New York Academy of Art

I don't have any new work right now to show. Well I do have new work, but I've been too lazy to photograph and upload. I just got into the New York Academy of Art though, and I figured I'd share. I can't wait, I know that I will love it there. Being in a studio, working around other artists, and working from live models is something that I have been sorely missing the past three years. My illustration work will definitely be on the back burner for a bit while I pursue academia. Class starts Sept. 8th, I can't wait!

Old Japanese Man

So these are my two newest children's book illustrations, I wanted to finish them for the San Diego SCBWI annual conference which is a week from Saturday. I'm happy with both of them. Now I need to make a display board of my work to bring to the conference. I also got an encouraging rejection letter about two weeks ago from Beach Lane Books saying that though they aren't interested in my dummy, they like my illustrations and will keep my samples on file. That's the most encouraging feedback I've gotten in almost three years of sending out samples, so it made me happy. On the Fine Arts side of things, I have sent in all my applications for graduate school. I'm applying to the Laguna College of Art and Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and the New York Academy of Art. I really want to go to NYAA. We'll see, I should hear back from all three schools by the end of February. I'm excited, I really want to go back to school. I don't have a plan B, so I better get in somewhere or I don't know what I'm going to do with myself.

Figure Drawing

Here's the silverpoint drawing I did yesterday morning. It's small, approx. 5" x 9". I'm really liking silverpoint, I think I will continue to draw with it the next two weeks. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to oxodize it or just leave it be.

Kerri

Here's another drawing I did at the Athenaeum about a month ago. I really liked the model, I just wish I had more time to work on it. This is one of the drawings that I'm making a small 5" x 7" portrait from.

Figure Drawing

This is a drawing I did two weeks ago at the Athenaum. Last Sunday I decided experiment with pastel. It was a disaster, but I had my silverpoint with me, so the last pose I scrapped the pastels and started a tiny silverpoint drawing which I will finish next week. I also found out how to speed up the oxidation process, so I might play around with that when I'm done with it. I was happy with this drawing except for her eyes. I don't know why, but I couldn't get her eyes to look normal.

Melissa, work in progress

This is the most recent painting that I'm working on, it's still very much a work in progress, and I actually don't hate it. I have abandoned the other paintings I was working on, my references weren't good enough, and I just hate working from photographs. I would get frustrated because the photograph just didn't have enough information to work from, and I hate fudging things, and it was driving me nuts. So I've decided from now on I'm only working from life. I can draw from life, and I'll paint from my drawings. At least for now. So that was what lead me to doing this painting from a drawing I did last spring that I loved. I posted the drawing again to see them side-by-side. I'm more or less making up the color information, but at least all the drawing information is there, and I'm getting more practice with oils, which are becoming less of a struggle. The painting is 12" x 24", larger than I've been working recently. I've also started two more 5" x 7" portraits from recent drawings that I will post when they are a little further along.