Coast to coast

Happy holidays gracious art enthusiast,

I have returned to the west coast for a couple of weeks while studies on the east coast are being suspended until January. I would love to say that I am taking a break for the holidays but everyone knows a good artist can neither stop nor retire from the need to create. Having had my 1st 1/2 day to "get things done" I believe I am about to go (FINALLY) paint from the still life I set up 15 months or more ago. If you recall I posted the "work in progress" from the red ribbon series but after having numerous inquiries I have rephotographed the finished study before continuing to show or discuss any additions. Stay tuned for the next installment- GA heading towards the easel with glee!

Amusing muse

A funny thing happened in the studio one day...In the mornings I work from short poses with models which only last 3-6 hours (1 or 2 half days). Often times they are standing poses with the usual contrapposto style. The models usually demonstrate a few choices they are comfortable with and we go from there. One morning Christophe came into studio and began to toss small wads of paper about the model stand. He asked for a box, pulled out a pad and plume and took position for what he called "Writing the final chapter". The next day he did a 2 day pose wearing a tutu and mimicking that he was taking a puff off a cigarrette he called it "Degas' nightmare". You gotta love a model with imagination! -Gypsie artist returning to the easel

Post halloween

Greetings fellow creative enthusiasts,

October brought a new and different chapter in art for this traveler. I managed to stay in one city for most of the month but still out of my element. Anyway for free time I'm drawing skullys and doing apple studies... not epic work but very macabre. Trick or treat? G.A. back to work

Have Mercy

Greetings art enthusiasts,

It has been 6 weeks or more since I have been in class and now... here I am. As humbling as it is, it only seems right that I begin with a drawing from class. If nothing else this drawing (of lesser quality) will make me work harder to replace/erase the image I am about to submit with a better image. But for now I share with you... Janus's David! G.A- back to work!!!

Flashback

It has been a while since last I posted... the end of my Art Student's League summer with Michael Grimaldi. I ended up going back to Washington for a while until I could get a place to live in NYC to begin my studies at Janus School of Collaborative Art. I did manage to paint a few humbling studies between packing. I did 2 alla prima 30 minute sketches of my pumkin from the garden... argh. Then I faced my garage monster and battled it out with a still life I set up over a year ago. Unfortunatly in my haste I did not get photos of the final painting pass but if able to "make do" I share panel #1 of a 5-7 part series. In the image I am including the poster study above because I thought it was ...cute.

The final modeling session of the summer

Greetings onlookers,

It has been a very intense summer at the Art Students League and will be great to shift gears but before so, since I began the blog with a model session of the man so we shall finish with a one week session with the lady, a double page in my sketchbook. It started as a value study and I got a little caried away. Tell me what your thoughts are. Enjoy- GA out

Inspi-rain-tion

Greeting fellow art inspired onlookers,

After a long bout of acedemic study I got a wild hair to do a quick study of an umbrella bucket in my condo. Now I have been looking at this contraption for months thinking how unusual and cute it is when I finally broke down and got the easel and oil after it. It's so wrong, so fast, so off value and kilter... the opposite of my training and I love it!!! Perhaps it is having something caught in a whim with the freedom of error, but I am pleased with this piece. Not because it is good but because it is passionate. Hope you enjoy too.

Gypsy Artist out... perhaps to make another bad study- what fun!

august art

As many of you know I go to central park every Saterday to paint. Sometimes there are many 30-60 minute efforts but usually I try to get one postcard sized study in watercolor that I can live with. It seems to feed my need to finish something in a shorter period of time than the studio work with a model takes. Furthermore the bridges seem to be what most often peaks my interest. I call this "bridge of the tenor troll" because there was singing from beneath the bridge while I was painting. I never saw the being belonging to the voice but there were even stranger goings on out from under the bridge where I was. Maybe tenor troll had the right idea dwelling there in the shadows. Enjoy- Gypsy Artist

Back to the drawing board

Hello fellow artists,

It has been a challenge this week but that is what makes the job so interesting, right? Highlights and shadows of the week include...I had a friend tell me about an eye incident in which she was injured. Having a bad day at the easel I thought, "I don't even have an excuse for my poor week of painting and drawing." I must confess that we had a replacement model for the week of which she could not stay awake. Have you ever tried to paint a portrait of a bobbing head? It's not pretty! The confession is that 10 minutes before my completion of another 6-7 hours at the easel my left eye lost most of it's angle of vision and much of it's ability to see color or tonality... STRANGE! I wrote it off to either stress or pulling a muscle in the eye... if only my thumb hadn't gone numb for 36 hours too. All this and I come home to my friend's accident report letter filled with encouraging words towards my work and efforts... shadow got shined upon.

Okay the highlight is that I got the feeling back in my thumb 2 days later and actually had a fair drawing day by Friday. The moral to the story is... if you don't keep going back to the drawing board, even when you are inches from dangling the current project over a shredding machine, you may never get to the better days. Furthermore I did my weekly plein air studies at Central Park today and an improovement from last week. Still nothing worth enjoyment but alas I made this blog to force myself to make better art. So first a CP study from the angel fountain on the main plaza, then a little comic relief from "the boys". -G.A. signing off.

Manhattan Mania

Hello Folks!
Gypsy Artist on the road again... or is it I ran away from home? I am currently living in NYC on a spontaneous/ serendipitous (is that a word?) opportunity to study art. Little Nibblet (a young miniture schnauzer) is my mascot and motivator to fully explore Central Park. Today we did 2 watercolor studies near the angel fountain in the main plaza. We were in good company with 20+ other plein air painters I am guessing were part of a class/workshop. I was jealous as they were working in oil and I struggling in watercolor, a medium I am not experienced in. Since there was little/no success I am beginning the blog with my figure drawing from class done in graphite.
-G.A. out!!!