Thursday, July 23, 2009

Working Away and Nancy's Pears


The last two days I've been working on my "Seeing Red" and "Sunflowers and Gladioli" paintings -- working on getting them ready (possibly) for the "Still Life Poetry" exhibit at ArtSpace Herndon in August. I also presented my sketch today for one of my portrait commissions. All went well but I want to do a little more work before showing my progress here.

So, no photos of my work today ... but I wanted to show you a photo of Nancy Keane's painting of pears, in progress, from my Still Life class (offered through the Great Falls Foundation for the Arts). Nancy's relatively new to oil painting -- this is her second session in my class -- and, this painting looks like she's been painting for years. It's beautiful. For some bizarre reason, she's worried about how to deal with the fabric. Seems to me that if she can paint the pears and Chinese red basket, and metallic silver surface, she can handle the fabric. Bet I'm right. By the way, I take pride in setting up this beautiful "scene" -- it's a great base for a great painting.

When I paint, I approach every subject in the same way -- breaking it down into abstract shapes of lights and darks. I'm not afraid of anything -- perhaps because I started in painting with the most challenging subjects (portraits and figures). This fearless approach is part of what I teach.

I'm teaching a Portrait and Figure Painting Workshop August 14, 15, and 16. There's still room for a few more students. Contact me if you're interested in attending or sign up through the Great Falls Foundation for the Arts. My email is jillbanks1@aol.com.

So you know ... I am extremely proud of the work of all the students in class. They work hard (as I do and did) and are benefiting from each other's encouragement and my instruction.

Work in progress in oil by Nancy Keane. Copyright Nancy Keane 2009.

Web: www.jillbanks.com
Blog: jillbanks.blogspot.com
Email: jillbanks1@aol.com
Phone: 703.403.7435

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