A recent drawing

This is a drawing after Charles Bargue which I did as a class exercise modified by me to make it more interesting. It is under my name on my site at www.yessy.com. The technique consists of the use of a thin wire of 24 karat gold instead of a 0.9 mmm graphite lead in a mechanical pencil. This will produce very fine lines on a paper or board coated with two or three layers of Chinese white watercolor. You can then slowly build up tones and planes, in this instance for producing a copy of a Charles Bargue drawing from his course on drawing republished several years ago.

Grisaille underpainting

10/29/06
I recently discovered a shortcut in oil painting. I had been slowed down by paint build up while trying to paint- alla prima- the figure in the 3 hour sessions with the model. The paint was not drying quickly enough in order to be able to paint the next layer without mixing the colours and getting mud.
I now underpaint in black, white and gray in Shiva casein colours. These dry to the touch within minutes and I can get the modelling of the figure down in about 1 1/2 hours which leaves me the rest of the 3 hour session to complete the figure in oil.