Image
1630631
Dear Subscribers,
Greetings!
Happy belated New Year. Long issue this month.
Let's start with this new still life I had been working on.
Unfortunately I accidentally deleted the beginning stages on my camera,
so we'll pick up in the middle. It began with an umber block-in with
the brush, followed immediately by switching to the knife and starting
on the vase/pitcher.
I found this pitcher (I don't know whether to call it a pitcher or a
vase, as it seems ill-formed for either purpose, lols) at a thrift
store. The colors immediately reminded me of a scorpion, and so an idea
for a painting was formed. My goal was to have the colored glass as a
primary focus, with a scorpion in the foreground playing off of it,
adding interest.
At this middle stage below, I've got a decent start on the big forms
and I'm still searching for a value in the background that will best
draw focus to the vase:
Image
2996116
Next stage. The blue stain in the cup on the left was dark and
saturated, and it was starting to compete with the vase, so I toned it
down. I also push the background lighter around the vase to contrast
more with the darks of the vase:
Image
2996118
Next stage. The vase is getting too chaotic/ambiguous, so I bring some
of those values and colors together:
Image
2996117
Next stage. Still unsatisfied, I decide to lighten and simplify the
background overall:
Image
2996119
Next stage. I have delayed starting the scorpion for far too long. I
search for a reference online, find a picture that mostly fits the
desired angle and lighting situation, and start to paint it in, while
revising some anatomy (with the help of additional references) and
adjusting the shadow angle:
Image
2996120
Next stage: Continuing to fiddle with background, which takes a good
amount of paint as this panel is 16"x16". I begin to refine objects and
bring white reflection into the vase, which gives it a more ghostly
quality and helps to more convincingly place it in its environment.
Image
2996122
Next stage. More fiddling with background and refining vase. I pretty
much finish up the scorpion:
Image
2996121
At this point in the painting, I began to feel an overwhelming sense of
"meh" and hit the brakes as I prepared to fly to L.A. for my workshop
(see later in this issue).
Image
2996138
This painting is probably dead. Usually when I lose interest in a
painting, it is dead for good, and my time is best served by moving on
to the next thing. Unfortunately, I still make the exact same mistakes
that I always warn students about. In this case, I did not have a
sufficiently clear mental image of the final painting before starting.
It was more of a general idea. As such, the composition is lacking.
Anyway, we'll see what happens.
_____
L.A. Workshop
Image
2825950
NOH / WAVE
My sold out workshop at NOH/WAVE in Los Angeles went really well. I was
relieved to find that even after a 1.5 year break from teaching
workshops, it still felt very natural. 15 receptive and hard working
artists made the whole experience a huge pleasure. Not to mention the
great venue, which pulled off hosting its first Still Life workshop
without a hitch. Hosts and talented business partners Yoshino and
Justin filmed the painting demonstration portions of the workshop for
online release through NOH/WAVE Academy, but more on that later.
The day before the workshop, I composed a still life setup for the
demonstration. Here's what I had. The peeled blood orange was going to
be the focus, and I was feeling pretty good about it:
Image
2995723
The next day, the hosts brought in some additional still life objects
for students to use, including this red skull. When I saw it, I knew I
had to paint it. Obviously. LOLS. So I changed my setup:
Image
2995725
In the first stage of my demo, I blocked in umber shape-of-shadows with
a brush. After that, I went straight for the skull (my focus) with the
knife. I wanted to show both knife and brush technique in this
demonstration, so before we moved on to the students' painting time for
that day, I painted the left apple with a brush. I explained that in
this instance, when both knife and brush are being used in the same
painting, the skull (being the focus) would need to be painted by
knife. Since the knife applies thicker paint that the brush, those
knife areas would invariably draw more focus.
Image
2995722
Here is the progress made on the 2nd day. The skull and adjacent apple
(and some of the surrounding background) were painted with the knife,
While the rest of the painting (background and left apple) are by brush.
Image
2995721
I finished up on the third session:
Image
2995724
And the finished demonstration, "Red Skull" (9x12 oil on panel, sold):
Image 2995720
I continue to be a little surprised/very flattered at how the tattoo
artist community has embraced my work. I look at their work and I think
of how much higher the stakes are when creating art on another human.
Oil painting seems like child's play in comparison! When I had my
workshop at Gallery 1261 in Denver a couple of years back, half of the
attendees were talented tattoo artists. That trend continued in L.A.
with some very successful and world famous artists, whose humility was
frankly shocking. So cool.
If you missed the Instagram stories during the workshop, here are some
below. I've borrowed these pictures from the attendees (and venue).
You'll see some additional demo stages not included above:
Image
2996046
Image
2996089
Image
2996043
Image
2996095
Image
2996042
I was surrounded by film equipment! It went smoothly and I barely
noticed.
Image
2996044
Image
2996045
Image
2996047
Image
2996048
Image
2996049
Image
2996050
Image
2996051
Image
2996052
Image
2996053
_____
VIDEO WORKSHOP
As I mentioned above, we filmed the demonstration during the workshop.
Everything was captured, including my answers to student questions. The
video is currently in post production and will be released on February
1st. I've been able to see some of the footage and this is going to
sound really self-serving but it looks absolutely amazing. Holy crap:
the resolution, the colors, the angles, just fantastic. And the
artistry of it...: this is not going to be your typical instructional
video.
Image 2996221
While nothing can truly substitute for attending a workshop in person
and being able to handle physical paint with an instructor over your
shoulder, I think this is as good an alternative as it gets. And in
terms of the painting demonstration viewing experience, it is actually
better. You see both palette and painting in full crystal clarity
without obstruction.
Release Date: Feb 1st, 2019
Specs:
Unlimited Streaming @ 1080p
Over 6 Hours of Instructional Content
The price is $175 USD and all orders placed before February 1st will
get $25 off by using the presale discount code CHEIFETZ-25
PRESALE ORDER
Keep an eye out, trailer coming soon.
_____
Upcoming Workshop:
Scottsdale Artist's School
May 3-5
Description and Registration
_____
Thoughts Thoughts
I wrote this online recently. In case you missed this personal little
musing (that arose from a gradual positive mental shift):
"A few weeks ago I received a comment saying how prolific I was. It was
really nice to hear, but ironic considering 2018 was by far my least
prolific year in the last decade of painting as my profession. In 2018
I created 13 new paintings, whereas my typical pace in previous years
had been 3x to 4x times that. It's been 1.5 years since my wife went
back to work (so we swapped places and I became the primary caretaker
of our kids). If you've been following along, you'll know the
transition has been a challenge. When I was full time, painting was an
intense creative rollercoaster of ups and downs that never stopped. The
professional highs and lows cycled quickly, and I liked it. In some
ways, I even reveled in the financial pressure. In 2018 that cycle
became a long, lazy undulation, with mild highs and sluggish lows. I'm
creatively impulsive and impatient, so at first this was a source of
frustration and anxiety. Never mind the injury to my ego that I was no
longer the sole breadwinner for the family, a not-insignificant source
of pride (and purpose) for me. My outlook has slowly changed over the
course of 2018. With less creative time, I'm constantly forced to
reevaluate: what am I doing and why the hell am I doing it? I usually
don't have a clear answer, but I've begun to gradually refocus on major
aspects of life that I'd largely neglected because "there isn't time".
Even with all the time in the world, there was never enough time for
work. I was always preoccupied with needing to create. Now that there's
even less time than ever, I'm realizing that attitude was pretty toxic,
laughable even. Sorry, this is going to be an unfinished thought, but
I'm okay with that :). And this New Year's Day post is a little late,
but that's perfectly fitting for my life now. Here was one of my first
from 2018, "The Decantation" (12x12 oil on panel). Happy New Year and
thanks for the ongoing support. [heart emoji] Have a great day."
Image 2606536
_____
Thank you for reading! See you in a month-ish. -David
Forwarded here by a friend? Like what you see?
Subscribe to this newsletter.
Image 2617325
Image 1888790
davidcheifetz.com
Image 2617335
Image 2253128
Sent from:
{{FASO_DOMAIN}}
{{AM_COMPANY_NAME}}
{{AM_COMPANY_ADDRESS}}
{{AM_CSZ}}
{{AM_COUNTRY}} Artful Mail by FASO
Learn More about ArtfulMail
unsubscribe from this newsletter