Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Quick study




Ray
acrylic on canvas
art group painting sketch
16 x 20 inches
Barbara Muir © 2009
(The photo is a bit shiny, I'll post
a better one tomorrow).

It's got to be a quick one, because it's late.
I went to my art group tonight for the first time in
weeks and had a wonderful time. I painted this
portrait in about an hour, maybe less because of
the breaks. The model was just great, holding
the pose easily. And he was a terrific looking
young man. I arrived with my canvas prepared
with a light peachy ground and that worked
very well. I would have liked more time, and
I should have had a more dramatic range of colour
with me, but I was happy.

A shout out to Gwen Bell for giving me the Bella
Sinclair Award. I'll talk more about that
tomorrow.

Have a working-on-painting-comes-naturally-to-me day.
at

6 comments:

  1. Catherine JeffreyJuly 15, 2009 at 4:54 PM

    I really enjoyed your thoughts on process. Process is what allows us to tackle a canvas or work surface with less fear...more confidence. My biggest challenge in the day is picking up the paint brush. Once I do that, I'm ok. For some reason, its the anxiety of not knowing what I am doing next that makes me insecure. With more and more practice, process becomes less methodical and more spontaneous. As if it becomes built in. I make notes on a board behind my canvas to remind me how to approach each painting.
    I see your name out there in blogland and had a look through your postings. I love the colour and energy in your paintings. I went to Nathan phillips square on the weekend. Did you go?
    I'm not sure about the protocol of sharing links, but since we are from the same neck of the wood, I thought it might be a good ides.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Laurel DanielJuly 15, 2009 at 8:11 PM

    Great quick study - I think you did great with the color!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Barbara MuirJuly 15, 2009 at 9:32 PM

    Hi Catherine,

    Thanks so much. Your work is great.

    Take care,

    Barbara

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  4. Barbara MuirJuly 15, 2009 at 9:33 PM

    Hi Laurel,

    It was one of those easy paintings. A great model, and super mood. Thanks so much.

    XOXOXOBarbara

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  5. Gwen BellJuly 17, 2009 at 10:52 AM

    Beautiful! Couldn't help but think of it as a shout out to the model's African American heritage with your strong African(flag) palette of red, green & black.

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  6. Barbara MuirJuly 17, 2009 at 11:39 PM

    Hi Gwen,

    I realized reading your comment that I messed up taking that photo. I bumped up the colour too much. It's a bit better now. The background is a kind of bright peach/orange/pink,
    and there's very little yellow.

    Thanks for helping me see that I'd better take another picture.

    Thanks again for the wonderful award.

    xoxoxoBarbara

    ReplyDelete

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