Category Archives: Oil Sketches Live at Coffee Houses

Conducting Business at Epoch Coffee

January 18, 2010 – 10:11 am

She came in and sat down with a coworker at the storefront table next to me. With her shiny black hair, and the widely woven houndstooth coat were just too good to pass up. I was in the middle of painting her profile, when her phone rang.  It seemed important. There was an interchange of […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, figure painting, guerrilla artist, guerrilla portraiture, painting, painting live | Tagged , , , , | Comments (52)

Girl Genius Writes Code at FlightPath Coffee

January 5, 2010 – 7:49 pm

My daughter and I went to FlightPath Coffee during Finals Week before Christmas. This young brainiac came in late with her friend, and snagged one of the best tables. I don’t know if she knew how lucky she was – probably not. These Einstein- types can be totally unaware of the world around them. She […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, guerrilla artist, guerrilla portraiture, painting live, portrait sketch, portraiture, sketches | Tagged , , , | Comments (43)

Reading Proust and Duras at Epoch Coffee

December 30, 2009 – 1:16 pm

He looked very smart, and I just love sentimentalists. I myself have a thing for John Singer Sargent, who was a contemporary of Proust, so I can understand the attraction to certain artist of the Victorian era who weren’t particularly Victorian. Of Proust, I know very little.  This young man could probably tell you a […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, artist, painting, painting live, painting people from life | Tagged , , , | Comments (12)

I Painted the Guy in the Panama Hat at Epoch

December 9, 2009 – 12:20 pm

He was reading the paper, and chatting with two girls at Epoch Coffee.  He had his folded hands resting on his forehead for just a few moments – long enough for me to get the gesture. He seemed to be  filled with the youthful optimism that everything will work itself out for the best. But […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, artist, figure painting, guerrilla artist, guerrilla portraiture, oil painting, painting, painting live, painting people from life, portrait sketch, portraiture, sketches | Tagged , , , , | Comments (12)

I Painted Enrique at the Apothecary Cafe

December 6, 2009 – 1:13 pm

The Apothecary Cafe is the new coffee house and wine bar that opened up its doors recently. It is in my neighborhood, and I can walk there. The young owners have done a perfect job of combining both the urban and the funk, all tied together with a touch of contemporary Middle Eastern decor. If […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, artist, figure painting, guerrilla artist, guerrilla portraiture, oil painting, painting, painting live, painting people from life | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

I Painted Ari Guerrero in 90 Minutes

September 16, 2009 – 2:09 pm

Since I’m out in the studio and unable to “guerrilla paint” this week, I’m going to post a “live’ portait that I did in my studio in 90 minutes: Ari volunteered to be painted in 90 minutes. She is a very pretty girl, and I was so happy that she showed up in the perfect […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, figure painting, painting live, painting people from life | Tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

90 Minute Painting:Karla Pfennig

September 14, 2009 – 12:23 pm

My good friend Karla came over this weekend. I decided to paint her while she watched one of her favorite movies, “Hopscotch”.  It was the perfect opportunity to add to my new series of paintings: Now I am asking people to pose “live” at my studio, and trying to get a likeness in 90 minutes […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, figure painting, painting live, painting people from life, portrait sketch | Tagged , , , , | Comments (6)

I Painted Two Men in Deep Conversation at Epoch

August 28, 2009 – 12:42 pm

The tattooed man was there earlier, sitting outside. He had a brief conversation with the baristra, Ben.  The man on the right showed up about fifteen minutes later, and they came inside and sat opposite each other. I could only hear “she blah-blah-blah” running through their conversastion. It is difficult to capture two people who […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, oil painting, painting, painting live, painting technique, portrait sketch, portraiture, sketching | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (6)

Detail of the Girl with the French Haircut at Flightpath Coffee

August 14, 2009 – 9:47 am

Would you like to hear a little about technique and decisions that I made as I did this painting? The walls at Flighpath Coffee are sunflower yellow. Why did I not portray this? Well, when I painted the man with dreadlocks the day before, I added in a subdued yellow background, and just hated the […]

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, art, guerrilla artist, guerrilla portraiture, painting live, painting people from life, painting technique | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (16)

I Painted the Girl with the French Haircut at FlightPath Coffee

August 14, 2009 – 9:32 am

Whew! This is really hard. She was sitting at the opposite end of the coffee house, at a direct right angle from me. I am shocked that I didn’t get caught painting her, because I was craning my neck to capture her.

By Lavanna Martin | Also posted in alla prima, figure painting, guerrilla artist, guerrilla portraiture, painting live | Comments (2)