The Lemon Branches

By: Melissa
Color, Painting, Process, Still Life, Year Three, , , , , , , 3 Comments on The Lemon Branches

For the third year in a row the school year has ended in a blur of events, travel, scramble-scramble-scrambling to finish paintings, shows, trying to ignore distractingly good weather and not getting nearly enough sleep. There’s so much about Third Year I want to share with you and have record of before immersing in summer…

Read More

Preston at the Ruins

By: Melissa
Life Room, Painting, UncategorizedLeave a Comment on Preston at the Ruins

We are finally at the part of the year where the poses shift from short studies to longer, more realized paintings. Preston posed for us for about three weeks. He’s a trained dancer and you can see this in the finished painting because of how he was able to support his carriage through posture throughout a…

Read More

My Teacher’s Paintings

By: Melissa
Art History, Color, PaintingLeave a Comment on My Teacher’s Paintings

In trying to understand color I’ve been looking through my teacher’s archives and seeing her work with new eyes. I haven’t actually written about her directly, though I suppose I write about her indirectly quite a lot. Before I’ve always found her paintings beautiful but could never name what was so magical about them. Now as I…

Read More

Limes, Figures and the End of Fall

By: Melissa
Color, Grisaille, Painting, 4 Comments on Limes, Figures and the End of Fall

(Featured image, Etude in Green, 8 x 10 oil on canvas board, available) Five weeks have passed since the end of the Randy pose and, because (cruelly) progress is not linear, it has been one unsatisfying figure painting experience after another but the limes were truly a joy. 

Read More