I came from a class on Sunday and decided I wanted to draw something. I had never attempted to capture the delicate melancholic look of a dying flower.
I did this one in charcoal with a size of 65x40 cm
Up for sale on my Etsy shop for a symbolic price of 65 dollars!
Here's the link if you are interested.
Etsy
Charcoal has been undoubtedly the medium that has helped me the most when trying to capture what I see and putting it onto a 2D surface. I would say this is probably the medium that is the closest to oil painting, even though it is a dry medium. Every once in a while I do 20 minute sketches with it, just to say I did something that day, and most of the times...My muse is the model. On this one below she was actually sick at home, so I decided to call this sketch
" In sickness and in health"
Yesterday I went for a portrait drawing session. I used to do these with charcoal, and now I have changed to oils. There is nothing more satisfying for me than painting a subject directly from life and trying to capture the similarity, plus the overall mood of the subject.
This was done on a 12x 9 masonite board. And I finally managed to try out my Bitteroot pochade from Alla Prima, done by Ben Haggett. And it is absolutely amazing! It is so good to have a product that generally makes your life easier.
It's a new day, so a new painting is ready to be introduced to the world. As I said in a previous post I am currently doing some work related to my heritage, related to being Portuguese and what it means to me. Well, in Portugal we have a big tradition in sweets! Really sweet sweets! This painting is about my favorite sweet! Pastel de nata or custard cake in English! I decided to call it Holy Grail because I almost feel immortal when I try one of these back at home :D
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in any of the paintings I have on the blog.
I will be giving a drawing and painting course for complete beginners, in Prague. It starts already on the 1st of November and the class is already filling up. I could not be any happier.
My personal goal is to provide students with a new way of seeing the world that surrounds us.
We will be discussing basic fundamental topics as well as more advance as we progress with the classes.
So, if you are in or around Prague, pop up and join us!!
Here´s the link to the course with more detailed information:
drawplanet.cz - Course-for-real-beginners
I am really inspired by the plein air work of Marc Dalessio. He is really one of those people that made me get the guts to go outside and try plein air. Even though I am still nowhere near where I want to be with it, I am slowly building up confidence to go outside while being watched by loads of people. So far I had only good experiences of people congratulating me for my work, and I was even asked on a date once :D . My dream in terms of plein air is really to become half as good as Marc Dalessio, Matt Smith or Jeremy Lipking and a third as good as Richard Schmid (yes, he is another hero of mine).
For now..gotta work, work, work!
I am recently working on a series of paintings about Portugal, and portuguese heritage, and I already finished a few of them. Meanwhile I have sent the ones that are ready to the framer. For me, there's nothing like having a painting with a proper frame. If chosen well, it can give even more impact to the painting.
Here's the first one
'Trinity' 56.5 x 26.5 cm - oil on panel.
For the ones that are not familiar with the toys..Here are some pictures of them.
Rapa
Peao
It's been a long time that I follow numerous artists through their blogs, and up to now... as incredible as it seems, it never crossed my mind to create my own blog...I must thank my muse Marlene Cost for insisting on it.
My story is a simple one. I picked my first brush when I was around 2 years old, and was going on and off about it during my teens. I was absolutely addicted to comic books and when I was 16 I tried creating my own, but I immediately realized that I did not yet had what it takes to make something that would please me and possibly other people.
My father had a brother who was painting as a hobby and at that time he was ordering Liliedahl VHS tapes...I became fascinated with that.
Being Portuguese, and living in Portugal at that time, I could only read about the wonderful drawing schools in the US and how everyone seemed to have an amazing progression year after year.
There was still not enough content on the internet, so the sharing of information was rare and there was no sign of such schools in Portugal.
A few years passed and I was going on and off with drawing. More off then on as I was getting frustrated with the fact that I could not reach the level of my heroes at the time - (comics -J Scott Campbell, Jim Lee, Michael Turner.. and actual painting - Davinci, Caravaggio, Ingres and Bouguereau).Little did I know how hard these people worked to be where they were :)
Life has little surprises, and when I finished my course (I was 23) I had to emigrate to the Czech Republic and find an office job (gotta pay the bills) to be able to have a steady life.
Then one day, on a really cold winter in Prague, as I was headed home..there it was...A small little room with a few artist gathered with canvas and charcoal circling a model (a real life model!), on what it seemed like a figure drawing session. With no hesitation, I entered the little space and a lady approached me and told me that indeed these were figure drawing classes with real life models happening every week. I didn't even ask the price...Next week, there I was, armed with some charcoal and kneaded eraser, ready to tackle drawing a real human being. Well, the first year was a huge struggle..Big heads, small heads, big arms, tiny feet...But I was happy.. Those 3 hours a week were my reason to go to work everyday...Getting up on a Tuesday had a whole different feeling.
If you're still reading this I congratulate you..
I will make this next part a bit faster :)
Well, this drawing session made me want to get better, so I started carrying around a tiny sketchbook everywhere I went..which helped a lot. Seriously, try it for a month and you'll immediately see results. On the plus side I had a supportive girlfriend. Yes, Marlene. I remember trying to impress her the first few times and we still laugh about it sometimes..My first attempt on a sketchbook, we were in a park and I decided to make a quick sketch of a father that was holding his kid...Unfortunately for me...I made them look like carbonized black shades...But! I did not quit. I went on and on and on, and eventually I started painting. I played around with watercolors, but I found it too difficult for a beginner and then I met my true love..Oil paint!
I enrolled in one oil class and it absolutely changed my view on art. I kept on doing it and doing it, eventually including plein air (started a year ago..I am still a beginner, but I won't quit). I bought a lot of books (classical instruction..From my hero Richard Schmid to Loomis and Solomon Joseph Solomon.
Eventually I was going to exhibitions and buying the book of the exhibition itself. I started reading about incredible artists such as Caravaggio, Sargent, Zorn, Sorolla, Monet, Manet, Rembrandt (the list is too big). I started as well supporting contemporary artists ( I bought David Kassan's dvd on drawing, Jeremy Lipking's .. I watched and re-watched both Casey Baugh and Sean Cheetham doing alla prima demonstrations on youtube and became mesmerized.. With the amount of information on the internet and the hours of research, I started trying new techniques, new philosophies and I eventually got to where I am now.
As incredible as it seems, I will begin lecturing a drawing course in two weeks. Isn't it amazing how life can kick you in the butt, but pay you back if you get off the floor? Welcome to my blog. Hope you stick around.
