New work completed for my June 7 First Friday show at the 1900.

Outlook, 2013, 29X36 in., Charcoal on 80 lb. Co-Mo Sketch

Anguish, 2013, 30X36 in., Charcoal on draft paper

It about time I started posting again - so here are two completed works now on display with five others at 1900, 114 W. Pacific Avenue, Spokane, Washington. Anguish is brand new, from a May 2013 figure drawing studio at Spokane Art Supply. Outlook is one I started back in February or March of 2012 and was one I had meant to get back to.

I had a few inquiries on how long it takes me to complete a finished work. It starts in the studio, with a thirty or forty-five minute pose. Back at home, I spend about seven to ten hours adjusting and adding details, finishing out forms, and adding background, pedestal, and chair information. Here is what I started with on Anguish, straight from the studio:

I had a bit of good feedback from my figure drawing amigos on this one - part of the reason why I selected it! It already had a decent mood to it - I just needed to bring it out more and attempt to define him in his surroundings. You'll note some really quick strokes on the pillow to annotated the pattern and how it (and any cloth or pillow the model is resting on) bends, covers, and folds with the body.

So the first hour and a half were spent bringing out that mood with the subject and figuring out his contours:

From that hour-and-a-half I got quite a bit defined and my light sources worked out. I was able to start picking out details on his right hand, and rough in parts of the chair and cushion pattern. Part of this time was also trying to figure out the right leg  in relation to his body and the stool; didn't get much information on it from the first sitting. Rolling right along, the  next couple hours I had this:

I worked mostly on the left hand at this point, modeling from my left hand as I didn't get anything down other than a rough placement. More definition on the stool and pillow, started working on his hair, and played around a bit with how his left foot falls. A nice layer of black around him - chunky charcoal is so good for that :) I also started thinking about what the heck he was sitting on....could have been a mushroom, a wedding cake, or a medium sized dog. I decided to go with a black pleather stool with a roundy support frame underneath...

More work on the hands and pillow, more definition and shape correction on the ear, put down more charcoal over his hair and redid that to add more depth, and started figuring out more regarding the stool and his right foot. I was also able to define the chair legs, much thanks to my nice long steel straight edge ruler!

The last couple of hours saw a major left forearm correction (made it a bit thinner close to the wrist and better defined the bottom as it hovers above the left thigh), finishing the chair and stool, better defining the right leg and foot, and a last minute decision to include a cloth handle on the pillow.

So, start to finish, this is generally how  my process works. With this piece I used one type of charcoal - chunky charcoal - which comes in a compressed stick about 3/4 inch in diameter, a triangular stick eraser, and a standard run-of-the-mill stick eraser.

Thank You for looking! I will be posting again very soon, as I was able to come out of today's figure drawing class with a couple pretty good starts. Adios amigos :)