No Pressure

I've been oil painting for a little while now,
but I kind of use oil paints just like acrylics that dry slowly.
No mediums, no varnishes.
Nothing that makes them look good.
(just like acrylics)

So I was a little nervous to paint with Jeff Gogue today.
Just him and me, from 9am to 7:30 pm.
But since he's the nicest dude ever,
he actually gave me a basic rundown on oil painting techniques.
And then did a super hot painting step by step to show me in real life.
My own little personal art instruction.
So dope.

I had stopped by a used bookstore on the way to work today,
and bought a couple books for the still life I was going to paint.
Then I ripped some of the pages out.
And put a human skull on top.
(yeah, it's real)
This is it all set up in the beginning stages:













Here it is a little later,
and a lot farther along,
but STILL NOT DONE:























I also worked on two other paintings
while this one was drying,
and I'm hoping to finish all three before I leave Saturday night.
We'll see.
I have an all day flaming birdhouse on a ribcage tomorrow,
and then a portrait of Elias' stuffed animal on Saturday.
So I'll have to get to the shop earlier than early both those days
to get some extra painting time in.

But the best part of today was getting to see Jeff work.
He started 4 paintings from scratch,
and brought them each to near completion.
He's a machine,
and I'm forced to re-evaluate what I used to think of as "productive".

Days like this are priceless.
Now it's off to bed.
6 hours of sleeptime scheduled,
then back to the shop.
Goodnight.