Klara - oil on canvas

Mark from SpotHero - oil on canvas 24" x 30"

Gold Tea Kettle - oil on canvas 6" x 8"

Hanna - oil on canvas 12" x 16"

Hanna's home and Starbucks

Union League and The Palette and Chisel

I was accepted as a finalist for the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation Competition. I will have two paintings showing on May 31st at the Union League Club. Opening reception is at 5:30 p.m. A recent graduate, Kyle Surges, will be showing two paintings as well: https://www.facebook.com/kyle.surges

It's located at 65 W. Jackson Blvd. Chicago, Illinois 60604.http://www.civicandarts.org/index.php/about_us/news_item/save_the_date_gallery_ca_an_evening_of_art_and_jazz_may_31st_2012/

*****An important side note, business casual is required to enter as well as a $20 entrance fee.

I was also selected as one of the winners of the Palette and Chisel Scholarship! Congrats to all who won!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150966191665365.473997.243047870364&type=1

"Self Portrait in the Apartment" 24 x 30 oil on panel

"Lucas" 8 x 12 oil on panel

This was painted while Lucas was drawing Vanderpoel studies in the tune of my self portrait in black.

Graceland Cemetery

Head study from the Palette

Portrait from the Palette

The Chipotle stranger. My friends and I were eating out one day when we noticed this girl ordering. One guy went up to her and asked her on the spot if she'd like to sit and pose for a portrait. Here it is.

Figure study at the Palette

I've been trying to sketch as much as possible, it's been so much fun just observing things around me.

Roberto 11 x 17, oil on canvas

Khrystina, oil on wood

Room 258, oil on panel

North Pond, 12 x 9, oil on canvas

Anne, 11 x 17, oil on canvas

 Recent alla prima portraits, a plein-air study, and a self portrait. I wanted to observe more of the space around me, the warm and cool lights from my friends who were all working on their own paintings. The plein air was done in a 4 hour session in Lincoln Park. There were small patches of snow still left over from the last snowstorm we had here sitting on the tree trunk reflecting in the high sun at noon.

Misha the Sculptor
11" x 17", oil on linen

Misha is a Russian sculptor who emigrated to the US back in the 80's. His website's here, along with his fathers art, which is pretty beast. http://mishafromminsk.com/index.php

4.5 hours at the Palette and Chisel today. Tons of fun, just going, going, going.

Portraits and figure sketches!

9 x 12, oil on canvas

9 x 12, oil on panel

11 x 17, oil on canvas

A couple 20 minute poses done in charcoal

A student from school posed for us and had the entire Pikachu getup! At one point she looked desperately bored, and that's what I wanted, along with that ghastly hat.

11 x 17, oil on panel

A tiny 4 x 6 color study I did for the painting below. Took about two hours and I'm okay with the overall image, just a little too warm for what was actually happening.

This was a daily capture of the process I used to glaze with oils for the first time. I used Liquin Light Gel and a raw umber underpainting. The underpainting was quite bad, it was rushed to try to get enough time to glaze since I only had a little over a week to work on it so I thought I could fix mistakes in the glaze which I luckily was able to. It was a lot of fun playing around with it, slopping it on there, wiping it away, rubbing it in, seeing colors intermingle and lyer on top of each other.

This was done with 4 layers of glazing oils. Trying to figure out how to glaze as I'm so used to painting directly and even moreso, a lot of what I do is done alla prima.

11 x 17, oil on panel