studio buddy

For 3 weeks we have our friend Heidi visiting from Norway. She's a climber and an artist and so our interests are super compatible.

There's now more than double energy in my studio and each day we're torn between going outside or painting in the studio. So far the studio is winning hands down.

Here are some pics of what we've been up to...

Heidi in the chaos of two people creating in a small space.

Collaboration pieces for warm up.

Heidi adding collage papers at the beginning of a mixed media piece

Whoa! Who tidied up?

Underpaintings, mixed media on canvas. Heidi on left, mine on right

Yes, we have been getting outside. Heidi after sketching at the Clutha River, Wanaka

Our sketches at the Clutha River near Albertown, Wanaka

Some mountain time, Mt Aspiring National Park

Portraits!

One thing we decided to do was work on something different for both of us. We chose portraits and have been following an online demonstration by the super talented Jane Spakowsky. This has been a extremely absorbing and exciting process for both of us and we can't wait to start the next ones.

Grey underpainting to model the skin tones. You can see the vintage photos we are working from.
My painting on the left, Heidi's on the right.

Heidi adding tiny details to the underpainting

We've been taking lots and lots of in progess photos, so my next blog post will show my completed portrait step-by-step.

Back to the easel :-)