Tracey Costescu Fine Art

Graphite Pencil - Master Copy Study I completed...well I think it is done....this study of Plate II, 23 which is a copy of a study of A Roman Woman by Adolphe-William Bouguereau (1825-1905).  It is not nearly as accurate as it should be but I was having so much fun that I just decided to let her be herself.  I will have to do the study again in the future and be more diligent.   I started this just prior to my drawing classes that I am teaching as a way to get back in the swing of drawing. It had been awhile since I had the time to draw and draw just for pleasure and it was SO much fun.  I love painting but the more I paint and then go back to drawing the more I realize how much I really love drawing.  I plan to draw several more plates and master copies over the summer months.  I hope to have one on-going in the studio and just left on an easel so on days where I only have limited time, I can just pop in and get some art time in.  It is the best...

Hard at Work I am so proud of my student's hard work! She is taking my Drawing From Life class and is working on a portrait that she will be giving away as a gift.  It is such a busy time of year yet she will be working every night this week to complete her portrait on time...while trying very hard not to rush! Things really started to take shape tonight and I can't wait to see the final piece by the end of tomorrow night, nothing like working under a deadline to get you to maximum productivity level ;)

Sustained Pose - Drawing of Lily Well this Tues was the last drawing session with Suite E Life Drawing group until September, gasp...sob.  This is my effort from that session with a lot of shading work done at home, I am sooo slow! There are several areas that I would have liked to improve but this method while hugely fun, is not one of speed, so this is as far as I got.  I would love to have sessions with the model where we do the same pose and model for two to four sessions to fully complete a drawing...perhaps something that the group can implement next season if others are interested? If you would like to put add your voice, please join us for our AGM Tues June 9th at Port Moody Arts Center.   We are a non-profit Life Drawing Group and welcome new members and drop in artists and students. You are welcome to become a member if you are not already as memebers decide on what things to keep or change to make annually to make our life drawing group even better y...

Portable Shadow Box I needed to come up with shadow boxes for my Drawing from Life class that are portable, have attached lighting, quick to set up & take down and reasonably cheap.  No small order!  So shopping I went.  I had a several ideas of what I could use, cardboard boxes, black fabric bins...but in the end I decided to go with black foam core.    The boxes are made from four pieces of foam core cut to the same size, in this case roughly 13x14".  I then taped three pieces together along the longest sides, alternating the side that I taped on.  This way the "boxes" fold flat like an accordion in seconds.  The third piece of foam core is the same size and sits on top.  I wanted to leave the top unattached to keep things portable but also, this way I can slide fabric over the back panel if I choose for different set ups.  The base is just black construction paper that I will cut to size.  The reason I chose pa...

Drawing Class Supplies Look at all the goodies I got from Colour's Artist Supplies !  I love shopping for art supplies, any art supplies and I especially love shopping at Colour's.  Everyone there is so helpful and really passionate about art so we always get chatting about or latest projects.  Laury makes my life as a teacher so much easier as she organized and rounds everythign up for me so I can just come in and pick everything up.  They even offered to cut up my full sheets of drawing paper for me and practically gift wrapped it :) These supplies are for my lucky students that signed up for my Drawing From Life class that starts June 1.  The black foam core sheets are not technically part of the supplies as I bought those for me..for what you ask?  You will have to wait to see, so excited to "build" with them. There are two days left (I never count the day I am on ;)) and two spots left so if you would like to join us, you can sign up using...

Drawing Classes Starting June 1 Scroll Down for More Info I get asked this at pretty much every class that I teach.  My answer is always, draw, draw, draw.  Yes, I know, I have heard that a zillion times, but the fact is, it really is true. If you can not draw it, imagine how much harder it is to paint it when you are dealing with drawing (proportionsa and form modeling) as well as color and paint handling. For years I did not do thumbnail sketches and pencil studies prior to starting a painting as I was so anxious to dive in and hey, I only have a few hours here and there to get stuff done.  I would use a grid to draw out a reasonably quick outline sketch of my subject and then it was on to the paint. Without fail though, I would struggle so much during the painting process, unsure as to what I was really seeing.  The painting, more often than not, turned out ok in the end, but it was always such a struggle and I did not feel like I was improving nearly a...