Izzy

The start of a portrait of izzy.

Another Halloween Monster Sketch

Ugly Toilet.

Quick sketch while eating gyros

Halloween Monster Sketch

Portrait

This is a first draft portrait of my friend Sean Crook's niece. He is giving it to her parents for their Anniversary.

Photo Shoot

Last week I was visited by a University of Texas photography student named May-Ying who took portrait pictures of me for her class. It was a lot of fun and kinda weird to be on the otherside of the lense. This is one of the shots that she sent to me and we're waiting to see more once her project is graded.

Skin Tones Solution

Though it is difficult to see in this picture (because i took it at night) the skin tones are almost fixed and i added some warmer tones to the eyes. Final touches are beginning to be added and Alicia finished the first coat on the type. Look for a picture of the two together tomorrow.

Attention to details

Touch Ups

Today I focused on bringing back the whites and painting a second or third coat on the hands and tree limb. I also lightened the shirt and put a second coat of black in the hair.

Type Painted

Alicia began to paint the description that I drew out on Saturday. She has an amazingly steady hand for sharp edges and crisp lettering that is unrivaled in my experience. At Harts N Crafts she almost never roughs out or plans her lettering in pencil for name plaques and other gifts, and yet they come out looking perfect. I painted the first coat on the hand and continued to touch up edges and layer paint.

Laying in Type

I spent all of Saturday drawing up the type on the left panel of the mural. It took forever. A mistake here and there led me to re-write almost entire lines twice, which took about 40 minutes each time.

Developing the Face

I spent a lot of time trying out different combinations of skin tones, and I'm still unhappy with the results. Its a bit slow going to get the true color too, because I have to build up layers and allow time to dry in between. Then if I don't like the color, I have to do another 2-5 coats of another color to see how it will look. Not all of the work is shown, just the results so far... which aren't as bad as the once were. I spent a big part of the last weekend experimenting as well before we left for Oklahoma. Then my air conditioning broke and work stopped til the house cooled down from 87 degrees. yikes! I'm going to get started on the lettering now to change it up a bit and maybe we can begin painting that tomorrow. Insha'allah (God willing).

Back From Oklahoma

Alicia and I took a impromptu trip to Oklahoma to see my grandmother Bennett this week, after her condition changed for the worst and scared us. She is in her late eighties, suffering from Alzheimer's, and now lives with hospice care at home. Alicia had never been introduced to her and I hadn't been back to visit since my grandfather's funeral, so we had to make the most of our time. It was great to see her! She looked good with a new haircut and was in good spirits when we arrived. My brother David drove up with us and we met my mother there, before she drove back with us.

Day Three: Part Two

Day Three: Part One

The Iraq War: Legal or Illegal?

Day Two: Part Four

The edges of the yellow rays on the left are quite crisp now and the color is almost completely finished. More shirt color was added to the right side.

Day Two: Part Three

So I added the two other shades to the branch and started the second coat on the rays of light.

Day Two: Part Two

After adding more color to the background behind her head, I realized that I really needed to finish the left side of the piece. Alicia, my wife and letterer, went to Waco to work at Harts N Crafts til Saturday and I wanted to have everything ready on the side with mucho type before her return.

Day Two: Part One

I began the day with Allison's eyes. I wanted to make sure I had them placed right and then I checked the light skin tone.

New Flickr Site

I opened a new flickr site the other day. Today I posted pictures of our trip to the Spicewood vineyard. They put us to work picking grapes and in return we got a free meal and bottle of wine. It was a lot of fun and really easy work, because all the grapes grow at chest level. It was perfect weather too.

Click on the title or go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/ren_sacco

Day One: Part Two

Day One: Part One

Tonal Study

I realized that before I went any further on the oil painting, I needed to step back and figure out at least generally what I was planning to do with the background and various elements. I had a lot of ideas and it could have become very time consuming to do all my experimenting on the canvas. This was a bit frustrating because I have been so eager to paint lately, but it will pay dividends to not rush through the planning phase.
So I went back to the sketch and began to flush out more of the details and tones. I played with some subtlety in the background and found the direction of light most appropriate to make the scene more dramatic. The tank needs some army men surrounding it to push it more into the distance and I want it to seem more dangerous. The girl is going to be going back for her shoe that she lost while running away and perhaps a boy will be running off camera to capture the story better. I'm still toying with it. Overall I'm real happy with its development.

I spent most of my time today applying the initial three coats of kilz to ten feet of wood paneling, both sides and edges, that will eventually be the Friends For Life mural. I'm painting it at home, which has its advantages. It has been nice to work on other things while waiting for coats to dry. When it rains like today, I don't have to figure out something else to do and there is air conditioning.