a blank canvas

Tuesday night was my first day of school; I'm taking a painting studio at SAIC. We'll work independently on a cohesive body (or bodies) of work. After consultation with my instructor Loretta, I decided to pursue two themes... runners and friends/family in scarves.

My first work is going to be a running portrait of my friend Vince. The source photo is excellent-- lots of strong shadows that will translate wonderfully in paint. I rarely do preliminary thumbnails, but this time I did because I was uncertain of the composition I'd use. I made three sketches in class. One was tightly cropped on the figure... that I rejected almost immediately because it was too confining. Next, I did a horizontal composition, orienting the figure towards the right, with a little negative space above and lots to the left. That didn't feel right, either. Finally I decided to place the figure to the far right, with plenty of negative space above and to the left. It's a non-traditional layout but it excited me right away.

It will be a mid-sized work... 30 x 20. I'm going back to canvas-- linen primed with gesso.

Here's how today's graphite drawing process went (see photo above with apologies for my lack of skill with the camera):

Sunday, February 14, 1:38 p.m. Sam Adams Light, chocolate oranges. iPod on shuffle-- Gravity by 7th Heaven. Sweet Child 'O Mine by Guns 'N Roses. Started with the head. It soon became apparent to me that if I don't get the mouth right and the jawline, it's not Vince. Did a lot of erasing, but I think it finally came together. I stepped back. Gives You Hell on the iPod. I'm dancin' now. This feels so right.

Arms, chest, torso. There's considerable foreshortening on the right arm/hand. I anticipated trouble with it, and I was right. That got erased about a million times and I actually screamed in frustration once (John came running down the stairs to see if I was okay). I'm still not thrilled with it, but I need some time away from it. It'll translate better with paint.

Finished up with the legs/feet. That was the easy part. Journey singing Don't Stop Believin'. Yes indeed. I believe this is going to be a very good one. I'm feeling very satisfied with myself right about now. Victory dance to Right Round. I put down the pencil at 4:14. Painting on it starts Tuesday. Gonna do the water soluble oils even though they kind of intimidate me.

Meanwhile I'm prepping the canvas for the first in the scarf series, which will feature John. Because it needs a couple more coats of gesso (and the Olympics are on) I probably won't get it sketched tonight, but I'll do so tomorrow after work.

This class is exactly what I needed.