Pavel Sokov

Hello! I am Pavel Sokov, a freelance artist based in Montreal, Canada. I am currently studying at the Watts Atelier of the Arts in Encinitas California. This blog follows my artistic exploits. Contact me at [email protected]

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Another plein air done in Ben Young's plein air class, at Cabrilla Cliffs. Need to buy a hat so I don't get sun stroke.

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A 2.5 hour oil portrait portrait painting from last Saturday of Bob. Done on 11 x 14 panel.

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My first still life in oils, done in Meadow Gist's class. Really fun to paint these set ups, and invent different positions for a better composition, and not have to worry about likeness.

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The oil painting commission I did recently hanging at the client's home. Love to see client photos like this, always makes me happy! #art #instaart #worldofartists #oilpainting #oilportrait #portraiture #crownprince #saudiarabia #saudi

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Here is a portrait from life done in Meadow Gist's class last week, of Hitomi. I don't have my polarized light setup with me in America, so my photos are going to be glare-y and show a lot of canvas texture unfortunately. In real life it doesn't look as rough textured.

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A charcoal 2 hour drawing of Bob from earlier this week, done in James Hahn's excellent head drawing class.

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So I am taking plein air class again, which is the hardest painting class I have ever been in, by far. For some reason trying to get your eye to see color accurately outside is really hard. Your brain gets in the way and doesn't see the value/temperature/color relationships of things compared to each other. Especially on an overcast day such as this. Here is my first attempt anyway!

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A challenging pose from the uninstructed workshop last night @wattsatelier. #wattsatelier @watts #worldofartists #worldofart #instaart #art #figure #figuredrawing #figurelayin #foreshortening #foreshortened #hustle #anatomy #drawing #charcoal

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Norman Rockwell Hands Master Study from my hands painting class. Next up, I will try painting a photo of hands in Rockwell's manner.

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I just finished my first ever illustration in oils, done on an 18x24 masonite panel. It is of my grandpa Pavel Makeevich Poutchnin, and includes photos from his collection of his world war 2 comrade (it says "don't forget me" on the photo), a photo of him and my grandma, and a photo of me, my sister, and cousins.  (Click on the arrows to see the closeups)

I started it in Erik M. Gist's illustration class at the Watts Atelier of the Arts. Erik was the one to suggest the lonely chair during my composition phase. This was the first piece in which I used glazing  extensively on almost everything (with Liquin Fine Detail, which worked great). A very useful technique, I am glad I risked it on this piece

  I will post about all the steps in making it a bit later.

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This is oil on Fredrix linen panel, 11x14, started from life and finished from a photo. I was working with subtle window lighting, as I lately find direct lighting too harsh for my tastes.

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Finally finished the big commission I have been working on the past few weeks. I had the honor of working with Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia who commissioned me to oil paint his great grandfather Prince Mohammad bin Abdulrahman, the brother of the first King Abdulaziz , and first Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. I was given a blurry 100 year old black and white reference photo, so I had to invent the details and the colors. I will do a post on how I did it later. This is an 18x24 oil painting done on Fredrix archival linen panel.

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Here is something a little different. This was the most challenging commission of the year. Nigerian billionaire/philanthropist Miss Alakija got her second private plane, and I was commissioned to paint a scene of the couple in front of their new jet (named after her husband). I had to stitch the reference for the couple together out of several photos, and invent brand new lighting on both the plane and the couple. I also went outside and shot all my own cloud reference. The rest of the background is invented. Definitely had to use my head for this commission. Hit the arrow next to the image to see two close up photos

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King Abdulaziz,aka Ibn Saud, the first king of Saudi Arabia (1876-1953). The 4th in my Saudi Royalty series of commissions. This one is a full color invention on a grey-scale reference. It was surprisingly fun to figure out the color, a good exercise for sure. My 26th finished piece this year. Prints here: http://www.inprnt.com/gallery/pavelsokov/king-abdulaziz-ibn-saud/

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Prince Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Saud, the first crown prince of Saudi Arabia, the 5th in my Saudi royalty series. He was painted from really tough black/white and blurry reference, so this was a lot of invention. This will be turned into an 18 x 24 oil painting for a contemporary prince and major political figure, who's great grandfather is this man. Print here: http://www.inprnt.com/gallery/pavelsokov/mohammad-bin-abdulrahman-al-saud/

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I oil painted Darwin by combining two references, one for the drawing, and one for the lighting. He is done on a 16x20 stretched canvas, in blue-black and white. I have many commissions to do for the next couple of months, so I thought this is my last chance to sneak in a personal piece before 2-3 months of commission work. 

I chose him, not only because of his interesting look, but also because he is an inspiration for  quality thinking and discovery.  He was able to look past social narratives, look at how the world actually is and not how he wants it to be, and the result was something no one has ever though before. He had the courage to put his theory out there, knowing full well that society is not ready for it. His theory broke the reality of too many people, and to this day some can’t accept it. That is an example of quality thinking. Remember always to look at how things actually are, and not how you want them to be, and keep evolving. You can take your mind really far if you work on it.

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I am on the front page of Makkah newspaper today in Saudi Arabia! Not sure what it says. Article: http://www.makkahnewspaper.com/makkahNews/culture/149674#.VYwZFPlVhBd