3:08 PM: i think the solvents i’ve been using are adversely affecting my health. so i ordered some non-toxic oil painting mediums from blick. until they arrive & i can continue work on the motion series, i’ve started working on a small 9x12” portrait of scottie. we met in edwards during the TEDX youth event. we were both staying at our friend kat’s house, along with his wife, who is a wood sculptor and had some of her work on the stage at the event. i shot some photos of him at a restaurant one night & said i’d be using them for a portrait. because of my intensive schedule painting the motion series works, i didn’t really think i’d be painting his portrait for at least a few months. actually, it feels like a great change of pace, and i’m enjoying making this little painting in gouache on paper enormously.
it needs some softening, which i’ll try to do tomorrow. using gouache to make portraits is tricky, since sfumato (blending of the colors) is impossible, which is why oil painting was created
6:28 PM: we walked up north crestone creek this afternoon. at the head of the trail, after walking a mile up the dirt road (closed through the end of may) mikela continued up the trail while i walked down to the creek & made some small sketches. it’s the first time i’ve drawn or painted at the creek since late fall, 2018. a great delight it was, sitting on a rock & drawing. it opened my appetite for more plein air paintings as we move into spring & the weather warms. below are the 5 sketches i made, in chronoligical order upper left clockwise, with notations of the time in the lower right.
