Oil painting

I'm reasonably happy with breads.
A table and background are not so convincing, I guess.

Oil on cotton panel. 14 x 18 in.

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Oil painting at Last Peek Studio

This is the first time I used Light Red and Naples Yellow Deep to try skin tone, and I did initial sketch using Raw Umber and rubbed it off.

I'm happy with this composition, but, I have to say I'm still not used to their colours.

Carly.

Oil on cotton panel. 14 x 18 in. 120 min.

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Oil Painting

It needs much stronger shadows. They all look like floating in the air.
A pear needs more colour definition, I guess.

Oil on cotton panel. 14 x 18 in.

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On my easel

Small study.

Work in progress. 14 x 18 in.

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'Bodytorque, DNA' by The Australian Ballet

First of all, I think the tittle "Bodytorque" is very clever, implying dancers' physicality and expressiveness at the same time.

According to their website, this is the tenth season, but, the first time they perform in Melbourne.
In a magnificent State Theatre, there were five new works.

I particularly liked the last three, 'Same Vein' by Alice Topp, 'Control' by Richard House and 'Extro' by Tim Harbour.

Accompanied by beautiful orchestra, lighting and costume, they're all mesmerising experience.

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Oil Painting lesson with Gregory Smith - Day 10

Today is the last day of this term, and I decided to try drapery.
I've never done it before, and found it very challenging.
Seeing a very subtle tonal difference!
This is just a study, and it doesn't look like drapery at all, but, I learned a lot.

Oil on panel. 10 x 16 in.

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Oil Painting

Small study.

Oil on cotton panel. 11 x 14 in.

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Life Drawing at Last Peek Studio

There was a workshop for a life model today, and I was invited to do some drawings.
They all seem to be very keen and enjoy being a model.
I have a huge appreciation for their work. It's a performing art.
I throughly enjoyed the experience.
60 x 80 cm. 20 min.

Geraldine

Emma

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On my easel

Small study.

Work in progress. 11 x 14 in.

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Oil Painting

Small study.

Oil on cotton panel. 11 x 14 in.

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Oil Paiting

Small study.

Oil on cotton panel. 11 x 14 in.

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On my easel

Small study with Raw Umber.

Work in progress. 11 x 14 in.

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Oil Painting lesson with Gregory Smith - Day 9

Today, Greg did a portrait painting demo.

My client Yoko kindly spent three hours as our model.

After an initial Raw Umber wash, he quickly established simple, basic shape with Light Red.

His palette is very limited. White, Naples Yellow Deep, Light Red, Cad Lemon, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber and Ivory Black.

He also used a bit of Cad Red and Alizarin. 

After the second session, it seemed almost finished. However, he said that's just a beginning and he'll embark on a study of light.

It's really fascinating to see its shape slowly start to emerge. Layer on layer, small correction here and there. It's just like a magic.

I thoroughly enjoyed the demo, it certainly gave me a lot of inspiration. 

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Oil Painting

Small study.

Oil on cotton panel. 11 x 14 in.

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Self-portrait oil painting

Small study using a mirror.
I'm reasonably happy with this one.

Oil on cotton panel. 11 x 14 in.

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On my easel

Small study of self-portrait.

Work in progress. 11 x 14 in.

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Oil Painting lesson with Gregory Smith - Day 8

Again, I really struggled with this one.
Seeing a shape as a mosaic of tonal jigsaw puzzles!
I've found it very difficult, especially when there's not much colour temperature  difference like this one.

Painting this one for the last couple of weeks has been a great challenge.
As Greg suggested, I'd like to come back to this subject a year later to see how much progress I could make.

I will paint a new one next time.

Oil on panel. 16 x 20 in.

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Sassoon at Hair Expo in Sydney 2014

It's very unfortunate that due to renovation of Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, it took place at a makeshift facility in Glebe Island.

Its setup was so bad that audience were provided with a radio headset to hear what's going on a stage.

Having said that, Mark and his creative team again delivered a very spirited cutting and colouring presentation.

I think Hair Expo should be held alternately in Melbourne and Sydney.

It's interesting to see that one of influences of this collection was paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe.

I'm very grateful that the team came all the way from the UK. As always, watching him cutting hair inspires me a lot.

In the morning, I went to Gallery of New South Wales.
I love this place. It's a bit of a walk from a railway station, but, the design and its layout is much better than cluttered NGV.

As expected, Biennale exhibition was a disappointment, and a renowned American conceptual artist Sol LeWitt exhibition got me nowhere.

However, the most impressive exhibition was taking place in a tiny room, and it's called 'In the flesh'.

There are only six paintings, but, the quality of these figurative works is really astounding.

It shouldn't be so surprising though, because these four artists are truly giants in this field.
Chaïm Soutine, Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon and my favourite Lucian Freud.

I thought it's worthwhile to fly to Sydney just to see Freud's three paintings.

It was really a great day.

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Oil Painting

Small study.

Oil on cotton panel. 11 x 14 in.

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Oil Painting lesson with Gregory Smith - Day 7

Today, I really struggled, especially around eyes, and hardly made any progress.
I ended up drawing eyes, which defeats a whole purpose of creating shapes tonally.

I need to clear my head and start new next week.

Work in progress.

16 x 20 in.

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Oil Painting

Oil on cotton panel. 14 x 18 in.

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Life Drawing

Katherine.
20 min.
Charcoal on paper. 60 x 80 cm.

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