Monday, April 29, 2013

Red Cloud

18 x 24 inches, acrylic on canvas.



* This isn't a 'figure study' (the likes I made this blog for), its really a finished work. But I thought I'd post it here as well for the kind hearted people that continue to visit Figure Stack.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Mr Moon's GF, version 2 - Preliminary study

*** UPDATE - final version is posted here ***

Preliminary study for Mr Moon's Girl Friend, Version 2

(Version 1 has been posted below)

50 x 35 cm, acrylic on canvas paper. I made this rough-ish, preliminary study so as to off-load the image from my mind, and give it a physical form - which I can refer to while painting a larger, final version (when/if I paint it). Its important to have this reference in hand, because of the myriad transparent/translucent effects on this ice or glass like figure, which will have to worked out in detail in the final version.



Here is version 1...  approx A3 in size, painted with water-soluble crayons and pencils. Partial reference for this was provided by a dear friend.


Friday, April 19, 2013

Crouched man in acrylic, plus pencil preliminary

This is a largish (28" x 22") acrylic on paper. Palette (for the figure) - Burnt umber, burnt sienna, yellow ocher, scarlet lake, cad red hue, cad yellow light hue, prussian blue, and a little permanent rose (plus Titanium White, of course).

For the improvised background, I've used, from top to bottom -  Prussian and cerulean blue, some Teal I have in excess (and is looking for an opportunity to use), Yellow ocher, burnt umber and Titanium white.


Close ups...



The preliminary drawing in charcoal pencil



Ref image by John K. (Cable9tuba in DA).

Monday, April 15, 2013

nude in oil pastel

One oil pastel color study...

11" x 13.5", Oil Pastel on paper (used assorted brands).



Ref image by Aimee Fitzgerald (Aimeestock in DA).

Sunday, April 14, 2013

color study

One less than satisfactory color study :/ The summer heat is getting to me, finally... and it can be difficult to concentrate at times. No excuses though. Tried out some new paint (Pebeo) I've recently purchased. So far I like what I see.

Acrylic, 11" x 13.5", on paper.


Ref image by BikeBoyPunk in DA.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Tree-pruning man, study sketches

This is an amazingly brave and skillful person, mid 50-ish, thickly bearded, short and wiry. He has the agility of a monkey! I think he has zero % body fat - its all muscles, lean and honed to perfection for the kind of work he does. He prunes trees, that's his main line of work. At other times he sings and dances to devotional songs. He's quite articulate and uses his entire body to illustrate some point of argument regarding tree pruning. Like, the other day he was describing how betel nut trees can sway to extreme positions in a strong wind, without breaking. He was impersonating a betel nut tree while saying this.

Anyway, I had the opportunity to observe him at work and took some reference shots... all these sketches are on A3, using a variety of conte and hard pastels.





When the tree has plenty of clearance all around, or has grown in the wilderness, its much easier to chop off and indiscriminately drop branches to the ground. In congested urban areas, these poor trees must fight for space with myriad cables, wires, antennae and stuff. One careless chop, and a branch can take out the electric supply of the entire neighborhood! This man displays breath-taking skill in not only chopping off an errant branch with the utmost economy of motion, but also in slowly and precisely sliding the cut branch to the ground, avoiding all nearby structures. And to do this, he uses nothing more than a rope, which is rigged into a pulley mechanism with some other branch. I think he's an artist!

This is how he (roughly shown) ties the rope to the segment to be cut, at the top and the bottom, and then starts chopping closer to the bottom (arrow mark). When the branch drops, it remains suspended by the rope, without dropping on someone's head. Then he uses the makeshift pulley to precisely slide it down. I asked him if he's taught his children any of his skills, and he replied none of his sons can even climb a tree!