The Dirty Palette Club

THE DPC takes in a Demo

2011-08-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the DPC made a little road trip over the river to Willingboro, NJ and took in a portrait demo by John Ennis. It was a short demo where Ennis demonstrated his underpainting technique.

Working with an burnt umber mixture he toned the canvas and then basically did a modified wipeout. Ennis went a little further than he would in the studio for the purposes of the demo for the crowd last night.
Ennis stopped along the way and answered questions from the audience and then gave a nice slide show talk about his work and career as a national portrait artist and his transition from being an illustrator.
Will and Alina squint like good painters...

Ennis' painting gear.

Afterwards the DPC stopped a diner for some dinner and discussion about what we saw and about the issues with painting we all have gong on. then we parted ways in the rain looking forward to our next painting outing as a group.

Brandywine

2011-07-27T19:13:00.001-07:00

With the break in the current heatwave which had been baking almost the entire country it seems the DPC or Alina and I decided to hit the road and paint. I decided to drive down to the Brandywine and along the river in Chadds Ford, know for being the homestead of the Wyeth clan. in fact we were just a short distance from the Brandywine River Museum. We came along Brandywine Picnic Park and set up and got ready to paint.

Alina checking out the spot. We couldn't have asked for a better day really, just perfect blue, blue summer skies and it was cool in the shade. We saw several people canoeing or floating down on big inner tubes.

There was so much good here to paint it was more of a choice of what not to try and paint, so many good views--so we'll deninitely be going back!
Alina searches for a composition and settled on the bridge.

Alina painting away.

Alina's progress as the day wore on. She say right down on the river bed because the water level is pretty low due to the fact we have had so little rain.

I settled on the dynamic composition of the two trees arching over the riverbank, and here is my initial block-in.

Here is my final painting. Since we kind of got a late start we had less time before the sun changed the shadows too much, but I'd say we still got near 4 hours of painting time in. I'm really trying to both add more paint and more color into the shadows to really paint the light. Looking at Sorolla and Sargent to really see the masters at work and to try and take their lessons into my own thinking, yet I always want to be open and responsive and if I find if I get unclear, I wipe it off or scrape it off or re-mass it all back. I am also really looking at and studying the Russian Social Realist painters too, I love how they handle light and the dash of their paint application.

The stream makes and handy wash if you remember to bring soap!

Alina with her wonderful painting, her best yet.

A close-up of Alina's painting. So it's back in the studio for a few days but I am really charged and plan to head back out next week and engage nature again!

Goodbye Darby Road

2011-07-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

The DPC returned to our spot this week, though only Lexi and I made it this week. The bugs were not as bad but the day heated up and got hot by the end. I decided since the light was so striking to paint the creek again. Lexi decided to paint the horse barn.

Lexi blessed the days painting events with a bubble pipe.
Here is my initial wash-in, trying to keep big shapes and an interesting design.
Here is a shot of my palette, I guess it's really a primary palette, my usual approach is to look at what I see and choose colors that match pretty close to start off.

A happy Lexi with her painting.
Lexi's awesome final painting.
Here is my final painting, this was more of a race that last week as we got started later and the sun's position changed earlier. I think we'll take a break from this spot for a bit and move to a new spot next week.

The Return to Darby Road

2011-07-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

The DPC headed back out this week and a few more friends came along this time, our friends David Wilson and Diane Feissel joined in for a gorgeaous Saturday's afternoon of painting. We returned back to our secret spot on Darby Road and everyone quickly made the rounds to find a spot to paint. Alina was here for the first time since she was back in Toronto for the past few weeks.

The Jeep was full of gear this week! Try as I might I still end up carrying extra stuff which always seems to come in hand--like baby oil, which is great for removing oil paint and much better than using terps as that pushes the paint right into you skin...

Everyone picking their spot and setting up.

Alina framing her composition.

Diane set up in the meadow across the road.
Lexi set up on the bridge.
Dave had a little trouble with his easle so Alina gave him a hand by finding a few flat rocks--the McGiver or Toronto!

Dave eyeing his painting.

Alina painting away!

I decided to try painting a small painting of the horse barn and knew it would be a race with the sun.
Here is my block-in...
Dave's handsome painting of the Darby Road Bridge.

My painting at the finish line, I wish I had an extra 45 minutes on this one as I ended up havng to re-mass and repaint a lot of the trees in the background as the light changed by the end so much.
Alina's bold-brush landscape.
Jane decided to draw this week instead of painting.
Diane's cool small canvas hiding inside of a carryout bag from pod.

It was a great day and we had a great time despite the bugs, we ate our llunch at our usual spot the Llanarch Diner. I can't wait to go back out next week!

The Creek

2011-06-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow painters!

Well after a week's hiatus from painting while I went back to Michigan to visit my parents and shoot some exciting images from Detroit, the DPC gathered again in our local spot to paint. It was good weather, warm, not too humid and the bugs were not as bad which was great.
Here is my blocking using a wash of Van Dyke Brown.
Will setting up, the nice shade helped keep us all pretty cool till the end.

Fighting the complexity of nature is a challenge and relaxing at the same time.

Jane working away...
Will making progress...
Here is my painting after about 90 minutes or so...I had to step on it as the sun was moving to really change it's position.

Here is my final painting it's 12 x 16 on a Fredrix canvas. I choose this because I loved that light passage in the middle but I had a little more time on the water--but the sun said the time was up so we packed up and hit the diner for lunch--everybody was starving. I hope we hit the same place next week.

Darby Road A-Go-Go

2011-06-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

Here is my finished Plein Air of the bridge across the Darby Road Creek from today's paint-out with the DPC. We hit the road early in hopes of beating the rain that was promised in the afternoon, returning to our new favorite spot along darby road at the invite of the gracious host we met last week.
Here is my start on my painting. I kept my palette pretty limited until later on in the painting. White, Van Dyke Brown, Maganese blue, Cad Green and and an Earth Green.
Will and I set up along the river while the gals set up across the road in the field.

Jane setting up.
Our friend Brie from school joined us this week. Brie setting up far back in the field. This time next week I'll be painting in Arizona!

DPC Summer on the Go!

2011-06-04T16:25:00.000-07:00

The DPC has really been having a lot o fun so far since school is out and the summer has kicked off. We have still been meeting weekly to paint and to do our group trips around the city and region to museums shows and First Fridays. We hit the Woodmere Museum to see the Violet oakley exhibition and then had a nice BBQ after at Jane's place.
I finished my painting I had going in our session at school.
Lexi working--er-joking away.
Two happy campers before their coffee break. We stopped in the Good Karma Cafe on Pine Street in Philly where we saw several painting hanging by PAFA alum Joseph Lozano.
Then this saturday Will and Jane and I went landscape painting over in Havertown, just down the road from me and I painted this little landscape.

here is Jane painting away.
Here is Jane's painting--she was on fire and finished her painting in about 90 minutes!
Will meet the owner of the farm or land and they invited us to come and paint any time.
here is Will's painting--a beaut!!

Friday Dave and lexi and I did the gallery walk for First friday--and i do mean walk--we walked just about the entire city it seems and hit all the major galleries from Gross Mccleaf, Seraphin, Rodger LaPelle, FAN and Artist house.

Lexi being stalked by a tree.....

Next week we plan on getting back out to landscape paint and work from the model.

Dirty Palette Club Summer 2

2011-05-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

On what ended up being is very hot and humid day in Philly the DPC got together for our second summer session at PAFA. It was our second pose with our model Jessica. Some members like Alina didn't come this week but Lexi joined in to keep the balance of the force. We have two more sessions with the model and then we'll see what's nest, maybe some landscapes or even a still life. the nice weather-even if a bit warm makes us want to take it on the road and paint some landscapes and embrace the sunny dyas after an incredibly rainy Spring.
Dave with his painting.
Will started a new painting this week and here is his block-in.
Lexi started out strong with a great block-in.
Joel always looks comfortable as he paints away.
Here is my second pass on the painting, i went in and repainted and repainted again and again all over trying to dig in deeper and match values better and not worry about the details until later. It's always great to paint with the group, sometimes we laugh so hard it's hard to not mess up your painting or see through the tears of laughter! It is so incredibly important to have a great support group of friends as an artist out there swinging for the fences every day.

The DPC Summer Kick-off!

2011-05-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

With the PAFA ASE a week past we decided as a group to keep things hot and the palettes flying by getting the group back for painting at least once a week as a group. We want to keep each other going and challenged too. So i booked a model for a few weeks to start the whole thing off and we'll be getting outside to do some landscapes as soon as this dreadful rainy spring weather get's better.
Here is William's start.
Joel's painting.
Dave is off to a strong start.
Joel talks with our model.
Alina's strong start.
Here is my painting after about 90 minutes or so. This week we'll all gather again and go at it---the summer is just beginning!

Annual Student Exhibition (ASE)

2011-05-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

In response to David's last post, I decided to add a few photos from this years ASE, held at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. I hope you enjoy, for it was a wonderful time for all of us. Please stop by the School if you are in town, the show will be up for quite some time.

This set of photos were taken the week before the show. Below you will see Mike, Joel, Dave and Jane, working to prepare there wall space.

This set of photos were taken during opening night. Below, are the DPC's members standing in front of their walls.

Jane Winter

Joel Shambe

Mike Manley

David Golas

If you have any questions about the shows location, or the duration of its hanging feel free to check out the schools web site.

DPC at the PAFA Graduation!

2011-05-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

I snapped this pic tonight of the DPC crew at PAFA's ASE show after the graduation ceremony. Joel Shambe and I, David Golas, graduated today and all four of us: Joel, Jane Winter, Mike Manley and I exhibited at the Annual Student Exhibition. I am very glad to have shared this experience with my friends and I think we all have a lot to be proud of. More pics to come soon!

Jon Foster Show / Portrait Painting

2011-01-14T10:35:00.001-08:00

The DPC decided to start the new year off strong and start up our weekly painting/drawing sessions. Today we met up early to see the Jon Foster show, held at The University of The Arts. For anyone who has not seen this show, it's a collection of his digital work. As much as I enjoyed the show, I was kind of hoping to see some of his traditional paintings. Looking at a digital print has no hold over me like a painting. After that we grabbed some lunch and moved along to our painting session.

The photo taken above is of Scott Noel, one of PaFa's greatest professors. Here you can see him working on a large city landscape from observation. Its always quite an inspiration to catch him working on one of his drawings or paintings.

Mike Manley and David Golas grabbing some grub.

Here we have Christine who was initially just visiting us, but instead became our model for the day since our previous model could not make it.

David and Mike painting away

Mike Manley's Painting - Oil on Canvas

William Sentman's (Myself) Painting - Oil on Canvas

David Golas's Painting - Oil on Canvas

DPC in NYC (Expanded)

2010-12-12T17:56:00.000-08:00

This Saturday the DPC went out to New York City to visit several galleries.
The first gallery we stopped at was Adelson. Here they had an amazing John Singer Sargent show up. For those who still want to see this show, it will be up until the 18 of December.
The work consists mostly of Sargent's impressionism paintings, with the edition of a couple drawings and portraits.

The girls looking at a portrait of a child by Sargent.

Painting By Sargent

Painting By Sargent

Painting by Sargent

Detail of painting above

Detail of painting above

Lexi and Mike Manley being cute at Adelson Gallery

The next stop was to Wendt Gallery where Casey Baugh has his solo show, Evoquer up.
I have been looking at Casey's work for about two years now and can't get enough. We arrived just before Casey had left and we talked for a bit and had a group photo with him.

Painting by Baugh

Painting by Baugh

Painting by Baugh

Our final stop was to Arcadia Gallery which shockingly again, we turned out lucky. It just so happened to be Malcolm T. Liepke's opening. Here Mike and Liepke are together for a photo. I must say I was really impressed with his work. I had only seen a few paintings by him in the past at the U.S Artist Show.
After our long day of gallery hoping, we met up with our buddy Scott Cohn for some grub and good times.

THE DPC in NYC

2010-12-12T15:24:00.000-08:00

The Dirty Palette club hit the big apple to see the Sargent show at the Adelson gallery and the Casey Baugh show at the WEDNT Gallery. The the gang pose with Casey as he was about to leave is show and try and make it to the Sargent show.

Illuxcon 2010

2010-11-26T17:09:00.000-08:00

The DPC has taken yet another trip to Altoona, PA for the 3rd annual Science Fiction and Fantasy convention, Illuxcon. Each year the crowed gets larger and larger, and this year was no exception. Unlike most conventions that are more about Hollywood stars, and vendors, Illuxcon brings together the big names working in the Illustration field today, to share their artwork and business advise to the young and old artists who seek it.

Here we are the night before, talking up a storm and goofing off at our friend Mike's house.
This year to avoid any delays in our trip we all slept over.

After the long 4 hour drive, we stopped by our normal hot dog joint for a bite to eat.
great prices and good food.

This was the first lecture on the Saturday agenda. The talk was on the business aspect in the Illustration field. A panel of artists discuss, present, and visualize the various approaches taken to achieve success in a career in the arts, from commercial commissions, to conventions, to gallery exhibits.

Here Donato Giancola was discussing his process to the DPC.
The thing I love about Illuxcon most is how open the professionals are to questions.

Painting by Donato Giancola

Donato Giancola showing us his process starting with the thumbnails in his sketchbook.

This was Erik Gist's first year at Illuxcon. Meeting him was a great inspiration because I have been following this tutorials on his blog for years now. If I could repeat my education all over again with ideal conditions, I would have went over to the Watts Atelier on the west coast ans studied with Gist.

Painting by Erik Gist

Here the DPC talks with David Palumbo, professional Illustrator/Fine Artist as well as a fellow student from PaFa.

Photos by Mike Manley and myself

DPC Fall Paintout

2010-10-31T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the DPC gathered and fellow DPC member Jane Winter's beautiful house in Villa Nova for a little painting of the beautiful fall colors before the wind sweepsall the great color away. This was almost exactly a year to the day we went painting down at the Wyeth museum in Chadds Ford last fall. It was cool, but a lot warmer than last year, still there was a brisk wind the whole time which blew my painting off the easel twice.
Will and Alina looked for places to set up and paint as we all walked around Jane's beautiful house and yard, but the sun was moving quick and we knew the light was going to go fast so we quickly chose our spots and busted out the paint kits.

Alina is using her mother's old easel from when she attened the Fechin Academy in Russia named after the famous Russian painter, Nicolai Fechin. Fechin is a big favorite of many of us at the DPC and a particular favorite painterof mine and Alina's

Alina started firing in right away, painting mostly with the palette knife.

Our host the beautiful Jane Winter, she is one of the best people I know and a talented painter to boot!

Your's truely mugging for the camera...

Lexi painting away, she was using acrylics with a extender to help them take longer to dry.
Will was firing away too, going for the big shapes and a bold composition.

I walked around and snapped pictures after about 45-1 hour or so to see where everybody was with their painting. Its always interesting to me to see what attracts peoples attention as a painter, Alina and I were attracted to the same spot, so it was really interesting to see what she would make of the same thing. I was attracted but the path the shadows from the trees cast along the lawn and the transition from the cool foreground to the splash of orange/warm leaves across the fence. I reminded me of the famous painting Sargent did in Broadway...sadly I am not Sargent.

This handsome little painting jane knocked out in about 45 minutes following her critics advice at school to do more quicker paintings of no more than an hour.
Then Jane being the gracious host she is set out a scrumcious spread for lunch!
We had a lovely lunch and the doggies did too!
Here is my final painting, once again I think if the sun had stayed out i could have gotten it to pop a bit more, but those are the breaks.

Alina's final painting.
Alina was trying to figure out how to sign her painting and then decided against it all together.
Lexi relaxing and reading with jane's dogs

Will catching up on his sleep, they both finished early, then I wrapped up my painting and Alina was the last painter standing, working till the sun and set below the tree line, she just couldn't let go of the rapture of nature....
I think Chewie, Jane's oldest and wisest dog had it all figured out, sit on the warm sofa and wait for cookie crumbs!! It was a great day and despite me still having a bit of a cold, even a fever I felt it was worth it to get out and paint for an afternoon, it is something I have really missed since being in Arizona and painting this past summer. I hope we can do it in the next week or two again.

Viva La DPC!

DPC Summer Studio-- Session 4

2010-06-19T01:35:00.000-07:00

The DPC started our summer session this last week in the studio. It wasn't a full tilt group as two or three of our regular members either haven't moved in yet or couldn't make it, but Dave, Lexi and I set up a little still life and went about painting into the evening in the new gang studio. The shot above is of my side of the studio which has great views of the city and south light.

Here is Dave's rough in
Lexi was trying acrylics while Dave and I used oil.
Here is my painting after I got it pretty well blocked in--still a ways to go on this but I feel its a good start. Once again its a great thing to have the energy and camaraderie of good friends around when working. I like the energy and flow of ideas you get as well as the laughter. I want to employ some of the "thinking" on creating a space and an arrangement of values and atmosphere I got from the workshop I just took with Peter Van Dyke. i can't wait to get back into the studio this week!
Lexi painting away
Dave mixing colors before starting.

Summer Session 3 The Yellow Chair

2010-05-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

The DPC gathered again for our weekly meeting, this time at school. I was taking the Painting Interiors workshop with Peter van Dyke this week and figured why not kill two paintings with the same brush. After searching a bit for a subject to paint, I along with Dave settled on the yellow chair again. I had painted it earlier in the week, but once again that chair just sung out to us to be painted. It would be one ugly chair to have in your house, but it's great to paint in that environment at school.

Eventually Joel and Lexi showed up and we spent the afternoon painting away before the light changed too much. As always we have lots of fun with jokes flying about as much if not more than paint. Its also funny how the school can become a different place and subject when you are not in class.

Dave's chair painting.

My painting of the Yellow Chair.

Joel looks at Dave's watercolors, you can see some of them over on Dave's blog. Next week we move into our group studio!

Across the Delaware

2010-05-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

My painting of the Ben Franklin Bridge across the Delaware River. 10x 20, oil.

Yesterday the Dirty Palette Club had our second weekly meeting of the summer at a nice park along the Delaware River in Philly. This time it was just me and the gals as the other male members were busy or away. Lucky me!

It was a nice day, hot, but I found a great spot under a nice tree and got to relax the old mental muscle from the stress of the weekly commercial grind in my studio.

I picked up a few landscape proportioned panels at the last sale at Dick Blick and tried out one of them. I packed a pic-nic lunch and just enjoyed painting as the tide rolled out and the ships rolled past.

My feeling with plein air is to hunt for a scene fast, pick it, stick it and paint it as the sun gives you 3-4 hours.
Alina choosing her shot.

Here is my palette set-up and my pencil rough in of my painting.

Here is my painting after about roughly 30 minutes when things started to change like the tide going out.

Yesterday the lighting did change and it became a bit more overcast and that diffused the lighting a bit and probably gave us a longer time to paint, also I planned the suns change and figure what would change fast earlier in the paint and what would change later. I however hadn't taken into account that the tide would go out, which it did about half way into my painting. This ended up giving me a much more interesting foreground to my painting--and I leapt to get it down fast. The tide started coming back and then some big cargo ships moved through and their waked really changed everything--the driftwood logs and interesting details.
Lexi and I take a lunch break.
Alina and Lexi brunching under the trees.

The more I paint in nature I realize how much forethought and planning you need, how much you have to focus and think as everything is 'live". I also and concentrating on altering things for the sake of the painting more, eleminate a tree, change a shape of a rock, bush, etc.

It is always great to have company and to watch and see what everybody else is up to and how they solve their problems and interpret the same or similar scene. Alina and Lexi paint away.

Here is Alina and her painting, this was only her second time painting a plein air landscape.

Plein Aire Sketch

2010-05-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

Here's my best effort for the week. I did this at Smithville Park near where I live in NJ. Its about 12x16 in oil.

Dirty Palette Summer starts!

2010-05-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

Hey, well its been a while since I've posted anything here but the Dirty Palette is back in full swing with our first summer outing at the Markward Recreation Center off of 27th street in Philly. The boys and I met up at school and then we trucked it over a short car ride to the park which is near the South Street bridge which is under construction. Sue biked over later and joined us for a little while.

The park is a really awesome little spot with lots of good stuff to paint nearby including plenty of old "Joker Hideouts" as i call the variety of abandoned or run down old buildings and factories which dot the city.

Once in the park we split up to find our spots, the sun gives you maybe 3-4 hours tops to get in whatever you are gonna do before it changes on you. It was a great day full of that silvery sort of light that Philly has, perfect temp too. Lots of people stopped by to watch or comment including a gaggle of school girls from a local school. They were all fascinated with seeing me paint and with the fact I had included Joel in the painting, "Hey you painted Joel!"

I found my spot and went at it quick, set up my palette based on what I saw. I always try and put down colors that are really close to the big color masses I see when I take my glasses off. I was using an old canvas that somebody had left in school, I sanded it down and re-primed it, it was still a bit chunky in spots and that added to the textured surface I wanted on this one-shot painting.

Using a 2B pencils I quickly sketched out the compositing and then using the biggest brush and one of those foam wedge brushes massed in the big shapes quick. I was also thinking a pre=planning the end of the painting as I knew the light world shift a bit and tried to take advantage of that. I also tried to really balance the interest, the red car vs Joel, so your eye would jump around and move. Sometimes nature hypnotizes you, and I have to stop and think and not get seduced by some glorious detail. I re-massed the foreground more than once to not end up fracturing that plane and unite that shadow mass. I would try and remember what Sargent would do in this case--each stroke counts, plane, color, value....

Here is a shot of the painting in the middle stage, here I could either go forward and make a decent painting or ruin it...

Here is the finished painting.

Joel found a great spot and did a great little Plein Air.
Sue broke out her sketchbook.
Dave did watercolors but refused to show them to me...

Joel and I take a break.

Will and Dave with Will's painting.

Joel painting away...

DPC- The BIG Update

2010-01-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

(More To Come Soon -brief description)

So here we are after months of no updates, but here we go. This semester at school has been a busy one at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. It wasn't till our winter break when time began to free up. It has been a busy month off, and I am happy to say I enjoyed every bit of it with the DPC members. A lot of the break was spent seeing shows at galleries with painting on the side.
Here is our visit to the PMA (Philadelphia Museum of Art). Our group consisted of Mike Manley, Joel Shambe, Sue Beccaria, and myself. It was a beautiful day, besides the cold, bitter harsh mistress that is winter.

Mike and Joel ready to blow there heads off in this exhibit. Basically it was a white room with many white panels, each being the same size and color, saying the same thing in different voices, and i quote, " Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday". Over and Over again!!!!! My how the art world has gone down the toilet. Sigh...............

This is an oil sketch done by Thomas Eakins. The Legend at our school.
I really enjoy his work, and seeing his progression work.

A portrait done by the Wonderful John Singer Sargent. Who's show i saw this winter. An amazing show at that.

Here is a painting done by my favorite surrealist painter, Salvador Dali. I recall going to his exhibit years ago when it came around to the PMA. I was still in High School, so I didn't get all I could have gotten as opposed to if i went now. I hope to see it again in my lifetime.

Mike taking pictures of the beautiful sunset awaiting of exit of the PMA.

"John Singer Sargent Exhibit"

This was an amazing day to be an artist. The DPC took a trip out to see
The John Singer Sargent show in Washington, DC, then followed it up with a visit to the
National Portrait Gallery. The members on this trip consisted of Mike Manley, Joel Shambe, Lexi Thomas, and once again myself. We all meet up at Manley's house bright and early, so we could get a full day in. From there on we began our long adventure on the open road, which consisted of dirty jokes, coffee, and smackdonalds breakfast sandwiches. 4 hours later we arrived at DC and ate lunch at Pot Belly restaurant. Finally we made our way through the clean streets of DC towards the Sargent Exhibit.

The White House. We considered walking up the grass and hanging with Mr. Obama
for the day, but being shot on sight didn't seem all that great. So we pressed on.

Here is Mike Joel and Lexi taking pictures of each other and the White House in all its glory.

Lunch at the Pot Belly

The stairway to heaven. AkA Stairs to Sargent

Mike and Joel discussing and breaking down the painting into technical theory to better understand how Sargent went about painting it.

Sargent Drawing done in Charcoal and White Chalk

Sargent Charcoal Drawing

Sargent Charcoal Drawing

Sargent Painting

Sargent Painting

Sargent Painting

" The National Portrait Gallery"

Richard Nixon Presidential Portrait Painted by Norman Rockwell.

2nd Place Winner of the

The Washington Portrait done by Gilbert Stuart.

Lexi posing with the sculpture. Caught her off guard in the photo.

Mike snapping photos of every painting in the gallery.

Joel Standing by the original study of Washington done from life. From what I'm told, this painting was used to complete the other Lansdown Portraits.

"Landscape Painting At Jane Winters"

Lunch Time for the DPC.

My Painting in progress

Jane Winter's Painting

Jane hard at work on her landscape.

Mike Manley's finished painting for the day.

Mike concentrating on his masterpiece

Lexi Thomas's Pastel drawing for the day

Lexi Multitasking , petting dogs and drawing at the same time is no easy task.

Dirty Platte Meeting Summer Session-Finals and New Model

2009-08-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Well with only a few days left till school starts the summer of the DPC draws to an end. We had our final summer meeting and our second session with our new model Michelle, who's a real pro and a cool person to boot. I had a lot of fun getting out with the group and also having Michelle over to paint at my place. I think we got out and about quite often this summer and had a great time as we always do joking with each other and sharing and caring about art--along with our usual DPC brand of humor. here are my two paintings of Michelle, started at the DPC session and finished up later.

Dave and Will painting away...

Will's study
Joel's study.

With school back in session we'll have to come up with a new schedule to meet and paint, maybe in school or even out and about the city. I really felt that painting outside of the school environment was essential to my growth as an artist this summer and also having a great group of talented and supportive friends is something you can never underestimate as being a vital part of that growth.

Summer Meeting 6

2009-07-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as the severe thunder storms rolled through the area the DPC got down to it's weekly business. Claire came to model for us again and we set about working at a portrait. Unfortunately Claire ended up not feeling well so we had to cut the pose shorter than we hoped, but there is always the camera and next time.
I went ahead and finished up my quick portrait form the photo I snapped.

Next week we have to decide if we are going to do a portrait again or go back out for another landscape.
Dave, Joel and Will get down to work.

Dirty Palette Club - Session 5

2009-07-09T19:34:00.001-07:00

Today was a great day for the Dirty Palette Club. Good Weather and a Good Challenge.
We spent our time in a parking lot across an old boat yard. Well that's what I thought it was anyway. Intitally we tried to paint on the other side of the fence, but access was not granted, and my Jedi mind trick is getting sloppy.

Here is our crew for the evening, which included Mike Manley (Showing us all how tasty Chick Fil A food is), Joel Shambe, David Golas, and myself (William Sentman)

Here was my finished painting for the evening. I was pretty happy with the results, being that landscape painting is new to me. With great art comes much practice and that's why I continue to push myself at any cost.
Here you can see Dave Painting away with his Palette Knife.
This was an early photo for Dave's painting. I did not capture his finished work apparently.
Hopefully Mike will post it up for everyone. I thought It was his best landscape yet.

Ahhhhh and our good buddy Joel decided to join us today on our excursion. I was pleased to know he was coming out with us. And a delight it was.

Here is Joel's Finished painting for the day. The two things that really draw my eye in is the crates in the foreground and the structure upon the ship. Overall I think its the lighting that really drags me in.

And who cant forget about Mike. Here he is painting away deep in thought about what color and or value that building is. Whats great about Mike, in my opinion, is his increase of surface size each time we go out to paint. Each time he manages to get enough information down that reads well.
And here is Mikes finished paining for the day.

July 4th Paintout

2009-07-06T08:37:00.001-07:00

Like all red-blooded patriots we at the DPC celebrated the July 4th holiday by smearing around oil on canvas trying to capture part of this great land on canvas.
The DPC along with families in tow hit the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania early in the morning for a day of painting. The biggest issue was there was so much great scenery, what were we going to paint?
Finally we settled on this great little fountain and waterfall and set up and went at it--racing the sun before the shadows would change too much and force us to stop.
Here is what I ended up with before the sun changed too much. I snapped a picture so I can finish this in the studio.

This is my block-in of my painting, I was using my biggest brush to just try and get the major shapes in fast. In natures seductive riot it is so easy to get seduced by detail too early.
Dave going great guns...
Will is working away on the same scene.

Dirty Palette Club-Summer Session 4

2009-07-02T20:12:00.001-07:00

Today the DPC decided to return to the fresh polluted skies of the city and do some Landscape painting. We planted our selves at a nice open park in West Philly. With luck on our side, we made it throughout the day with no pestering Drunks or Rain. Just good old sunshine.
We also had our first encounter with a fellow painter (outside our friends) who was interested in joining our group. Hopefully we will hear back from her. The DPC is always looking for new artists to join our league.
Heres Mike working on his lovely city scape.

(Above is the finished result of Mikes painting for the day.)

David working his painting. From what I was told his primary focus was on that red fire hydrant in the foreground.

My finished Painting for the day. I ended up redrawing some things out which led my finished painting to be a bit on the flat side.

Dirty Platte Meeting Summer Session-3

2009-06-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

This week was the third meeting of our group for the summer and the heat was on. Suddenly Mother nature turned up the heat yesterday so I had the air conditioning cranking for our meeting. My friend Claire came up to pose for us, she a great model and a swell animator, you can check her animation our here.

Above is Dave's progress on Claire's pose.
Joel's quick portrait of Claire.
My finished portrait.
here is my rough-in.
Joel painting away.

Jackie came back for the first time in a long time to hang with us and draw.

DPC SUMMER SESSION -2

2009-06-19T10:26:00.001-07:00

Despite the rainy weather here in Philly, 170% above average for the season so far, the DPC meet for it second summer painting session yesterday. Dave couldn't make it but Will came along and once again Jamie came to pose for us for the evening. The painting above is the finished painting which I completed from a picture I snapped of Jamie, but I stared the initial block in and painting while she was sitting. I wiped out and gave it three restarts last night before I got something I didn't want to punch my fist through.
Will paints away, he had a pretty dramatic composition going on.
Jamie sat and watched The City of Lost Children on demand was we painted away.

Here is one of my rough-ins which got rubbed out, I was really fighting it this evening, but a bad start means a bad finish.
Yours truly painting away
in my living room, fighting my sinus headache and my painting at the same time.

I have really been pushing myself to do at least one or two portraits outside of the class I'm doing every week. I'm working on being looser, yet still have the solid drawing, and it's a real fight. I've been studying my favorite artists like Sargent, Fechin and really trying to push the values and color/temperature -plane changes in my strokes.

Summer DPC 2 (Portrait session 1)

2009-06-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

Once again the DPC was back on track and kicking ass. Tonight we had a model pose for us at our normal location (thanks to Mike and Jamie). Jamie was our model for the evening, and like most models she was able to put up with our Dirty selves. Hopfully, if everything goes well we will have for another session next week. The members consisted of David Golas, Mike Manley, and myself (Will Sentman).

This was out lovely model for the evening (Jamie)

This was about 2 hours into the painting. My progress was not what I had hoped for.

David's painting at the end of the night.

Mike's painting at the end of the night.

And here is the final portrait sketch

DPC SUMMER SESSION -1

2009-05-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

Today was the first official gathering of the DPC for our summer sessions and we decided to take it on the road, or down to the river as it were. I met the gang at school and we trucked on down the a park along the Delaware River to do some Plien Air landscapes. The painting above was done in 2-3 hours, 9 x 12 on Fredrick's canvas board.
The subject was this abandoned power plant looking place, or as I call such buildings, "Joker hideouts" as they look like the type of building a super-villain always uses as a hideout.

The sky grew quickly almost totally cloudy as we set up and a stiff wind started blowing in off of the Delaware so we all had to make sure our canvases were really secured or they would have sailed right into the drink. I set up a pretty limited palette based on the colors I saw and set straight to blocking the painting in. The park was still full of families and people walking or riding around and fishing. No sooner had I started to rough in the painting that I was quickly set upon by curious on-lookers, and a few, particularly this one couple, was pretty drunk. The lady was reallllly interested in what I was doing and pestered me with many questions, her male companion was much more respectful and tried to keep her off of me telling her "let the man concentrate and do his business."

Then they noticed Will and Dave and set about to observer and art direct them and give lots of advice. the lady kept coming back and telling me I was "winning", that my painting was so much better. She'd leave and come back all evening as we painted. A few other curious people would come by but they were always much more respectful. Every time i have painted out publicly I have been set upon by the curious on-looker, I suppose people just never see anyone painting beside Bob Ross on TV.

The wind really started blowing and the paint started really setting up, drying fast and getting stiff along with my arms and hands. it must have dropped a good 15-20 degrees by the water really quick as the front went through.
Dave and Will joking around as they set up.
Dave's rough-in.

Here is the drunken lady who pestered me all afternoon pestering Will and giving him advice on how to make his painting better.
Will's painting in progress, I'm sure the pointers from the Budwiser Art Critic really helped.
Dave's painting in progress.

In the end we had a good time, my painting turned out Ok, the light did change from partly sunny to mostly cloudy, but I just put down what I had and stayed with it instead of chasing the light. At about 6:30-7 we decided to pack it up as we were all pretty cold, my arms and hands were like an arthritic old man from being blasted by that cold wind. It got so cold even the drunken art fans left. For the end of May it felt more like November.

We topped off our first outing with dinner at Silk City Diner. It was a good day and next week we plan to do another plien air expedition.

Meeting 14-Semester's End

2009-05-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well the Spring sememster at school has come to it's flaming end, it just blew right by, each week seemigly faster than the last. In the last few weeks between freelance, school work and the weather it really wasn'y possible for us to hold our weekly meetings as a group. But once the sememster ended we DPCers decided to hold our second annual group critique.

We did this lasts semester where we put up a bunch of our work and gave each other a good crit on the semester's progress. Often we feel a bit slighted in our regular end of semester class crits because they really tend to be group crits at school, and in my experience that means the crit is way too long and not very useful. Honestly, I prefer the teacher to give me a critique, not my peers who often just don't give me much useful to use, or even make any comments at all about my work and besides I paying for the teacher's imput and knowledge, not my peers. In the two years at Pafa so far I find that the group crit to be a waste of time, as a teacher i understand why you want to do it, but so often the energy just drags and the process leaves most feeling boared and watching the clock. The tracks I am in seem to also have a lot of very quite or shy types who don't have much to say anyway. I know the other DPC members feel the same way, so we decided to give ourselves a really good crit, the one we really wished we got.
We set up in studio 1021 and piled our work up on the easels. I have to say it's very encouraging to see so much work lined up. I didn't have as much as the other members as I had already taken a lot of work home when I cleaned out my locker.

Being honest with your friends is important and taking a crit is usually looked at as a negative process by many when in fact it's a great thing. It's a way to learn what's working and what's not--and possible solutions to improving what's not. I think all of us shared a great deal of frustration this semester and really look forward to getting into the studio at school to do our own thing.

To be frank, I had a very mixed semester myself. I know I grew as a painter but I found much of the process to be frustrating and disjointed at times. There were some classes I just felt could have been more intense and better organized. Freelance was brutal at times too, the balance was harsh. But I can't use that as an excuse for any failings on my end. The bottom line is whether I have made progress, and I have, though I admit, I have a bad case of Second Year itch. Now with the summer here I know I look forward to just doing my own thing and painting and I am really looking forward to drawing an painting a lot with the DPC and on my own. Having a great group of friends on the same path as you makes the journey a better experience.

Meeting 13

2009-04-11T07:25:00.000-07:00

This last Thursday was our 13th meeting of the Dirty Palette Club and we gathered after our late Thursday classes in the cast hall in the HLB (Historic Landmark Building) as they call the old school these days. the hard core members were in attendance and we spent the evening drawing and painting away. I am working on a big painting for my Figure Comp class that has to have two rooms in it and a figure. I made pretty good progress on it and figure another 2-3 passes should finish it. I laid into it quick with the palette knife to load in the big masses of paint I need to cover the canvas. I am really trying to go for the atmosphere in this painting and the cast hall has such great mood and lighting. We only have 3 more weeks in the semester and then we are done with classes but the DPC then will take it on the road over the summer and explore painting in and around the city.
Here is my setup in the cast hall and you can see early progress on the painting.

Joel working on a drawing of Brutus by Michelangelo.

Dave and will, mock me...

Vincent Desiderio Workshop

2009-04-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Well folks it nothing else is to be said, this weekend was the most inspiring/informative two days I have had in a long time. I spent Saturday and Sunday with one of the most profound contemporary artists today. working from 9-5, two days straight with Desiderio, sure makes the brain wanna explode....but in the best of ways. Ill cut to the chase here. The workshop involved learning how to work from a photo as a painter. Saturday's agenda was based off of lectures, photographing the model, and the beginning stages of the drawing/painting. Sunday was a full 7 hours of intense painting full of critical advice by Vincent Desiderio. I was joined by some of my fellow DPC members to this event, including Dave G. and Joel S. Without their additional guidance and critical opinions, I feel the workshop would not have impacted me as hard as it did.

Joel's Painting at the workshop.

David's Painting at the workshop.

My (Will Sentman) Painting of the workshop.

DPC Meeting 12

2009-04-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

Once again the DPC took action, reared its ugly head, and gone where no artist has gone before.......
well....kinda. Tonight we spent our evening within the confines of the Academy's very own cast hall. With no model to paint from, we all decided to work on interior paintings.

This was my painting for the evening (Will Sentman). Tonight I began painting, starting by blocking in the big shapes and matching my values correctly. I am also experimenting with Mylar for my painting surface. So far I have not been involved with it enough to from an opinion.

Here was the craft of Mr. Golas. This was the 2nd painting session for him. From my understanding, his main focus was the same as mine. Blocking in the big shapes while retaining the correct color/value's.

And last but never the least, Mr. Manley's piece of the evening. Mike was in the same boat as me tonight, in terms of a fresh start. This is mike's block in with value being established.

The Closed Circuit Gallery

2009-03-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

This week Joel, Dave and I hung our Closed Circuit gallery on the 11th floor at school also known as the Student Lounge. We hung our paintings as well as those of a few fellow students who didn't have thier paintings make the cut into the Spring show at school. our thinking was, "well why not show our hard work anyway" and approached the head of student services and set it up.
Last year the students who didn't get in the spring show held their version of Salon des Refusés. But we decided we didn't want it to be a bitter bee negative thing, but a positive endeavor to encourage and show other students what we have been working on.

Framed and rejected

2009-03-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post up my finished portrait painting of Chuck. I submitted this to the last juried exhibition in our student gallery at PAFA but, sadly it was rejected. Mike and I have decided to organize a show in our student lounge on the 11th floor to showcase all of the rejections from that show... because we think Chuck is beautiful...even if the judges don't.

Meeting 10

2009-03-12T23:11:00.000-07:00

Today was our 10th meeting of the DPC, but it was lightly attended, only Will and myself painted. Chuck my buddy from next door and our model for our previous weeks portrait painting stopped by for Pizza. Since time was short and Will and I figured we'd set up a simple still life for this evenings painting. We'll set a longer still life next week when the rest of the DPC would returns to our illustrious club. Above is my painting of the three apple still life and is roughly 3 hours of work. 11 x 14 on canvas.
Here is a shot of will painting the same still life and below is his final painting of the night.

I am also happy to announce that three of the DPC got paintings accepted into the Philadelphia Sketch Club's annual Art of the Flower competition. Congratulation's to Dave, Will and Christina! All of the paintings were almost hanging together.

Meeting 9

2009-02-28T12:54:00.000-08:00

Once again the DPC had it's weekly meeting of mirth and art. A lot is going on this last week before the spring break from school. A few of us were also getting ready to submit our paintings to the Philly Sketch clubs Flower show. So Christina was framing her painting and adding a coating of retouch varnish which I had already mixed up in a 5-to-1 batch. One part varnish to five parts terps.
Judy stopped by with a dozen Duncan Donuts which went well as appatizers before the pizza arrived. It was a low cal night.
Chuck our model chatted music with Joel.

Here is my painting which is close to finish, one more round should do it.
Here is Christina's painting which I think is coming along really great, she made a lot of progress this week.

Next week the group is going to try some plien air painting while on Spring Break.

Meeting 8, New Members, New model

2009-02-21T21:21:00.000-08:00

Joel's portrait of chuck in progress.

Well despite me having the worst cold I've had in nearly 20 years the DPC met again this week and my house for fun, art and--maintenance. We also added two new members, Brigid and Jackie and a new model,my 14-year-old Austrailian Healer, Shazam.

Brigid and Jackie decided to sculpt rather than paint, and they picked Shazam as their subject.

While we waited for the pizzas to arrive for out dinner Dave brought along his tool kit and offered to fix up anyone's easel which had and leg, joint or other issues. He spent quite a bit fixing up Joel's French easel and after a spell that sucker could support the weight of an elephant!

I was really kinda' still whipped from my cold but my buddy Chuck came back over and posed for us again, so after the pizza we painters and sculptors went about our evenings fun.
Dave is making some very nice progress.

my second pass at my portrait of chuck, I was pretty bleary, but I made some decent progress.
Brigid's sculp of Shazam.
Jackie's sculp of Shazam.

It's funny how each week the DPC spreads at school, but we have decided for space reasons alone we are reaching the limit at my house especially for a single model at this point, but maybe come summer we can spread out a bit more.

Meeting 7

2009-02-14T09:15:00.001-08:00

This was our 7th meeting of the DPC, and word is now spreading through school about our little club. In fact if everyone interested were to show up, there wouldn't be room for them.

But our core group returned this week, and after a nice chicken curry dinner served up by yours-truly, we se about setting up and painting. I asked my long time best buddy Chuck Van Zyl to pose for us for the next three weeks so we could get in a nice long painting session on his pose.
The pensive Christina mocks us with her glare.
Will's rough block-in.

Dave's block-in.
Christina's block-in.

Joel painting away.
Chuck was a great model, they guy never moved. Some models are all a figit the whole time, and on top of it all he could laugh at our terrible jokes and not move.
Here is my tonal wash-in, next week I'll start pushing in the color.

Meeting 6

2009-02-06T21:51:00.000-08:00

Thursday was the 6th meeting of the esteemed DPC, and this time a change of venue was in order, we met up and painted at Jackie and Will's place, and the subject was a still life of flowers as we all want to enter the Philly Sketch club's art of the flower show. Above is the final set-up we were to paint. We also added another new member, Sarah Jewett, a fellow student at PaFa. It's great to have another gal in the group, and she even bought the beer!
While we all warmed up after the walk from school to Jackie and Will's apt., Dave called up Joel on the phone.
Dave and Sarah start arranging the still life.
Will and Sarah finished setting up--I couldn't wait to get at the canvas.
here is Joel's floral painting for the evening.
We all grabbed some eats down the street and Dave looks like he really had something important to tell Jackie.
Sarah and Christina were so serious about being artist this time around.

I blocked in my big shapes and then went for it.

And here is my final study for the evening. this is the first floral painting I have ever done. good lord, when I younger the idea of painting flowers would have given me hives, but now I look at any subject as a challenge and something to be attempted. For my final painting I will adjust the composition and use several of the photos I snapped that evening.

I have to say, I so look forward to getting together with my buddies each week and painting away. Their knowledge, energy, humor and encouragement are a great source of fun and nourishment for me. Their dirty senses of humor don't hurt either.

Meeting 5

2009-01-31T10:29:00.000-08:00

This week's DPC meeting was another mix of fun, oil paint and dishing. After class we all hiked back out to my place while trying to not fall on our collective glutes on the icy streets of Philly. The dishing started with a dinner served by your's truly of my "World Famous" Curry Chicken. Then we hit the palettes and painted away. Above is Christina's finished still life of Mickey contemplating the void and perhaps the future of the Disney Corporation and our collective fates as well.
Will tried out the Liquin detail medium as he worked more on his painting of David and Mickey.

Here is my go at the still life with a bold block-in, I really want to get back into it soon and hack away at it.

Christina is looking at the new book on the Pennsylvania Impressionists
I picked up at the Michener Museum a few weeks back. I think we'll try and tie this still life up next week and then start something new, maybe a flower arrangement.

Meeting 4--A Birthday & A New Member

2009-01-23T22:31:00.000-08:00

We just held the 4th meeting of the DPC this Thursday evening and celebrated our buddy Joel's 35th Birthday and welcomed our newest member Christina Weaver, a fellow classmate from PAFA.

I've always admired Christina's work ever since first semester last year in Professor Grimly's cast drawing class. She did an awesome drawing of the cast of Brustus I am still envious to this day. She an awesome painter too and one of my friends whose work I always look forward to seeing. Christina was welcomed with open arms, dirty palettes and sometimes the dirty mouths of her fellow painters in a fun filled, laugh fest, oil smeared evening at Casa Del Manley.

As soon as my Art history class was done we beat feet for Upper Darby and little Saigon for dinner before we set about to paint away the evening. We also used it as an excuse to give Joel a birthday cake, courtesy of H Mart.

Then fed and happy we set about constructing a quick oddball still life setup on my dinning room table and went at it DP style.

I don't know if we painted more or laughed more, or tortured our new member more in a hazing ritual worthy of any raunchy college fraternity, but we sure had fun.

I think the good spirits in turn turned into interesting paintings which we will go back and try to finish up next week.

The all NEW rotating sketchbook!

2009-01-10T09:54:00.001-08:00

We are all about mutual motivation over here at the dirty palette club and with that in mind I present to you my newest project: "The Official Dirty Palette Club Rotating Sketchbook". The idea is simplicity itself folks! All you do is draw in the thing for two weeks during which time you are responsible for: 1.the safety of the book 2.feeding it regularly with fresh sketches AND THAT'S IT. I know, nothing could be easier. It practically sells itself! At the end of the two weeks the sketchbook ROTATES to a new member. Get it? HUH?!

So here's some documentation of the production of one of these high-quality, hand-made, one-of-a-kind pieces of...extra special goodness!

Then you draw something CRAZY!

Iron Giant Still Life

2009-01-08T23:54:00.001-08:00

Today we held our third meeting of the DPC at my house, and today we welcomed a new member and fellow PAFA student, Joel Shambe. Today since there we decided to paint a still life so no one would get screwed out of painting by having to pose for the others. So Will, Dave and I grabbed a bunch of stuff from around my house, Dave grabbing my Iron Giant from the studio as the center piece. In a few minutes we had our still life ready to go on my dinning room table. I set up a nice light to give us a good light source and strong shadows that would be interesting to paint. We had to shoo my cat Scavee away a few times as he kept wanting to mess with the fun new toys on the table.
Like old Saint Nick we all set straight to work, above is my block in, I moved quick to try and establish the main values and relate what would be the brightest and darkest areas on the painting.
Here is Dave's awesome atmospheric block-in of the IG.
Here is Will's block-in, I think the composition here is a good set-up.
Joel took the almost opposite angle from me and this was his first time painting since he got back from serving his tour overseas.
The group painted away for a while and the we took a break and ate lunch at my fave resturant, Little Saigon. Below you will see everyone's final painting. I got to work on mine longer than the rest of the guys since the meeting was in house. This will be the last meeting of the group before we go back to school next Monday, but we plan on having another meeting asap.

The Second Coming

2009-01-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

the other day we had our second gathering of the DPC at my house, this time Jeff showed up along with my buddy and grand poobah of cartooning, Jamar Nicholas. We had a great time and Judy , jeff's wife and fellow PAFA student dropped in for a visit as well. We took turns posing again, this time Jeff and Dave. I knocked out two quickies, the last one of Jeff was just a quick rough-in.I'm pretty-so-so on my two, but that's the way it goes. I needed to keep to the bigger shapes more, which sometimes I get lost on if I spent a lot of time recently drawing comics--hence drawing detail.
Here is Dave's nice, bold block-in.
Here is Will's nice solid block-in.

Jeff did several watercolors, nice and loose.

Dave and Jamar chat and check out a bunch of art mags.
Will working on a pose of Jeff.
Here is a close up of my painting of Dave. I think the likeness is decent but the drawing got funky and it's too tight in the wrong way, but you know I learn something on each painting I do, even if it's what not to do next time. As always we had a great time and spent at least half the time laughing till tears were rolling from our eyes, that's worth an afternoon with these fine gentlemen alone.

The First Meeting

2009-01-04T08:16:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the DPC! Pull up a stool, or a chair, and don't worry about cleaning your brush or palette, you are amongst friends.

The DPC is a group formed mostly of fellow students from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, but also includes other artist, animators and cartoonist from the greater Philadelphia area. The initial impetus for the group grew out of the desire on the part of my fellow students and I to get out of the classroom at school and draw and paint. While we do love working in school, we desired to get together outside or the same classrooms set-ups and draw, paint, sculpt, what-have-you and share and learn from each other as we enjoy the journey of ourselves as artists. I for one, just got tired of drawing or painting the same people in the same studios. So our club is a movable ensemble and we want to take the art to various locations and to the streets.

We however started our first meeting at my house right before Christmas and spent a fun afternoon posing for each other to do short portrait exercises.
Here Dave and Will have a go at painting me as I sit and model.
Here is Will's first painting of me.
Here is Dave's quick painting of Will, who took a turn posing after me.
Here is my painting of Will in the same pose.

One of the goals was to do quicker paintings, to try doing 2-3 paintings per session to get more practice at starting a painting, which is the most important part. to concentrate on blocking in with the bigger shapes and then working to detail as time allows.

After each session then we have a little crit and share, talk and even demo a bit to share what we are learning as a group effort. Leave your ego at the door, if there are any rules, this is the biggest. To really grow you have to be open to listen as an artist, so often people take a critique as a personal attack, when in reality it is people telling you what works, and how to make what doesn't better, or different. The thin skinned artist learns so much slower or not at all.

These quicker paintings also allow for a bad beginning or go at it to easily be wiped out and started over. Sometimes the rag is the best tool.