Stacy Weitz Minch

16x20", water mixable oil on stretched canvas I just started putting some paint on top of this underpainting yesterday. I'm using the Zorn palette (yellow ochre, cadmium red medium, ivory black, and titanium white)--which is new to me, and a challenge in itself.  I have a long way to go here yet, but at least the drawing on Steven's face is a little better--not so squishy. I think I need to tone down and warm up the value on his face (especially the shaded part) because he's looking a little pasty. And the eyelid on the shaded side needs to be brought down as well. I'm always getting in over my head :P, but I think that's where I learn the most. So I'm trying to look at everything I do as a learning experience and not put too much pressure on myself. I like Richard Schmid's advice that if you can see a problem, you can fix it--it's probably a problem with the drawing, value, color, or edges. So I'm going to keep that in mind as I

Last night's figure. I'm not sure what's going on here, but there's something just a little off with the lean of his body. I kept checking and rechecking the angles, and they seemed to be okay, so I don't know exactly what's going on--maybe it's the placement of the feet? Next time I'm really going to try to not get too caught up in the measuring and details and all that. Those techniques are really useful and my drawings have improved in terms of relative proportion. But I think I tend to lose sight of evaluating the whole figure at once when I'm thinking too much about all the measurements. Finding the balance is tricky, because they definitely do help in things like, well, my tendency to oversize heads ;)  The instructor is telling me to use the plumb line for placement of the head to the feet, then get rid of it. I'll give that a try next time, which probably means I will flounder for a bit, but that's okay. Also, I like to over

6x6", water mixable oil on gessobord, 3/28/16 (sorry for the grainy photo. I'm having the hardest time getting well lighted photos that aren't full of glare lately). There are about a thousand of these things hanging around my house (okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it feels like a thousand). And altogether way too much candy for the composure of two little ones ;) This was kind of an interesting exercise in color mixing. I don't usually paint things with such uniform, saturated colors. And it took a few little experiments to get the colors right (especially the green!). Painting is really hard, and I have to wonder if I will ever feel like I know what I'm doing? I've been a little discouraged about it lately (and haven't been doing much of it). But it doesn't matter. I'm just going to keep on trying--and giving myself little pep talks all the while (I really wish I didn't have to do that, but I do. So I will). 

The way this man saw relationships within a figure has me in complete awe--it's just so beautiful. I have a hard time making sense of those relationships when they are sitting right in from me, and he pulled them from life. Amazing.

This one went okay, but for some reason, I almost always seem to have trouble with the shoulders on these figure studies. I'm guessing it must have something to do with my mental image of what shoulders should look like (perhaps a hanger?), which doesn't usually translate to real world appearances. Anyway, I made the shoulder on the left too wide, and after the instructor pointed it out (again, ha), I made a frantic last-ditch effort to correct it in the last few minutes. Which meant I also had to adjust the position of the head (which may have actually been one of the causes of the shoulder problem in the first place--all these relationships to consider when drawing the figure! I was gauging the angle of the shoulder from the back of the head, which was too far back, I think). In any case, better to backtrack, simplify, and get it right. Logically, it's sound theory and I agree with it completely, but I think it's something I'm going to just have to

Abt 11.5x8", 3/23/16, pencil on stonehenge paper Three-hour life portrait from last night. I don't know that I have much to say about it...except that I threw all the sight-size stuff I've been working on lately out the window and just drew however the wind blew me ;) Of course, I still tried to accurately represent this model (who had pretty amazing lips, btw). I'm sure the drawing falls a little short as far as likeness goes, but I do believe all the accuracy training I've been working on is helping when I go to just draw something freehand. So I'll keep it up and try not to burn myself out :P

16x20", water mixable oil on stretched canvas (Sorry for the horrible photo quality here) Sink or swim, here I go. I'm experimenting with using a monochrome underpainting as a base layer. I think the advantage of this method is that you can get the drawing and values worked out before focusing on color--at least that's what I remember Richard Schmid mentioning in Alla Prima.  The only trouble is that I ran out of time before fully working out the drawing last night and now the paint has dried. So I'm left with a bit of a squishy-faced Steven to work with :/ I guess I will just have to work it out with color, but I feel like it's going to throw me off. And painting on top of dried paint is always weird for me--just haven't done much of it. I'm more used to wet on wet. Starting a new painting always feels a bit like plunging into a dark abyss. I have no idea what lies ahead or how I'll get through it. But I just keep coming back for m

I'm trying not to get caught up in anything too serious this weekend. But I can't seem to just leave it alone either. So here are a few tiny speed sketches of some of my favorite tiny people :) I don't mean to be so moody about all of this, and honestly, I'm not generally a very moody person. But I think the fact that art has the power make me moody just means that it's something deeply and genuinely important to me. That's alright by me :) I've also been reading some Robert Henri when I have a minute.  A few more: Use the ability you already have, and use it, and use it, and use it. Make it develop itself. Paint like a fiend when the idea posesses you. Like to do your work as much as a dog likes to gnaw a bone and go at it with equal interest and exclusion of everything else. It isn't so much that you say the truth as that you say an important truth.

5x7", oil on linen panel, 3/19/16 Alright, so I didn't make good on the few days' break. But this was a quick little painting--nothing too intense. Radishes have such great shapes and colors.

My drawing was a mess last night--I ended up starting over completely halfway through :/  I kinda wanted to just bolt outta there and curl up on the couch and binge watch some Netflix or something (cause I'm sure that would have made me feel better :P).  I'm not a person who likes to do things halfway. If I'm going to do it, I want to do it well. And with art, that is something that is just not easily achieved. What IS easy to do is lose patience. The end goal seems so far out of reach. I'm not really even sure what the end goal is at this point, but it isn't low-hanging fruit.  I DO know I'm not going to be happy adopting some kitschy process that would appeal to a certain set, and churn out a bunch of paintings that are small variations on the same theme of kitschyness. If I'm going to paint, I want to do it well, and to me, that means having the ability to accurately represent reality so that I have the know-how to abstract or manipulate it i

  My sister Jackie gave me a very cool plein air umbrella for Christmas, and this was the first time I've had the chance to use it. It was a beautiful day and the umbrella was awesome! But my plein air skills are, well, let's just say they're not where I'd like them to be ;) Getting the values right outdoors is tricky.  Jackie says my mountain looks like a melting ice cream cone. Ha, she's right--slight room for improvement here (oh, the possibilities! ;) Maybe I need a little more than an hour... or a smaller panel... or a thousand more hours of practice. If at first you don't succeed...  Also, I don't know what the deal was with my paint, but it felt like I was painting with honey! It's been sitting in a backpack in the house for 5-6 months or so, but it was really really hard to handle. Maybe it was the cooler weather? Or my palette/canvas were sucking up the moisture? And let's just not get started on the drawing and colors, ha.

Another figure! I really liked the pose on this one. All this drawing has almost given me an itch to pick up some brushes and try painting something again. We'll see...

It was nearly a mammoth effort to get this little figure study done these past couple of days :P Time, time, time. My copy's a little wide, especially on the right of the plumb line, and the lean/shape of the head isn't right (I seem to always want to make diagonal lines more vertical than than they should be). The lines are dark enough that there's not much use trying to fix it now, and I'm trying not to be too picky about it anyway. So,  Bargue figure #4. I don't know how long I will keep this up. I'm sure it's good for me to become aware of all these flaws in the way I see things (and I think I counted something like 47 figures? Haha). Let's just hope awareness can translate into improvement. It's pretty crazy how just the slightest variation in the placement of a line can make such a huge difference!

This lanky little fella and his extended arm were giving me grief, but eh, I think I'm done. It's amazing how much simpler it is to copy 2D to 2D than 3D to 2D--and still, it's pretty darn tricky. I think one thing that trips me up drawing sight size from life is how the size of the live figure changes with every little step you take. So either you have to only calculate a line while standing in the same spot (which I don't really do... but maybe should?), or switch between comparative and sight-size methods in the course of the drawing. Difficult stuff to learn.

Another Bargue figure. I'm trying to erase as little as possible (which was still a fair amount), and just "measure first, draw once" if I can. So there are obvious differences between the drawings (a little too narrow throughout, for one). I know, but I think approaching it this way (at least some of the time) helps keep me on top of my mental faculties and not get too bogged down on the nitty gritty details. I can lose myself in the details if I allow--I'll leave that for class, ha (not that I'm trying to lose myself in the details there. it just happens). Doing these copies makes me very aware of my constant tendency to oversize every line I draw. Fun :P

Lovely model, cool tattoo. I'm pretty sure I was having one of those dreams last night where I'm stuck in a loop of doing the same thing for what seems like hours (for me those dreams usually involve driving down a highway after a long day in the car... or jumping rope ;). But last night it was drawing (hey subconscious, it's not that bad!!!). I actually wasn't hating it too much last night, so whatever. Brains are so weird. Anyway, this one went better than the last one, thankfully.

I've been feeling a little out of sorts with my figure studies lately, so I decided to start copying some of these beautiful little Bargue figures when I have the time. I'm hoping it will help me get a little more familiar with the process without the complication of dealing with moving figures and such. And Bargue... who was this guy? His drawings are genius.  I'm trying to be as accurate as possible, but without getting too anal about it--this was about a 40 minute copy, and I'm just leaving it at that.

This drawing (sigh), it was a mess (I cleaned up some of the lines and filled in the shadows after I got home). Gotta thank the instructor for helping me somewhat salvage it in the last few minutes. Somehow I've got to get the part of my brain that actually thinks and the part of my brain that fact-checks to work in tandem :P I had fears that starting this kind of training would bring out my overly meticulous tendencies. And unfortunately, those fears were well founded (so sorry to my college professor who tried so hard to help me loosen up :/). But if I push through it and come out on the other side, eventually my work will end up stronger for it. I'm (fairly) certain of that.

5x7, water mixable oil on linen panel, 3/5/16 This is me trying to not completely neglect painting while focusing more intently on my drawing skills. Quick sketch (1.5-2 hours--or however long Disney's Aladdin runs ;) from this afternoon. Part of me wants to go back over this after it dries and see if I can bring it to a more refined finish. But the other part of me says "don't do it!" I guess I'll see what wins later on. It seems like whenever I try to go for a more finished look, I end up destroying whatever was good about the first go, so I dunno... it scares me a little (not that I have a ton to lose with this... a couple hours and a tiny panel, so maybe I should just go ahead and try?). Which reminds me of Keats again: "I was never afraid of failure. For I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest." I certainly have a long road to travel before being among the greatest, but he inspires me nonetheless :)

As I was getting in my car to drive home after drawing last night, I was reminded that it was actually a year ago this very week that I dropped in to do some figure drawing for the first time in... about 13 years (had it really been that long!? yes). My drawings that night were pretty bad... maybe I'll post one at the end of this if I can find them ;)  A year ago I was just coming out of a long period of postpartum depression, which let's just say feels about like living in a mishmash of all of your worst nightmares come true (and more), but I'll spare you the details :P While in the thick of all that mental garbage, there were a couple of phrases that, if I repeated in my mind, somewhat helped to carry me through whatever was plaguing my stream of consciousness (I even wrote them up on little cards and taped them around the house). One of those thoughts was, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever" (thank you, Mr. Keats!  click here for the first stanza

(sorry for the grainy photo)  There are some definite issues with this drawing that I didn't have a chance to resolve (I was feeling a bit off last night--blame it on the remnants of the cold, or maybe just the natural ebb and flow of life). So when the model said she wanted to keep the drawing, I gladly handed it over :) I do think my drawing skills are improving, and the techniques I'm learning are helping to give the drawings a nice feeling of consistency and restraint. But I'm striving for accuracy too, and this drawing didn't quite make the mark. Next time it will all come together, I'm sure ;)

12x9", pencil on paper, 3/1/16 Quick sketch of my boy napping this afternoon. As usual, it would have been nice to have more time before he shifted :)