Composition playground
Composition is one of those aspects of paint learning that will never be complete. You can never sign off and say, "Well, I learned that now on to painting". Composition possibilities are endless and fascinating. An art friend and I were talking composition a bit ago, specifically joking about JPI--jolts per inch. In truth not a laughing matter. In many schools of composition the punch of your composition or design takes precidence over everything else in the painting. Any of your favorite illustrations and movie stills have that NOTAN/JPI punch and drama. The rest of the story is subordinate to that initial
the pier on the Kennebec
The work on figure studies for the Kennebec Courthouse mural continues. This woman is for the crowd scene on the pier. There will be ships and cargo behind and other pier activity pertinent to life on the Kennebec. The mural encompasses many centuries, the history of the river from earliest days to perhaps mid 20th century. There is a lot of research in clothing styles and details of the setting
sketch
just a quick sketch of a model from the other day. It is very important to keep my hand in everyday or I can really get a flabby hand. A lot of the studio day is of necessity taken up with stretching canvas, mixing palettes, that sort of thing. But I really need to draw daily or when the brush is in hand it is not in shape.
drawing class
There is a very talented crop of new art students coming up. I am teaching a figure drawing class now in Bath and I have to say it is a thrill. Some of these students are really very good. And the daughter of a friend is putting together a portfolio for her college entrance. 