Paint-Out

The Watts crew had a painting session with California Art Club President, Peter Adams this past weekend. Peter brought in some viking opera costumes and we hired a couple of models for the day long paint-out. The lighting was pretty cool, very different from what we normally paint from life. There were a lot of really nice paintings. I thought I'd share mine.

On The Shelves - "Arnold Friberg: The Passion of A Modern Master"

Arnold Friberg was an illustrator/teacher in the mid 20th century. He's one of those artists that most people don't know of. He was most well know for his Royal Canadian Mounted Police paintings. He was also a big part of the visual development for "The Ten Commandments". I believe this out of print book is still available, though may be hard to find. You can also see his work in various smaller books :
"Arnold Friberg's Christmas Book" and "Classic Scenes From the Book of Mormon: The original twelve paintings by Arnold Friberg", and others.

Here are a couple of images from the book.

New Work

Here are a couple of images from the SWG set from Sony.

On The Shelves - "The Orientalists"

Here's the start to a new section of my Blog. Each week I will post a book from my shelves or a book I would like to add to my shelves. I'm starting with "The Orientalists" by Kirsten Davies. One of my all time favorite books. I first pick up this gem on a trip to NY back in 2005. I think it was at the Met. There are dozens of artists in this book that I guarantee you have never heard of, and are all amazing! Among some of them: Jean-Leon Gerome, Edwin Lord Weeks, Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Charles Bargue, and many more. The book is out of print, but you can still find used copies for around $60-$70, but not for much longer.

Those of you who know me, know I'm a huge fan of the Orientalists paintings. I collect almost every book I can find on them. I even went as far as doing a master study from one. I chose to do "Arab Merchant Among His Antiques" by Charles Bargue. I've always loved that painting and learned quite a bit from copying it. The original by Charles Bargue is only 13" x 9.5", which is WAY too small for me to try and copy. The copy I did is twice the size at 24" x 18" and is hanging at The Watts Atelier. I don't know where the original is. If anyone finds out, please let me know, I'd love to see it in person.


Study after Charles Bargue , oil on masonite

The Undead Step by Step - Draugr

Here is another undead step by step process for an assignment I was given for the "How To Draw and Paint the Undead" book. The character is called a Draugr. A Daugr is an undead creature from Norse mythology. In short, they are dead vikings.

Here are some sketches for the conceptual phase of the project. I started to try and get a feel for the character through loose sketches. In this phase I will do a lot research about specific armor, clothing, and weapons. I will also look at inspirational artists and movies. This gets my mind moving in a direction I might not have taken initially.

A character turn-around. I believe this was done with a prizmacolor black pencil on regular printer paper.

...and the final painting. The assignment didn't call for any specific background, so I decided to keep it very subtle. The final was done on gessoed massonite in oil. I had a lot of fun with these undead assignments. Who wouldn't want to paint an undead viking!

Watts Atelier 2009 Fall Schedule

The NEW Fall 2009 class schedule for the Watts Atelier is available. We are nearing the
end of our Summer term, and recommend early registration for the next term. Classes fill up
quick. Classes start October 12th. Here is a list of classes I will be teaching:

COMPOSITION AND PICTURE MAKING
Tuesdays
2:30-5:30pm

HEAD DRAWING
Tuesdays
7:00-10:00pm

PAINTING FROM THE MASTERS
Wednsdays
10:00am-1:00pm

PORTRAIT IN OIL
Wednsdays
2:30-5:30pm


Click on a class above to be directed to the class page.

Figure Studies in Oil

Here are a couple of figure quick studies done in oil. Each are an hour.

IlluXCon Preview 4 - Forest Elf

Forest Elf was done for Sony's online card game, Legends of Norrath. It's 20x16 oil on masonite and will be available for purchase at IlluXcon in Nov.