News

Heat Wave

September 1, 2010 6:17 pm

Almost finished with the background. Should be able to finish up tonight. Pretty happy with it. Treading lightly and slowly on the face, I’m scared to wreck it :-0

She’s almost 5 feet wide by 3 feet tall. Big and powerful!

There’s been a heat wave here in NYC. I think it got up to 96 today. I am working on this under 2 150 watt lamps (at least I’m not painting, that would mean 3 lamps). They are kicking off some serious heat and with no windows in my studio that means no air conditioning or fresh air. Because of the pastel dust no fan either. Its pretty hot!!! I’m just grateful to be drawing right now. Its one of the best feelings in the world!

The Storyteller

August 20, 2010 11:59 am

I have always felt a image could be capable of conveying a story. Storytelling has been on my mind a bit lately so I guess that’s why I named this one “The Storyteller”. She’s telling a story. What’s the story about? I’ll leave that one up to the viewers!

I like it so I am in the process of making it into a large pastel now. I’ll be locked in my studio for a few days until she’s done. Don’t hate me if I don’t answer your calls until I’m finished with her:)

It’s my first pencil sketch since getting back from the trail. Feels great to be working again!

Man Up

August 19, 2010 2:13 pm

Man Up Campaign

Its probably no secret that I feel women are something special. My work and my life are dedicated to celebrating the beautiful things they bring to this world. That said it should come as no surprise one of the issues I am most passionate about is putting and end to violence against women. There is nothing that upsets me more than the ways in which violence acts are committed against women around the world.

It is no longer enough for women to tell men to stop these acts. Men must stand up and speak out in defiance of violence against women. Men must tell other men mistreatment of women in any way is not acceptable. Violence against women occurs in may different forms and is not just physical or domestic abuse. It also includes honor killings, trafficking, rape, sexual harassment, emotional abuse and others. Men must speak out against these issues to other men. Men must get involved in bringing an end to these acts of violence.

Since I feel so strongly about this I think this new “Man Up” campaign that recently launched is great. Please take a moment to check out this website:
Man Up Campaign

I know there are lots of places to donate money these days. There has been no shortage of tragedy around the world and things here haven’t been so great here. So if you can not donate money then please get involved in other ways. If you can find some way donate your time to stopping these issues. If time is something you can’t afford right now you can do things as simple as telling your friends derogatory statements about women such as ‘bitch’ and ‘ho’ aren’t acceptable use, do not support companies which use or endorse images that objectify women, spread the word. We can all do something.

Its up to us to make change happen. MAN UP FELLA’s!!!

Back In the Studio

August 10, 2010 11:56 am

After hiking the Appalachian Trail for 2 months I am back in my studio and working again.

I am currently seeking models for the following projects:

  • Pregnant Models
  • Women who have had a mastectomy
  • Breast feeding

Full descriptions can be found here

If you are interested or know someone who may be please contact me.
Thanks!
-Chip

Anatomy, Anatomy, Anatomy

January 9, 2010 1:42 am
Anatomy Sketches

Anatomy Sketches

 Any first year art student knows if you want to draw the figure you need to know some anatomy, and if you want to draw the figure well, you need to know anatomy very well. Simply put, when you draw something like a table, what you see is what you get. A box is a box. When you draw the human form what you see on the outside is given its shape by what you do not see underneath on the inside. Hence the need to know anatomy to represent the figure well.

When I was younger I used to sit filling sketch books with sketches of anatomy. I’d fill them tirelessly over and over every chance I had. Waiting for a bus, eating lunch, watching tv. Every chance I got. As I grew older and more interested in things like color, style and other more expressive aspects of art I seem to have fallen out of the practice of doing anatomy sketches.

While I think the style aspects of my art have progressed nicely as I look at my art these days I am somewhat unsatisfied with my technical abilities. I didn’t sit around very long looking for answers on how to remedy this before coming to the obvious conclusion that I need to get back to doing regular anatomy studies. And so it begins…

On a related note. I was thinking how in “The old days” many artists would observe cadaver dissections in order to better understand anatomy. This is something I am currently looking into to see if its even possible for artists to do these days. I may be open to doing that. Def need to check out the Bodies exhibit as well.

Continuing my rediscovery of pastels

January 5, 2010 8:14 pm

I am continuing down my path of rediscovering pastels. For this drawing I did just about the entire piece in Sennilier extra soft pastels. They are very expensive, especially for a piece this large (51″ x 40″). The colors are amazing, I really don’t think the photograph does it justice but its about the best I could get. I also used Arches 140lb cold press rough water color paper which allowed me to really work the pastels over and over, much like a painting. Its not a perfect piece and there are some area’s that I feel could use improvement but she’s a beaut to look at!

Pastel Dust Everwhere!

December 20, 2009 1:38 am
Paula S. Pastel Study

Paula S. Pastel Study

I haven’t worked in pastels in about 6 years for a few reasons. They are a storage hassel and many of my old pastels would get smudged and ruined because of the inability to properly store them. Also the dust gets everywhere! (I think I probably have rainbow colored lungs right now) Recentley though I decided to throw all worries aside and start making some pastels again. It has been a blast!!! I do see area’s for improvement in this picture, including the right hand and both legs, but I am very pleased with the ‘energy’ of it and the color’s really jump off the paper. I am also really starting to get a grasp of the differrence high quality paper and hand made pastels can make! Guess supply costs are gonna go up again :-0

Large Ink & Brush

December 2, 2009 6:22 pm
Large Brush and Ink

Large Brush and Ink

I love working this large 37″ x57″ It really gives you the ability to put your whole body into a piece. Hard to see all the stroke details in this photo. It could use a little improvement, but over all it was just lots of fun! I see a lot more large ink work in the near future=-]