Back to the beach

8" x 8"

acrylic on panel

This is my youngest daughter by the water's edge at Sachuest Town Beach in Newport, RI. She absolutely loves the ocean and strides right in whenever we go to the beach, barely giving me time to apply sunscreen.  This was from a photo taken in July or August but we actually made it back to the beach as late the last weekend in September.  I took a ton of reference photos and can't wait to paint from them.

 I worked on this for longer than usual, and could probably keep going, fiddling with the water.  However, I decided to leave well enough alone and move on.  I really enjoyed the color scheme here, modeling it after a Joaquin Sorolla painting entitled "The Young Amphibians".

Zorn

Liam
5" x 7"
acrylic on gessoboard

This was an attempt at using the Anders Zorn palette that one of my  favorite painters, Sarah Sedwick, uses often.  However, I think my reference photo was a little washed out, and so I didnt have the opportunity to try and use the depth of color that she can get from this very limited palette. 

long time no see

20 minute pose
18" x 24"
vine charcoal on toned paper

Over the summer I did some figure drawing.  It was a nice change of pace from working from photos or still lifes. I enjoyed the shorter poses, even feeling 20 minute drawings were too long.  Given the opportunity to have the model stay in the same pose, most times I decided to start anew.  Call it impatience or lack of stamina, but I think I was just trying to capture a freshness and not overwork things.  Also I think there is something to be said for starting slowly and getting everything in the right place before you polish thing up.