February

Sorry I've been MIA for so long. Having lung issues again among other things this winter and I haven't felt at all creative. I'm so tired of opening my blog to see the New Years clipart so I'm posting a couple colored pencil portraits I did about 6-7 years ago. I was asked to join a 5 day challenge on Facebook recently so I dug these out of some old files to honor that challenge. The goal was to post 3 pieces of artwork every day for 5 days. Each day another artist had to be named to do same and so on. It caught on and produced a steady stream of fabulous work in the FB newsfeed which is still running! I enjoyed participating and got to discover some talent I may never have otherwise.  

JUGGS ~ complete

It's finished! I fixed all the boo-boos and did a little clean up overall. The designs on the ladies' sweaters look more snowflake-y thanks to the Ranger alcohol mixatives and it's time to walk away. Put down my brushes and just walk-a-way. It is what it is and hopefully my client will like the results.

Red Hat Ladies 2 ~ complete

It took me as long to complete as to get started but it's done. I do need to clean up the right edge on the hat of the lady in the foreground, though. I just noticed that but I had to snap a photo while the light was right. It's been so gloomy here. The painting was actually finished yesterday. I'd like to say this one fought me all the way but I think a lot had to do with my mind set. I'm 'winter weary' and it shows in my work. I'm a moody artist, it seems and it's a fight to stay in the mood to paint at the moment.

Second image: made the corrections to the hat, added some Quin. gold spatter to the BG and signed it. Done!

Reference photos courtesy of Judy Wright on PaintMyPhoto

Precious ~ WIP 1 (commission)

I know I've been absent for awhile now. No new posts in quite some time but I have been busy. I recently received an unusual request for a family portrait. My client wished to have a painting done of 8 women in her family as little girls, partaking in an outdoor tea party. She had no reference photos of sufficient quality to use so I would have to find my own, guided by her descriptions only. Sound like a fool's undertaking? Not really. I was so touched by the story she shared with me regarding her family that I saw this as a worthwhile challenge.

At first I didn't really know where to begin. After going back and forth with her via email an image started forming in my head and I did a very rough sketch on notepad paper with ballpoint pen and sent it to her. She loved it! Now to find my images. This has been the true challenge. I'm looking primarily for children in the correct poses. Many I found with the perfect pose but wrong age or wrong sex, wrong hair style, etc. Surprisingly it hasn't been too hard to turn a 3 year old into a 6-7 year old with very little adjustment and without losing the original pose. Turning a little boy into a little girl hasn't proved that hard either and the hair style changes are easy. Not all poses are exactly as the original sketch but I think things will work out alright. I'm doing this storyboard style, pinning up each child separately on a board in the proper position as I go along.  This will allow me to move, rearrange and enlarge or reduce the size of each little girl as I put this composition together.

There's a lot of work left to do but I wanted to post an update. I'm posting the original sketch and the storyboard as it looks at present.

Red Hat Ladies ~ completed

I made my tweaks and added a pale yellow wash to the background as planned. The wash doesn't show up as much on the right side of the painting but trust me...it's there. I graduated the wash, heavier on the left and lightening up as it moves toward the right. I also added some pale yellow reflections to the ladies's skin and it gave the painting a glow it was otherwise lacking. I hope the image I post is close to accurate colorwise. I received three Windows updates that threw my monitor for a loop. Now everything has taken on a greenish cast I can't seem to fully correct. Because of this, the image has only been resized and sharpened in my photo editor.

Red Hat Ladies ~ WIP 3

 

I've finished the third lady's face and am now on to her hat. The ribbons will be easy, the feathers maybe not so much. I did some experimenting on scrap paper and I think I may have a solution. All her feathers are of the downy variety. Achieving that light, fuzzy effect could still be problematic but I may come close by dropping clear water onto the paper, then taking the handle end of a small brush and 'feathering' the water outward. Before the water can dry I plan to drop in my watercolor, thick paint (straight from the tube), and just let it follow the water as watercolor paint tends to do. I can help it along with the brush handle if need be. While the paper is still damp I can scratch in the quill part of the feathers with the same brush handle.

Red Hat Ladies ~ WIP 1

It seems like it's been a long time since I posted an update but I have been working at this, albeit slowly, almost everyday. Yesterday was migraine day (bad headache) so I watched the Housewives of NYC marathon instead. Wow, those ladies can get crazy, crazy. Talk about drama around every corner but I digress...

I wound up transferring my drawing twice before beginning the painting. Thank heaven I did those color studies and discovered that mixed in with my Arches hotpress paper was a sheet of Strathmore Bristol Series 500 illustration board. I didn't order it but somehow it came with the Arches watercolor paper by mistake. I remember thinking that the paper felt heavier or more stiff when I pulled it out but continued on, clueless. It wasn't until I laid down a very wet wash that I realized something was wrong. The paper 'pilled' up like an old sweater. I tried the other side of the paper and found that almost as smooth as Yupo. The paint even beaded up on it. That's when I noticed an embossed stamp in one corner stating that it was Bristol board and the really good stuff, too!

I do love a challenge now and then so I decided to continue with the smooth side of the paper and paint my red hat ladies. We'll see how successful I am when it's done.  

Red Hat Lady ~ color studies

So far I've done two trial runs on Arches #140 hotpress w/c paper. Wow, it's difficult to retain facial expressions and features while trying to duplicate skin tones, place shadows, etc. I also tried two different palettes and two separate styles. I'm now on to #90 coldpress to see what results I get on that substrate. I'm getting plenty of practice painting faces if nothing else. I'm going to feel like I know this woman personally by the time I'm done.

Red Hat Ladies ~ sketch

I found these lovely ladies on Paint My Photo. The individual photos were posted by photographer Judy Wright and they looked like they belonged together in a single painting. Aren't they adorable? They are obviously members of the Red Hat Society , an organization started in 1998 by Sue Ellen Cooper for women over the age of 50 years. The attire of the group is based on a quote from a poem:

"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me."

I probably should have started this post by mentioning I am not a people portrait painter. With my sketch complete, I'm scratching my head as to how I plan to attack this project. There are so many styles that would lend themselves well to these subjects. Stay tuned for further developments....