JcSparks.com » Art

Drawing Nolan

jeremy — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:41:49 +0000

I’ve been trying to pull myself away from the computer and back to the drawing pad. Here’s a couple of drawings of Nolan that I’ve recently completed. Not the best photos, I’ll try to get better ones posted before long.

Portrait of Nolan

Nolan Pacified

“Draw” Tour

jeremy — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:14:38 +0000

One of the drawings I did as as study for my MFA diploma project has been selected by New York based Fuse Gallery to participate in their touring exhibition of drawings, cleverly entitled “Draw”.

March 9 – 31 the exhibit will be on display at Gallery Lombardi in Austin Texas. In June the show moves on to London. They are working out details for continuing the show in Japan, Moscow and Beijing.

– Jeremy

New Drawing

jeremy — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:15:36 +0000

So I’m a bit late in posting pictures, but we finally got some nice weather (I like to shoot photos of artwork by natural light whenever possible). I just finished off a drawing that I’ve been working on for a while now. It’s one of my good friend Tara who was nice enough to sit for me on one of her trips back to the states recently. I didn’t get very good photos to work from, but I think the drawing turned out alright. I guess I’ll let you be the judge of that. Anyway, here’s the final image. A larger version has also been added to my portfolio site.

Also, I posted a better/larger version of the painting of Casey on my Portfolio Site (click on Paintings).

I’ve still got a painting in progress. Actually, I was hoping to get more painting done this weekend, but unfortunately the last layer was still tacky so that was a no-go. Guess it’s time to start a new painting. I’ve got a few ideas, so…time to order some linen.

– Jeremy

Portrait Painting

jeremy — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:09:22 +0000

I haven’t been quite as active in the studio as I had hoped to be thus far this calendar year. That is not to say that I haven’t been working at all, though. I think this painting is done, though I may go back in and tone down the reflected lights on the back of the head. It’s a portrait of my friend and co-worker, Casey. I’m working on one of his wife as well, but that painting still has a way to go…

If this were software, I might call it release candidate 1… but, since it’s not a piece of software, that would be silly. Anyhow, here is the painting in a possibly final state. Note that there is a bit of glare at the bottom of the image, which is hard to avoid since the canvas was still wet. I’ll try to get a better image and post that on my portfolio site in the near future.

I’ve also got a portrait drawing that is almost completed, and I’m planning to get out into the studio either tonight or tomorrow to finish it off. Hopefully I’ll have pictures to post this weekend of that one. If only I could work 8 hours a day in the stuio and a couple hours at night programming databases…

– Jeremy

New Sketch

jeremy — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 17:28:43 +0000

I brought a few sheets of Bristol paper with me to Denver, not to mention my moleskine sketchbook. I’ve been working mostly in pen on small portraits in my moleskine. But I wanted to do something in pencil with a little more room. At home I’ve been working on a painting of Crystal, but I’m having trouble with the likeness, so I thought that it would be good to try my hand at a pencil drawing of her. Here’s the drawing…

It’s about 7″ x 8.5″ on bristol paper. Definitely the best likeness I’ve gotten for Crystal so far. I only had my mechanical pencil with me; it was sort of surprising to learn how fond I’ve become of using different pencil hardnesses to further a drawing.

- Jeremy

Portrait Commission

jeremy — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 21:50:48 +0000

I was recently given the opportunity to execute a large double-portrait drawing for a private collection. It’s one of the larger drawing that I’ve completed 20″ x 26″ and was done on Fabriano Artistico Hot Press 140lb paper. The paper seems to be a good mix between the Rives BFK paper that I used for the drawing of Shaun and the Strathmore Bristol paper that I’ve been playing with. The Rives seems to have much less sizing and so it takes some work to make the darkest marks. This can be a good thing if it takes one a bit of effort to find the form. The Bristol paper on the other hand takes the marks as you lay them down and erases cleanly. This would seem desirable for a highly trained or experienced draftsman though you have to be careful not to smudge it. The Fabriano is sort of a hybrid between these two extremes. Though I have to say that I do like the way the Rives paper fights just a little bit. Julie recently received some Magnani paper that feels like a cross between the Rives and the Fabriano. I’m going to have to see if I can steal a sheet to play with, though I don’t think she has any extra (it’s for a printing project). But maybe I can swap it with a sheet of my Fabriano paper without her knowing.

At any rate, here’s an image of the final drawing. I sent it off to the client on Monday, so hopefully it will be arriving (safely) before the end of the week.

Tyler Portrait, 20″x26″ – Private Collection

– Jeremy

Update: just got an email that it arrived this afternoon without any problems. What a relief.

In Media Res

jeremy — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:42:47 +0000

I’ve been working on a couple of portrait paintings recently. I think I’m starting to find a studio process that is going to work for me. This isn’t yet finished, but it’s coming along well, so Julie asked me to post an image of the in-progress work. The photo could be a little better. It was very late at night (dark) and wet paint doesn’t photograph very well, especially under fluorescent lights. The painting is a little more chromatic than it appears here.

Casey – Oil on Linen, 32″x24″ (In Progress)

– Jeremy

New Drawing: Shaun

jeremy — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 08:23:15 +0000

Late last night (early this morning?) I finished a drawing that I started on Saturday. It’s a 20″x14″ pencil drawing of my brother. It is on the same Fabriano paper that I did my most recent self portrait. I really enjoy working with that paper; it fights you just the right amount. Here’s the image and as always, feedback is most gratefully appreciated…

I have been busy otherwise, though I haven’t posted any pics in a couple of weeks. I’ve been working on an oil sketch for a painting, though I probably won’t post that as it was more for my benefit. I’ve got another oil sketch started and I found some time to stretch, size and prime some linen for a couple of paintings. You’ve got to love that rabbit-skin glue, that stuff is the best.

I’m hoping to get a good deal of painting in this weekend.

– Jeremy

New Study

jeremy — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 01:51:02 +0000

Well, I did get into paints last weekend. However, to my chagrin, I learned that it is too cold out in my studio for paint to dry in a timely manner. I started two wipe-outs, which should have dried rather quickly since the paint was cut with thinner. However, by mid-week they were still wet to the touch. So I started a new drawing of one of the images that I was hoping to work up as an oil study.

It’s a pencil drawing of Crystal on Strathmor 500 series Bristol paper. Crystal and her lovely husband Casey were nice enough to come sit for me last week. I was hoping to do oil studies of both of them this week and start a real painting next week. We’ll see how it goes. Fortunately, the wipe-outs are dry now so I should be able to work on at least one of them this weekend.

- Jeremy

New Self Portrait

jeremy — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 16:33:55 +0000

I feel like I’ve done a lot of self portraits, so I wasn’t too keen on the idea of doing another one. However, Julie was pressing me to do a new one and I really needed to have one that was up to the same level of the work that I’ve been doing lately. Here’s a new self portrait; which I have, somewhat arrogantly, entitled Melancholia. As always, any feedback would be graciously appreciated.

It’s 26″ x 20″ pencil on Rives BFK Paper, which was a real pleasure to work with. It has been really nice to be able to finish drawings like this lately, but I feel that I really need to get back into the paint. So I’m planning on starting a new painting this week.

- Jeremy