Let mel begin by saying that I am Canadian and I do like to watch hockey, especially during the playoffs. Lately, the teams I root for seem to be tanking and my superstitious side is starting to wonder if I’m jinxing the team by just being in the room. I’ve been keeping track and it is becoming obvious that they seem to score when I leave! So, I’ve decided  to  sacrifice some TV time to help them out in my own small way. The good thing about not parking my bum on the couch is that I can take the chance to steal away to my art room and play with my own set of ‘sticks’;, brushes, pens, conte, markers, etc…. . It’s that block of time that exists between paintings where I don’t quite know what to paint next and I’m avoiding tackling a new idea because I am unsure of the best way to approach it. It’s the perfect time to practice, do some drills and just focus on bein’ the best darn player I can be….sorry… got  a little carried away there. So this time, I decided to build on the black and white theme from a few days ago and do a little direct painting in titanium white and ivory black. Awhile ago, I mentioned a guy by the name of Graves who had some great hints about drawing the figure/portrait in  charcoal. Well, the same guy has more hints for painting. What a guy! He scores big points with me….gives it all for the team, and….I’ll stop.  Here’s what I did tonight while Montreal and Boston fought it out. Hope you are doing something creative out there. Leave a comment and let me know about it!

Practice facial Features with direct painting (alla prima)