Meeting 9

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

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

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

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

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

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.