Joel Pace, 20"x16", oil on linen

Joel was the first of the three guest models for the summer.
During his long tenure at the Academy, Joel has been wearing many different hats at the Academy; currently a chairperson of the Foundations Department.

Joel was very unique in posing for us in that, while others were alert at the beginning of the posing and slowly slumped as they became fatigued, Joel struggled very hard to stay awake in the first hour of the session and became very alert since. I think it threw us off a bit in the beginning.
Earlier in the day I saw him in a light green t-shirt so I set the background with a dark red/purple drapery for contrast.

A few days later when Joel came to my classroom to see the finished painting, he commented that the painting looked somewhat like her mother. I joked to him that I paint the DNA of a person not just the superficial likeness.

Rachel Stukenberg, 16" x 12", oil on canvas

This is Rachel's second time posing for the club.
When she posed the first time, she volunteered to pose for us just for the fun of posing. This time, she planned to not only pose but also start coming in to the session regularly as a painting member.

Rachel brought with her a 1920s style hat and a red shawl as a prop. We also decorated the right side of her hat with a carnation that was a part of floral arrangement at the graduation ceremony the day before.

Unlike the first painting, which looked a bit melancholy and older, in this painting, she turned out to be looking confident and a bit younger than she actually is.

First session of the Summer 2011 semester.

Always good to have new members.

Joe Dodd, 18" x 14", oil on canvas

Joe usually wears a hat, one kind or another.
When we were setting the pose, he asked us whether he should keep his hat on or not. I suggested that he should pose with his hat on since that's the appearance of Joe that we were used to. But some said he should pose without it because we have never painted anyone who was bald.
So Joe sans hat it was.

End of the semester group critique and pizza party:
Spring 2011

Many paintings, diverse characters and styles.

We began with James.

James invited his father for an experience and to show his progress. Hope he wasn't nervous talking about his paintings in front of him.


Alex Velazquez; In this term, Alex painted a number of small studies. With the name like his, he'd better produce some excellent paintings.

Nicolas Martinez

Marcie commenting on one of Nicolas's paintings.

Though he started out a bit nervous, Nicolas's soon relaxed and brought some laughters to the group…

…Including to Sherine, one of our guest models for the semester. Joyce couldn't participate due to her travel schedule.

Jacob Sanders

Rachel talking about Jacob's paintings.

Dana making some funny comments about Jacob's paintings.

Rachel Stukenberg; Rachel posed for the group in the previous semester without painting with us.
This semester she started participating in the session as well.

Matt Clymore

Jacob commenting on Matt's paintings.

Dana Olson

Marcie's turn, before she had to make an early exit to run some errands.

Next to the last, Adam's turn

Joyce, 18"x14"", oil on linen

Joyce is an Academy's Administrative Assistant who's been working 'behind the scene' for many years overseeing many administrative responsibilities. Also, she is the person who arranges for us our end-of-semester pizzas and refreshments.

She's been a bit shy about posing for us when I invited her to pose for us for some time. But finally, with the encouragement of other staff members who have posed, she decided to sit for a session.

When I surveyed her pose in the beginning of the session,
I noticed much green in her blond hair so I decided to put a red drapery for contrast. I also wanted to create a graceful flow of movement with her long hair. Looking back, I should have painted the top and back of her hair darker and softened the contrast against the background.

Sherine, 20"x16", oil on linen

Sherine teaches various communications classes.

Sherine was scheduled to pose for us on February 2,
but the infamous Blizzard of 2011 shut down the school
(and the much of the city) and we had to cancel the session. So here she is, rescheduled nearly a month later.

As a guest model, she offered us a fun challenge with her unique skin color of Egyptian ethnicity. Painting Sherine,
for whatever reason, I decided to start off by completely finishing her left eye–the focal point–and then worked my way around it.

After the session, as I was moving my easel back away from the model stand, the painting fell off from the easel, scraped against the edge of my palette and landed on the floor face down. I quickly picked it up and inspected the damage, but the damage wasn't as bad as I feared. I think it had to do with the fact that I painted it rather thinly. But still I had to stay behind after the session and make some repairs from memory.

Theresa, 16"x12", oil on canvas

Seeing the strong tonal contrast between Theresa's face and her hair, I wanted to do a simple head study where the light skin tone of her face is framed by the dark mass of her hair and the brown background. Her deep black hair, under the cool light, gave out some interesting cool blue.

Dana, 18"x12", oil on board

For this session, I had to cut short my painting time to about an hour to take care of some errands. So from the beginning
I decided to paint Dana as more or less a quick sketch.

Nicolas, 20" x 16", oil on canvas

Nicolas seemed to be quite nervous in the beginning of the pose and we sensed he was getting uncomfortable very soon. So I tried to finish the painting quickly without polishing details. I laid down a lot of choppy paint strokes and left them as they were more or less. In the end, I was able to finish the painting with the sense of alertness he carried in the beginning of the pose before he quickly sank deep into the chair.

Tony, 20" x 16", oil on canvas

Tony brought with him a couple of hats and a patterned scarf as props. I chose his light-brimmed hat and the scarf for their pattern and contrast.


To paint Tony, I kept my palette limited to 3 intense transparent primaries: ultramarine blue, permanent rose, and indian yellow deep. Painting with a limited palette helps me explore the chosen colors to their deepest potential; I find it a very creative “brain teaser.” 


I started off with a general background pattern using thin washes; I wanted to establish a strong design that would also suggest depth and distance behind him in the final painting. After that, I painted him more or less “freestyle,” without any layout of drawing.