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Winter Evening: Step 2

Winter Evening

This is the first study of the actual model I will use for the piece. I spent several hours (and two separate sessions) with the model experimenting with slight variations on the pose. I am quite pleased with the final result. The challenge now is to make the pose work with the chair. I found a chair which almost perfectly matches the design in the compositional sketch, and also has a very lovely and subtle fabric design. The problem is that I will be unable to photograph the model in that chair. The photos of the model were taken in a chair of nearly the same proportions, but with a much less attractive overall design and quite hideous upholstery. I have photos of the better chair from the same angle, and in similar light, so I will do several sketches of the model in the right chair in order to work out the subtleties of the combination. This is the first of those sketches that comes close to working. I may have to do some re-designing of the seat in order to give the model’s feet something to rest on.

At this point I still haven’t found a fireplace that I like at all for the background, and am beginning to suspect that I will have to find some stone samples to use for the texture, and then invent the rest.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 7th, 2004 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Winter Evening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Winter Evening: Step 2”

  1. Joe P. Says:
    February 10th, 2004 at 11:00 am

    Gee, Bryan, some people think you just dash these things off. Quent quoted Duke Ellington in his Valentine’s newsletter. What you are doing provides a good example of what Ellington intended.

  2. Joe P. Says:
    February 10th, 2004 at 11:30 am

    Hi Bryan, I just finished going through the images of Born with Wings. Again, what detail you must go through to complete your work. You mentioned that the wheel assemblies are based on a P-57 Mustang. I recall only a P-51; didn’t know the model went to P-57. On The Anchorage, first, that’s a great painting. Second, have you seen the bridge across the ship channel near Houston, Texas?

  3. Adam B. Says:
    February 11th, 2004 at 10:40 am

    Bryan,

    You wrote that you took some time selecting a pose… I say you do a really good job!

    Comparing the 1st and 2nd sketches, the model is now more aware, more intense–her posture is erect, her hands are taut, and she is engaged purposefully in an activity. The model in the first sketch is relaxed, perhaps ready to daze off, by comparison.

    Perhaps it’s too early for me to read in the big message, but your latest model seems to be the creator of the fire; she has made her own comfort. The model in the first is the benefactor of the warmth, but without any implications as to who got the fire going.

    This is quite a treat watching you create.

    Thank you.

  4. Bryan Larsen Says:
    February 11th, 2004 at 8:15 pm

    Thank you all again for the comments.

    Joe, I do sometimes have a hard time convincing people that I actually work for a living…but here is some evidence. Actually, I have found that the more work I put into the sketching stage of the painting, the smoother the painting stage goes.

    I haven’t seen the bridge in Houston that you mentioned, but I will definitely check it out.

    Adam, I mentioned many times in the Studio coverage of Born With Wings what a difference it makes having a good model to work from. This is yet another example. Body language is pretty hard to fake, especially if it involves any subtlety. Hopefully in the finished piece the facial expression will add even more to the theme than comes through in the sketch.

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About Bryan Larsen ~

Bryan Larsen

"I was born on February 12, 1975, and have been drawing as long as I can remember. By the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be an artist, although at the time I didn't have a clear idea of how exactly I would use my talents to make a living.

"As I continued studying art, I began to suspect that fine visual art was dead. No one seemed interested in teaching students how to draw well, or paint well. More often than not, my own skills exceeded those of my instructors.

"The only field left that seemed to require good drawing, painting, and compositional skills was illustration, and therefore I began studying illustration at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. I became even more convinced that I had made the right decision in staying away from fine art as I endured course after course of required "drawing" and "painting" classes in which instructors required me to draw with "less focus", or use ridiculous materials such as shellac, glue, sand, salt, etc.

"My second year at Utah State, I met Damon Denys. In discussing Art with him I realized that there were other people who believed that technique and subject matter were indispensable components of any work of art. I then decided that I would work to develop my own painting skills with the purpose of creating artwork that I considered worthy of being called Fine Art.

"Since that time, I have studied on my own: Drawing from live models to learn the human form, studying proper painting techniques from any source I could find ample reason to trust, and developing a philosophy of Art based on reason, and life on earth.

"My goal is to portray the heroic and romantic in human nature and human achievement in a realistic style and a modern setting. I place particular emphasis on composition, technique, realistic detail, proper craftsmanship and consistency of style."