Portrait bust of Cecily- Rob Zeller

Since I teach both the figure and portrait at our Oyster Bay location, I find myself often wanting to try something new, something other than the working method than I teach. Partly stemming from boredom, partly a hunger for the new, this desire can be healthy, if channeled the right way.  So I have added charcoal to my repetiore. The figure to the left is a charcoal drawing on toned paper of Cecily, and was begun as a demo for our OB figure class. I try to work from the model in class, to constntly demonstrate how the act of painting for our students. This piece has since turned into a singular mission for me, as I have hired her privately on several occasions to try new techniques of charcoal and in "massing in" of forms in oil paint.
In focusing on her face, I tried to capture the big wash of light on her skull, and then all of the minor sub-forms (eggs) of her face, as they turn into and away from the light source. This is the most fun I have as a draftsman. Cecily lends herself to a rather dream-like, ethereal expression, so I went for that aspect, as well.
In the image above, you can see that I am working from a color study and the drawing, and working on the face first.
Here is where we stand at present. Almost finished.

The 2 Day Still Life with John Morra

	On two weekends in October 2011, John Morra taught a workshop at both of our locations titled The Two Day Still Life where painters confronted a healthy urgency: each artist arranged and executed a complete painting in 12 hours. By following Morra’s painting demonstrations, they learned how to set up a grid system, grab their palette, mix piles of paint, focus and “floor it.”
Students ended each day with boosted confidence, and with a sharper ability to attack the essential “big picture” parts of any subject. As Morra said "Fast still-life painting helps you to capture those roving clouds in a plein air sketch, or that fidgety child in that portrait you’ve been promising. And the discipline of painting fast will greatly improve the over-all quality of one’s more ambitious, carefully drawn, slow paintings."