A Ben A Day

January 05, 2021 in daily practice, oil painting, portrait painting

My familiarity with painting my nephew is slim. So I decided to produce a painting of him over my holidays everyday. A challenge to produce a daily portrait because I have a tendency to overwork things and get into detail even if it’s a daily portrait exercise.

Day 5 This one got away from me. I find painting him head on to be a difficult angle. — Day 5
This one got away from me. I find painting him head on to be a difficult angle.

Day 6 My favourite of all of the portraits. I really like how I didn’t adhere to realistic skin tones. — Day 6
My favourite of all of the portraits. I really like how I didn’t adhere to realistic skin tones.

Day 8 (I did a virtual sitting with my niece on day 7. It’s the previous post) — Day 8
(I did a virtual sitting with my niece on day 7. It’s the previous post)

Virtual Sittings

July 06, 2020 in virtual sitting, portrait painting, oil painting, daily practice

Sketchbook Dump

May 22, 2020 in sketchbook, urban sketching, daily practice

May 18, 2020. I like the idea of using a mirror to reflect part of my body and the space behind me. This might be a painting in the making.

May 19, 2020. After the feet in the mirror drawing, I realized I had to work on depicting my feet accurately. Hence this spread.

May 20, 2020. Getting a little stir crazy in my apartment and craving some fresh air while maintaining self isolation. Fortunately I have a small back porch that looks onto a parking pad area which is quite often used by people late at night as an a… — May 20, 2020. Getting a little stir crazy in my apartment and craving some fresh air while maintaining self isolation. Fortunately I have a small back porch that looks onto a parking pad area which is quite often used by people late at night as an alternate toilet site. This is my neighbourhood.

May 22, 2020. Inspired by my last drawing of the parking pad, here’s another perspective from the end of the pad looking back tot he rear entry to my unit. All this drawing happened before my morning coffee. I think all this self isolation is affect… — May 22, 2020. Inspired by my last drawing of the parking pad, here’s another perspective from the end of the pad looking back tot he rear entry to my unit. All this drawing happened before my morning coffee. I think all this self isolation is affecting me and might happen again tomorrow morning.

Sketchbook

May 16, 2020 in daily practice, virtual sitting, urban sketching, sketchbook

Looking to the ground today for my drawing inspiration. There might be a painting in this!

RenA virtual sitting with a friend today who lives in Halifax. Isn’t technology great? I’ll have a second chance next weekend to get her right. — Ren
A virtual sitting with a friend today who lives in Halifax. Isn’t technology great? I’ll have a second chance next weekend to get her right.

May 15, 2020. Sketch of my rat hole, err… I meant, apartment. With all this self isolation, it’s been a great opportunity to sketch everyday. I don’t know if it feels like a habit though. I read somewhere that doing something for 21 days straight fo… — May 15, 2020. Sketch of my rat hole, err… I meant, apartment. With all this self isolation, it’s been a great opportunity to sketch everyday. I don’t know if it feels like a habit though. I read somewhere that doing something for 21 days straight forms a habit. To be quite frank, if i didn’t sketch tomorrow, I’m not too sure i’d have the urge to sketch. It’s more guilt, I suspect, that would drive me to sketch since I want to make art the primary source of income for me. I need to produce art EVERY DAY. It doesn’t have to be great art. It just has to be art.

Sketchbook

May 14, 2020 in daily practice, virtual sitting, urban sketching, sketchbook

Trying to capture space through my drawings instead of just objects.

PasqualeMy talented animator/caricaturist friend. — Pasquale
My talented animator/caricaturist friend.

Daily Practice, Virtual Sittings

May 05, 2020 in daily practice, virtual sitting, pencil portrait, pencil drawing, family

Daily Practice, Virtual Sittings continued

April 26, 2020 in pencil drawing, virtual sitting, pencil portrait, daily practice

Virtual Sittings, continued.

April 24, 2020 in pencil drawing, oil sketch, daily practice

I glad I have so many friends who are willing to sit for me via video apps. My go to model is my niece. She’s a trooper. But also a big thanks to my friend, Thip who sat for me over two nights. I’m getting closer to her likeness, but I might need another sitting to accurately depict her.

April 24.I decided to change mediums today. Inspired and a little fearful of doing a quick oil sketch of my niece. I like the result. I like the looseness and energy of this portrait. I’ll have to try to channel this mind set to future finished pain… — April 24.
I decided to change mediums today. Inspired and a little fearful of doing a quick oil sketch of my niece. I like the result. I like the looseness and energy of this portrait. I’ll have to try to channel this mind set to future finished paintings.

April 22.First sitting with Thip. I wasn’t too excited about this when I finished it but I think it turned out to be the better of the two. — April 22.
First sitting with Thip. I wasn’t too excited about this when I finished it but I think it turned out to be the better of the two.

Video Sitting Sessions

April 19, 2020 in daily practice, family, pencil drawing, pencil portrait

Over the last few days i’ve been asking friends and family to sit for me via Skype, Zoom or any other video app. The video apps tend to have poor resolution so it’s been an advantage for me because I could only sketch the general facial landmarks of my sitters’ faces. I got away from being too detailed with my drawings.