Lovey in 3 little videos

Last time I shared the portraits I was working on and I mentioned another one in acrylic with gold leaf. Here are 3 video clips of me working on that portrait and a picture of the finished painting.

I was inspired by the first acrylic portrait where I finished the other artist's work. I really was afraid to start that one because of the pressure I felt to do well. I had always done portraits in colored pencil so not only was there pressure because of the circumstances but pressure because it was a subject I don't usually do in acrylic. After doing that one and getting such a great reaction to it from the client, I gained enough confidence to give it another shot. 

I'm constantly stressing to my students that reference material is HUGE. I'm sure they get tired of hearing about it but it really is that important. Sometimes I see them painting away on something while their reference photo is hidden somewhere in the mess of supplies on the table. How can they use it if they can't see it. You can't paint well if you can't see the subject.

Anyway.... the reference I used for this painting is a photo my daughter Sarah took of her daughter Scarlett. It's a good composition and clear so it makes a great reference. And what better way to play with a new portrait than of my granddaughter! I'm a mom so of course I'm also going to put a plug in here for my daughter's new blog about her photography so click on those words right there to see it and some more of her pictures.

Below I'm applying the gold leaf. You don't see it here but first I applied adhesive size to the canvas- that's the glue. You usually have to wait anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes for the glue to get tacky. Once the color has gone from milky white to clear, give it a tap with your finger to check if it's tacky enough to hold the gold.

In the last one I'm working on the face. I don't use portrait smooth canvas like some people. I love texture so why change now? I did my usual slathering of super heavy gesso on the canvas with a palette knife. I just didn't make it as rough as I usually do so when I drybrush color on it you can see the texture on the skin. I'm ok with that because there's texture everywhere else and it keeps the look consistent.

And here she is finished - Lovey is 11x14. When I was on video chat with Sarah and Scarlett the other day, I showed them the painting and the first thing Scarlett said was "my lovey!" so the title was a no brainer.

Lovey

11x14

acrylic and gold leaf

I'm still working on the colored pencil portrait of the 2 little guys on the bed. Look for the finished one in the next post - hopefully!

Acrylic to graphite to colored pencil and back again.

It's been a busy time with lots of projects and that's a good thing! I love having multiple things to work on. I can go back and forth between projects when I get tired of something or just frustrated with how things are going and need a break. 

Switcharoo time..... I went from nests and landscapes to portraits all of a sudden. First I got a very special commission. This is a portrait that was started by an artist friend many years ago. Sadly, she passed away before finishing and her sister asked me to finish it for her. Talk about pressure. I was scared to death to do it but once I got started I was ok. I just wanted to make the artist's family proud because really - what an honor that they asked me to do it.

The other challenge was figuring out how much painting to do. There was the obvious - everything that was left undone - face, hair, both shirts and bits of the rest of the clothing. There were other things too where she had done first layers but I was afraid if I did too much it wouldn't be her painting anymore but mine. I couldn't let that happen. So anyway, this is the finished portrait. I worked mostly on the figure and the jacket he's leaning against. Irene, wherever you are, I hope you're pleased.

While working on that one I got another commission that I finished and can't show you because it's to be a surprise gift. So pretend I'm sharing a photo of a graphite portrait of 4 people. You'll see the real thing at the end of November.

⬜

Then I got another commission to do one in colored pencil. I went from acrylic to graphite and now to cp. This one I can share in progress so I shot a little bit of video while I was working on it. I'll share again when it's done.

And now I'm also working on another portrait in acrylic but I'm adding gold leaf to it. Just because. It's from a photo my daughter took and I just love it so I thought I'd play a bit. I'll share that one in the next post.

Until then, keep on painting and playing.

Stages of the latest portrait

The days of the week have all run together lately. I had a rush job portrait commission so this piece has been my only focus for the last week. It's now done and in the mail to the client. YES- made the deadline! While I was working I took quick shots with my phone so I could share the progress online. Here are the steps as it went.

 I used a blue Canson Mi-Teintes paper. I know some of the photos look more grey than blue but I did shoot with the natural light from the window in front of my drawing board.

 First layers on skin and shirts.

 I used a variety of browns and golden yellows on his shirt. Building up the skin tones was trickier- using a lot of deco orange, pumpkin and mineral orange and burnt ochre.

 To get the blond hair to be blond and not turn green on this blue paper I had to layer white pencil first to keep the yellow and blue from mixing.

 It took a little while to figure out the reds for the other shirt. What finally worked was using peach and vermillion in the light areas and permanent red for the overall color, tuscan red for the shadows.

Calling it done!

What's in Live Oak?

When I told someone I was going to do an art workshop in Live Oak they asked.... "there are enough people in Live Oak that would take an art workshop?? There's nothing in Live Oak!" Well, this past weekend I had the pleasure of going to Live Oak to teach a colored pencil portrait workshop and yes, there are artists there. In fact, there are lots of them and with quite a bit of talent! AND.... 6 people from Live Oak have been accepted to the upcoming CPSA International Exhibition in Atlanta this summer so I'd say Live Oak does have something good going on.

What a wonderful group of ladies. They were funny, kind, sweet, generous and like I said - amazingly talented. In fact a few of them had me wondering what in the world they were doing there. I want to take a class from them!

Cathy has such an intuitive way of working where she uses so much unusual color in her portraits. She is an inspiration to me!

Suzanne working on a large portrait of her daughter. I'm hoping she'll send me a photo of the finished piece.

Anda was just whipping out this portrait of her hubby. She's great at capturing light.

Marilyn's portrait of her little great-nephew is going to be a stunner.

 Can't wait to see it when it's finished.

If anyone ever asks you- what's in Live Oak? Tell them about all the fab colored pencil people who live there and tell them to get some fried chicken at the Dixie Grill.