Jeff, 20" x 16", oil on linen

Jeff, Kristin Mount’s husband, posed as our guest model. He came to the classroom with their two children who peeked on and off while their dad was painted.

As Jeff sat down to pose, he looked very serious and intense with alert eyes and a deep gaze, which is completely contrary to his personable and easygoing personality that I know in him. I had to be careful to avoid making him look too serious or even angry.

I thought about brushing in the gray from the background drapery, but his green shirt seemed to bring out the ruddiness of his complexion well against the white of the canvas, so I decided to do without it.

Ashton, 20" x 16", oil on linen

Ashton is a high-school admissions representative at the Academy, posing as a guest model for the second time. An illustrator himself, he offered to bring a few interesting hats for the session, including an old Chicago Bears leather headgear and an Aussie hat from his prop chest.

My plan for the painting was to take advantage of the connecting dark patterns to frame the light and warmth of his face. Without drawing any lines, I painted with a large brush moving from one shape of dark to another, starting with his hat, the shadow underneath, his neck and side, and then the shirt, before tackling the subtleties of colors on the front of his face.

He turned out to look like a rough ranch hand with an intense yet calm, even melancholy expression.