Painted still life studies and figurative drawings

This thesis presents the two major concentrations of my recent work, figure drawing and still life painting. In both areas my concern is to search for and describe form. Drawings of the model in the studio are rendered in conté crayons. These studies are limited to line drawings to pull out and push back forms. In addition, these line6 suggest movement along the surface of the figure. The problems confronting me in my still life paintings become more complex because of the introduction of light and shadow; so I have chosen several limitations to narrow the field of problems and possibilities to a great extent. I selected discarded ceramic ware and perishables as the subjects for this series because of the simplicity of their forms. The color approach used in my still life paintings emerged from my study of the almost crystallized surface quality found in paintings by Walter Murch. My palette is limited to a close value range. Darkest values are stabilized first, then a progression is made to lighter values. When painting I found it best to work from a combination of natural and fluorescent lighting for a greater continuity of values, as they play upon the form of the object being painted