Mirror Mirror

10x12 oil on panel
Available at Tidewater Gallery
$900 framed
 
This is the same model as yesterday. This was mostly a photo session we'd done at this location, hence the different scenes. I had some comments about arranging models rather than just taking candids - which I do a great deal of too! A few years ago (I can't keep track of time!) I had the idea to hire models to pose at my house and even to pose in public spaces. I wanted to paint more from life, but still paint the scenes I love, not just a figure posed or nudes from a life drawing session. There are a lot of resources in Austin for models so finding references wasn't too hard. You can probably find them in your area through colleges, the art community, theater community, etc. 


BUT - you never can tell about personalities and I've heard horror stories from models as well as artists. I have a minorly scarey/funny story myself. Luckily, the model was fine when I had her at my house and another location in town, but she invited some of us to come to her property to paint there. Terri and Carol might chuckle over this memory! We drove out to this place, buried in the woods and a little rundown. No grand vistas, no water, lots of "funny smoke" in the air, shall we say. She took us on a grand tour through the brush telling us her big ideas about a music event she was planning on the property - spicing things up with some outlandish ideas of government plots, oil and gas industry poisonings, etc. It just got weirder. And we are all too polite to just take off, so we tried to set up and paint - our backs together in  a circle practically. Carol, as I recall managed to get a neat painting in of an abandoned car... hmmm, that seemed to become a theme for her! HA HA
Anyway, the woman was on something and unbalanced and we were happy to make as hasty a retreat as we could. I was a little shaken. 
Moral of the story, don't go out to paint alone. Ever. 


It took me awhile to decide to try the model thing again - and this time I focused on public spaces like outdoor cafes, etc. And it went well... for awhile. There is ANOTHER story. Stay tuned!

Finishing Touches

10x12 oil on panel
Available at Tidewater Gallery
$900 framed 


I had three paintings of this model in the show! I didn't realize I had quite so many of her. I'll show the others in the next couple of days. She is a lovely model and I loved the intimate "toilette" scenes we arranged during down times at a class. 

Two weeks ago my friend - and fabulous artist - V....Vaughan came over for a model session at my house. Its really wonderful to have the opportunity to compose scenes, photograph and paint from life in the comfort of your own home. Naturally, you want good people to work with in this case - and boy do I have a story for you about that!

Below is the study I started of Kelli. We had her in so many outfits and places all over the house and yard that we ended up only painting about 30 minutes. My daughter and her friend got into the action too and put on costumes and acted out scenes for us too. It was a lot of fun. I can't wait until I begin working larger scenes this fall from the images we captured during this session. I will unveil some new, big works, at the Russell Collection "Femme" show in Austin during December.

 

Dressed Up

10x12 oil on panel

Available at Tidewater Gallery

Its June and time to begin sharing some of the paintings which will be in my upcoming show in North Carolina. This is a pretty exciting event for me. My first solo show and my first series of works. Last fall, I wanted to explore rapid paint sketches and practice getting my ideas down quickly. I chose to paint on 10x12 inch panels because the size is doable in one painting session and its a nice format. The size and process of creation is 'theme' of the series, while the subject matter reflects my usual obsession with painting my observations of daily life - 

"Vignettes"

An exhibition of small works by Robin Cheers

Tidewater Gallery

107 N. Front Street

Swansboro, NC

910-325-0660

Opening reception Friday, June 15, 5-8 pm

30 Minute Start

10 minutes

30 minutes


Final
10x12 oil on panel

I frequently post work in progress on my Facebook page, but haven't done so here in awhile. I am working on paintings for my "First Impressions" show which will be at Tidewater Gallery opening June 15th.

I still work with my kitchen timer as a way to get that initial impression sketched down as quickly as possible. Once I have the big shapes massed in, I can work as long as I like modifying those shapes and working them into smaller divisions. I like the looseness and variety of brushwork that I get during the quick block in phase, its all about the energy and excitement of inspiration. I get my idea down before any external distractions can pull me away and before I analyze and question the idea to death.

I don't spend a lot of time after the timer goes off. For small works, I often stop there and love the results. But with larger works, I will go into the focal area and make more sense of things and get some nice hard or soft edges and modify colors and shapes. You can see the difference in the figure above... when the timer went off, I had the big shapes there, but spent some time bringing that figure out of the dark. In the background, I only added a few suggestions of the door, the door frame and the lamp - the rest was left alone after the first mad rush.
I'm not sure I explain this well... but it works so well for me. I find if I don't stop and paint what first inspires me, and if I spend too long composing, drawing, analyzing, etc. then I lose the "vision." The only preparation I make is to draw an X across the board and use a viewfinder with 2 strings likewise, or draw those lines across my photo reference to give me a way to measure quickly. I recently got the MVP viewfinder (scroll down on her page) from the fabulous Peggi Kroll Roberts and its pretty neat - but a whole gird is more time consuming. Maybe a few dots could mark those lines... will give that a try perhaps tomorrow.

Needlework - WIP

12x8 oil on panel - work in progress

There is a lot going on in this painting. And I am not sure its working. First, the figure ended up too small and the room is really quite cool in person, but a little busy in the painting. I need to look at it another day, and probably simplify. Its tough getting my brain and hand communicating right when I've had a break. This might be one of those that I just start all over.

I just wanted to post something to tell you all that I am here! My daughter began school this week and I pushed past the boxes, frames, and other debris littering my studio space to get back to work. Painting time is spotty this week still however since we have had some work going on in the house. As of tomorrow sometime, we will not be able to come upstairs at all. I plan to get my pochade box out and try to work downstairs, but the noise might drive me away entirely.

Final Touches

12x8 oil on panel

Available at Castle Gallery.

This is something new for me, this lighter palette. I'm trying to lighten up a bit, use more neutrals to emphasize light and color. I think for a long time, in order to suggest or have areas that were empty, I would use dark washes. Its easier to pretend something is in shadow, and obscured if you just lose it in blacks and browns. But I think neutrals actually enhance colors and light better. And add more punch to darks as well.

You can probably guess my inspiration for this. The models were actually posing for some photos for us at Kim English's workshop. We didn't paint inside, but had them pose in our hostesses beautiful home. I wonder if Kim will paint this scene? And how his will compare. At any rate, I am really pleased.