Alexandra

It was very dark and rainy today. The light was not good to work in oils. Alexandra asked if I could do her portrait in charcoal. It is amazing to draw my children because I think that I know their faces but they are always changing. Alex looks so womanly now. She is a woman but in my head, she is much younger still. She laughs as she reads this over my shoulder.

Liz

I had to stop touching up this one. There always seemed to be something that I could do to give it that soft quiet peace that seems to be part of Liz. Liz's hair is very blond on the ends and her skin is so light that I wanted to try adding a dark background for contrast. It does make her pop out. Also, I wasn't sure if I should include her lip ring but both times that I asked, she said that she wanted it drawn in so here it is. The look works. This is the first time that I found the 19" x 25" paper limiting having to turn it horizontal so that her arms could be included. The whole work came out pretty peaceful. Thank you Liz.

My Good Friend, Art Landry

Since coming back from Annapolis two weeks ago, I have had several friends and family offer to sit for me. Yesterday, my good friend Art Landry came by to give me the chance to do his portrait. I have known Art for about a decade now and he is one of the best friends I could ever want to have. Generally, when we are together I talk pretty much constantly and Art is a man of few words. The fun thing about having Art sit for me, is that I was not talking very much because I was focused on drawing and, low and behold, Art started talking more than I have ever heard him talk! He told me great stories and every now and then I would have to ask him to get back into position but the fact that he talked and moved, helped me to better understand his face for this drawing. There is a hint of a smile here and when I look at this one, I feel that he is just about to start telling me something new. Thank you so much, Art for sitting for me.
I had a great time as usual!

Patrick

About a week ago I asked for volunteers to sit for me so that I could hone my skills that I learned in Annapolis. This is Patrick and he was a very still sitter. After breaks he could get right back into position without much adjusting. Thank you, Patrick for sitting.

James at Twenty

This is my son, once again, being the model for my work. I wanted a casual portrait of him as he is, pensive and in his hooded sweatshirt. I still have to thank Rick Casali from Maryland Hall for being such a great teacher in the Charcoal Portrait class that I took and to Andree Tullier for the Charcoal Drawing class. They both taught me the basics of using charcoal. Now I find it is the first thing that I want to do when I wake up in the morning. No kidding, I like it that much!

Little Maggie

This is a charcoal portrait that I did today of Liz's niece, Maggie, who is three years old. My son tells me all the time that she is the cutest baby he has ever seen. I never saw her as a baby but I think that he must be right!

I have been very busy lately doing charcoal portraits and I love it. If you would like me to do a charcoal for you, just contact me at cm.mccoy@comcast.net and we can make arrangemnets.

Thanks.

Christine

The Norton Gallery

The Norton Gallery in Padanaram Village will now be representing my portrait work. This is a charcoal that I finished yesterday the owner, Phil reading to his son. They are the only framers that I go to and send my clients to. They are good people and run a great service. If you get the chance to visit this area, make sure that you stop into their gallery. They have many beautiful works of this area by local artists. I don't think that they have a website but they can be reached at (508) 997 - 9674 or they can be visited at 330 Elm Street, South Dartmouth, MA 02748. Padanaram Village, which is part of South Dartmouth, is a beautifully quaint New England harbor-village with great dining and unique shops. I love to go to the book store and the antique shop which has a great collection of old doll house furniture and all sorts of wonderful things that always send me down memory lane!

Alexandra in Charcoal

This is a charcoal portrait of Alex. I am getting much more comfortable working with it, lifting it off the paper, pushing it around with a dry brush and pressing the charcoal dust into the paper with tissue paper. Charcoal is wonderful to work with because it is fast and once framed can last hundreds of years just like a painting. I love it!

Charcoal of Dante

Rick's brother, Dante modelled for us. I am starting to get more comfortable with charcoal. It can be moved around and changed so easily. It is much more fun than pencil or pen. Now I am starting to experiment with different papers. They can hold the charcoal very differently. I found one that I like that comes in single sheets. I hope to be doing a lot more charcoal portraits.

My Ally

My Ally is not feeling well today. She is just getting over a cold and so I tried my hand at charcoal. I think that this may be the first charcoal that I have done since my first drawing class in Boston almost twenty years ago! About two months ago, I bought a book on charcoal portraits, a drawing kit that contained charcoal pencils and a stack of charcoal paper. I did make one study of a John Singer Sargent so I guess this is my first charcoal from life in many years. It is not finished but Ally posed for about an hour. She liked the way it was coming out so she would go back to posing after little breaks. Maybe we can finish it tomorrow. Still beautiful as always, she does look tired. Thanks, Ally!