Friday Portrait, March 6

Today I finally went back to it. Below is the end result:

To see the process unfold, read on…

Portrait, Stage 4

Last night and this afternoon, I left the faces alone and worked on the clothes and hands. They’re fairly simple and gestural, and aside from touching up a couple spots I’ll probably leave them that way. The shiny parts on his hat are reflected from the overhead light. Tomorrow (or tonight, if i’m somehow still awake after choir), I’ll go into the faces again, hopefully for the last time, and then work on adding some depth and interest to the background. Hopefully, with just a little more work I can comfortably call it done, but I suspect there’ll be some final tidying next week.

As it is, though, I’ll have something to print out and show them this weekend (the wedding is Saturday. !! ), and it can be shipped out by the end of next week (which was the plan anyway, since I didn’t want to carry this on a plane).

-o.o-

Portrait, Stage 3.2

About twenty minutes ago, I had an Ah ha! moment, where my eyes flicked between the faces (as opposed to focusing on an eyelid or a lipline) and I thought “Oh, hi! There you are!”

I figured that was a good point to pause for a while. I think it’s about time to do the hands and clothes, and leave the faces alone for a bit.

Portrait, Stage 3.1

Moving along, it doesn’t look quite so ugly today. I worked mainly on his face and her hair, and will continue tomorrow with her face (which is currently driving me a little crazy because it’s off). The colors aren’t quite so yellow/ orange as this picture makes it seem, they’re a little more rosy. There’s still a ways to go, but assuming I don’t procrastinate too much it should be largely finished by Thursday, and ready to be mailed to the newlyweds early next week.

One of the interesting things about this process is that it’s more about revealing the people who are there, as opposed to just “creating” them in paint. I’m trying not to just look at the photo, but at the people within the people within the photo. With my brother, it’s a bit easier (because I know him) but also trickier; for a little while, he looked more like his child-self than the man he is now, and in a way this brings home how, even though I still think of him as my little brother, he’s not a boy anymore. But I still see that boy behind his face and in his grin. I’ve never met his fiancee, though, so I don’t know her personality at all. I just hope when I finish I’ve done her justice; she’s really a beautiful woman.

-o.o-

Portrait Work: Stage Two

The second stage of a painting often feels rather like a pitched battle. You have to put down big swaths of paint, not too thick but not too thin, and try to keep the colors where you want them. Mixing happens both on the palette and on the canvas, and lines and boundaries are still wildly shaky.

It’s still ugly, but I’m happy with the flesh tones. Her hair is actually yellow ochre, not orange as it looks here. After a day or so of not looking at it (and letting it set), I’ll be ready for the next stage.

Portrait Work: Underpainting

So I’ve finally gotten past the pondering stage, to where I’m working on the portrait today. This one is from a photo, and is meant to look pretty close to photorealistic when it’s done (though not exactly, of course, or why bother asking for a painting?). So this won’t be my usual dashed-off Friday work, although some of those elements are incorporated into the beginning.

Anyway, enough talk, here’s the progress for today:

I blocked in the background a couple days ago, then let it dry so I don’t have to focus on it. Later, I’ll probably go back and give it more depth, but for now the important thing is to have a solid starting ground that won’t halo the figures. Staying in the lines is overrated

I’m starting my favorite way, completely ignoring flesh tones in favor of sketching out the figures, then filling in with primaries in strategic places. Ultimately, the primaries probably won’t be visible, but having them there underneath the heavier layers gives me a framework to work with.

After letting it sit and dry for a bit, I went back in with the first layer of flesh tones. it’s still at the awkward stage, but this is a good stopping point for today. Tomorrow, assuming it’s not still too wet, I’ll go back in and start refining.

New Project

Some of you may have noticed I skipped my portrait class again on Friday. There were a couple of reasons for that, but the main one is that I wanted to get started on my next real project.

This time, I even have a deadline.

My little brother is getting married at the end of February, and has asked me to paint a portrait of him and his fiancee, which of course I’m only too happy to do. So for the next couple of weeks, as I make progress I’ll be posting it, hopefully not too sporadically.

Below is the initial sketch, which I traced using the projector. It’s rough, but the important thing is that all the important parts are where they belong. I’ve sprayed it with fixative, and it’s drying right now. At some point this afternoon, the fun begins

Friday Portrait, January 16

Again, this is the final version; for the process click the read more button.

Friday Portrait, January 9

This week, I thought I’d switch things around a little. I’m starting with the finished product, for those who might be interested but who don’t care to see how I got there. If you do want to follow the process, read on…

Friday Portrait, December 5

Today’s sitter was Wayne, a singer who occasionally does portraits with us. And yes, it does say “hello” behind his head.