Sunday Morning Coming Down

Today’s session wasn’t as lively as usual, partially due to the smaller crowd and rainy weekend. It did, however, inspire some good, moody art work. So no quotes, no dumb jokes (really!), just intense work. I decided to go digital today. I was just itchin’ to use my tablet PC and try some new stuff. I put Dwight up in a regal-looking seated pose. Some talk about Rome inspired one of my drawings. I also posted a couple of digital drawings I did a couple of weeks back.

 Ken Michelson:     

John Kuehne:    

Lizbeth Quispe:  

 Don Thacker:          

Leavin’ Our Marc

While the art session was kickin’ as usual today, it was sad to say goodbye to Marc before he moves off to sunny California in a couple of weeks.  I’ll miss his great work, his wit, and most importantly his $25. Luckily, I now have a free place to stay in San Francisco. Mark recently took a speed painting course, so he cranked out five oil paintings, shattering all previous Three Martini records. Here they are:              Our models today were Aralyn and Jennifer. Aralyn recently sold seven paintings she had on display. Congratulations Aralyn! We hope some of her success is contagious. The photo of my painting has a glare, but here it is, along with my charcoal of Jennifer:       And following is John’s painting of Aralyn and Ken and Sandy’s drawings of Jennifer.       Good luck Marc. Come back to see us soon.

A Star is Born

I took the stage for the first time last night. Many thanks to Delilah and Conte de Loyo for giving me the opportunity. I was on-stage during the Act One for two songs. I drew while Delilah danced and sang “El Vito” and then while Alicia Adame danced to Ole de la Curra.  What a rush! I have drawn gestures in my sketchbook during Delilah’s performances in the past, but to be part of the show was exhilarating. I feel very fortunate and grateful to Delilah and Alicia for allowing me to be a part of their acts.  I did several sketches during rehearsal and backstage during the show,  then I did two during the show and displayed them at intermission.  To be honest, I had planned to do some drawings before the show and just ‘fake it’ during the performance. But the music, dancing and the talent of the cast created a fantastic energy that just took over. Then during the performance, being in front of the audience took it up another level and I actually created two pieces on-stage. Delilah and I have discussed the concept of art as a performance before. One thing that struck me was how much work goes into a 2 1/2 hour production. All this intensity building up through rehearsals and planning, to be released in a flash. This is compared to drawing and painting, which produces a physical result, static in time. I’ve been thinking about how to put more energy, mood and verve into my paintings and drawings. I’m now thinking more about that concept after this experience combining the two mediums. The first step is to put more energy, mood and verve into your life. Get on-stage. Art is a performance. To see all the drawings, go to www.threemartinistudios.com/flamenco.html.

What a week

 It was a busy week, as you can see from the posts. It started when I decided to rearrange the studio to give it more space. I ran across this painting I did of Jennifer that I titled “The Girl at the Bar”.

Art in Session

 Hutch recently remembered this photo taken a while back. Nice photo Hutch.

Back in Action!

by Marc Taroby Don Thacker

by John Kuehne

 We had a great session today. Aralyn is in a twisting, reclining pose that she’ll resume next week from 9-2. John, Marc and I were the only ones in attendance, probably due to Mother’s Day. It felt great to be back in the studio, where I don’t have to worry about rattlesnakes. Below are the results of today, mine being a work in progress. I was really focused on composition today and working with a different type of approach. Toward the end I started to figure it out. We’ll see what happens next week. John had both the worst joke of the day (which I won’t repeat) and one of the best all time studio quotes – “I only do what I do because I can’t yet do what I want to do.”

Snakes on a Plein Air

John and I went up to the Wichita Wildlife Refuge yesterday, near Lawton, OK. We had planned to stay the night but they were predicting bad weather for today. We went to this place last year, where I did this painting, Hawk Country:

 

This was one of the paintings I put in my Nine Eyes show last year. The refuge was much more lush and green, and the views were great. We hiked back about two miles down a hilly trail that ended at a secluded waterfall. On the way back, John was about ten yards ahead of me and we were hiking up some rocks on a hillside. As I was enjoying the view, all the sudden I heard a snake’s rattle! In a nanosecond, I looked down to see a Western Diamondback about an inch or two from my left foot. I hollered and jumped into the air about 8 feet. John didn’t know what was going on.  I was jittery the rest of the day, and paid much closer attention to the trail on the way out.

 It was extremely windy, and wind is one of the worst nature challenges a plein air painter faces. The usual frustrations include heat, cold, wind, humidity, chaning light conditions, rain, snow, sleet, and insects. Steve Armes says that high wind is the hardest to overcome. I’ve faced all these and have concluded that it isn’t wind that is the toughest landscape challenge in Texas. I’m voting for rattlesnakes.

Return to Llano

On 4/29 and 4/30, John and I went back to Llano to paint. I did this sketch very quickly, as we were bombarded by swarms of gnats the whole time.