Dec

STEVEN ASSAEL

Someone asked if i had anything of note in my sketchbook, so i had a look and found this:
























It's a quick pencil drawing i did on my last day in New York. It's worth mentioning how i got to do this sketch....

While in the 'Big Apple,' i was fortunate enough to meet accomplished Fine Art Painter Steven Assael. He showed me slides of his work over dinner and i was completely blown away. He was even kind enough to invite me to his studio, to have a look around, so of course, i made sure i did before i caught my flight home. Steven happened to be doing a painting class that very day, so not only did i get to have a look around, i also got to sit in on a portrait painting class. It was very humbling (and somewhat depressing) to see such incredible talent at work. Using a live model, he did a tonal portrait painting that took him about 30 mins, than after a break did another, full colour portrait in 30 mins again. He didn't do any preparatory drawings, didn't rough out the composition, made no construction lines of any kind. He just started painting, right off the bat. It was fantastic. I did the above sketch of the man at work because .......well ....i felt like i should be doing something.

Below are 2 photos of the tonal painting (my camera battery ran out before i could take photos of the full colour painting). Look away if you are artistically inclined; if not, you're gonna feel like a talentless hack....




















The tonal painting half completed.

























And the finished painting.

Again, these only took 30 mins, they weren't 'finished' to his usual standard, which was obvious after seeing his finished pieces all around his studio. Also, i saw some pencil drawing of astonishing quality. Some of which can be seen on his website. Do yourself a favour and have a look, therefore giving yourself a creative kick in the backside.

Dec.