Portrait Class & Princeville Painting

Mostly what I'm doing these days is jamming on the mural for the Princeville St. Regis Hotel. Having spent months proposing various sketches, now I have just days to actually paint the thing in all its 8' x 9' glory. Fortunately the designer insisted that it be just one color on a cream background, which makes it a matter of fine tuning shapes and filling them in.

Nothing can keep me from my portrait class, though, it's so much fun. I get to tell people what to do! Not only that but -- annoyingly enough, often I'll lean in or take their seat and actually demonstrate on their drawing itself. I can't think of a better way to show how to make progress, although I can tell it's a struggle for some of the students to maintain equanimity! I think it's a good practice to not be so attached to the actual drawing and be willing to change it radically.

Our Models were Yoko, an exquisite Japanese friend, and a beautiful young artist named Stella. It was very hard to draw Stella so she looks as young as she actually is!