Portraiture Blog
Drawing for the Ages
Drawing for the ages Ridge came to my studio for a quick sketch this morning. He was a delightful model and his mom really liked the drawing. Ridge was a very patient model for a 5 year old! I really enjoy sketching from life and as I always tell my students, life...
No More Smooshing Paint Around
Getting it Right the First Time Rather than getting the wrong value on your brush and then working it into the painting, try getting the right value on your palette and painting directly onto the canvas, without apology. Smooshing the paint around only weakens the...
Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
Joe Maniscalco Returns Fom the hey-day of illustration Here's one of the vintage Joe Maniscalco illustrations I have re-purposed. I wonder what they were used for originally. They are masterfully painted in the hey-day of illustration. I was thinking of other...
Joe Maniscalco Illustrations
Joe Maniscalco Retrofitted I've really been enjoying excavating my father's legacy by digging out these vintage illustrations and re-captioning them. I am re-purposing and compiling images of his and my work, along with witty and not-so-witty aphorisms into a coffee...
Fold in the Light
This is from an art lesson yesterday in class. Want to express folds in drapery or in skin? You must understand how forms behave in the light. Here is a fold depicted in light, side view and top view. There is a hard cast shadow on the left side. And there is a soft...
Aspire to Happiness
This life therefore is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing not being but becoming, not rest, exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is not yet finished but it is going on. This is not...
Golf Portrait
Look dad, I did it! As my very first friend once told me, "Rob, there are two kinds of people: boaters and golfers." Well here are a couple golfers. This was a particularly meaningful portrait for me, as it expresses a father's love for his son. I enjoy a bit of...
Beauty
As I approach the first anniversary of y marriage to Cate (June 1), I am re-sharing the poem I wrote soon after we reconnected. In that moment, I realized I'd found the love of my life. I pray for all who long for love to know it's waiting for you too, if you are...
Drawing for Smart People
Here's some advice for all you really smart people who want to be able to draw what you see: Dumb it down a bit. Great painters have more in common with magicians than with detectives. See less, rather than more. Don't show off your sexy curves. Curves are where...
Which Came First, the Art or the Artist?
A friend posted, "you don't have to be an artist to create art." Yes, I suppose if you created art that would qualify you as an artist. But only an artist can create art. Most people simply aren't willing to risk looking foolish in the attempt and will never rise to...
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