Bill
 

Here is this morning's practice session. Oil, 20 x 16.

Bill is one of my favorite students, painter, mountain climber, orthopedic surgeon, all around great guy.

Beautiful Chris!
Just curious, is this one of those where the sitter brings the canvas and goes home with the piece? (Did I read/understand correctly somewhere that that's what you do for practice?) If so, your students must be clamouring to sit for you!!

If that's the case, can I sit for you? It's worth a trip tp Arizona! Chris this is great! I am truly impressed.

Clamoring to sit
 

Oh, yes we are!!! I can't WAIT for my time and portrait! How lucky are we.

Chris, this is just wonderful! It has so much life and movement and pizzaz. I can't wait to watch you paint. I bet you really get into it!

Oh, thanks so much.

I paint so much more slowly than I used to - which I am happy about in my work, but is kind of like a watching-paint-dry thing in real time. I do have to say how much more fun it is to paint from life than to paint from photos - I just wish I had more time.

I am so looking forward to this spring's class with Bill Whitaker, since his class arrangement is to give about 15 hours of life painting. How very exciting!

PS David you are such a gentleman!

Practice???? For the live demo in May??? I'd say May could come tomorrow (wouldn't that be nice) and you would be ready. I think you are tuned. And I'm jealous.

How cool to do that in a morning. I got my wash done. : )

Janel,

LOL you got your wash done, I spent 3 hours in the car driving kids in the afternoon. Sigh, sigh, sigh. Lucky for me my husband doesn't let me near the wash.

What a good idea to paint other painters! I'm going to steal it. ;) Lately I've been painting bored teenagers who rapidly lose their enthusiasm for me.

I'm peeved that Sharon Knettell was here in Phoenix last week and she slipped through my fingers without being captured by moi.

Lovely painting, Chris! What is the ground you're working on here?

Ah that is a lovely painting, I agree. I was wondering the same thing. What ground is that?

I would love to watch your paint dry.

The ground? Well, it's whatever my sitter shows up with. In this case it was some kind of stretched, medium weave canvas. How's that for specifics? ;)

I do realize how much I have come to love my smooth, rigid New Traditions' surfaces, as the paint behaves so differently on texture, and my not-very-delicate touch threatens to poke holes in the stretched canvas.

However, as I write, I realize what a great excuse I might have for bad demos! I'll try it out and let you know how it works.

Please post every single one of these you do. Not only are they great in themselves, but they remind those of us who need reminding that nothing substitutes for painting from life. Not even as lucky as Linda, however, I can barely get bored teenagers to let me take pictures of them! Phooey. Janet