Bargue-Gérôme Drawing Course, Ear Copy

In coping I found the shape of a duck, a fish, a head of a giraffe, and an eel.  When you see a shape as an animal, you then observe the character of that particular animal and compare that with what you’ve drawn.  Looking back at this drawing now, I see my giraffe’s head, (ear canal shadow), is a little droopy and that made my ducks tail, (the light shape just above the giraffe), too thick.

Here is an excellent blog post on finding animal shapes: http://grandcentralacademy.blogspot.com/2010/10/finding-shapes-part-1.html

Here are some more example of my copy work from Sept. 2011 – Jan. 2012.

Cast drawing by Rebecca C Gray at the GCA, graphite on paper, 2011

Follow the work done by myself, fellow students, and art events at the GCA blog:  http://grandcentralacademy.blogspot.com/

Lineage of Artistic Instruction:  http://www.studioescalier.com/image/flower1A.html.  At the bottom of this chart is Ted Seth Jacobs who instructed Jacob Collins, (the Founder of the GCA), and whom along with his former students are instructing me.

Carpeaux Cast Drawing as of July 14th 2011

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux was a sculpture in the 19th century, and  I’ve been drawing a from a cast copy of his work this summer at Eduardo Fernandez’s studio in Portland.  Here is a link showing the studio and our work: http://www.eduardofernandez.com/S/Inside_the_Atelier.html

This drawing started as a simple block-in in the spring, and 15 weeks latter, over 105 working hours, has become what you see above.  The following are pictures of my progress on this drawing:

Carpeaux Cast Drawing Block-In, March 29th, 2011

Carpeaux Cast Drawing May 10th, 2011

Carpeaux Cast Drawing June 16, 2011

As always, comments and questions are more than welcome, and be sure to subscribe to my blog to receive an email when new work is posted.

White Rose in Brass Vase, 11"x14" Oil on Canvas

I am excited to announce that some of my new paintings and drawings will be on display this month at Art on the Boulevard in Vancouver, WA.  I am very happy to work with gallery director Kevin Weaver, who is a leading representative for the contemporary realist art movement in the Portland and Vancouver area.

I will be at the gallery during this First Friday Opening on May 6th from 6-8pm.  The reception is open to the public and free to attend. All of my work is available for sale.

Art on the Boulevard
210 W Evergreen Blvd Suite 300
(corner of Evergreen and Columbia)
Vancouver, Washington

Tues – Sat 10 to 5 pm
First Friday Openings 5 – 9 pm.

http://www.artontheboulevard.org/

Coffee Cup on Yellow Fabric, 8"x10" Oil on Canvas, 2011

Genuine Naples Yellow Dark (Michael Harding’s) was my star pigment in this painting.  It is such a lovely paint that never looks garish even when used straight from the tube, and is beautiful in mixes with white or yellow ochers.  Other paints used here were earth colors and premixed gray neutrals.  I warmed up the grays quite a bit with ocher and umber on the ceramic, and used them unadulterated on the metal spoon.  The background color field was a mixture of Ivory Black, Earth Black (dries much faster than Ivory, but somewhat gritty), and White (which makes black turn blueish).

Drawing of Red and Gold Onions, pencil on paper.

I am learning that a well rendered drawing is immensely helpful in organizing one’s thoughts before painting a subject.  My goal with this drawing was to architectualize my subject by clearly delineating the break between light and shadow, drawing the bowl in perspective, and rendering precisely the foreshortening of the knife.

Red and Gold Onions 1st painting stage. In the background the onions, in their shadow box, are visible out-of-focus.

While most of my subjects are lit with natural light, a spot light was used for this setup, allowing me to work on this project in the evenings.

Red and Gold Onions nearly finished.

The paints used for the onions included several versions of yellow and red earth pigments including: Yellow Ochre, Gold Ochre, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, English Red, Burnt Umber.  Other paints used for this piece were: Michael Harding’s Genuine Naples Yellow for the lightest areas on the gold onion, Viridian toned down with Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black and Burnt Umber for the cloth, and Titanium White.

Charcoal Holder with Wire Tie on Sanding Block

How to Make Bamboo Charcoal Holders/Extenders:

• Select Bamboo of appropriate thickness to the charcoal sticks you will be using.
• If the bamboo is green , keep in mind it will shrink considerably as it dries.
• Cut bamboo into sections at least 3″ long, leaving a node intact at one end of each section.
• Cut vertical slits down two sides of the stalk.  Don’t cut through the end with the node.
• Insert charcoal and use a bit of wire to hold the charcoal tight if needed.

Keep charcoal sharp using a sanding block

Make a sanding block by gluing sandpaper to flat piece of wood

Here is a link to and excellent article on sharpening charcoal: http://www.aristidesatelier.com/blog/how-sharpen-charcoal

Rebecca C Gray New Work 2010

White Urn Carbon pencil heightened with white charcoal

Step one: Block In.
Using a knitting needle or thin brush handle take measurements of your object and place corresponding marks on your paper. Use a soft carbon pencil (I used 6b) so that your lines can be easily erased. Once you’ve placed enough marks, “connect the dots”. Check all your angled lines by holding your knitting needle over the observed line and comparing that angle with the drawn line.

White Urn Carbon pencil heightened with white charcoal

Step two: Shadow Shapes.
Fill in your shadow shapes being careful to keep your tone very even. I used a brush to help work the carbon into the paper and kept my pencil very sharp.

White Urn Carbon pencil heightened with white charcoal

Step three: Refining the Shadows
Using a kneaded eraser, lighted the areas in the shadow shape that contain reflected light. Then darken the core shadows with your carbon pencil. Pay careful attention to hard and soft edges. Once you’ve divided your shadow shapes into three distinct tones (reflected light, shadow, core shadow), this area of the drawing is finished and we can turn our attention to the light side of the object.

Soften transitions between the shadow and light using a harder (2b) carbon pencil. Use a brush and keep your pencil sharp to work the carbon into the tooth of the paper. Place your highlights with white charcoal and leave the tone of your paper where possible for the lights.

White Urn Painting 1

Tone the canvas with Burnt Umber to a medium tone. A makeup sponge is useful in laying in a smooth and even tone.  Block in as you did in your drawing taking many measurements.

White Urn painting 2

Using a lint-free rag rub out the light areas.

White Urn painting 3

Refine the shadows and divide them into 3 tones: Core Shadow, Shadow, Reflected Light.

For the highlights dip a corner of the rag in mineral spirits and rub them out.

White Urn painting 4

Premix 9 tones of gray on your pallet.

1 : black

2 : dark gray

3 : med drk gray

4 : lt dark gray

5 : drk mid gray

6: lt mid gray

7 : drk lt gray

8 : med lt gray

9 : light gray

10 : white

Apply tone #5 everyplace where the mid-tone meets the shadow.

I feel my drawing skills are improving and I’m able to get much more done in 3 hours  than I could just a few weeks ago.  Juliette said I can now spend more time on my drawings- I am so glad.