Stacy Weitz Minch

I'm trying out some new paper (Arches Ingres) with this little Sargent copy. It's getting to the point where the changes feel really nit-picky and subtle. So I'm really going to have to dig in and get serious :P I'm trying to imagine I'm drawing this guy from life and go about it with a similar process (Mr. Sargent has done all the hard stuff for me, so I can just focus on my process). I've been thinking about drawing from life sort of like learning a new language. For a while (from what I've heard) you have to think quite mechanically about how each word translates. But eventually you have command of the language, and you don't even have to think about it (at this point, you start dreaming in the new language, I'm told). So I think eventually I might be able to be fluent in the language of drawing, but at the moment it's still a pretty mechanical process. And sometimes things do get lost in translation. Speaking of lost in transla...

This was a quick hour-long copy sketch I did yesterday afternoon in prep for portrait class last night. I forgot to take a picture of my portrait start after class. And I'll probably start over next week anyway. I had gotten the portrait basically blocked in in the first 25 minutes, and then everyone decided to tilt the head in the second session. So I should have started over, but I didn't and it's no good to draw a tilted face on a straight head. Anyway, this copy is done after a contemporary artist, and she's really good. I like how all the shapes on the face connect. It's a little mysterious to me. I'm trying to adopt this kind of thinking, and maybe I need to only look at the model with half-closed eyes for the first little while because I see too much detail/variation in the value structure (I seem to be having that trouble with my roses too!). But something I'm noticing with good painting of any genre is that the darks connect, and the lights con...

I feel like I'm having a harder time getting the proportions/shapes right lately (it must be that I'm missing that Bargue!). Though I say it in jest, it's probably true. And I haven't been doing much of that kind of practice at home either. There are some proportion issues, and as usual, I've drawn her several times, but I always have a really hard time capturing this particular model's likeness. She's very pretty. But I tend to exaggerate features, and somehow the way her features are situated just isn't so amenable to being exaggerated (and again, she's quite lovely! I promise. It's just me). Also, I didn't have any lighter paper ripped as I was running out the door, so I grabbed the darker stuff, and I was having a harder time seeing my drawing on it (draw darker, Stacy! darker), which probably contributed to the proportion issues. But in the last 5 minutes I threw some white on there because, well, I had the chalk, and what did I hav...

I'm just going to post the portrait today because that's mostly what I've been working on. It's still feeling pretty messy to me, and a little overdone. I'm trying to be more distinct with my shape making (key word "trying" ;). The nose/mouth/chin area is feeling funky right now. I think I need to simplify the value shape there, and refine the lips. Also her right eye socket feels like it's too round, and perhaps too dark overall.  It's probably a little late to do anything about this, but I also feel like the head is just slightly too far left, making it feel like the model is pulling her head back unnaturally, and it's just not quite right. I think that happened when I reduced the size of the head, and I wish I had caught it sooner, but for now, I'm just going to keep focusing on trying to refine the shapes and not worry too much about it. I'm a little short on time (3 more sessions on this drawing for me).

5x7", oil on linen panel Another sketch of some little pumpkins we picked up at the pumpkin patch the other day. I left the white one out this time. I don't know why it's so much easier for me to see value and temperature on brightly colored objects, but it is. I guess the variation of color/value on white is probably just a lot more subtle, so your perception needs to be much more fine-tuned. In any case, I'll keep working on that white stuff. With the pumpkins, I'm finding I have to make sure all the darks are connected, and all the lights are connected, or it looks really wonky. I don't know if that makes sense, but it does in my head. And here's a quick sketch of a cat, done from a photograph. I'm feeling the fall vibes, if you can't tell ;) 

7.5x9.5", oil on linen I'm sure I could fiddle around with this for quite a while longer, but for the sake of not overworking it, I think I'll end here. This has been a really fun copy to work on, and I hope I'll be able to transfer some of the things I learned here to my paintings from life. So much of painting is drawing, and it seems like that's where I often falter.  Here's a side-by-side, in case you're itching to see all the errors that I do ;) After watching this artist's instructional videos this weekend, I'm almost antsy to try another. But then again, maybe not. Maybe I'll try something from life (and prepare myself for an epic fail, as seems to be the case lately, ha).

I don't know why I torture myself--painting is so stupid hard :P This was a quick 30ish minute sketch, which was repeatedly interrupted by quite the collection of 5-year-old fiascos. So, fail. Maybe a ghost pumpkin wasn't the best choice for my white practice today. This is just an enormous mess on every front. So I'll just hope the next one is a little better, ha (this one is getting wiped off the panel asap--but, of course, not before I share it with the world ;)!