NMA series: oil on board 8×10 2015
NMA series: oil on board 8×10 2015
NMA series: oil on board 8×10 2015
Archives
All posts by Studio Buda
It was New Year Day (2015), and I decided to spend most of 2015 making juicy delicious small nude figure painting such as these. I have 100 boards prepped up and ready to paint. I have been painting one of these figure each day and will keep the same speed until the boards are all painted. Then, God knows what I’ll be painting next (may be another 100 of still life) I’m still experimenting with new painting technique and perfecting my current method. Still considering myself a student and not a professional painter, my focus is mostly technique oriented. The “artsy” stuffs, I believe they will come naturally as one paints pass 2000 paintings/studies. Thank you for reading Khanh N. Huynh, MD
Female facedown, oil 8×10, 2015
Figure, oil 8×10 2015
Recline figure, 8×10 oil, 2015
Sitting nude, oil 8×10, 2015
These are my daily exercises. Recently, I let my daily exercise go as long as it take to get a decent picture instead of the usual 60-90 minutes slots. I think I’m getting better but progress has been extremely slow. I got better at building forms and determine correct value, but color decision still is a big challenge. Every now and then, I switch palette to new color combination but have not yet found a satisfying one. May be I should NOT continue searching for this perfect color palette and just simply describe real life.
The male nude was done with a limited palette of Payne’s Grey, Titanium White, Alizarin permanent, and Yellow Ochre (a modified Zorn’s palette). I found that with Alizarin, I can (sometime) mix a beautiful purplish hue.
The recline female figure is a very traditional academic pose that you can find in numerous paintings. I took up the challenge to describe a foreshortened body structure.
I believe reference photos are from either Croquis Cafe or New Masters Academy’s website.
Thank you for reading
Khanh N. Huynh, MD
“Male Nude” 8×10, oil on board 2014
Mirror images of a common academic female pose. Nothing special, just a few daily practices that I happen to like. They are both painted with very limited palette of Cad Red, Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White and Payne’s Grey.
“Mr. Leavitt” 8×10 study oil on board 2014
I saw this man (an artist) at the Oregon Society of Artists meeting in October 2014 and immediately know that I have to paint him. I asked permission to take a picture and transformed the rather mediocre iPhone picture int0 this beautiful portrait.
It was painted straight on Ambersand board without any preparation of the board. I want to keep the white of the board untouched as much as possible. I used the Zorn palette (Titanium white, Payne’s grey, Yellow ochre, and Cad Red medium)
I stopped touching the portrait after 90 minutes or so with the intention to keep the painterly look. I could go on with a softer brush and “feather” out the brush mark and slowly make it photographic. But to me, paintings that look like a photograph is a failure of the artist’s skill and vision.
Khanh N. Huynh, MD
“Dalai Huynh” oil on canvas board, 11×14, 2014
These two paintings originate from random photos we took of our kids. Dalai is now 9 months old, a rambunctious little monster, full of energy. Buda is quiet and intelligent. They’re my favorite models. Since they’re my kids and I am quite familiar with their face, getting the likeness is quite easy even with short 1 hour warm-up exercises. Paint application using a palette knife has been utilized more in my painting these days. It’ll be a while before I can command the knife at will. It adds texture to a painting, but one must use it appropriately and strategically otherwise it is just another pretentious piece of paint applied where a brush mark should be visible.
Khanh N. Huynh, MD
“Buda, looking down” oil on canvas board, 11×14, 2014
Dear Friends
I’ve been quite busy with painting new works for my upcoming show in September 2014 and have not been able to write new post for the website. Here are two of my paintings from today session 7/19/14.
Still life is not my strongest area. However, I continue to practice to overcome any weakness. These small paintings are painted quite quickly and impulsively. I randomly select objects from my growing collection of “junks” from garage sales and Goodwill stores. A trip to Home Depot or the Farmer market will provide me with amazing colors (flowers and other oddities). From there, it’s just a matter of arranging objects, pushing colors, and letting my mood dictate the flow of each painting.
Thank you for reading.
Khanh N. Huynh, MD
“still life with blue vase” oil on canvas 16×20
“still life with oil bottle” oil on canvas 16×20”
