figurative paintings

there are a few more that I haven't photographed and photoshopped yet.

Wednesday 21st January 2009 - Allessanda

A second week of the same pose with Allessanda. I think last week's painting was stronger in composition but I prefer the skin tones in this one.

The page turner - 16 x 12" - oil on canvas - $750

Wednesday 14th January 2009 - Lost in a good book

The lovely Allessandra posed for us again - I did a couple of paintings of her last year that both turned out well, so she is a 'lucky model' for me!

Lost in a Good Book - oil on canvas - 16 x 12" - $750

Wednesday 24th September 2008 - Melissa's

The second week of this pose with the lovely Nina. I did a little more work on the one I started last week and then did this smaller sketch from a different angle. A good day's work!



Longing - 16 x 20" - $975
Longing II - 12 x 16" - $575

Saturday 16th August 2008 - Rosa

Rosa is the 12 year old daughter of a good friend of mine. I painted her a year ago which you can see further back in this blog. It was a rainy morning so we painted back in the Chrysalis school again instead of in the Fechin Garden - at least the light doesn't move so much inside, but I have enjoyed painting outside.



Rosa - oil on canvas-board - 16 x 12" - sold

Friday 15th August 2008 - Ruben

A new painting group, held in an empty gallery on the main street in Taos. Our painting session was open to the public and we had quite a few people coming in to watch the painters at work. It was fun.

Ruben Machado - 20 x 16" - oil on canvas - $975

Wednesday 13th August 2008 -

This week we had Monica posing for us. She is a yoga instructor and has very long limbs and a swan neck all in wonderful posture.

Monica - 20 x 20" - oil on canvas - sold

Wednesday 30th July 2008 - Julie

I quite wore myself out on Saturday with the portrait group in the morning and painting all afternoon at the fund-raiser - maybe going out dancing that night didn't help, but I ended up taking a few days off from painting and paid my bills, did some gardening and housework etc.



By Wednesday I was itching to paint again and went to Melissa's group with Julie as our model. I tried something a little different this time, getting closer up and focussing on a smaller part of the body and the black background forced me to push my values a little more than usual.

Julie - 16 x 20" - oil on canvas - $1,175

In the evening I went to my first Sage Gallery Co-op meeting as I am to hang my work on Saturday. I used to be in a housing co-op when I lived in London and they voted me in as membership secretary and to my surprise, at my first meeting with this co-op, they voted me in as membership secretary - how strange is that? They are a friendly, helpful bunch - quite co-operative (ha ha) and I have a feeling i will do well.

Wednesday 16th July 2008 - Orlando

The last week of this pose. I picked quite the challenging angle to paint him from!



Orlando - 16 x 20" - oil on canvas - $1,175

Art in Action!

My friend Pamela sent me this photo yesterday.



I had painted Eden last summer in the portrait group on a Saturday. We were painting outside in the Fechin garden and I felt that the painting came out rather well. Pamela saw the painting at my house and since she is good friends with Eden and her mother Laura, she bought the painting and held onto it for quite a while to give it to her at her graduation just a couple of weeks ago. looks like it gave her quite a surprise!

It is lovely to have my paintings go off into their new lives, to be enjoyed and treasured.

Saturday 24th May 2008 - Chrissie

I really enjoyed doing this painting! Chrissie has lovely colours in her skin and it was enjoyable to capture them. I don't normally bther with patterns or details on clothing, but I enjoyed putting in the embroidery on her blouse and I think it looks quite effective.

At the end, a fellow painter and I were saying how angelic she looked so I implied a halo with my fingernail to highlight that mood.

Angelic - 16 x 12" - oil on canvas - $575

Wednesday 21st May 2008 - Danea

I really enjoy the Wednesday painting/sculpture group with Melissa Moe. This week we had Danea who is now 8 months pregnant in this wonderful pose.



Pregnant Danea - 16 x 20" - oil on canvas - sold

Monday 24th March 2008 - quick painting

A new painting group, this time in my own studio space. Michelle Chrisman is organising this quick painting group for every 2 weeks. We did 4 x 20 minute poses and then an hour long pose to finish.

It is a really intense way to paint and I felt like i had run a marathon by the end of it. Michelle studied this technique with Kim English and says it's a great way to improve really quickly.

4 x 20 min poses - oil on canvas - 10 x 8 - make me an offer if you're interested

1 x 1 hour pose - oil on canvas - 16 x 12" - make me an offer if you're interested.