Alla Prima Still Life Painting Sale

Add one to your collection

Rare Oil Sketches SALE- $125 Free shipping (in the continental US, Birmingham, AL area local pick-up or delivery, unframed. Sales tax applies in AL, USA)

email me at terrystr@terrystricklandart.com for arrangements.

Berries With the Red Striped Bowl, 6x8, oil sketch SOLD

This following quote is apropos for a post about Alla Prima painting, which is Italian for "at the first." 

“...she took her hand and raised her brush. For a moment, it stayed trembling in a painful but exciting ecstasy in the air. Where to begin?--that was the question, at what point to make the first mark? One line placed on the canvas committed her to innumerable risks, to frequent and irrevocable decisions--- Still the risk must run; the mark made.” 

                                                  ― Virginia Woolf, from To the Lighthouse

Lenten Roses in a Tiny Green Vase, 6x8, oil sketch SOLD

Alla Prima Still Life Workshop

I'm teaching a workshop Saturday, June 13, 2015 at Shelby County Arts Council in Columbiana Alabama. All skill levels are welcome. The workshop is almost full - just a couple spots left. You may register HERE. 

Alla Prima, quick sketch paintings done in a single session, is an art form unto itself. Here's a sneak peek at some in-progress pictures of the type of small,  jewel like paintings we'll be doing.

Basic block-in

See more pictures and information below the break.

Alla Prima

I'm practicing for another Face Off live painting demo. This time at Principle Gallery's Charleston location, April 4, 2014, 5-8pm. I'll be painting alongside Rachel Constantine and Alia El-Bermani from the same model. The event is free and open to the public. Please stop by and see us!

This is a painting I did last week. I thought everyone might enjoy seeing a few shots of the piece in progress. This is an alla prima process which means that it was painted in one sitting. Alla Prima is Italian and literally means "at once." I apologize for the less than adequate iPhone images.

This was after one 20 minute session. I try to get the head the right size, decide the placement of the features and notice the areas of shadow and light. I'm blocking in with burnt umber slightly thinned with my medium mixture of linseed oil/OMS in a 60/40 ratio.

Next I continued working on the umber shapes. I rubbed out the reflected light with a T-Shirt. I blocked in the light areas noticing the peculiarities of the shapes, and varied the color slightly where I saw big changes.

During this session I continued making adjustments to the shadow and light shapes. I brought the hairline down and worked on the shape of the face. Between this step and the final I had one more session that I forgot to shoot :(

Meghan in a Cool Mood, 20x16, oil sketch on canvas board.

All told, it was a 3 hour model session. With breaks, we had five 20 minute sessions of actual time with the model.

Alla Prima Pros:
Alla prima painting is an entirely different style of painting than my studio work. I highly recommend it. I think it's fun, exhilarating and it has made me a better painter. It improves confidence with a brush and decision making, because, let's face it, there's no time to ponder a particular shade of pink! Just get something down that is close and move on.

Time Distortion:
One very strange thing I've noticed about these sessions is that the first 20 minutes seems very long, and with each successive session, time seems to go faster and faster. It's a very strange phenomenon because the feeling is so pronounced. I'm used to getting "in the zone" while I work but it feels different. Maybe it's because the timer's interruption causes artificial breaks rather than times when I'm naturally coming out of the zone, like bathroom or food breaks or some body part or another has gone to sleep.

The time passing faster is a lot like life, isn't it? Time seems to pass faster all the time as we age and it's the same with the life of each of these little sketches.

Other tid bits:
~The canvas is Frederix Belgian Linen Paint Board.
~It was stained with an acrylic wash in burn umber.
~I use almost exclusively Rembrandt oil paints, and Silver & Rosemary brushes.

I invite you to follow me on Tumblr and on Instagram. Click Alla Prima to see my other posts on the this fun subject.

Enjoy! See you in Charleston. 

How to Draw and Paint Facial Features Part 4

Today, the mouth.

This is an ongoing series that is building up to a full portrait that I'm doing with the oil painting class I teach at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL. If you are joining in for the first time for this post check out  Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3, to catch up.

I begin by finding the mid-point and the quarter-mark for my image to correctly locate it on the page.

I'm checking angles to block in the overall width and height of the lips.
Click Read More to see important drawing concepts below the break.

How to Draw and Paint Facial Features Part 3

The nose knows.

I did this drawing in class, while discussing the structure of the nose.

You may find the first 2 parts of this series about painting facial features, in which I demoed drawing and painting the eye,  here at Part 1, and Part 2.

This was one of several reference photos that I presented to my class. 

Key points to look for:
Click Read More to see the rest of the post. 

More Alla Prima Portraits, or Face Off Warm-up Post 3

More Face-Off warm up. 20 minute sessions. You may see my first couple of practice post here and here. Enjoy...I did!

In the first 20 minutes I did a line drawing using burnt umber paint straight out of the tube. My canvas is a Fredrix, Pro, Belgian Linen, previously stained with Gamblin Fast Matte, in a combination of transparent earth red and ultramarine blue.

During the second 20 minutes I added a little background, placed the nose, lips and started laying in the chin and neck.
Click Read More to see the rest of the in-progress pictures below the break.

More Alla Prima Portraits

Still practicing up for the Face-Off at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA on August 16, 2013, from 6-9 pm. Here's a post about my first set of alla prima practice pieces.

Next on the easel was my future son-in-law, Will. Will was also my model for The Mariner, The Incognito Project. 

In the first 20 minutes I did a line drawing using burnt umber paint straight out of the tube. My canvas is a Fredrix, Pro, Belgian Linen, previously stained with Gamblin Fast Matte, in a combination of transparent earth red and ultramarine blue.

More about my pre-mixed flesh color palette here. 

During the second 20 minutes I added a little background, placed the nose, lips and started laying in the beard.
Click Read More to see the rest of the in-progress pictures below the break.

The Alla Prima Portrait - Ten Thousand Hours

I've been practicing for the Face-Off event that is happening at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA on August 16, 2013, from 6-9 pm.

It will be a live painting demo at the gallery in which I'll be painting the same model as Mia Bergeron, Cindy Procious and Rachel Constantine. We did it last year and it was super fun! DC area artist Suzanne Lago Arthur did a great post about the event last year on her blog.

Photo by Suzanne Arthur Lago from last year's event.

Nothing like the prospect of painting with a bunch of super talented artists in front of a live audience to inspire one to practice!

In an attempt to sharpen up my alla prima (all in one sitting) oil sketching skills, here's what I've been up and what I've been figuring out.

Dan, 20x16, oil on canvas

More about the set up, the painting process and other sketches below the break.

How to Draw and Paint Facial Features Part 2

It's all about the eyes and mixing flesh tones this week.

This a project I'm doing with the oil painting class I teach on Tuesday mornings at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL. We are doing small studies of each facial feature. Eventually we will do a complete portrait with the skills gained by studying the features individually. Here's Part 1 in which I drew the eye.

In the last post, the painting was at this stage.  My disclaimer here is that this is just what I do. There are many different methods out there but this is what I have developed over the years. It works for me.

I am constantly trying new things but for now this is my go-to starting place. I develop 4 basic flesh tones. Having a method helps me and seems to help my students.

Toga Night at Drawing Group

The first Tuesday of every month we have a clothed model at drawing group. We have 20 minutes worth of gesture poses and a one hour long pose.

Tuesday's Toga, 12x9, oil on panel

It is a good idea to attend a costume night for several reasons. We get practice drawing all that pesky fabric and one night of the month it's pretty easy to find a model.

 It's the X's Drawing Group held at Forstall Art Center in Birmingham, AL. We meet Tuesdays, 7-9pm.

Here's one I did of my daughter-in-law, Amy Strickland, when she was gracious enough to model for the group. Amy is actually a writer not a rock star and she has the best costumes around.

The Pink Guitar, 12x8,  oil on canvas paper

Renaissance Amy, 12x9, oil on oil primed linen

And my personal favorite of her.

"Tuesday Night Blues", 12x9,  oil on panel

How to Draw and Paint Facial Features - Part 1

It's all in the eyes.

I'm doing a series with the oil painting class that I teach at Forstall Art Center, in Birmingham, AL. We will be doing small studies of each feature of the face and then putting it all together at the end with a full portrait.

I printed out two good reference photos of eyes to share with my class. They will have the option of which one to paint. (Thanks Jeanine for the in progress shots!)

Is it fair to make your class paint images of your favorite models, even if those models happen to share the same DNA? I submit that it is. Moving on.

We talked a bit about the structure of the eye as in this except from Andrew Loomis' book. 

Since every artist needs to work on their drawing skills we are doing a full value study in charcoal or pencil. I started off in pencil and quickly switched to charcoal after figuring out that my students could see charcoal marks better. 

I started off the drawing with a block in, taking care to measure placement on the page, checking angles and proportions. This sketch is larger than life just for fun.

Next I added shadow shapes and worked on cross contour hatching. I think aobut the lines I'm making the same way I do the eventual brush strokes. Use directional strokes to describe form.

This is what I finished in class. It could definitely use more work. Read below drawing tips to help resolve any work.

Sepia Love

More drawing group sharing.

5 minute gesture painting, oil on Vellum, 9x12

Anders on Tuesday, 14x11, oil on Ampersand Gessobord

I'm having much fun with these value studies. At this drawing group we only get one hour with the model so it is a lot of pressure to get color down. For now it is nice to be keeping things a little looser and simple. Also it is a good idea to go back to basics every now and then and think about concepts like value.

The oil on the vellum slides around with slippery goodness and feels on the verge of out of control. Kind of exhilarating.

On the more sustained piece, I started with a thinned out mixture of burnt umber, more OMS than linseed oil, gradually adding more paint, till I was painting straight out of the tube for the darks.

You may see some other posts about sketching with oil here.

Have Brushes Will Travel

On a recent trip to VA I was lucky enough to visit Norfolk Drawing Group. They are an amazing bunch of artists. They have been going strong for years and know how to show a girl a good time!

Here are a couple of the pieces I did that night. 

20 minute, oil on vellum, 12x9

I'm enjoying working on the vellum. It is Borden & Riley Denril Multi-Media Vellum. I block in an abstract shape and rub out with a scrap of T-shirt material.

40 minute, oil on Ampersand Gessobord, 14x11

I worked on the background of this one after I got it back to B'ham. I simplified and made it darker. 

The model was late so one of the drawers jumped in to do gesture poses, (Thanks Carol!)

The 40 minute pose, oil on canvas by my friend Mark Miltz. 

Walt Taylor, the renown artist of Crack Skull Bob sketch blog captured me in the act. He says he was inspired by my boots :)

I have his book, Under the Rancid Toreador. It is comprised of selections from his blog and is hysterically funny. I read it from cover to cover chuckling to myself. I highly recommend it and his blog.

Carol, Mark, Me and Walt

Sometimes people have been known to skip the main event and just show up for the after party, sorta' like in Hollywood.

Gesture Speed Painting

This week at drawing group I played around with doing the 5 minute gesture poses with paint and it was sloppy fun.

I used Bienfang Graphics 360 Marker Paper, 12x9, and Rembrandt burnt umber thinned with a little medium that was a mixture of linseed oil/OMS in about a 60/40 ratio.

The description of the paper is "Graphics 360 is a 100% rag, non-bleeding, translucent marker paper. It retains true color with permanent as well as watercolor markers." I think the paper is considered archival but not sure if the oil paint will have an affect on how archival the piece will be. More research needed.

I really liked the way it handled. The wetness soaked into the paper slow enough that I was able to rub out some forms, yet the paper did not buckle. I've used canvas paper before and it was too thirsty. It soaked in so fast that the rubbing out did not work well.

If I decide to finish these off I'll matt them and frame like a drawing.

I plan to experiment with the new arches oil painting paper and find some vellums to try. If you have anything you like to work on let me know. I'm looking for something not too expensive since coming up with a winner while speed painting 2-5 minute gestures poses is hit or miss.

Oil Sketch Inspiration

I went back to life drawing group after a few months off and it was fun. I did feel a little rusty and as always there wasn't enough time. This was three 20 minute sessions, a total of one hour with the model.

Anders, 12x9, oil on panel. 

Looking for inspiration, I found a few oil sketches I snagged off the internet to share with you and my students. We are starting a head study from life in my class tomorrow. This will be a first life study for most of them. We've done still life but not the figure before. I will keep you apprised. In the meantime, enjoy these lovelies.

Bryce Cameron Liston

Michelle Dunaway

Stephen Early

Fongwei Liu

I love looking at work like this. It's so inspirational and at the same time makes me realize how much I have to learn!

April Painting Fools in Pennsylvania

After the opening of The Expedition and Beyond at Principle Gallery, Alexandria Va, in April those of us that could sneak away for a few extra days went up to artist Catherine Prescott's home in Pennsylvania for a little camaraderie and painting time together.

Sadie Valeri, Carly Strickland, me, Linda Tracey Brandon, Catherine Prescott, Diane Feissel, Front row, Rachel Constantine, Alexandra Tyng, Stefanie Tewes, Alia El-Bermani

Plein Air-less Painting, this is the Expedition and Beyond group, now that's hard core! (image inspired by all those pictures of outdoor painters in EXTREME weather conditions)

The Women Painting Women, Expedition and Beyond show is over at Principle Gallery, but you may still purchase or view the catalog. It is marked down to the post show price of $15.00. It is also available as a digital download for only $2.90. The digital download is FREE with a print version.

This is Cathy in her studio with one of her fabulous paintings.

Rachel Constantine and Cathy Prescott painting out Cathy's back door.

 This is the hill out behind Catherine's home.

Catherine's Field, 12x9, oil on panel

My daughter Carly, who is an illustrator, was with me this time, so she enjoyed a little plein air painting on her laptop. Here's a post she did on her blog about it. After she met these artists she more fully understands my appreciation of this group!

Carly's illustration she did plein air from that session.

I was unprepared for how beautiful Pennsylvania is.

Sweet Breetches Creek. 9x12, oil on panel

Awesome, painting in PJ's or with a cat on your lap. Totally my idea of a vacation.

I'm enjoying this kind for speed painting, since most of my work is more what I'd call slow painting. It has given me a new appreciation for alla-prima and plein-air landscape work. Happy painting whatever your speed!