Saturday, October 17, 2015

Mystery Adventure

"Every little painting is just a mystery adventure into what you think you know."  Robert Watts quite organically remarked while demonstrating a landscape.  He is amazing.

Well it's adventure after adventure!  Through Watt's Spring,
Meadow's Workshop, and Summer Term, I can readily pick out some themes into what I may not know.  They aren't much of a surprise if you've been here before.  I continue to strive for better organization, clear turning of form, and improved congruent shape design (as opposed to a speckled archipelago of isolated shapes).

I had my first class in gouache this spring!  It is the perfect medium to work on careful shape design as the water soluble media is sucked quickly up by the paper in precisely the area your brush applies it.  This kind of opaque water color requires a strict adherence to a tile laying procedure, and is a great exercise for those of us whose tendencies might otherwise speed sloppily toward a 'hot mess.'

Man From India
Gouache
Sold
(with Jeff Watt's helping to design some shapes)


This took 8, 3 hour classes, of just slowing down and staying disciplined.  

Gouache Portrait of a Man from India, black and white portrait painting by Heather Lenefsky


Erik Gist's Reilly Painting Method 


Reilly not only used figure abstractions to achieve successful form, but also had procedure in place for his preparing his palate by premixing puddles in a value structure, and utilizing a monochrome

underpainting before applying color or opacity.  After I scrubbed my lay-in (monochrome gesture game plan) three times, Erik came to the rescue sketching in this great figure gesture.  Then he left me to the fun part.  You can still see the underpainting in many places.  I was trying to slow down.

This is a shot of the teacher preparing the pallet, though it is missing a 5th row of an Ultramarine Blue 5 value gradient.

12x16" oil, not quite finished




Meadow's Costume Portrait Workshop

This 6 hour portrait sketch I did in Meadow's class was the most fun I have done so far.  One of my favorite models was looking right at me, and I managed to stay patient and in the zone.  Meaning, I didn't put too much paint on too fast.  Jeff has mentioned to me that I try to hit my finishing strokes too soon, as opposed to building it up and tearing it down until I really know where the impasto strokes go.  I am actually working on tightening up now, and saving the more expressive strokes until I have really earned them.  Have I been told this before?  Yes.  Recall Terry's advice "Paint the dog before the fleas?"  Good teachers are very, very patient.

Meadow didn't have to hop on until the very end where she helped me address some passages of the beard that suffered from redundant treatment.  She also helped me to turn the plane of his right temple to the side wall.  This day I was thrilled!  I even managed to keep rolling on a mini dog painting when I got home that night.  A step up from crashing into Netflix.

6 hour pose progress 



Yankee
12x16"
oil on canvas
sold

Yankee Oil Painting, Oil on Canvas by Heather Lenefsky, Civil War Costumed Portrait.  Civil War Art, Yankee Art


San Diego Comic-Con

I was so lucky to be the date of an artist from class!  We got to meet Terryl Whitlatch, inconspicuously tucked into the Copic Pen booth.  She was so gracious, spending many unassuming minutes to sketch personalized creatures in our books, and sending off us saying, "I mean, why not you?"


Animals Real and Imagined, Terryl Whitlatch
My very own Whitlatch Original!

Big fan.

Terryl Whitlatch signing my book at Comic-con San Diego 2015
Terryl sketching in my book


I had the opportunity to work on a couple fun dog portrait commissions
For these two I laid in a careful graphite drawing using a grid, and slowly built them up over an underpainting similar to the Reilly class.

Django
9x12" oil commission

German Shepherd on the portch with a Coors Light, Custom Oil Painting by Heather Lenefsky Art


Hayley
8x10" oil commission

Golden Retriever in the Snow, oil painting by Heather Lenefsky Art



Mini Dog Painting Fest or How I Spent My Spring Break



Dog Days of Summer 2015, 10th Annual with Cardiff 101Then, I had another great idea.  I wanted a deadline, a fun event, a challenge, and so I signed up last minute for 'Dog Days of Summer' down the hill in Cardiff.  Then I set to cramming.  My animal instructor Tom Babbey gave great counsel advising not to paint any study over 5x7'.  Out of frustration (they are SO LITTLE) I had nearly given up before I had started.  Fortunately, Meadow happened to bring in a couple 5x7" studies of her own portrait studies to show the class and I was saved by her inspiration.  These were SO much fun.  I may have got a little seduced into calligraphy over clarity, but I am fine with it.  This exercise was a kick.


Heather Lenefsky Art at Cardiff Dog Days of Summer 2015
Dr Cortadi, the boys, and me

Supporting members of the Lenefsky Family
For these studies, I did all the drawings free-hand in paint.  I really liked the freedom of doing this, though it could take a little wresting to make a good map- for me the struggle is easier done in oil paint.

Doberman
4x4" oil
available

Heather Lenefsky Doberman Painting, 4x4" oil on canvas
Doberman


Frenchie
(complete with the perfect vintage frame find!)
6x8" oil

Portrait of a French Bulldog, Frenchie painting in oil on canvas by Heather Lenefsky


Aussie-by-the-Sea
6x6" oil

Oil painting of Australian Shepherd by Heather Lenefsky, custom dog portraits


Beach Wolf
4x6" oil

Beach Dog Painting by Heather Lenefsky.  Oil on canvas, portrait of a Wolf Hybrid in Cardiff-by-the-Sea


Bulldog
4x4"
Keeping it

Portrait painting of a Bulldog, Bulldog portrait in oil on canvas by Heather Lenefsky


Treasure Hunt
5x7" oil
sold

Cardiff Treasure Hunt, little terrier digging at the beach, oil painting by Heather Lenefsky


Roxy
4x4" oil
sold

Portrait of Roxy the Golden Lab.  Golden Lab Painting in Oil by Heather Lenefsky, Custom Portrait of Roxy



Dachshunde
4x4" oil
sold

Portrait of a smiling Dauchcshund by Heather Lenefsky, oil on canvas, custom dog portrat


Corgi
5x7" oil

Smiling Corgi Painting, oil on canvas by Heather Lenefsky, Corgi Art


Dog Fest Booth!

My first Plein Air Class at Watts, with Ben Young


California Coast, Plein air painters at Cabrillo National Monument, Watts Atelier Class
Cabrillo Cliffs National Monument

Plein air is tough.  This is the first time I have had any success in it.  A couple things that really helped me was to watch the teachers demo much more carefully.  I finally realized how slow and patiently they map their drawings and design their compositions.  Then, the utmost care is taken to respect these drawings, not to lose them.  Robert Watts, or maybe Ben Young, said something that really helped me to get the point, "Imagine your whole composition is only 7 puzzle pieces (at the most)."  So that the big shapes are given the priority, strengthening and organizing the piece with some chance of success.  Ben also had be prepare by doing little thumbnail sketches from Edgar Payne's book- it is full of good examples of thumbnail comps.  

This study actually turned out!!  Ben did the entire ocean, I had no hand in it.  Though I did compose it, lay it in, and pretty much do the rest ;)

Cabrillo Cliffs
8x10" oil on canvas




The Summer Term is a quick 5 weeks, and so I had the opportunity to do some more dog portraits over Summer Break.



Zoe
8x8" oil commission

Oil painting of a Chihuahua, Private Commission, by Heather Lenefsky Art.  Chihuahua portrait.



Dee
10x10" oil commission





Hudson
10x10" oil commission




We are now in week 1 of the 10 week fall term, and I decided to take nine classes.  Yay!  

Onward to the next mystery adventure!

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