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.