Still Life with Red

Ok...I'm a little frustrated with my camera and I'm not a technical person, so this is about the best picture I can get. I may work on this painting more, but this is what I have so far. As you can see, the paint is still very wet which is causing light to reflect from it. There are some aspects of this painting that I like - such as the spoon. It turned out better than I thought initially.

Amber L. Bailey
Still Life with Red
Oil on canvas

And a random pic I took that isn't so blurry:

Arts in Jacksonville

I'm excited! I signed up to join the Art League of Jacksonville in painting a mural in downtown Jax on Washington Street. It's one of many recent initiatives by groups coming together in Jacksonville to support the arts and help them grow. I can't wait to see what the Art League of Jacksonville can do next, and I plan on helping.





And, I mentioned Carol Marine in a previous post...and I learned that she is represented by Corse Gallery here in Jax. She offers workshops and I plan on attending her April 2010 workshop! I can't wait.





Now, as for my personal endeavors...I've spent (or should I say wasted) so much time working on my website, that I haven't worked on a painting. I was happy to get some figure drawing done the other night, but I would really like to become what is now called a "daily painter" so I better get to work. For now, I will post some older figure studies of mine. I love them! These were quick 10 second gestures. They are a fun exercise and they force you to see the figure the way it is...and to put it on paper without second guessing. Stay tuned, I plan on doing a small still life next and posting it soon.

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Quick Figures II
Amber L. Bailey
Charcoal on newsprint
18" x 24"

Second Time a Charm?

I think I may be happier with the way this figure turned out. This is another charcoal on paper drawing I'll call "Nude Web Surfer" just for fun. This was another study with light and shadow...and of course, the male figure. I'm having to take myself back to college and remember the fundamentals of figure drawing to enable myself a bit and to avoid becoming too frustrated. It worked. I stopped worrying so much about the outcome of the drawing and remembered to concentrate on the information in front of me. What tonight's drawing session showed me is that I still have it! I was concerned that maybe I had become too accustomed to working from photographs. All in all, a good night with sharpening my figure drawing skills.

-Amber L. Bailey

"Nude Web Surfer" Charcoal on paper 18" x 24"

Figure Drawings and Studies with Model

After starting the night out rather frustrated with my myself, I ended up making some progress with my rusty figure drawing skills.


I'm not incredibly displeased with the way this drawing turned out being that this is my first time working with a model in a few years...I've primarily worked from pictures since the last time I had the luxury of a model. I call this piece "Web Surfer." I had fun with this pose. This is just a figure study - charcoal on paper. It has also been quite some time since I worked with charcoal...it was fun to get messy again.

-Amber L. Bailey

"Web Surfer" Charcoal on Paper 18" x 24"

About me, my art and my blog

About my blog

I've been itching to start an art blog for quite some time. I've browsed so many inspiring "Painting a Day" blogs that I couldn't resist starting my own. Although mine won't be quite a "Painting a Day" blog, I do hope to post to it regularly with my latest thoughts or, better yet, new paintings! I am currently working on my own website. As for this blog, I hope it will serve several purposes. First, I would like it to keep me thinking and writing about my art. Second, I want it to be an incentive for getting some new work done. It will hopefully do both and more.

About my art

At this point in my career, I paint with oils, in an impressionist style. My subject of choice is undoubtedly the human figure. I don't quite feel I'm painting if I'm not painting a portrait or figure. I work as quickly and as loosely as possible, and have found that the more I work a painting, the less I like the result. I have also had fun in the past working with still life and landscape. My first commission was a landscape painting. Though I work mainly in oil, I have also done a lot of work in pastels, charcoal and graphite. I've also used ink.


What I want to do next

I want to PAINT! I have found every reason in the book not to pick up a paint brush and simply do what I love. I would like to continue working with the figure and face and to incorporate them into environments - crowds, festival scenes and such. I have done some of this, walking around at parks and outdoor malls, snapping pictures of unknowing subjects. The paintings turned out looser than what I had aimed for but I won't call them failures.

Who I like right now

As far as Painting a Day blogs, I love Carol Marine's blog. I love her style! She finds something, anything, to paint EVERY day and she makes it look amazing. Her blog should be enough for me to look around my apartment, my cubicle at work or my kitchen and find tons of inspiration for putting paint on canvas - or board - or paper! I'm also digging Peter Cox - talk about someone who can express the human form and put his subjects in an "environment" as I like to call it. What I've seen of his work is amazing. Other artists I like include Carla O'Connor, Robert Burridge, Cheri Christensen and Leslie Toms.

Of course, there are many more amazing artists I could take a lesson from.

Stay tuned for my first painting post.