Model Painting

This is a painting from our live model sessions a couple months ago. We generally have the same model and pose for 4 weeks: three 3 hour sessions per week, which equals out to about 36 hours. But the model will generally pose for 20-30 minutes at a time then take a 5-10 minute break. So I would guess I spent closer to 24 hours on this painting.

Dream the impossible dream..

This is my most recently finished painting. I passed it off on Friday and I''m excited to be moving on to the next project. The picture looked a lot better on my phone so you'll have to take my word that it looks much better in real life.

The figures in this painting are wooden sculptures that I bought in Ecuador 13 years ago. The characters are Don Quixote and his side kick, Sancho Panza. In one scene of the story Don Quixote attacks a windmill, thinking it is a monster, and he breaks his spear. If you look closely you'll see that Don Quixote is holding a broken spear with the top half sitting on the ground in front of him...the spear of this sculpture actually snapped when I brought it back from Ecuador in my luggage. It was just a happy coincidence that it fits along nicely with the story :)

Wocka Wocka!

If this painting could talk I think he'd say, "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas...how he got in my pajamas, I don't know."

Then maybe he'd add, "Wocka Wocka!"

If Voltaire was a comedian, I wonder if he'd be more like Groucho Marx or Fozzie Bear?

The New City of York!

The Hein Academy of Art hits Times Square!

We went to this art store to grab some supplies for an open drawing session. As I was standing in line to purchase some paper and pencils I was still debating whether I wanted to buy the supplies and go to the drawing session that night...a man in line behind me (Edward) started chatting and I briefly told him my dilemma. He encouraged me to take advantage of every opportunity to go places, meet people, and experience life. He said, "You're always one interaction away from getting everything you've always wanted." I felt inspired and ready to get out there and make my dreams come true!
Unfortunately, when we arrived at the drawing session we discovered it had been cancelled. So anticlimactic.

Emily and I on our way back to the hotel. I was a little worried the man taking this photo was going to run off with my fancy camera so I didn't want to step back too far...fortunately, he was trustworthy.

My favorite poster at our hotel, The Soldiers’, Sailors’, Marines’, Coast Guard and Airmen’s Club

I'd never really been that inspired by Rembrandt before, but his paintings were amazing in person! I LOVE this one in particular!
Hendrickje Stoffels by Rembrandt
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Christ with a Staff by Follower of Rembrandt
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Salome, 1870 by Henri Regnault
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This was one of my favorite paintings at The Met. While it is beautifully painted, I think the subject matter is what appeals to me the most about it.
Joan of Arc, 1879 by Jules Bastien-Lepage
The Met

A whole room of paintings by John Singer Sargeant. He's great!

texting?

Another of my favorites!! Something about the way this was painted really appealed to  me. LOVE it!
King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1 by Edwin Austin Abbey
The Met

 detail of King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1 by Edwin Austin Abbey

our group outside The Met

Hispanic Society of America. Beautiful building and paintings!

I like how loosely Sorolla painted this figure, but it reads so well. See detailed photo below.
Porfiro Diaz, Former President of Mexico, 1911 by Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida
Hispanic Society of America

Art Show/Portrait Drawing Session

I'm finally posting some pictures from the Art Show/Portrait Drawing Session that was held September 28th at the Hein Academy of Art. Advanced students at the academy displayed their artwork and Jeff Hein presented two religious paintings he recently completed for the Honduras LDS Temple. His paintings are incredible (see pics below)! I especially love the one of Christ healing the multitude. He painted both pieces completely from life, meaning he had each model come pose for him individually (on several occasions) rather than using photographs as references. It is beautifully done and inspiring to me!

One objective of this event was to help raise money for an educational art trip we are taking to New York City (next week) to visit several art museums and galleries. Early in the evening people could bid to have a portrait done that night, or they could buy a raffle ticket for the chance to win a portrait by Jeff Hein or one of the advanced students, to be scheduled for another day.

Jeff painted a portrait that night and several of us drew portraits. It was good experience drawing with an audience and on a strict timeframe (although I didn't get close to finishing).

Overall it was a lovely evening. Thanks to everyone who came to support us!

Steve introducing the evening's events

Me and my parents in front of my art

Jeff Hein's painting of Christ

Jeff Hein's painting of Christ healing the multitude

Jeff beginning his portrait

The portrait nearing completion, after about 3 hours!

 Jenna and Skip drawing portraits

Me, Sarah, Heather and Emily drawing

Thanks to my lovely model, Claudia

Art Show This Friday, Sept. 28

Jeff Hein and the Hein Academy of Art students will be having an art show this Friday night at the Hein Academy (Hein Academy of Art – East Building, 11 E. 700 S. Salt Lake City, UT 84101) from 5:30 - 9:30 pm. Artwork will be displayed and Jeff and some of the students will be drawing portraits during the evening. For more details, visit the Hein Academy blog at: http://heinacademyofart.com/home/blog and see the post from Sept. 21.

There is also a post on the Hein Academy blog (Sept. 23) featuring ME and my current self-portrait adventure!

Why so serious?

Yes, I know I look angry in this painting. No, you aren't the first person to tell me that. Do you really want to know why I look a little put off in this picture? First of all, I had to stare at myself in a mirror for one hundred hours...yes, that's right, 100 hours! YOU try holding a smile for that long. Secondly, it should not have taken me 100 hours to paint this! And third, who smiles in a self-portrait? Seriously (no pun intended), I did a little looking and easily found some examples of artists NOT smiling for their self-portraits...see below. 

I finished my self-portrait last April. It took me about four months to paint it and it was a challenge! I did change the lighting about 20 hours into it so that didn't help, but it took me a lot longer than I expected. I kept painting the same things over and over again each day, trying to get them right. All of those hours could feel like a waste of time, but then I remember that it takes 10,000 hours to get really good at something so it's not a waste when I realize those 100 hours were moving me towards my goal of mastering painting!

I've done a few other paintings since this one and recently decided to re-visit the self-portrait theme to see if I've improved my paint quality and/or gotten faster in the last four months. I started the new self-portrait a couple weeks ago and so far it feels like it's moving more quickly, but time will tell. I've been taking periodic pictures of my progress so it will be fun to see the succession when it's completed.

Rembrandt

Vincent Van Gogh

John Singer Sargeant

Mary Cassatt

Vermeer

Jeffrey Hein

Degas