished. I didn't get very far with the painting in class, but I liked the composition, and the shadows on the wall behind Julia, so I took it home and kept working on it. When I do that, the painting tends to become more stylized.

Experiment

Angela Reclined (2013)
Oil on canvas

Even though I've been doing a lot of work at the Cincinnati Art Club lately, I decided to take a Figure Painting class at the Art Academy of Cincinnati for a different perspective. For this two session pose, the Instructor, Matt Wright, suggested that we spend the first class using only black and white, and not adding color until the second session. The result is, in my opinion, one of the best paintings I've done recently. Trying something different and getting out of your comfort zone can sometimes yield great results.

Crouching Tigress

Julia Seated (2013)
Oil on canvas

Julia is a wonderful model, with a Rubenesque figure and a head full of wild, curly multicolored hair. She was able to stay crouched in this pose for three hours, allowing me to create a painting that suggests energy and movement.

Earthy Youth

Alan Seated (2013)
Oil on canvas

This handsome, athletic young man posed for a session at the Cincinnati Art Club. After the sitting, I decided to re-do the background in various shades of green, in order to complement the earthy colors in his caramel skin.

Amazon

Standing Female Nude (2013)
Oil on canvas

This beautiful, young red-haired model at the Cincinnati Art Club posed standing for 3 hours, exuding a confident, almost masculine energy. Wit her french braided hair and steady gaze, she reminded me of an amazon.

Portrait

Seated Female Nude (2013)
Oil on canvas

I've been doing a lot of figure painting lately, so when this pretty, redhaired girl sat down to pose, I thought I would focus on her face and paint a portrait. The lighting really created a lot of great shapes, shadows and colors on her face and in her hair that I wanted to capture.

Girl in the Red Scarf

Lara in the Red Scarf (2013)
Oil on canvas

This lovely girl, dressed in a summery dress with white shoes and a bright, red scarf, had a very European vibe about her. She was sitting in a simple, modern chair, with the light hitting her face and highlighting her beautiful, olive skin.

The Sunbather

The Sunbather (2013)
Oil on canvas

While posing, reclining and relaxing in her seat with her eyes closed, bathed in light, this model, despite the fact that she was posing indoors, really appeared like a sunbather on a beach. So that's how I painted her - as a sunbather basking in light, with bright, summery colors.

Sketch Group Show

Nancy seated (2013)
Oil on canvas

Of all my recent paintings, this is my favorite. The model was a member of the Cincinnati Art Club named Nancy. I really felt like, with a minimum of fuss, that I was able to capture her energy and personality. She was dressed so beautifully in her coat, hat and scarf, and she has such a calmness and serenity about her face. The art club does a "Sketch Group Show" at their gallery, where the pieces have to be pieces done in the Sketch Group, and I decided to submit this piece for this show.

Help me Obi Wan ...

George in a Cloak (2013)
Oil on canvas

Sometimes at the Cincinnati Art Club's Sketch Group one of the members will serve as the model for the day. In this case, it was an artist and art professor who decided to have some fun by posing in a medieval brown cloak holding a staff. After I did the painting, I realized he ended up looking a lot like Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars.

Control

Brian with Staff (2013)
Oil on canvas

This was the second painting I did at the Cincinnati Art Club's Sketch Group. Once again, this was a great model who had amazing control - he was able to stand completely still throughout the entire three and a half hour pose.

The Ballerina

The Ballerina (2013)
Oil on Canvas

The Cincinnati Art Club is a wonderful organization for artists. One of the benefits of the club is that they have a model twice a week, which they call the "Sketch Group". This was the first time I came to the Sketch Group to paint, and the model was this beautiful young ballerina. Due to her ballet training, she was a wonderful model with amazing control - she seemed like a statue during the two and a half hour session.

Mane

Julia Seated  (2012)
oil on canvas

This was the last painting from Gil's workshop. Julia's a great model - she has a strong, pronounced nose and a wild mane of curly red hair with a few platinum blond streaks. She's just such an interesting looking woman, and friendly too.

Familiarity

Angela by the Window (2012)
oil on canvas

This was a painting I did while doing a workshop at the Art Academy of Cincinnati last winter with Gil Borne, a wonderful painter who I've known many years. Angela is a model I've painted many times in figure painting classes at the Art Academy. She's a middle aged woman, but there's something really innocent and childlike about her. She was sitting by the window, and the light had her face mostly in shadow. She was wearing this sweater with all these crazy colors.

Structure

Plaza at Mt Echo Park (2012)
oil on canvas

I rarely attempt to paint architecture - I usually prefer painting organic things like people and plants. But this scene was just so compelling - the plaza at Mt. Echo park, a brick and concrete structure with trees protruding through the ground and all kinds of flowers surrounding. Once again, I went back and redid a lot after taking it home. It took a while for me to feel like the structure had the sense of weight and stability it needed.

Sunlight

Sunlight on the Ohio River (2012)
oil on canvas

This was a painting I started with my painting club last fall. We were at Otto Armleder Park, and the Ohio River was low enough so we could go down to the bank and paint. After the session, I went back and redid a lot later, because I didn't think my first draft really captured the colors and the way the river appeared. The water was really dark and muddy, and the foliage behind the river seemed almost purple. But the sun was hitting the river in certain spots, creating this dazzling brightness here and there.