Stacy Weitz Minch

2-hour figure from last night. I don't think I quite got the proportions right on the upper torso/head area. But there's always next time. Male proportions are still a little tricky for me.

My sister asked me to paint a portrait of her puppy a couple years ago, and I'm just getting around to it. I might have done it sooner, but I lack confidence in my ability to pull something off. And rightfully so. I haven't been at this whole painting thing very long, so trying to do something to fill somebody else's expectations feels like a tall order. But for her, I figured I would give it a try, since I can always trash it and start again later (I've done it before, and I'll do it again!). I painted a pet portrait for her a couple years back, after our little family chihuahua passed away. I made a lot of mistakes (like painting under incandescent light and not realizing there were warm vs. cool reds... oops), but still, the fact that I did it at all sort of felt like a fluke, and it came from a place I didn't really have conscious control over. Totally in the "zone" for that guy, which is kind of cool, and also kind of scary. What is that magi...

Sorry to bore you with progress shots. I know very well that the changes at this point are not very exciting. Working on this Bargue has been rather trying on my patience, and there's this part of me that feels like I will never ever finish it. I'm sure it's not true, but that's how it feels. I feel like I could continue making small adjustments on this thing forever and never get there. It's never going to be exactly alike. At what point to you say, "Good enough?" I know the point of call is much later than what I traditionally have done--just not sure where or how far away that is :P And here's my long figure pose. I might get one more day on this next week if I'm lucky (things are a little crazy next week). I've worked on this one for 30 hours so far. This extended drawing is a test of patience as well, and I'm trying so, so hard. That's all I can do, I guess. At any rate, I guess it's good that the weekend has come arou...

Last night's figure. Thankfully, the flu bug lasted less than 24 hours, and I'm feeling pretty good now. I showed up to work on my extended figure drawing yesterday, only to find that the model had come 3 hours early that day and had just left :P. Anyway, since I had driven all the way there, I hung around and worked on my Bargue for a few hours before the evening model showed. It's at the point where the changes I make are feeling pretty subtle on that Bargue, and I guess that's a good thing. But this drawing. When I get far enough to do it, I've been trying to focus more on line quality and describing the effect of the light with as little information as possible. I have an idea of where I want to be, but getting there can feel pretty haphazard sometimes. It's amazing how many times you (or, at least, I) have to fumble through something before it starts to make sense. Drawing something to look real requires so much mental abstraction.

Hm, I was having a hard time with this pose last night. And when I got home, I found that one of my kids had been throwing up all evening. Then I woke up at 5AM with the same bug, and my other child came down with it this morning too. On top of that, my husband has some other sickness . So, maybe my equilibrium was just a little off last night. Anyway, the model liked the drawing, so I sent it home with her. Better luck next time. And I'm hoping this is only a 24 hour thing, yuck :P

These are low-light studio shots, but a lot of my creative time has been spent here lately. I have a few things going right now--a portrait, an extended figure pose, and my Bargue drawing (which I forgot to take a picture of). I actually think I'm getting pretty close to finishing that Bargue (knock on wood). On the first night of this portrait (right), the head got tilted after I blocked it in, so I started over the next time the model came in. I decided to switch over to pencil after the first attempt, since it's just more familiar and I knew I would only have two sessions on it. This is my current extended figure drawing (along with some GCA inspiration on the right of my board--Colleen Barry drawing up top, and Kevin Muller Cisneros on the bottom, and some drawing guidelines from Colleen in the middle there :). This is extended figure #2 for me, and there is so much yet to learn, yikes. I've had a bout 27 hours on this one so far. I mostly worked the he...

10x8", oil on panel I felt like doing a landscape yesterday, so I pulled out a photo from a trip to Bryce Canyon a couple years ago. We were there on Valentine's Day, and it was beautiful weather (at least in the afternoon--pretty unusual for February!). I was into shooting film at the time, and I took lots of photos (always with the idea in the back of my mind that I could paint them sometime--film had a better dynamic value range than digital, at least a couple years ago, and my digital camera is about 8 years old now). This particular reference photo was from a hike on the bristlecone pine loop. Bristlecone pines are some of the longest living organisms on earth. They can be up to 5,000 years old. And they grow in the rockiest of terrain. I always feel a little floored when I think about something that's been around that long (though this tree definitely looked among the smaller/younger ones on the loop). Here stands this little tree on the very edge of a cliff...