Peter Sakievich

Rendering the Human Head Demo

2012-01-12T11:25:00.001-07:00

Last nights drawing I did in class at UVU to show a process of drawing the human head. I primarily used charcoal pencils.

Armadillo and Porcupines

2011-11-19T23:52:00.003-07:00

This is a small part of a larger image I have in development (see the previous shot of a porcupine).

Hudson River Fellowship 2011 Part 6

2011-11-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

The last post.

Just a couple of final pictures. These were some multi-session forest interiors completed during the third and fourth weeks of the Hudson River Fellowship. One at Platte Clove and the other at Elka Park.


Cliff at Platte Clove


Elka Park Interior

Hudson River Fellowship 2011 Part 5

2011-11-01T13:48:00.002-06:00

Sunsets.

Most every evening, when there were clouds on the horizon, a group of us would get together on an empty lot at the top of a hill. We sarcastically refer to it as Mosquito Plateau. After a good shower of bug repellent we set up to paint the sunset. Some would just do one sunset and others would paint several. I attempted to put myself into the latter category.

There are a couple of tricks to painting sunsets en plein air. The first is to premix your colors. I used mostly a set of very chromatic colors. Indian Yellow, Alizarin Crimson or Perelyne Red, Prussian Blue, and occasionally a green. Occasionally, I found it helpful to mix some Indian Yellow into my Cadmium Orange ahead of time too, it seems to intensify the color without changing it too much. The second trick is to not premix them too lightly. Part of painting the sunset is maintaining the chromatic intensity of the light reflecting back at you. Which means the third trick is to paint at a somewhat lower key than you think is necessary. Because you are looking directly at the sun while you're painting, your eyes may think that you are painting more darkly and intensely than you really are. For me, the fourth is to work very small. I divided my paper up into 3-4 sections using tape well ahead of time and confine myself to working at that very small scale. I also liked to work on an untoned white surface, so that I could utilize some of the glazing possibilities that I have with a white surface. The fifth might be preparation. An early arrival, about 20 minutes ahead of the painting start time is helpful, as is premixing. I also liked to check the weather reports earlier in the day to see if there would be any clouds in the area.

These were ideas that I found useful. Others preferred to work on a single panel the whole time, work in a different color palette or a different size. James Gurney was also kind enough to feature my sunsets and my weary face on his blog when he visited the fellowship.

Here are a number of them that I did during the fellowship. A number of these are sequentially from the same night. I will be making these and others available on Etsy soon.

They are up on Etsy.com as of the 21st of November.

Sequence 1

Sequence 2

Sequence 3

The Moon.


Or if the sunset isn't very interesting, sometimes you can turn and paint the moon!

Hudson River Fellowship 2011 Part 4

2011-10-31T19:33:00.000-06:00

These are some drawings I did at the Fellowship this last July. Most of these were done over a couple sessions. My intention was to explore the precise details and textures, so I could then have access to them while working in the studio.

Work in Progress: porcupine and...pt. 1

2011-10-30T19:51:00.002-06:00

I've always heard the rumors, but I never investigated until recently. BYU's Monte L. Bean Natural History museum does indeed lend out a selection of their collection. This is a close up of the porcupine I'm painting, that I checked out from there earlier this week. I only have two weeks with the animals I borrowed. So I will be curious to see how this painting works out.

Springville Museum of Art Spiritual and Religious Show

2011-10-29T21:05:00.004-06:00

I sent my painting "For Our God Is A Consuming Fire, Hebrews 12:29" to the Spingville Museum of Art for their 26th Annual Spiritual And Religious Art Show. The preview was last night and I was given an Award of Merit. My piece was particularly mentioned in the pamphlet for the show.

The show is up until the 27th of December. There a large number of notable pieces that will make your visit worthwhile and uplifting.

Nov. 6 Update: The Deseret News reviewed the show in their Sunday Edition. Click here to read. I'm mentioned at the end of the first page.

The San Rafael Swell and Etsy

2011-10-29T20:46:00.000-06:00

The San Rafael Swell of Utah is a large desert region south of Price, east of Castle Dale, and north of Moab. It is a sandy open area, spotted with wind-carved canyons. There are no amenities there. And that remoteness is part of what it makes the region so attractive. I went down there last weekend to do some studies and these were some of the results.

I have also decided to make these small works on paper available through Etsy. Payment is accepted via PayPal. Though these plein air works are different than my regular studio practice, they are an important part of the work I do. Working from life and on location feeds my imagination. The paper is sealed with shellac, which is a delightful surface to work on. When the paintings are purchased, they will be appended to foam core board to give them a firm foundation. Other works will be gradually listed as time and interest allow.

Hudson River Fellowship 2011 Part 3

2011-09-19T23:35:00.000-06:00

A few more plein air sketches from this year's Hudson River Fellowship. The first image is from Elka Park. The second is from the top of Hunter Mountain. The ski resort maintains their lift in the summer and they invited us to use their lift for free during the fellowship. A number of us went up the last day to paint. As it turns out the view is pretty incredible. The final image is below the bridge at Platte Clove. A pine tree has happy placed itself between a rock and a ... rock.

All three are painted on prepared paper with oils.

Hudson River Fellowship 2011 Part 2

2011-09-12T17:34:00.000-06:00

Studies of stones done at the bridge in Elka Park.

Hudson River Fellowship 2011 Part 1

2011-09-09T14:27:00.000-06:00

Here are some studies from this year's Hudson River Fellowship centered in Hunter, New York in the Catskills. This year I primarily divided my time between Platte Clove and Elka Park. I'll share a few pictures at a time over the next couple of weeks. My primary purpose this year was to find general textures, details and scenes that can have broad application in whatever compositions I decide to pursue

Here are some close up texture and plant studies, these were all done in a small area in Elka Park in single sessions. They are all done in oil on prepared Canson Canva paper.

Quick Sketching at the AMNH.

2011-09-06T12:45:00.003-06:00

Quick sketches done at the American Museum of Natural History. The difficulty of drawing at the museum is the persistent press of the crowds

Dinosaur Drawing at the American Museum of Natural History

2011-09-03T21:12:00.000-06:00

A pair of Allosaurus drawings done at the American Museum of Natural History in New York this August. One extended and the other quickly drawn.

Hudson River Fellowship 2011

2011-06-25T19:48:00.000-06:00

I was accepted to this year's Hudson River Fellowship centered in Hunter, NY in the Catskills. The fellowship runs from the 5th of July until the 31st and is organized by Jacob Collins and other founders of the Grand Central Academy. I participated once before in 2009, between my two years at the New York Academy of Art, and found it to be a fantastic complement to the experiences I had there. I anticipate a similarly fantastic group of talented, dedicated, and hardworking artists that I had the fortune of working among in 2009.

This time around I have clearer idea of how I will spend my time and I hope to be able to share my experiences there with those of you that follow or subsequently happen upon this blog.

Here are a couple drawings I did back in 2009. They are currently on view at Medialia Gallery in NYC.

Animal Sketches April 30 Part 2

2011-05-03T09:30:00.000-06:00

Gorilla gestures and friends. Just when you think these guys are sitting still, they up and run off to the other side of the room.

Animal Sketches April 30 Part 1

2011-04-30T21:37:00.000-06:00

I've been doing some animal drawing recently. It's an area of study that I've neglected unconsciously. Here's some drawings from the reptile house at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. It's interesting the things you notice when you take some time to draw an animal from life. The iguana's had a good portion of his tail removed at some point, the healed one isn't nearly as long as it should be. And that Chucwalla is missing a foot...

Quaking Aspen

2011-04-16T15:18:00.000-06:00

Quaking aspens are fairly common in the Utah Wasatch Mountains and some of the groves are among the largest (by mass) and oldest living things on the earth.

Fallen Tree

2011-04-09T12:14:00.000-06:00

A sketch done on prepared bristol board up Hobble Creek Canyon last Fall.

Figure Sketch

2011-04-08T10:20:00.000-06:00

Recent 30 minute figure sketch. I used two colors of water soluble colored pencils.

"For Our God Is a Consuming Fire (Hebrews 12:29)"

2011-04-03T15:48:00.000-06:00

Travis Tanner and I installed my painting of Joseph Smith Junior's First Vision this last week in the Nauvoo Cafe at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. This is part of a larger show curated by Ira Gagon that hangs in the LDS Church History and Art Museum and in the Nauvoo Cafe. I'm waiting on a better photograph as a final portfolio image.

This painting has been sitting in my mind for at least ten years. When the opportunity to participate in this show came, I dropped all of my other paintings and projects to get this painting done in time for the show. It has occupied all of my non-teaching time since the end of December 2010.

Those interested can go see this painting at the Nauvoo Cafe which is open till 8pm Monday through Saturday from now until the end of June of 2011.

Please contact Ira Gagon at gagonira@yahoo.com regarding the purchase of this painting or prints.

5x10 feet oil on linen

Recent Figure Sketches

2011-02-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

I have an hour between the classes I teach at UVU, during that hour Don Seegmiller is kind enough to let me sit in and sketch in his class while I wait. These are some of the better results from the last couple of months. Each is between 30 and 50 minutes in duration

This one is from a warm up with J. Kirk Richard's painting group last Wednesday. I used two watersoluble color pencils and a white chalk pencil to do this one.

Gesture Drawing Demos

2011-02-26T19:16:00.001-07:00

I teach figure drawing at the 100 level at Brigham Young University. We focus a lot on the form figure and a simplified version of anatomical structure in this class. Students initially begin with the line of action, an armature, basic form figure, anatomical contours and notations, and simple light and dark value structure. We've just started applying enveloping and comparative measuring techniques using the head as a basic system of measure. This first image is an example of the process. The black conte was used for the underlying aspects and I saved the red conte for the contours. I had them break the drawing down into 20 minute segments for a one hour drawing. The First 20 was used to place the Line of Action, the head heights and widths, and the envelope. The Second 20 was used to lay in the armature and the form figure. The Third 20 was used to put in the contours and values. I spent about 10 minutes on this drawing, working up to each level quickly and then going around to check and see how everyone else was doing.

We start out each class by warming up with quick gestures. We start at 3 minutes and work our way down to 10 second poses. This is a sample of one session progressively going from 3 minutes to 10 seconds.

In these drawings you can see the underlying armature and line of action and how I apply them.

Head Drawing Demo

2011-02-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

A little in class demo on bristol board that has been lightly coated with shellac. The shellac creates a nice surface and allows for easier erasing. The drawing is in graphite and stabilo pencil.

Gesture Painting

2011-01-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

Kirk Richards invited me to come paint with his group on Wednesday nights. He likes to start his students with gesture figure paintings as a way of helping them loosen up and get more comfortable with the paint. I brought blue black, transparent oxide red, and titanium white to do mine with. I taped down a piece of 9"x12" Canva paper prepared with shellac and did these two on it in about 15 minutes per pose.

Imprimatura Demonstration

2011-01-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

Imprimatura demonstration from the Fall semester, that I did for my Head Rendering course I teach at UVU. I used transparent brown oxide and raw umber over canson canva paper that I had prepared with a double coating of clear shellac. It leaves the surface slick enough to enable me to easily whipe out the lights. I primarily used a fan brush to avoid applying too many details and kept to about 2 hours in painting it between talking about what I was doing and assisting students in their work.

A couple things to note, on the left hand side you'll see a darker smudge, I showed what happens if you let your solvent be the only chemical you use at this stage and how it affects the skin of the paint. On the right I showed the difference between using a shop towel to wipe away paint and a kneaded eraser.

Letchworth and Nearby Studies

2011-01-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

I spent about a week in the area between Buffalo, NY and Letchworth State Park in the summer of 2010. These are some of my sketches from that time.