back with the nude in poppies

This painting has been getting nice and dry in my apartment and today I hit it up again, slapping a new coat of paint on it and making some compositional adjustments. It's such fun to paint on a dry painting, the surface gains 'depth' and complexity because of painting wet over dry, rather than strictly 'alla prima' or wet into wet. It takes a little nerve to jump onto a new piece, take it over and re-paint it. The tendency is to get 'tight' and start noodling what you've got. That timidness is a quality I particularly dislike seeing in painting, especially mine! oil on canvas, 36 by 24

Previous post: Nude in Poppies

9th and Olive

I took a 48 by 24 canvas downtown today and worked on this scene. The piece is really loose and spontanious and I took liberties with the arrangement to squeeze more in. Not exactly sure what I think of the painting yet, I'll let it sit for a few days and not think about it. I usually like it more after a while, once I forget about all the fussiness.

the Eastern Building

this is a classic building in downtown Los Angeles, it's being renovated into upscale lofts. I painted this yesterday at the bus stop on 9th and Broadway. I think the people waiting for the bus enjoyed watching the painting. It's always funny when I start because it looks REALLY crazy at the start. I wonder what people might be thinking when they walk by? Oh well, no matter. I know they can tell I'm having fun! oil on canvas, 36 by 24.

Life Drawing at the Hive

Last night being the 3rd Thursday of the month, it was life drawing at the Hive gallery in downtown Los Angeles. I always manage to get a few nice drawings out of it which I like to post, I also get a lot of so-so ones and some klinkers. Can't win 'em all, hey, that's life (drawing)! ^_^ These are all sharpie, graphite, and white-out on paper, the poses range from 5 to 20 minutes.

blue boy misremembered

I went back at the blue boy copy I started a couple days ago. Grace gave me some old oil pastels she had and I started scribbling. I think it's the most 'boyish' one yet, looks even younger than the original. I have no idea where these are going so these are all work in progress... 48 by 36.

circus liquor

The happiest liquor store in the Valley! I went out with John Kilduff yesterday after Let's Paint TV and we painted Circus Liquor on the corner of Vineland and Burbank Blvd in North Hollywood. I think the clown looks happier than his surroundings, NoHo is not the most beautiful part of town, but you gotta love this place! oil on canvas, 36 by 18

Forget You, Blue Boy!!

That felt good! aahahahaha!! I was helping out with some camera work on Let's Paint TV this morning and John and I planned to urban landscape afterwards. Plans changed and I went home but left my painting bag at his place... So I had a "who cares?" attitude and got my acrylics and a big sheet of luan plywood out and, working from my memory of the original, beat up Blue Boy! I'm using him as an excuse or motivation to push into more expressive, aggressive, painterly territory. I have deep respect for the old masters, but I also feel iconoclastic these days. Their paintings have so much to teach the student but eventally the reverance for their work has to be overthrown in pursuit of the artists' own personal expression. This is another study based on Gainsborough's original at the Huntington. It's for a California Art Club (read: 'very conservative') style exhibition of paintings at the Pasadena Museum of History themed around anything from the San Gabriel Valley. So since this painting resides in San Marino, I figure it's fair game! acrylic on wood, 48 by 36

Hot in Hollywood

Last night I was one of three artists invited to "live paint" at a huge Hollywood AIDS fundraiser called Hot in Hollywood. It was at the historic Avalon Theatre on Vine St right across from the Capitol Records building. It is an amazing venue and was full of stars and Hollywood bigwigs. It was an exciting challenge painting that scene, it was quite dark, there were lots of people coming and going, the lighting was constantly shifting colors from red to green to blue to purple; very beautiful but tough to capture. Here's what I ended up with, I like it especially given the circumstances... Thank goodness for my headlight!

painting at the Los Angeles Art Walk

I like to try and do a downtown landscape for the art walk because there's lots of folks out and about and it's a good time to meet people who are interested in art. I picked a nice spot to paint on 6th and Broadway and here's how it turned out. It's not the greatest photo, but you get the idea, of course the painting is much more fun to look at in person! Nice and juicy. oil on canvas, 36 by 18.

tarzana

I googled "ugly mini malls the valley" and a blog came up that said Tarzana and Reseda are top contenders for that undesirable award, so I headed out there once the sun passed noon to look for some more ugly beauty. I came across this place on the 6000 block of Reseda Blvd in Tarzana and painted it. I had an audience! People kept walking by and stopping to see what I was doing. It was HOT out there today but when the sweat burns my eyes, it only helps me paint better! hahahah!! oil on canvas, 30 by 24

the valley

I was in Van Nuys yesterday because I was invited to a "fig party" at John "Mr. Lets Paint TV" Kilduff. What fun!! He has a huge fig tree in his backyard full with ripe figs, so he made delicious appetizers of toasted bread, garlic infused olive oil, feta cheese, basil and a roasted fig on top! They were delicious and it was fun to hang out and meet more of Johns friends.

So since I was already in the heart of the valley, I thought I'd get around to painting a scene of those ubiquitious "mini-malls" that inundate Van Nuys. I think Van Nuys is the quintessential expression of "urban sprawl" and there's a lot of what I'd call ugly beauty. Here's 7/11 on the corner of Victory and Vesper. oil on canvas, 30 by 24

pasadena

I started this painting today of a view in Pasadena. It's from the top of the parking structure at Union and Fair Oaks looking due east. I like the bright sun light with slivers of dark, and the interesting composition, flatness versus depth. This is just a start but I'm happy with it so far so I thought I'd blog it! oil on canvas, 36 by 24

drawing the figure

I went to a figure drawing workshop last night at Ave 50 Studios. I got a few nice ones that I'll post, they're some 10 and 15 minutes poses... I also started a 36 by 24 landscape of a view of the Hollywood Hills and Griffith Observatory from the Barnsdall Art Park. I took of camera phone pic of the initial drawing which I like so here's that, but the painting is still to sloppy to post. When I revisit the piece and get a little more finish on it I'll show that.

big blue boy

big blue boy
Originally uploaded by alex_schaefer

I finished preparing the big 60 by 40 canvas for the blue boy copy and today I busted out the big brushes and blasted the piece onto the canvas. This lay-in was done with acrylics using a heavy body white and soft body colors. I think it's a successful start! I haven't used my eight inch brushes in a little while so it was fun to get those dirty again; I know they enjoyed themselves!

blue girl

I've spent some more time with the painting of Grace wearing an aqua dress, she posed for me yesterday so I got to work some from life, and also today I pushed some paint around. The piece is starting to come together in terms of the composition and the drawing, and it still has a rawness, a coherent sloppiness, that I like. I'm going to let it dry for a bit and then I'm excited to get to work on it some more. oil on canvas, 40 by 30. (click here for previous post)