Lovely

Untitled (Hatley)

oil on canvas

16"x24"

Just finished this one. Originally slated for the International Art Fair, this lovely young woman's parents scooped it up before it could make its way out of my studio. I've know Hatley since she was 3. She is stormy and intense and intriguing and I find her absolutely stunning. So, onto the next one- hope its good enough for the art fair!

Murray rocks!

My Kind of Star

Oil on panel

9"x12"

This is Murray. He is a super, fantastic life drawing model who sat for my life painting workshop last month. I started this painting during one of the workshop days- from life obviously- and finished it this weekend from a photo. Man, I really love this guys face. This painting and perhaps a few others will be hanging at Ingram Gallery in a few days as part of their Summer Series ll show.

Waxed Margo

Study of Margo

oil and carbon on plaster under bees wax

8"x10"

This lovely young woman is Margo. She is a student of mine. She is a combination of carbon drawing and oils. The surface is a wood panel covered in a thin layer of plaster (sanded). I wanted a surface that I could both draw and paint on. When she was finished I brushed on a fairly thick coat of melted beeswax and burnished it with a metal canning lid. 

More life painting!

super quick, monochrome, oil sketch of a lovely young model

another demo oil sketch of a popular Toronto life model- spent about 2 and a half hours on this one

I taught a life painting workshop for the past 3 days- for my school the Leslieville Schoolo of Art. We had a great group of teens and a few adults and a couple of super models. I eased the group in on the first day with a demo and a sepia and white oil sketch. The second day I mixed colour flesh palettes with the students and did a more extensive demo. They all rocked their full colour oil sketches that day. Today they had about 4 and a half hours of model time to complete a third oil sketch- another full colour one. It was great fun watching how differently they all turned out and the progress of my die hard teens totally blew my mind.

Life Painting

Last night I did my first ever life painting of a painter, painting me. I worked with a great illustrator by the name of Harvey Chan. It was a total blast! We worked for about two, 50 minute stretches. I painted Harvey, who was painting me from my reflection in a full length mirror. Man,  I am already itching to do another oil sketch from life- nothing like it.

our set up at Harvey Chan's studio

my painting of Harvey

oil on wood panel

Harvey's painting of me

acrylic on board

my palette from the session

Second Globe and Mail illustration

for today's Facts and Arguments, Globe and Mail

Here is my second ever illustration job. I drew most of it sitting outside of Arcadia gallery and while waiting at JFK airport. Here is a link to the page in the Globe and Mail. 

Jeremy Lipking Show

                                      

My great friend Jenn Sgro and I at Lipking's opening reception

Jeremy Lipking and his model

                     

Lipking's oil sketch- done in about 1.5 hours

I went to New York last week to see Jeremy Lipking's solo show open at Arcadia Fine Arts gallery last Thursday. Lipking is one of my favourite contemporary painters and the work was tremendously exciting to see in real life. On Saturday Arcadia hosted a free Lipking painting demo. Jeremy did an oil sketch from life in about 2 hours. It was a full house and quite magical to watch. I swear to god he hit the likeness in the first 4 strokes. I think it was extremely generous of Arcadia owner, Steve Diamant, and Lipking to do this demo. Clearly most of the people who attended were painters, not buyers. I'm sure those two will go down in the history books as a couple of the good guys.