Mostly oil sketches from life.

[steven6]

LOVE-these studies. I need to do more. Keep it up-BUT don't get complaisant. Challenge yourself: diff perspective, parts of the body, the whole figure, etc. Keep up the good work, and post more.
best

[mattlinz]

dpaint- Thanks for the comment. Now that you mention it. I see what you mean about the tendency to elongate the face. I'll try to work on that.

steven6- Thanks!

Here's a new sketch from last week. About an hour of painting time.

[rattus]

thank you, now i found myself a new thread to follow. inspirational !

[kevinwueste]

Lots of good quick paintings Matt! that figure in #56 is great - let's see more of those as well as your nicely done head studies!

[DANKA]

Nice brush strokes...and very nice pencils

[marina_koleva]

The quick portraits are so fresh and full of feelings, I really like them. I definitely want to see more.

[Patrick Szucs]

These paintings are good. I'd like to see what you can do when you spend more time on one.

[prufrock27]

Art_Addict-

I believe great drawing and painting captures what is essential to the subject opposed to rendering just the surface qualities of the form. More details does not result in greater truth or accuracy.

Matt

Beautiful studies! And nicely said about capturing the subject vs. rendering the subject. I think that is one of the things I struggle with most in life drawing classes. Academically I think often I get so caught up with structure and likeness that that I spend the entire time "chasing" the model instead of capturing what's important.
I went to a Rembrandt exhibition recently where they showed Rembrandt's ink work next to his pupils' and analyzed what made Rembrandt's work so much better. Often it was because Rembrandt was able to capture the essence of the subject or scene whereas his pupils were only able to illustrate a description of it.
Can't wait to see more of your work!

[Blotzo]

An artist by the name of Michele Dunaway talks about portraying portaits in the way that the eye naturally sees the world. She calls it painting from the center and she creates a realistic bullseye in a potrait. As one moves outward or away from this focal point it becomes impressionistic and then at the outer periphery becomes the abstract. This adds natural elements for the eye to deal with that not only clearly define but reduce the amount of irrelevant information. the abstractive elements will work to give your works interest and energy. 2 cents, y'all. Beautiful work, Matt!

[lumar]

these are fantastic and i like what rusko is saying too, id love to see some richer colours -but its your art!

[JS Neo]

Love ur portrait paintings..!! There are great life to them. Your last piece i feel could have some darker accent and definition in the face. You did that in your previous painting marvelously This last one I tend to not dwell my attention on the face which we should in a portrait because of the relatively low contrast there as opposed to like the area bordering the hear.

Anyway, would love to see works where u have more time ! Would be awesome..

[mattlinz]

rattus- To inspire someone is a great compliment! Thank you!

kevinwueste- Thanks! figure drawing has always been a struggle for me so hearing that you like one of them is encouraging.

DANKA- Thanks!

marina_koleva- Thank you!

Patrick Szucs- One of these days I'll try to spend a little more time on something. Thanks for the comment!

Prufrock27- Thanks for the great comment! Trying to capture what is essential to the subject is something one of my teachers would constantly stress. And it's something I struggle with everyday. It's good to hear were in the same boat. Thanks for the comment! And good luck with your art!

Blotzo- I'll have to check out that artist work for sure! Thank you!

lumar- I really need to build up the no fear attitude with the color. Hopefully I'll get there one of these days. Thanks for the comment!

Mydrako- Thanks for the suggestion!

I just got back from painting at a friends studio in Chicago. It was a great week of painting and I learned a lot. He like's to use a lot of bold colors in his own work so I thought maybe he could help me get over my fear of using color boldly. The portrait that is very unfinished is one of many starts he had me doing to warm up. Most of them we would wipe off but I kinda liked that one so I kept it.

Thanks for looking!

[Doug Fletcher]

Matt,

The last four pieces... Great job! You have captured the mood in each piece! My favs are
#3 and #4 The use of color in #3 shows that you are understanding the use of color
and #4 with just simple lines you captured the attitude of the model!!!!

With repsect to #1 and #2- #1 Using color temperature to model the form-Yes!!!
#2 using color temp and light direction again to model the form-Yes!!
Keep up the Great work my friend!!!!

Doug

[AztcFireFlower]

Been enjoying all your posted work. Really nice painting studies. The last 4, I'm esp. drawn to the portrait & the girl in the skirt, just so nicely done.

The strokes of paint are lovely. Color sense is a matter of time, when you'll show your own confident unique palette. Painting is an organic life form. Looking forward to your next images.

[ALEXANDRE da Vinci]

Beautiful paintings friend, congratulations!

[bjoern3000]

You are really improving! The new ones remind me of Dan Gerhartz.

[Adam Nowak]

I'd like to find out who this friend from Chicago is, maybe he can show me a thing or two. These last few are great, my favorite is the 3rd one (girl laying down in a skirt).

[mattlinz]

Doug- Thanks! Drop me an email sometime I'd love to hear what you've been up to.

AztcFireFlower- Thanks! I love your work.

ALEXANDRE da Vinci- Thank you!

bjoern3000- Thank you! Sometimes I have a hard time telling if I'm making any progress. Thanks for the encouragement!

Gamerhomie- Thanks! The friend I painted with is Kevin Beilfuss. He's a really nice guy and a great painter.

Here's a portrait in oil and two 20 minute watercolors. I'm completely new to watercolor so hopefully these will get better.

Thanks for looking.

[mattlinz]

Hi everyone. I've been having trouble getting my posts to show up on here lately. I've tried a couple different file formats with no luck. I hope at least some of you can see this post.

One is a watercolor sketch and the other is an oil painting.

Thanks for looking.

[bjoern3000]

The oil painting is .... wow - the technique as well as her anatomy ;-)

[kojot]

holly shit man this painting are awwwsome!

[kevinwueste]

last two figures rock !!!! wow!

[JS Neo]

Wao !! u have improved a lot ! Those painting u did at ur friend's studio is awesome. The boldness in the colors and brushwork make the painting sing!.. I notice the boldness is slowly creeping into your newer works like the figure one which is really great.

[mattlinz]

bjoern3000- Thank you!

kojot- Thanks! I hope you stop by often.

kevinwueste- Thanks Kevin! It's always nice to get a compliment from you.

JS Neo- Thank you!

Here's a couple new oil paintings.

[kevinwueste]

Matt - I think the direction your work is going is unique and really beautiful! good stuff!! keep posting! - kevin

[Praemium]

As a young artist, your work is really inspirational to me. I love how you seem to find so much life in so few brush-strokes. Keep posting, you have such amazing work here...

[maldrin]

The first one of these last three you posted is very powerful - I can't describe exactly why...but I really like it.

The second one is graceful and beautiful, and the third one whimsical. The values and colors you're using show a subtle but significant improvement from the first works in this thread. Keep up the good work!

david

[dpaint]

THe stuff is looking really good. Great job.

[kojot]

last guy is my favourite !
great update
maybe share some step by step pleaseeee *_*

[AL3K]

I do like these a lot, looking forward to seeing more

what was the transition to oils from acylics like?