A pandemic still life

In early December, it did look for a week or two as though my life drawing group at XChanges was going to start in-person sessions again, but that plan was nixed by our health authorities here in British Columbia on December 5. No in person life drawing due to Covid19. One of my colleagues at XChanges remarked at the time that we would just have to focus on Still Life for the time being.

This painting is the result.

I had fun painting it. I always have fun painting or drawing drapery. Also, it was a challenge painting the reflective surface of the brass bowl and the flaking wall in the background. It did take a while -- probably three weeks in total, on and off. During that time my green green pepper on the left turned a vivid warm red, which I think improves the composition.

This picture is called "Against the wall". The postcard taped to the wall in this painting is a homage to a Scottish painter called Sir James Guthrie.

The weather here hasn't really warmed up to the point where outdoor landscape painting would be practical, so perhaps a larger version of this one, now that I've had a chance to sort out the techniques involved.

Charkey is finished!

A while back, before the pandemic started, I was asked to paint a portrait of a dog. Not just any dog, but Charkey, an assistance dog who helps look after Noah, a young lad with a seizure disorder.

Charkey detects seizures before they happen, and will sound the alarm and move his charge to a safe spot, away from traffic, etc. When not "at work", Charkey is a charming and much-loved member of his family, and he is a pleasant and welcome presence at family get-togethers.

What with some unexpected events over the last while, this project took a bit longer than expected, but the picture is now finished and it was picked up today by the new owner. Charkey oozes character, calm, and quiet intelligence. I hope I have captured something of this remarkable animal's personality in this picture.

From life drawing April 14 and 15

On wednesday I did this quick 2-hr sketch of Anne-Sophie, who is our model for the next three weeks. It was done of very basic cartridge paper with almost no tooth and graphite pencils. The idea was to do a very quick sketch and then start the main event on decent paper, but time has a way of slipping past -- this one turned out to be the main event.

The next day we had the same model in a slightly different pose. This one took 2 hrs (really about 1.5 hrs).