Painting with Dempwolf at Paramount Ranch

This is my favorite painting so far.  I did it with help from Karl Dempwolf at Paramount Ranch.

Whitney Park Paintings

These are the two paintings I did at Whitney Park on Saturday with a lot of help from Karl.  They same a lot duller now that they are dry.  One had fallen in the sand but the sand brushed off once it was dry.

Whitney Park - Karl Dempwolf Class 2

Painted at Whitney Park on Saturday.

"Located in the City of Santa Clarita near the offramp of the 14 Freeway and San Fernando Road, the beautiful 442-acre Whitney Canyon Park in the Rim of the Valley Trail Corridor provides outstanding examples of coastal sage scrub, oak woodland, chaparral and riparian corridor vegetation, with year-round springs and at least ten sensitive species. Besides its importance for wildlife movement in a critical corridor between the Santa Susana Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains, Whitney Canyon provides a regionally significant entrance into the Angeles National Forest."


Really struggling painting. Not sure what I am supposed to do. Karl said my first painting reminded him of Thomas Benton.  Feel like I am painting with my feet.  Not sure how to mix all the different greens. Not sure how to use the oil paint.

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Head Drawing - Give it 5 years

It is weird when you go to draw.  You never know how you are going to do.  When I walk into the Bikram studio I am not sure if I am going to have a day when I am flexible and feel light or I am going to be unflexible and heavy with out any balance.  When I go to draw sometimes I am tired and distracted and I go still crank out a good drawing or I can be full of life and rested (like last night) and not hit my best.

Here is my latest picture of Kwante.  I think I was a little heavy handed with it.  It doesn't have the ethereal quality of some of my other drawings.  Rick worked with me on nose and mouth.  He didn't have any criticism about the shape of the eyes so hopefully my work with Vanderpoehl is helping me with that.  I noticed the guy drawing next to me had a less rigid drawing.  But one woman in the class came up and said I had a dead on likeness that made me feel good.

What  I did notice yesterday is that I am comfortable with the charcoal pencil in my hand.  For so many years I felt awkward holding that damned pencil.  Now I am ok with it.  I guess it is like Ted said to me yesterday at Bikram Studio City when I complained about my shoulder hurting during the poses and my knees (I didn't even talk to him about how my feet don't feel good at all) anyway he said if you practice 5 years your body will change.  I was thinking how I did practice 5 years and my body did change and I stopped and now how I have to do those five years all over again.  First that made me sad and now I realize what's 5 years of yoga - I was going to do that anyway.

It has taken me about 4 years to get comfortable with the charcoal pencil.  Maybe I will feel even better after five.

Meltdown Comics

I feel like I am getting on track again.  Started an inking and coloring workshop at Meltdown Comics taught by Chris Northrop.  It seemed like it is going to be a pretty cool class.  I haven't down any real inking for awhile.  I had the class with Tim that got cancelled at CAI.  I had a little inking at the graphic novel class at santa monica college extension.  It is nice to get my head around comics again.

Meltdown Comics was a very cool store too.

First Class with Karl Dempwolf

I had my first class with Karl Dempwolf this Saturday.  I have wanted to study with him for many years but couldn't quite figure it out.  We painted at King Gilette Ranch.  I was very clumbsy out there painting in the plein air with my fancy umbrella and easel.  I felt like I sort of forgot everything that I ever knew about painting.

My paintings were sort of a mush of nothing.  It was weird,  Karl would come over and correct the painting and he seemed to make more of a mush,  He was totally different than other landscape teachers I have had .  He walked around the whole class talking to people and helping them.  My last landscape painting teacher sort of just worked on his own painting sort of forgetting he was teaching anything.

I will post my paintings once they dry.  The are very wet right now.

I liked Karl as a teacher I think I can learn a lot from him. 

My first painting I had a real hard time getting any separation in foreground middle ground and background.  My second painting was more informational than painterly,  I had all the right amount of windows in my building and I had trees,  Karl told me I had a building and I had trees but I didn't have a painting.

I think I will study with him as much as I can.  I had gotten intimidated and afraid to paint.  But now I feel like I have to start somewhere and sometime.

Rick Morris Class

Feel pretty good about this drawing I did in Rick's Class last night.  He said I had a good block in.   My materials suck.  I am going to buy some materials today.  I always say I am going to but I don't.

It was the first time in there that I wasn't exhausted which is a huge plus.  Atleast I think it is a plus.  Sometimes in Bikram yoga they say how you feel before you go in the room doesn't really mean anything to how you will perform in the room.  I don't know if that is they same before drawing.  I have to experiment with that.  You can feel like utter shit before Bikram and then perform well in the room or you can feel great and have a shitty class.

Drawing I think it helps to feel good.  But I haven't drawn consistently enough to be totally sure.

I went to Bikram before I drew and I ate a Trader Joe's salad in my car before the class at 3 Kicks. I guess my goal for next class is to get some good materials and a nice tackle box like a never have had and put a more serious artist face on the whole thing.

Some how my Wolf pencils don't work well for Head Drawing with Rick the way they did with Glenn Orbik.  The generals work a lot better for Tonal Drawing.