Drawing group.

Lately I've been going to this really awesome drawing group here in Philly at the studio of painter/sculptor Angela Cunningham. Here's a sketch from last week's session - I'm trying to decide whether I will try to do a painting of this same pose over the next 3 weeks of this pose... hmmm.

sketch of model, 4 hours, charcoal and white chalk on toned paper

PSoA.

I'm about ready to turn in the brushes for the night, but first, let me post a couple of quick pics from the Portrait Society of America conference from last weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. Good times! Good people! Great sessions with some great artists. All around a great event, I'm glad I joined the Society and happy to have attended the conference and met some wonderful people. Next year the conference will be held right here in my own backyard (so to speak), in Philadelphia, PA. Hurray!

Painters! L-R: Alia El-Bermani, Susan Lyon, Sadie Valeri, me

More painters! L-R: Alexandra Tyng, Terry Strickland, me.

Yet more painters! L-R, back row first: Sadie Valeri, me, Terry Strickland, Alia El-Bermani, Cindy Procious. 

Painting by Tony Ryder from the "Face Off" portrait painting competition



My favorite piece from Atlanta's High Museum, the last painting by artist Joseph De Camp.



Painters and sculptors! L-R: Amy Kann, Alia El-Bermani, Anne Nelson Sweat, Amy Lind, Terry Strickland, Lea Colie Wight, Mardie Rees, me, Alexandra Tyng.

(this photo courtesy of Anne Nelson Sweat).

Dacia, dahhling.

I have a ton of things I want to blog about – including last weekend’s Portrait Society of America conference in Atlanta, GA - but first I want to mention that I will have three paintings in a landscape show at Dacia Gallery in NYC this month. The opening reception is this coming Saturday, May 7 from 6-10pm; if you are in Manhattan, please stop by and say hello!

Here’s one of the paintings which will be in the show:

the high road, oil on panel, 16”x20’, by me, Diane Feissel.

Connecting with Disconnect.

The most incredibly great thing just came to us in the mail - the following painting by mind-blowingly amazing Pennsylvania painter Josh Suda:

Disconnected, oil on panel, 12"x16", by Josh Suda

I don't know how to say it more plainly: I LOOOOVE this painting. It's simply incredible, even more so in person. And it's mine now!!! Hooray!!!

Check out more of Josh's work at the Broad Street Studio website or at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA.

Vision to Hand.

I've been super-lax on the blog posts lately, been busy painting and seeing paintings and thinking about paintings. But not writing about paintings, apparently! Haha. Anyway, more soon - just wanted to quickly mention this blog post by painter Matthew Innis on Alexandra Tyng's painting of me, entitled Vision to Hand, which recently received a Certificate of Excellence from the Portrait Society of America. Check out the piece at this link: http://underpaintings.blogspot.com/2011/04/psoa-certificate-of-excellence.html. 

Vision to Hand (Diane Feissel), oil on linen, 36" x 28"
by Alexandra Tyng

Sprick in the spring.

Hello there! Spring is finally here, and my chilly fingers are thawing out and here to bring you some more blog-related goodness. The latest: a quick trip up to NYC (again), this time to re-visit the Sorolla murals at the Hispanic Society with friend and fellow painter Alia El-Bermani, and to check out some gallery shows, including the opening for the Daniel Sprick exhibition at Arcadia Fine Arts. Here's a quick photo recap:

Artist friends Greg Baldwin and Alia El-Bermani in front of the Sorolla murals at the Hispanic Society

Time, 12"x12" oil on panel painting by Justin Taylor, found at Eleanor Ettinger's gallery location in Chelsea

Man in Profile, oil on panel, 5"x7", by Zack Zdrale, also found at Eleanor Ettinger

I finally got to see a painting by Lucong in person - this one is Tabitha #8, oil on panel, 18"x18", found at Gallery Henoch

This one is a David Kassan piece - Artist's Mother, oil on paper on panel, 25" x 24", also found at Gallery Henoch

We ended the trip with the opening of Daniel Sprick's show "Flesh and Bone" at Arcadia Fine Arts - a combination of mind-blowingly good still lifes, figurative paintings and interior scenes.

It figures.

Hey there! Here are some figurative paint sketches I've done lately: