You Paint Portrait Kemosabe?

American Hero #2, oil on linen, 2.5" X 1.5", ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

This painting is the next in a series of toy portraits I recently began. I have a nice set of little oval frames I have been wanting to fill. The first portrait was of  G. I. Joe. This one is a large Tonto action figure I played with as a child. I also had the Lone Ranger, but I think he was a casualty of our dog Sherman.
The Tonto survived unharmed. There are two more of these portraits almost done that I will be posting sometime soon.

Kind of fun to work on a scale where you can have the whole painting laid in after five minutes.
You can see the plight of the American Indian in his plastic eyes.

American Hero # 2, with subject posing in the background.

Opening at Gallery 42

I will have some paintings on view at Gallery 42 in Mason, Ohio starting tomorrow. The gallery will be showing a few paintings from my basement still life series.
Here is the latest of the series- it is still a bit wet.

Basement Still Life- Storage Closet #1, Oil on linen, 16 x 20, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

There is an opening tomorrow for the photography of Anna Ogier-Bloomer as part of the Cincinnati Photo Focus thing that many of the local galleries are doing.
ARTIST’S RECEPTION
Saturday, October 6th, 5 to 9PM
Wine and hors d’oeuvres

Exhibition continues through October 27th

Just a few Figure Drawings

Just sharing a few quick drawings from our Tuesday night sketch group. The woman in the drawings  is a fantastic model. She takes great poses and has a wonderful work ethic. Tonight she even brought pumpkin bread- a beautiful model that shows up with snacks makes for some inspired drawing sessions.
Now, I know each of these drawings have some issues- yes I see the problems, but I thought I would post them anyway.
I find drawing to be a very fluid thing. It is basically a process of visual learning. Each of these drawings, completed in about an hour, could have benefited from more time to test and adjust problem areas- checking proportion, value and shape, while maintaining the gesture of the pose. Most of what happens in the studio while studying nature is a battle of wills. You have to be able to put down a mark, have it be wildly wrong and rather than begin the process of tying a noose with which to hang yourself, one has to be willing to laugh and say, "Wow, that is crazy wrong. Now, how do I fix that?" Thus starts the conversation with nature.

Both of these drawings could have benefited from a longer conversation.

Lindsay, 12x9, charcoal.  ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012

Lindsay , 12x9, charcoal.  ©copyright Richard Luschek 2012