Stacy Weitz Minch

I intended to go a little bigger with this portrait than I've been doing lately (mostly I've been painting 3-hour portraits on 8x10's), so I gave myself plenty of space and ended up going a lot bigger, ha (can't quite seem to not fill the available space--I have this taped to a 16x20" board ;). This model had such fair, subtle skin tones, they were really difficult to translate. It seemed like every color I mixed was overstated in one direction--if I saturated the paint enough, the value was too dark, but if I made the value correct, the tone was too cool/chalky. I don't know what the answer is (probably should have at least pulled out the lead white), but I like getting a little painting practice from life in here and there. I was using a limited palette of titanium white, cadmium red, ivory black, yellow ochre, and raw umber. And I'm thinking I should pull the raw umber out (or use a warmer or less green/purple leaning brown). Also probably wasn...

I was an hour late to portrait session last night. We spent an eventful afternoon getting x-rays, casts, etc., after my son broke his arm at the playground. So I didn't have a lot of time on this one, and I didn't quite get the likeness. I think the closest eye needed to move toward the nose a little bit, and the muzzle area needed some tweaking. But in a situation when you're so pressed for time, you have to make a decision whether you are going to keep fiddling with the likeness, or try to work on other aspects of the drawing. I'm really trying to push my ability to describe subtle form, so I let the likeness go to some extent. This kind of angle is always difficult too, because the slightest turn of the head makes a huge difference in the placement of the features.

This has felt like a bit of a rough starts, and seems to be moving really slowly. But I haven't been getting in to work on it much. Things are crazy in the summer--it's hard to keep a set schedule. At this point, I'm still trying to work out the accuracy of the drawing before I really get in there and solidify things.

This is an 8x10" piece I painted on location in the canyon over two sessions. It's kind of nice to get the basic drawing and values down in the first session, then solidify the color and build up paint in the second session. The first session we got rained out, and we only had about an hour to start, so it probably would have been okay in one session too, if we had had more time. I really want to study the effects of water more. Those purple reflections in the water were pretty elusive to me, and my teacher pointed them out and helped me put them in. And in my opinion, they kind of make the painting :) But wouldn't have done anything if I hadn't had a solid base to build on, I suppose.

I did this painting over two 2-3 hour sessions. It's 12x16", which is larger than I usually paint in my little at-home studies from life. But I wanted to get the whole bouquet in there at approximately life size, so I just went for it. Painting can be a terrifying process. It's hard not to chicken out when things get hairy. But I'm learning to trust the process a little more. It typically doesn't look very good after the first pass. And that's always a scary feeling. But I guess what I'm learning from doing Bargue and cast drawings is that I CAN keep pushing until it's right. And lucky for me, I think I have a pretty good sense for knowing when things look right, so with each attempt, I just have to keep pushing toward that ideal.  

I got a little overly ambitious this afternoon, and started a rather complicated 12x 16" floral composition. The blooms are in the refrigerator as I speak, and I will do my best to tie this together tomorrow afternoon. My teacher has commented a couple times on how he likes how boldly I approach things. Perhaps a little too boldly sometimes ;) Though, I guess I don't know how I'll ever overcome the hurdles I have to climb if I cower in fear at the possibility of failure. Go bold or go home.

I sold a painting last night! And had a really great time at the ICAA Gala in Salt Lake. They had amazing entertainment from a couple of young musicians, and a delicious dinner. Thanks to all who made it happen, and congrats to all my BAA friends who sold paintings!

Quick sketch of our family pet. If ever a model moves, this one does, ha! My  mom pointed out that he's too thin, and she's right, but I feel like I might have a good excuse ;)

Six-hour portrait from life. I'm trying to be more cognizant of the turning of form while I draw. I think I feel a little bit timid about pushing down the value of the halftones, and maybe that's partly why I have a hard time getting that 3D feel to my drawings. I'll keep working on it. I like this portrait, though. 

Beginnings. This is after the first couple of hours. I have a long way to go with this one...

10x10", charcoal, pastel, and graphite on Arches MBM Ingres paper I finished up my first cast drawing on Saturday! I'm excited to get started on the next one (see below). I'm not locked in on this setup yet, just fiddling around and trying to figure out what the best arrangement will be.

I started this small portrait sketch from life. It was a 2-hour session, and I didn't get very far. So I took a reference photo, and I did a little more work on it last night. Working from a photo is a little different, and I was working under a clip light in the dark while we watched a movie, so it's a little rough. But the drawing is slightly better. I'll probably give it one more pass when it dries.

10x8", oil on linen mounted to hardboard I've been trying to start doing more painting from life. I've painted a lot of fruit from life, but a portrait is a little bit different. Accuracy in drawing is the main difference. Nobody will know if that strawberry is a millimeter too large, but in capturing a likeness, a millimeter can be crucial.  This particular model (Micah Christensen) is an art historian, and he spent the majority of the three hour session relating interesting stories and info for a very attentive crowd of artists (also, it was a much larger group at this session than usual, which I would guess can be attributed to the popularity of the model, though I was completely oblivious before showing up, ha ;). Anyway, I wasn't completely satisfied with the drawing, but this was a fun session :)

This model has the most interestingly shaped lips! Also, it's recently been brought to my attention by multiple people that I'm lacking in my ability to turn 2d shapes into 3d form. I'm working on it. But for now, I guess I'd better share this shapely portrait before I go and destroy it by attempting to model. Didn't quite get through working the shadow under the chin, but otherwise I was pretty happy with this start. 

Tuesday's figure. Beautiful model. Drawing the figure with full lighting from the front is one of the trickier lighting configurations (in my opinion), which is probably why I keep insisting on doing it. Keep tackling the hard stuff and everything else will get easier, right? in theory...

This is a five-day portrait I did in a workshop with Scott Waddell last week. He's a really good teacher, but it was a huge class (19 people), which made it hard for him to get around and critique, so the week kind of felt like floundering through a new approach. Scott paints with a window shading technique, where he basically finishes one form at at time. It was a foreign way of working for me, but I enjoyed trying something new. I think I prefer a little more context to go on when I'm painting (like, for instance, I started painting the forehead/cheek area, but once I added the dark behind the ear all of my flesh tones suddenly felt too light). These are things I'm sure you would get used to and have a feel for in time. Anyway, progress shots below.

I can't really call this a real copy, because I did it so quickly and the drawing isn't spot on. But I was trying to capture that fresh, intentionality of brushstroke, and it's hard to get that if you get too finicky with the drawing. So I sacrificed the accuracy a little (of course, I did the best I could without pushing things around too much).

Graphite portrait of Jerry. The likeness is actually quite good on this one, and trust me, I'm usually the last to say such things. But I'm saying it. This looks just like him :)

I've been thinking about painting this scene for a couple years now. The colors are pretty wild, which is partly why I want to paint it and also partly why I haven't . Maybe I'll get up the guts to do it sometime. Maybe not. Either way, this sweet little face brings back some nice memories.

Quick figure study from last week. Not my best. 

Here's a three-hour portrait start from last night at structure class. This model has so much interesting character to his face. I'm trying out some new measuring methods (mentally imposing a grid on the subject), and I think it was really helpful when drawing from this tricky perspective (I was sitting on a drawing horse below the model). Of course I still use all the same angle checking and comparative measurements as well, but when I'm in doubt about the placement of something, dividing it into quarters really helps clear those issues up quickly. 

10x8" I'm going to a portrait painting workshop soon, and I didn't really want it to be my very first experience with painting a portrait, so I've been trying to squeeze some painted portrait sketches in. This is the second one I've done, ha. I really like painting. But it adds so much more complexity to the job of drawing. I think I was getting on to her likeness in this sketch, but the color isn't what I would like it to be. Her tone seems warmer than I mixed here--I was mostly concerned with the drawing and was just mixing up some pretty bland browns. If I had a couple more days to work on it I might be able to correct some of the color issues, but again, I was standing in someone else's spot when they were absent, so it was more of a one-time thing ;)

Sketch of a local model, Birgitte. I was trying to be more cognizant about the design of this drawing, and I'm happy with where it went.