Portrait Society's Annual "Art of the Portrait" conference

What a wonderful four days it was. It was jam packed with demos, critiques, networking, discussion...where do I start? How about a few highlights:

1) A drawing session with Tony Ryder. His drawings and paintings are magnificent. It was very cool to see him work and have him critique our drawings.
Below: Tony talking about his process;
one of our models, Mike; my 20-minute sketch of Mike

2) A painting demo with Mary Whyte. Mary is one of my favorite watercolor artists and a sincerely inspiring person. Not only did she demo, but she also gave a talk titled "Creating Your Best Paintings Ever" and was part of a group panel discussion on "The Business Side of Art".

Below: Mary painting from a live model, her finished demo

Other highlights:

Portfolio critiques

The National Portrait Museum

Painting demos by some of my favorites: Scott Burdick, pastel artist Judy Carducci, Chris Saper, Dawn Whitelaw and too many others to mention

An absolutely wonderful presentation by Richard Schmid

.

I'm totally spent, but in a good way. Once again, I am fired up and thinking, "You know, I think this is truly possible..."

Peggi Gets Her Groove Back: A "Faces and Figures" Sabbatical

What is the best word to use for taking a leave of absence? I kinda like sabbatical. It sounds so restful, which is exactly what I've been searching for.

I sat down one day and listed everything I've got going on. The list was way longer than I care to mention. The result? I decided there was just too much life happening in front of a screen. Time to cut down on blog posts and comments, ignore google alerts, Facebook messages and Twitter "tweets", and save those nonessential e-mails for the next day.

Let's face it, do I really need to know who's having a bad day on Twitter, who sent me a virtual drink on Facebook (what's up with that?) and which thousand "watercolor portraits" posts to read or write. Of course I plan to check in on my favorite blogs periodically. You know who you are, don't you? (Manon, Vikki, Robin, Linda, Elaine, Kristy, 100 swallows).

So, if you don't hear from me in a while, it just means I'm getting my groove back!

above: Beatitude, watercolor figure 2007

Blog Filler - Figure sketches

Now isn't that a tantalizing blog title? I've been a tad busy this month with commission work, conference planning, portfolio updating, a show to jury, gallery work and an upcoming art demo. Whew!...and nothing to post. I do have some sketches and quick studies from the past three figures sessions with a live model. As you can see, my sketches are rough and unfinished. My goal is to learn to work quicker and be able to finish a figure in a 15- to 30-minute pose.








1) Sepia and charcoal, 30-min sketch
2) pencil, 30-min sketch












3) watercolor head studies, 15-min sketches










4) charcoal, 15-min sketches