"Red and Yellow"

Oil on canvas. Still life painted in class + extra studio work from photo reference taken prior. 

India Ink Painting / Drawing

My second time ever using ink in any paint brush type context. From observation of a small clay statue brought in by my drawing teacher. Large, at least 2x3 ft., roughly 3 hours under studio conditions. Included is a detail shot showing all the layers and washes I applied to get the variation in value. (And no, the statue was not remotely anatomically correct -- not my mistake)

Still Life Drawings

The bane of my existence is charcoal -- or so I thought before I took it to more practice and genuine application. Through working more with this messy, black-ash stick that is charcoal I have begun to truly appreciate the useful qualities it offers. Most notably being its dry application, easy blending abilities, capacity to reach a pure black and the diverse assortment of values it can conjure up in between. This is a testament to the fact that you cannot like or dislike a medium / material until you have whole-heartedly working with it and learned its methods. I doubt I will be working much with charcoal in the future but it was invaluable to have had the time to fully comprehend and experiment with its possibilities.

Below are a number of still life's as depicted in my 'works on paper' drawing course from this past semester. Most are large, roughly 2x3 ft. or so and all are done using the aforementioned medium of vine and compressed charcoal with splatterings of white and red pastel. Also note that each drawing took from 10 minutes to 2.5 hours to complete and, again, are completely hand drawn from observation under studio lighting. Enjoy!