New Painting by GCA instructor Camie Davis

Narcissus, by Camie Davis, oil on linen

Small Figure Class Moving to Friday nights

The class will be sculpting the figure in a 6"-12" scale. Students will learn the proportions of the human body and the volume. The 6"-12" scale is adequate to function as a maquette for a larger sculpture and be finished piece in and of itself. Students will do a quick sketch sculpture to get a basic understanding of the gesture and movement. We will be using terracotta and sculpy as well. It will be fun! To sign up, email gcaclasses@gmail.com

Last chance to see these drawings

October 5 – 31, 2009
Drawing Lessons
Early academic drawings from the Permanent Collection of the Art Students League of New York. Included in the show are fifty life drawings by students of Kenyon Cox, H.S. Mowbray, Frank Vincent Dumond, George Bridgeman and others.

This show ends soon, so get up there and see it while you can!


??? Johnson, Academic drawing, undated, vine and compressed charcoal on Michallet paper, 24 ½ x 18 ½ in. Student of George B. Bridgman.

Walter Marshall Clute (1870-1915), Academic drawing, February 7, 1894, vine and compressed charcoal on Michallet paper, 24 ¼ x 18 ½ in. Student of H. Siddons Mowbray.

Agnes M. Richmond (1870-1964), Academic drawing, 1903, charcoal on paper, 29 ½ x 20 in. Inscriptions: “Summer School 1903 Agnes Richmond.” “Scholarship Prize, G.W. Breck.” Student of Kenyon Cox.

19th century paintings & sculptures at Sotheby's

On Saturday Angela and I went to Sotheby's to see the paintings and sculptures that are up for auction this week. I took photos of a few things I especially liked. If you want to see these things up close in person, the auction is this Thursday, 10/22 and you'll have to go before then. After that they'll disappear into private collections, so go get on it!


Rosa Bonheur, Cecf a dix cors aux aguets, 21 5/8" x 17 3/4"




Isidor Kaufmann, Portrait of a Man With Streimel, 14" x 10.5"




Jules Joseph Lefebvre, Portrait of an Ottoman, 24" x 20"






Jean Leon Gerome


Julien Dupre, Goose Girl, 25 1/4" x 21 3/8"




John Willam Godward, Beauty in a Marble Room, 50" x 20"


Alfred Stevens, L'Absence, 24.25" x 19.5"


William Bouguereau, Jeune Fille a la Cruche, 38" x 24.25"




William Bouguereau, Le Bruit de la Mer, 32.75" x 21.5"


Joaquin Sorolla

Auguste Rodin

student work

Jacob Collins giving a figure drawing demonstration


first year students are spending the afternoons honing their block-in skills by copying these plates from the Charles Bargue Drawing Course.




These are some block-ins from the first few days of this month's pose in the figure drawing and painting studios.





Below are some finished pieces from September:

by Angela Cunningham


by Elisabeth Ehmann


by Danny Grant


by Carla Crawford


by Ken Salaz


by Todd Casey


Here are some new plaster casts that have been added to the sculpture studio


Stephanie Young putting the finishing touches on her sculpture from September's morning class




Stephanie Young and Andrea Clinton


by Brandon Beckstrom

Travis Schlaht show

Travis Schlaht has a show at the John Pence Gallery October 16 - November 14 check out the gallery website for more images of his recent work. Travis currently teaches the evening figure drawing class at GCA.


Travis Schlaht, Top of the Falls, Oil on Linen, 13 x 20 inches, 2009


Travis Schlaht, Amaya, Oil on Linen, 16 x 15 inches, 2009

Coming soon: Goldfinger Lecture

Eliot Goldfinger is coming to GCA on October 27 to talk about the anatomy of the face and facial expression. Goldfinger is the author of "Human Anatomy For Artists, The Elements of Form" one of the most thorough and helpful anatomy books out there. If you want to come to the lecture, please RSVP by emailing grandcentralacademy@gmail.com Space is limited!


Lecture is at the Grand Central Academy, 20 w 44th St, New York, NY. 4:00-5:15 PM October 27

Portrait drawing class with skulls

For our Tuesday afternoon portrait class, we've been posing skulls next to the model and drawing the two simultaneously. The idea is to be able to recognize the structure of the skull in the live model and see through the skin and muscles while drawing. Students are also encouraged to do many many studies of the skull from all angles on their own time (see David Troncoso's examples below) Sculpting the skull in clay is also part of the curriculum. The model poses for 20 minutes at a time, with 5 minute breaks. No breaks for the artists! (or the skulls)




by Remi Cardenas


by Ken Salaz


by Ken Salaz


by Emilie Lee


by David Troncoso


by David Troncoso


by David Troncoso


by David Troncoso