Philly's phinest pheatures.

So, I think every time I have friends or family in town to visit, I need to take a photo of them in front of the Shepard Fairey mural near our house, on the exterior of Rocket Cat Cafe, like so:

The other option, of course, is to take them all over to the newly-minted Lenfest Plaza, next to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), just north of City Hall in our phair city of Philadelphia. As you may have heard, artist Claes Oldenburg - he of the giant clothespin (also here in Philly) and other delights - has installed a giant paintbrush on this plaza. Aaaaaaand here it is:

I still think that paint blob on the ground is highly suspect. Not sure it "works." Really not sure the whole thing "works," actually... please come to Philly to visit and give us your honest critique on our latest public art product. 

Crossing the (state line over to) Delaware.

Hey Internet! Just wanted to share with you that I had a fantastic time last week trading portrait poses with a really great person and fellow painter, PAFA grad David Shevlino. I hopped on the train (thank goodness for SEPTA! When it shows up on time, that is) to travel down to David's studio in Wilmington, Delware, and we had a great time painting - here's what we came up with:

David Shevlino's painting of me

 

 

My painting of David Shevlino

This was totally fun! And challenging! I so rarely get the chance to paint a portrait from life these days, so that was a definite treat.

It's always a pleasure to hang out with other artists, and the Philadelphia/NJ/Delaware area has a lot of them. David's work is particularly gorgeous - you can see some more of his work on his website, of course; also, he has two great videos outlining his painting approach - you can find them at this link on his website. You can get a preview of these videos on his YouTube channel, at this link.

Viva Nueva York.

Hey there Internet! Long time no see. I wanted to let you know: I had a really lovely day in NYC this past Thursday started with a trip to the Met – always a good way to start any day, in my opinion. In addition to visiting some old favorites - such as Jules Bastien-Lepage’s “Joan of Arc”, Franz von Lenbach’s “Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria” and Eugene Carriere's self-portrait - I found a few gems I had somehow missed on my past visits. Particularly because I missed the recent show of his work at the Neue Galerie, I was thrilled to find one of Messerschmidt’s crazy head studies:

 Sculpture head in tin alloy by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

In the process of trying to hunt down another old favorite – Sargent’s Madame X (which was not actually on view, sadly) – I found some Thomas Wilmer Dewing pieces, and these two Sargent sketches in the compressed mezzanine space where they were housing the American collection during construction on the 2^nd floor:

Sargent painting

 Sargent painting of the same subject

Also: I really liked seeing this painting from Irish painter William Orpen: 

Self-portrait by William Orpen

Next: on to the main reason for the trip northward to NY: two really great shows of contemporary painters! First, I met up with some friends from PAFA and we headed up to see the Jenny Saville show at GagosianGallery. Our posse - consisting of Mike Manley, David Campbell Wilson, Lexi Thomas, Will Sentman, Alina Osipov and myself -  made our way uptown from Chelsea and were lucky enough to arrive at the opening early and have some quiet, up-close time with some of the drawings and paintings. Also: Chuck Close was at the opening! How exciting. Anyway, here are some photos from the opening, bravely taken by othermembers of our posse other than myself:

Paintings by Jenny Saville at Gagosian in NYC

Last was the Vincent Desiderio show at Marlborough Gallery in Chelsea. It was PACKED. But, it was also amazing. Absolutely gorgeous, compelling pieces – the magic combination of technical skill and depth of content. Hurray. I was brave enough to sneak a few shots at this opening, so here are some photos… you should really go see them in person yourself, though!

Painting: Dumb Mouths by Vincent Desiderio - Marlborough Gallery, Chelea, NYC

Painting: Sink by Vincent Desiderio - Marlborough Gallery, Chelea, NYC

Afterwards we refueled and headed back to Philly. Good times! Here's Lexi sketching Alina in the burger joint we stopped at for dinner:

PAFA students never rest.

For more recap on the day (and more photos), please visit Will Sentman's blog over here, and Mike Manley's blog over here.

Sprick!

My brain is hopelessly full right now from an awesome couple of days – I took a weekend workshop with Daniel Sprick at Studio Incamminati here in Philadelphia. I’m not going to lie: IT WAS AMAZING. His demo was amazing, his lecture about his work was amazing, and he’s an amazing individual to speak with on a personal level as well. Some painter friends of mine flew up from North Carolina for the workshop, and the lovely and talented artist Rachel Constantine was a gracious host for some extra painting and drawing time (and social time) in her studio. There was such a great vibe in the class all around, with some really super-great people in attendance, including PAFA students Mike Manley and Will Sentman, Studio Incamminati instructors and painters Lea Wight, Natalie Italiano, Jen Hagen, Steve Early, Leona Shanks, Vanessa Fenton and Peter Kelsey, North Carolina artists Alia El-Bermani and Sue Lyon, local painters Rachel Constantine, Catherine Carney and Luiz Vilela, Massachusetts painter Stuart Dunkel, and others. Below are some photos from the weekend – and you can click this link for more photos from Will Sentman’s blog, which include photos of Daniel Sprick’s drawing demos:

After painting with Daniel Sprick at Rachel Constantine's studio: Sue Lyon, Daniel Sprick, Rachel Constantine, Alia El-Bermani

After a lunch break on day 1 of the workshop: Rachel Constantine, Sue Lyon, Alia El-Bermani, Lea Wight.

Daniel Sprick's first drawing demo of the morning

Daniel Sprick's second drawing demo

My drawing from the afternoon session, day one

Exhausted artists after the workshop's end, enjoying a visit from painter Alexandra Tyng

Me with two beautiful ladies from North Carolina, Sue Lyon and Alia El-Bermani

Much of his workshop - and what spoke to me in particular from the workshop - had to do with edge quality, and judicious treatment of edges and line. We were also lucky to have enjoyed a presentation by Daniel on his own work... and, seriously? The man is amazing. Here's an example, if you're unfamilar with his work:

  Painting by Colorado artist Daniel Sprick

******


Wait: there's more! Fellow artists and workshop attendees Will Sentman, Mike Manley and Alia El-Bermani have also posted blog entries about the workshop; check them out here, here and here, respectively. Also: check out these works produced by Alia El-Bermani, fellow North Carolina artist Susan Lyon and myself during the workshop:

Ron, drawing from class by Alia El-Bermani

Paint sketch by Susan Lyon

 Drawing by me on day #2 of the workshop

The King.

I had the pleasure of hanging out and painting with fellow Fishtown artist David Ohlerking last week - he has this great studio over the Rocket Cat Cafe, a couple of blocks away from us, so we met up and swapped painting sessions. He is amazingly fast - he got in two large-ish sized paintings of me in about the time it took me to lay down the paint on my palette!! Haha, not quite - but almost. Here are some photos:

 The first painting David did of me.

David with the second painting of me - not life-size, but definitely sizeable. He's speedy

  My sketch of David. Gonna try again soon...

Michael + Michael + cake.

This past week has been a blast! I spent some time up in upstate NY in the Adirondacks with Michael Schoenig, a great painter and one of my old studiomates from San Francisco – what a gorgeous landscape up there, between Lake Champlain and the Adirondack mountains themselves and all the rural goodness in between:

Essex, NY

More tranquil Essex loveliness

Michael at High Falls Gorge. As advertised, the falls were high.

 

More of High Falls Gorge, in all its majesty.

Me with lots and lots of gushing water.

Lovely cloud formations seen from the ferry riding across Lake Champlain.

  Michael 's house! Haha, actually, no.

Wee duckling at Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, snacking on algae.

Moon over Lake Champlain

After that I came back down to NYC to take a week-long drawing workshop focusing on the portrait and structure of the head at the Janus Collaborative. As I mentioned in my previous post, the workshop was taught by artist Michael Grimaldi. Here’s a demo from the class, done by the instructor:

Portrait demo by Michael Grimaldi

And here’s the drawing I came up with over the week - we had a great model:

  

Portrait of Tram, by me

Here's an absolutely adorable and amazingly friendly cat in one of the apartments I stayed in while in NYC - it's the awesome cat of super-awesome photographer Gavin Thomas:

 

 

Here's a view of the East River from the Roosevelt Island tramway, wheeeeeeeeee:

Also: in honor of some recent birthdays, there was some cake with friends, at a great little place in Harlem:

NOM NOM NOM

YAY FOR CAKE!!!!

..and YAY for the great state of New York. HURRAY!

Summer in the City.

Hey Internet, I'm going to be up in NYC all next week, taking a drawing workshop with Michael Grimaldi at the Janus Collaborative. Summertime in the city! Admittedly, not my favorite time of year to be in NYC, but studying with Michael Grimaldi will be so worth it - of this I am certain. My internet access will be limited during that week, so while I may not be able to post immediate updates -  hopefully I'll be able to post a recap soon. I can't in any way guarantee it will be a coherent or well-written recap, however; for that, I turn to my friend Sadie, who is far more adept at processing and articulating what she has taken in from workshops than I will ever be; see this link on her blog with her thoughts from a Michael Grimaldi drawing workshop she took a couple of years ago out at BACAA, out in the the San Francisco Bay Area...  and see below for a painting by Michael Grimaldi (incredible, no?):

Painting by Michael Grimaldi