2018 Finger Paintings!

[Chad Weatherford]

Still life from group painting session last year.

[Chad Weatherford]

Lunchtime painting of a colleague. Actually burned a couple hours after the intitial painting... finishing and experimenting with the colours.

[D Akey]

Looks good.

I always erred on the side of working over reference when I could get it, because it took out of the workflow one area I could screw it up and create anxiety. It always seemed like the part of my brain I used in drawing was very disconnected from the side that did the painting. I mean I was fair enough when I was doing it a lot, as in a live studio set up or something, but for the most part drawing and composing were miles away from painting. And drawing was so much more flexible without gooping up a surface. But if I couldn't find good reference I was undone until I found something from which to work. I guess that's the difference between painting for yourself vs. being somebody else's finisher as with advertising illustration where I most often got a drawing that had gone through the approval process with the client and all. That makes you really good at painting, but leaves a lot under-educated when it comes to composing at the rate some commercial artists had to. Many of those guys seemed to do variations on the same theme which solved the problem of cranking out a lot -- selling art by the yard so to speak. But they often couldn't do so well past the drawing stage. Those artists who could do both stood well over everybody else.

Anyway, just curious. Which do you prefer, painting over a photo or fairly complete drawing or would you rather just dive in to the painting?

[Chad Weatherford]

Looks good.

I always erred on the side of working over reference when I could get it, because it took out of the workflow one area I could screw it up and create anxiety. It always seemed like the part of my brain I used in drawing was very disconnected from the side that did the painting. I mean I was fair enough when I was doing it a lot, as in a live studio set up or something, but for the most part drawing and composing were miles away from painting. And drawing was so much more flexible without gooping up a surface. But if I couldn't find good reference I was undone until I found something from which to work. I guess that's the difference between painting for yourself vs. being somebody else's finisher as with advertising illustration where I most often got a drawing that had gone through the approval process with the client and all. That makes you really good at painting, but leaves a lot under-educated when it comes to composing at the rate some commercial artists had to. Many of those guys seemed to do variations on the same theme which solved the problem of cranking out a lot -- selling art by the yard so to speak. But they often couldn't do so well past the drawing stage. Those artists who could do both stood well over everybody else.

Anyway, just curious. Which do you prefer, painting over a photo or fairly complete drawing or would you rather just dive in to the painting?

Personally I prefer to dive straight into the painting, as color and light are what I’m most interested in capturing. I can get away with that more in natural landscapes. I can block people in pretty fast as well I guess, but I’ll pass a point where I need to spend time drawing it more carefully if there are no strong shadow shapes to facilitate a block in.

I hear what your saying about reference. I usually rely on it for concept work, to the point of building basic 3D models to plot stuff out more accurately. Occasionally I’ll paint over a photo as well when time is limited. It all depends on what my goals with the image are.

[Chad Weatherford]

Aerials. So love doing them...this was during a flight from Vancouver to Chicago.

[Selby]

love your areial landscape- enough details to keep the mind interested but plenty of room for it to play. it makes me think of adventures to be had.

[Chad Weatherford]

love your areial landscape- enough details to keep the mind interested but plenty of room for it to play. it makes me think of adventures to be had.

Thank you for the kind words, Shelby!

[Chad Weatherford]

Sketch of my sister. I want to go back into this and re-jig the color. Too yellow

[Chad Weatherford]

Quick sketch of my mom during a visit to Illinois a few years ago. This trip was also the last time I saw my grandmother alive. She had degraded quite a lot since I had last seen her in person and suffered multiple strokes. It was sad. She taught me to oil paint when I was 7. Seeing pictures of her around my mom’s house (when she was my age!) really hammered home the feeling of mortality and the limits of the time we are given.

[Chad Weatherford]

A quick sketch of my mom's dog 'Cody'. If you say the words, 'dog show' he runs up to the TV and stands on his hind legs to try and peer into the television. Apparently he likes the dog on old Frasier reruns. If the dog goes offscreen he hunts for it around the fireplace. He's a pretty entertaining pooch.