Red Cricket Collection of Quin Swetman

Congratulations to William, this month’s winner of a free 5″ x 7″ print just for signing up to our mailing list! Join now to be in the running for February’s free print.

Back Study by Daniel Liam Gill

Open Figure Drawing Session at the Rivoli Art Mill

Join the artists at the Rivoli Art Mill on Sunday afternoons from 2pm-5pm for an Open, Uninstructed Figure Drawing Session.

Live model will be posing in 15 one minute gestures, 3 five minute sketches and 1 fifteen minute pose. 3 thirty minute poses will follow with breaks in between for the model.

Cost: $10.00 per person.
Sunday Afternoons: 2pm-5pm Ongoing
The Rivoli Art Mill 2301 East 28th St.
Chattanooga,Tennessee 37407
Please provide your own materials and easel. The space can hold 10–12 people comfortably. Please arrive 15–20 minutes early to reserve your spot.

For questions
contact 
Daniel Liam Gill
423 653‑6565

I have always loved working on Newsprint, it one of my favorite papers. It’s a shame it’s so fragile, I wish I could find the same tone and tooth in an acid free paper. This is a sketch of a model named Ann that I did in a session at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. I taught illustration there for a few years. This is a 30 minute study done with Nupastels for Prismacolor.

I’ve worked with a lot of models over the years, all shapes and sizes, many professional and many more amateur. I heard quite a few stories in that time, anecdotes about other artists, plenty of stories about boyfriends and lovers and lots of things that I can’t repeat to the general public. I’ll have to write a book someday.

There’s a story behind this drawing as well. I was working with a model the day before this young lady sat for me. She was telling me about her artist friend who loved to work with heavy people. “She imagines them as ice cream cones” That visual stuck in my head and I as thought about it, I indeed imagined ice cream. Zestos is a place in Atlanta that still does the soft serves, magic in it’s cushiony layers.  I drew this piece in 45 minutes, straight from the time the model set down to the finished piece. I guess there’s really something to the power of suggestion.

Nude pastel drawing done with Schminke pastels on Rives BFK paper.

Congratulations to Victoria for winning the December 2009 free print drawing, a  5″ x 7″ print is on it way to her. Be sure to enter the drawing for this month’s free print. Sign up in the box to your right.

I’d been working with my friend Bridhid for quite some time when a lady answered my ad on Craigslist. She’d lost quite a bit of weight and was on her way to Argentina for some reconstructive surgery. She wanted a portrait of her body before the change. I painted one for her and started on this one of Brighid the next day. The oddest thing, I painted the face of the lady onto Brighid’s body. I wonder what she looks like now and hope that she’s happy in her new skin.

Nude pastel drawing done with Schminke pastels on Rives BFK paper.

The drawing for a free print will occur on January 1, 2010. That’s this Friday! Join the mailing list for your chance to win!

I met Kris in 2004 after she’d just returned from India. The first piece that we created was an oil pastel drawing, Shimmer in the oil pastels section. Kris has a wonderful deep glow about her and india red was a natural backdrop for her portrait. I had this life drawing on display at Hipbone Studio where my colleague, Julie Neilson fell in love with it. It hangs in her living room above the fireplace.

I used two different techniques for the highlights on this pastel drawing. The face and upper torso are rendered in a removal process, the legs are built up in a traditional dark to light method. Compare the two and notice how the upper body glows with a tremendous luminosity. I have a video in the works teaching this technique. Sign up for my mailing list to be the notified for this exclusive offer via email.

Nude pastel drawing done with Schminke pastels on Rives BFK paper. Collection of Jule Neilson.

I have always enjoyed sketching, especially on rough newsprint. I’ve never found a paper with the same combination of color and tooth as newsprint. It’s a shame that it’s not acid free. This is on of my favorite life drawings of Kestral, it’s in a psuedo Japanese style, very simple and almost purly line. It suffers from one of the most common figure drawing mistackes, tiny head syndrome. Other than that, it’s a fun pastel figure drawing.

Nupastel on Newsprint.

When I was living in Portland and too poor to afford models, I put an ad on Craiglist, trading a print of the final pastel drawing for a 3 hour sitting. Cara answered my ad. She had to study for finals and asked if I could draw her reading a book. She studied, I drew. The base of this pastel is a wonderful orange pastel from Sennelier, it makes Cara’s skin very luminous. I traded the finished original to a Croatian named Branko for a winter coat and some hiking boots. I miss Portland’s barter system, I’ll have to start one up here in the Noog.

Nude pastel drawing done with Schminke pastels on Rives BFK paper.

Orange navel is a pastel figure drawing of an artists mode; named Dale. I worked with Dale over several sessions creating the pieces Vermillion, in the Pastels Gallery and Pumps in Oil Pastels. She had red hair and very pale skin that reflected light was an incredible radiance, she was one of my favorite muses. Dale was in the Theater and a big Woody Allen fan. We exchanged favorite films once, her’s being Everyone Says I Love You, with Edward Norton singing. Mine was Miller’s Crossing with Gabriel Byrne, not singing, our collaboration sort of faded to black after that.

Nude pastel drawing done with Schminke pastels on Rives BFK paper.

I am giving away a 5″ x 7″ print of this piece at the end of December. Sign up with the form on the right of the page and you’ll automatically be entered for a chance to win. I’ll announce the winner at the first of January.