Last One For The Day

 This was probably the best working session I've ever had on this piece.

                                                   Stockton Street, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Le Plat du Jour

 I do like the waitress. The other folks are proving to be a bit of a challenge.

                                                  Plat Du Jour, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

If I Could Just Get One Painting Done

...I would be much happier, and relaxed. As it is, I think I need to up my production schedule from 3 to 4 paintings a day.

Spent quite a while working on the ceiling, then wiped out everything I did in the upper left corner.

                                                   The Green Room, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Moved on to this one, and felt good about the way the gel medium is allowing me to create more depth, so the work doesn't look so flat and dry.

                                                    4th Street, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Now it's time for a coffee break, and to rest my aching back. 

More Street Cred

I think I got off on the wrong foot with some of the skin tones a while ago; hopefully, they're warmed up a bit more now. Also fixed some of the body proportions on one figure, and started to deal with the very tedious building lines.

                                                   Straight Ahead, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

A Shift To The Street Paintings

It's nice that life is never boring. Yesterday, things changed, and now I need to put in some effort on the three street scenes from San Francisco. The good news is that they aren't far from being done, and I can put several of the other paintings on the back burner for a while.

                                                   Another 4th Street, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

One More Figure

The grey lady in this one needed some more definition. Now done for the day.

                                                   Plat Du Jour, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Some Meager Success

 Well, it's only the 53rd time I've tried to get the main face to work, but it doesn't look too bad this time around. It's not a perfect likeness but I'm happy with the way the tones blend into each other.

                                                         Straight Ahead, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

If the face is truly done, then I can concentrate on the necklace the next time! And that will be fun.
 

A Day For Faces?

 I actually made some real progress on two of the faces in The Chair today, and then moved on to Leah, since I already had the palette set up for skin tones. So now I'm thinking I should just continue with facial work this afternoon.

                                                    The Chair, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

As usual, the likeness (below) will take a while to develop. Sometimes I get an expression just exactly  right, and then a slip of the brush or an inadvertent hand movement messes it up. But I will get Leah's face right.

                                                              Leah (America Series), (click on image for larger view)
 
 

A Much Better Shawn

 If Shawn herself viewed the last iteration of this little painting, she must have thought i was a terrible painter. I worked for a while on the face today and it's much improved; the eyes need to be more similar (this is a constant problem for me in any portrait) but overall I'm pleased with today's work.

                                                              Shawn (America Series), (click on image for larger view)

It's The Eyes

 The eye on the right side of the painting is fine; it looks the way I want it to. But the left one is off by a millimeter or two. Now I have to let it go through the drying process before i can make it right. I mean, correct.

                                                         Straight Ahead, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Hands

 Once I get the hands done— and they will take a couple of sessions— the rest of this piece should go easily.

                                                         I Don't Know How You Do It, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Some Decent Progress

 I've made the contrast stronger between the shady areas and the planes directly facing the light source, and it looks like an improvement. Did lots of careful line work on the architectural details, and added some directional lines on the sidewalk. 

                                                                        Dance All Night, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

The Fire Extinguisher

 I've made so many mistakes on this piece that I've practically given up, but I'm going to give it my best shot and see if I can get it done in time for Artomatic. The tiny text will be the biggest challenge, but I've got the color of the box frame figured out; it's a combination of ivory, titanium, and blue black.

                                                                      In Case Of Emergency, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Forgot To Post This

Another from yesterday's session. I begin to see the finish line on this one. 

                                                                        Baby Needs Shoes, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Working

 Here's some more of today's output:

                                                                        Jinya, work in progress (click on image for larger view

 

                                                                        Bowery Graffiti Wall (Revok + Pose), work in progress (click on image for larger view

Is It Monday or Tuesday?

 Three day weekends really mess me up. I took time off yesterday to visit with friends, and now today I think it must be Monday. But I'm going to throw myself into the work, there's a lot that needs to be done.

                                                 The Green Room, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 

Inching Forward

 Two more:

                                                                        Night For Day, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

                                                                        Jinya, work in progress (click on image for larger view

On Jinya, I developed some detail way over on the neglected right side.

Not Much To Report

Made such a mess of IDKHYDI that I'm not even going to post an image. 

I did better on the face of the guy speaking in Plat Du Jour; I had found better reference material and worked from that.

Otherwise, nothing else was done.

                                                   Plat Du Jour, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

 

Wall Shadows

 The lighting fixtures at the top of the wall are casting shadows on the mural. In order to create the illusion of reality, the cast shadows have to change to a deeper color of whatever hue they fall on; in other words, I can't use the same grey shade on red, blue, yellow areas of the mural; it has to be a deeper red shadow, deeper blue, etc. So that's taking a little time to do correctly.

But that's what makes it fun.

                                                     Bowery Graffiti Wall (Revok + Pose), work in progress (click on image for larger view)

An All-Day-On-One-Piece Session

 Since everything's drying, I decided to spend today on the only piece that wasn't going to smear on me. Well, it's not quite three in the afternoon, so maybe I'll find something else to do; Night For Day and the graffiti wall have both been on hold for a while... but I worked many areas on the left side of the painting today, and it's starting to take shape.

                                                                        Jinya, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Fatigue Sets In

If I never see a brush after June, it will be too soon.

                                                                        I Don't Know How You Do It, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

I hear this title— "I don't know how you do it!"— all the time. 

Worked on the hand on the left today.

                                                                        In Case of Emergency, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Note that the cylindrical container is wider now.

 

Getting The Drawing Right

 The face of the girl third from left really is the focal point of the painting, and i've struggled with it for many months now. I just haven't been able to get it right, re-draw after re-draw, but today it looks better. I'll wait for it to dry and then smooth out some of the transitions.

                                                    The Chair, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

Adding A New Figure

The problem all along with this painting is that I had really poor reference for the woman at left; her mouth was open wide in a very unattractive way. So I am using this pose instead, and it's making all the difference. The guy at right still looks like a cartoon, though; I'll have to fix that.

                                                   Plat Du Jour, work in progress (click on image for larger view)
 

A Little Self-Indulgence

 Some paintings, or at least parts of some paintings, are so much fun to paint that it's not like doing work. I've been wanting to finish the shoes for a long time, and today seemed like the day to at least lay the groundwork. 

Also painted the rug tassels and some more of the mirror frame.

                                                    Baby Needs Shoes, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Grumbling

 I set in right away on The Green Room, and IMMEDIATELY smeared the paint I had put on it yesterday. So I'm not including that one here on the daily blog.

Work on Dance All Night was only slightly more satisfactory; again, there was smearing on areas I'd worked on two days ago— I really need to wait a minimum of three days between sessions— but I did get enough done to justify posting the image.

                                                                        Dance All Night, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Then I moved on to the two latest Americans, Leah and Shawn. Not happy with either, but at least they're moving forward.

                                                              Leah (America Series), (click on image for larger view)
 

                                                              Shawn (America Series), (click on image for larger view)

Dark Days

 When the sun shines in February, the light is penetrating, almost blinding. Sometime I'm going to get around to doing a painting called "The Singular Light of February." But the past couple of days have been anything but sunny, and as much as I want to keep working, I've had to clean the brushes and turn off the light in the studio— I'm just messing up the skin tones on:

                                                                        The Chair, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 Meanwhile: earlier and in a somewhat brighter situation, I worked on many small places on 

                                                  The Green Room, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

 But that's it for today.

 

My Arm Will Be Sore Tomorrow

 This is a big piece, 38"wide by 54" inches high. I had to use bold, hard, vigorous strokes while painting this purple marathon today, and now I've got to let the paint dry and then go over it again. Mistakes were made, and some revision is necessary here and there. Also, I had hoped to re-draw the hands, but that will have to wait as well.

Still, the piece is moving forward.

                                                                        I Don't Know How You Do It, work in progress (click on image for larger view)

Emergency

 Oh, it's been such a long, overworked road with this one, which I started in 2017. This makes the case for having fewer pieces in progress than more; I lost my notes along the way and got confused about which black and white pigments I was using and that resulted in a confused mess of warm and cool grey tones. I finally settled on Winsor & Newton's Blue Black and Gamblin's Radiant White. 

The idea is to install it in my Artomatic space and see if it fools anyone into thinking it's and actual fire extinguisher.

                                                                        In Case of Emergency, work in progress (click on image for larger view)