A beautiful girl 

Charcoal on Paper

This is another drawing of my favourite model at the moment (you would have seen her in my last post over the shoulder)


I'm very happy with this drawing, even though it was never fully completed - the incompleteness of the drawing adds a certain charm.


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Over the shoulder

Charcoal on paper 

This is a soft charcoal of one of my favourite models - Drawn during a life study session.

I was late for class and had to rush to get as much done as possible before the model packed up.

In total I had about an hour with this drawing.

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May's Second Charcoal

Charcoal on Paper

This is the second charcoal I'm posting this month.
I think there is something (hopefully at least one thing) in each drawing that I fall in love with, in this drawing it's the fabric wrapped around her hips - I love the folds in the fabric and the way the light captures the folds.

At tea time someone said, about my drawing; "She looks cross."
The model, overhearing the comment, looked at my drawing and said; "No I don't, I look pretty!"
Gog bless her.

February's Charcoal

February's Nude
Charcoal

I'm really starting to love charcoal as a medium, but they're starting to stack up. I'm wondering if I should start selling them. Or maybe I should just give a few away...

Seated Nude - November 2010 - Charchoal on Paper

Seated Nude - November 2010 - Charcoal on Paper

It's been a while since I've posted a painting, recently it's been a lot of charcoal drawings and I am really enjoying it.


This photo was taken midway through the session (during a break). The finished drawing is still in the studio and I forgot to take a photo of it, but I like what it looks like halfway through, I'm almost sorry I spent more time on it.

Seated Nude - Charcoal on Paper

Seated Nude - Charcoal on Paper

We've had nowhere to draw for the last four weeks and last night we got together at one of the artist's house. Her upstairs area has not been used for a while so we moved in there with our lights easels and a model.

It took ages to set set up, but in the end it was a very successful evening.

Stephen Scott - Seated Nude - Charcoal on paper

Seated Nude
Charcoal on paper

About a year ago I hated charcoal; it was an annoying medium - the charcoal refused to do anything I wanted it to... now I'm starting to understand.

The model was from Zimbabwe, but she's spent the majority of her life here in South Africa.

Seated nude for May 2010

Seated nude, May 2010
Painting in progress

A couple of week ago this young model posed for us for a once-off sitting - I did this charcoal sketch of her

We've asked her to com back for the last four weeks of the time we have in our current studio. I took the opportunity to start an oil painting - this is the result of the first session.

I took the whole session to draw and correct the drawing, my goal for the session was to have a drawing that is as accurate as I can make it. I am very happy with the result of this session.

Seated nude - charcoal on paper

Seated nude - Charcoal on paper

This is the first of three new models we're drawing this month. She did fantastically - this was the first time that she's ever posed and without a doubt we'll invite her back for more sessions in the future!

Last week we advertised for new models and got 30 odd responses, 3 of which we booked sessions with. Drawing is the natural choice for once off sessions and charcoal is becoming one of my favorite drawing mediums.

Next week is a new session and a new model.

Seated nude - Composition sketch (pen on paper)

Seated nude - pen study on paper

This was a quick study in lights and darks, the idea behind the sketch is not to be a final work of art, but rather to be a template to work from.
Unfortunately I never did a painting of this pose from this angle, it was done in the last 5 minutes of a session and the model was unable to make the next session.

Nude in the sunlight - a painting in progress

This is another small painting that's on the easel in the studio. I spend a few minutes each painting session working on it. It should be finished within the next week.

Seated Nude - Second Painting

Seated Nude - second session
(secondary Painting)
Oil on Board

I'm fond of having a second painting on the easel as a secondary painting, this keeps me from overworking the main painting and also serves as a testing ground for colour and tone for the main painting.

Sometimes the secondary painting, as in this case, is as nice or better than the main painting. The last pose with this model is next week, hopefully I'll get them both finished in the final two hours.

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Seated Nude - Main Painting

Seated Nude - Primary painting
Oil on Board

This is the second last session on with this model, next week we race towards completion and I'm feeling the pressure. Both this painting and the secondary painting are small works, but they have consumed many hours so far!

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Seated nude - incomplete

Seated nude - Oil on board

I seem to be specializing in incomplete paintings at the moment... my day job has been keeping me from painting. I've been on deadlines and had an extra work load; but that's all over (for now).

Last week we erected a wooden 'cottage' in the back yard which will be my studio, so far it's a shell with all my art stuff crammed into it and it's going to take another week before I'm up and running there.

Hopefully I'll move some of these 'incompletes' to FIN.

Seated Nude - Charcoal on paper

Seated Nude
Charcoal on Paper

My workload on my day job is seriously messing with my art time... this is a quick sketch on paper. It's a new model, and she is lovely!

Alice... again

This is the last session we had with this model.

She'd come to the session after session of a completely different kind: she spent the afternoon drinking at the local pub. Not knowing this we set her up in a standing pose... she spent the evening swaying from one side to the other... and it was impossible to get her back into the correct pose after every break (which were frequent).

During the course of the night I did 4 sketches; this was the best.

200mm x 300mm
Pastel Pencil on Canson paper
Click here to bid on this sketch

Diane - 7 November 2007

This was a short sitting (about 1 hour) and it was a with the purpose of trying Richard Schmidt's technique of working the drawing out of a mix of burnt sienna and ivory black.

It's a fairly simple technique, but can be very difficult to master. I was lucky with this one; I liked the result.

The painting starts by covering the entire canvas with a thinned mixture of burnt sienna and ivory black (the mix should be blotchy so that you have patches of sienna and patches of black) - the mixture is thinned with turpentine. Once the canvas is prepared it needs a short while to dry, it's time to start painting again once the paint no longer is able to run.

The painting is then done by both painting fresh tones of the sienna / black mix and by using a cloth to rub away the coloured texture causing highlights. I.e. Paint the darks and rub out the lights.

The pose is exactly as was in Richard Schmidt's book and I followed his instructions closely. This was to be the under painting with a more complete colour painting worked over it, but I liked it so much that I was compelled to stop.

We had a small exhabition at the office (I work for a large South African retailer) and this painting was sold within the first hour of being on display. It was never meant to be a finished work of art so I the selling price was very low (the buyer actually gave me more than my asking price!)

Oil on board - SOLD