The Cat is Back

Yes, the cat under the bridge is back and everyone is happy! As I walk to school, there are people leaning over the bridge pointing out the cat. I hope that cat appreciates all the people that care about its welfare.

Now, back to school. We have had technical difficulties with the computer service again. The poor service is rampant - everyone at school is complaining. Italians have a saying, "I che ce ce" which means "It is what it is". That describes the general attitude about things that go wrong.
I have several photos to show since Monday. The first is the bargue drawing. I spent two mornings darkening the shadow side and refining the halftone areas.

This is the Wednesday morning bargue figure drawing. The contour is finally finished. I had it checked today and I can move onto the next step in a week. First, I had to soften (lighten) the contour lines. This may make it difficult to see. Next week, I will begin the line work - basically, putting the lines back in but following the line thickness in the reference. I che ce ce.

Our afternoon class is moving along nicely. The figure drawing now has the dark shadow tone, the fall of light gradient and the halftone areas in. Tomorrow we begin to model the forms (muscles, little shadows, etc.) within the figure. The first photo is from yesterday and the next photo is from today.

Here is an exercise from the painting class. We are using a very limited palette to create another still life. Ivory black, titanium white, yellow ochre, and cadmium red medium are the four colors - only four! The range of colors is surprising. The instructor gave each of us a series of colors and we had to match the colors using this palette. The instructor's mixtures are on the left, mine are on the right. Pretty darn close!

Here is the start of a still life using these four colors. It was done in natural light (north light). I have a hard time with just this light source - I feel like I am in a cave and my eyes are straining to see. I che ce ce! The start is ok, I did not match the bowl color very well. It is much warmer. I will redo it tomorrow.

And here is the other still life. Every process moves at a snails pace! I have hard time waiting to get the instructions for the next step. I che ce ce!  You can see that local color has been blocked in. The cloth has not been painted. White cloth has a special painting process that has yet to be revealed. Stay tuned!