Woman on blanket

This painting for sale  9x12  $30

Alright, instead of just a head, this time I thought I would tackle the whole body.  It's not a perfect painting by any stretch, but I think its pretty good.  I had a reference picture that was black and white, so any I had to come up with all the color on my own.  I think did  a pretty good job of capturing skin color.  I will admit that she probably could use a few hours in the sun.  I think if (or when) I go back and tinker with this one, I'll add a bit more definition to her chin and neck.

The hair was difficult, because in the reference picture, she had platinum blonde hair.  I'm not sure how to paint that, so I made hers a bit dirtier blonde.  

Like always, the hands are terribly hard.  The one across her torso was a bit odd in the photo, and as such a bit odd on the painting.  A little more work and I'll get better at them.  All in all I think for a first attempt, this turned out terrific.

Eye Study

Just  a quick study of eyes.  A few weeks ago they seemed so hard to draw.  Like many people, I used to think they were almond shaped with a round thing in the middle.  Then throw in a black dot and you have an eye.

Well guess what, I've learned a huge amount about eyes.  They aren't really almond shaped.  The iris is lighter in the middle and darker near the pupil and edge.  The sclera isn't white, or fully white anyway.  You have a lid flap that covers your eye lid, and the whole thing is shadowed by the brow ridge.  Who knew?!  Like i said, a month ago an eye was an almond with whiskers coming off of it.

By no means do i think these few simple drawings make me an expert at eyes, but they have helped to show what eyes really are like.

Expect to see more simple studies like this one.  They really do help you to understand the subject.

Enjoy.

Sleeper

I've been working on this for a while.  I've had it drawn for well over a month.  I was determined to finish it today as I've got others I need to need to get too.  I'm happy with it, but looking at the scan, it looks like he doesn't have any whiskers.  They are definitely there in the painting.  That might be one think I have to go back and darken up before it's delivered to it intended recipient.

Here is the inspiration picture.  I know its not an exact match, but I think its a pretty good resemblance.

Well, even if it isn't perfect I had fun painting it.  Hope you all enjoy it.

One Final Portrait

This painting for sale 9x12 $30

Ok, so I think I have saved the best for last.  Trying to pull together all the elements of a portrait that I have learned this month.  The eyes, the hair, the proportions  all of it.  I am certain this is my best work to date.  Laying down a bit of color on wet, or damp paper and blending seems to be the way I am gonna paint from now on.  There are plenty of artists that can user watercolors in only one layer, or two at most, but I think I have learned that that isn't me.  I need to put down a lot of layers in what I am doing.  This painting has a lot of them.  The background itself is two or 3 layers, then in order to ge the highlights on the face, I started out really light, and I bet I've got 5 or 6 on the face and that many on the neck too.

Here is a little bit of an intermediate stage.  Sorry I don't have one where I had just the drawing.  notice that I did paint into the area where the hair will be.  That is so that if you are gonna see through the hair at all, I want you to see some of the background color.

Here is the original image.  You can see and judge for yourself if I've done a good job or not.

Hope you all enjoy the painting, as you know, I had a great time painting it.

The Eyes Have It

So I learned that eyes aren't just almond shapes.  I also learned that iris' aren't solid colors, the whites of your eyes aren't white, and your lid folds into a slot called and eye fold.  All these together make an eye kind of a tricky thing to paint.

Noses on the other hand have two dark ovals (the actual nostrils, and a rounded point.  The outside of the nostrils get shading to give them definition, even if when you look at someone you don't necessarily see it.

I tried to take what I have learned in the past two weeks and paint a better pair of eyes and a nose.  I think I am making definite progress.

Why the big push for learning eyes?  Well, since I've been trying to paint faces, I've learned that if the eyes look good, the painting looks good.  If the eyes look bad, the painting looks bad.  So, if I learn to paint eyes, regardless of what I do with the rest of the painting, the painting will look good.  (at least thats the theory)

Oh, the base for these eyes are green because I was painting a different picture and already had green on my palette and didn't feel the need to mix new.  Enjoy.

Colorado

Well, here it is, a family portrait.  My mother and step father together in Colorado.  I think I did a fair job with this.  You can see in the picture below there was a lot of dark coloring in my step father's jacket and hat.  I had to compensate by making the collar and brim of his hat a bit lighter.  I did the same thing with my mother's coats.  I suppose there are better painters who could do a better job, while still keeping the collars and hats the same shade.  As for me, I thought it was a really good compromise.  I like the mottling in the pantlegs of the jeans.

Here is the original picture.  As you can plainly see, I didn't follow the proper background.  Well, I didn't know exactly what do do about the snow.  I've never painted snow and I didn't want to start now.  I wanted to give a soft diffused background that would compliment the subject color.  As it is I think I did a good job with it.  When you look at it, you notice the background but you immediately look away from it and are drawn to the subject.  I think I worked great.  Let me know what you think.

Also, don't you think it looks like mother is 20 years younger?

Another Head Shot

Well, this one didn't quite turn out the  way I hoped.  I think the problem mostly is with the hair.  Yes, her skin color is a little off, but I don't think that affects this painting in the least.  I was trying a slightly different technique for hair, and..... well, lets just say I think I need a bit mor practice with it.

The main point of this exercise for this painting were eyes.  On the original, I thought the eyes turned out pretty good.  looking at the scan, maybe not quite so much.

Here is the original picture.  You can see that it is a pretty plain picture to start with.  I think I got her nose pretty good.   You all will have to decide for yourself.  Hope you enjoy.

Another Face

Another face.   I think I just missed the mark on this one.  I may have to go back and tweak it just a bit.  I think the eyes are a bit better that previous pictures, but i don't think the scan is doing it justice.

I tried a little something new with the hair.  I for the most part it worked out.  The hair on her right hand side I think looks good.  On the left below her ear could use some work.  I love her smile, and I'm willing to bet that my auntie Roberta will like her teeth.

I think that I am gonna go back and rework this one a bit.  Maybe put a little more shadow on her forehead under he hair, and on her left cheek.  you might see this one painting re-posted at a later time.

This time, again, I used the same technique that I am hoping to use in most of my paintings from now on.  I've no idea what it is called, other than wet-in-wet painting (but it is not strictly wet-in-wet).  I do a lot more than just that.

Well, for now, this is what I've got.  I still have a few more portraits to paint, so be on the lookout.

Another Portrait

This painting for sale 9x12 $30

First off, I think this looks a bit odd because I didn't paint quite enough of his neck, but what the hay.  I painted this in the way I am gonna try to do all my paintings from now on.  I got the paper wet, and then let the paint do what it do on the paper.  I actually have about 5 or 6 layers of paint on most of this.  I don't know that I'll be using that many layers all the time, but I'll definitely be using two or three.

I didn't want to overdo the beard and hair for fear of doing too much too it.  I still might go back and draw in some individual hairs with a pen, but basically, what you see is what you are always gonna get.  I might go back and make the eyebrows a bit bigger too.  But again, I might just wanna leave it this way.

Here is the picture that I started with.  Sorry, hat I forgot to take it as just a drawing.  You can see part of the first layer of paint, though.

Here is the picture mostly done.  Interestingly, you can see that I took the picture with his beard just a bit wet. As the paint dries it lightens up, so you can see that it is much darker here.  Also, he looks a bit devilish with no eyeballs.

I had a great time painting this one, hope you have a great time viewing it.

Another Portrait, and maybe more to come

This painting for sale. 8x10 $20

Once again I have a challenge to paint portraits.  I guess I could try it a little more conventionally but... sometimes you just don't wanna do it that way.  If I had done this the conventional way, then you would know what everything was supposed to look like exactly.  You would immediately look and see flaws in the picture, and they would stick in your mind.

Painting this way, you see the colors, and the the shapes, but not necessarily what you mind tells you you should be seeing.  There is a little leeway for me to make a few mistakes.  Actually, I think it makes it a much more dramatic picture also.

Here is the picture I started with.  You can see the drawing and that I had just started to paint.  There are a lot of coats of paint on top of the one that is down on this picture.

Actually, I should say that I really like to paint this way.  It takes longer to paint any particular picture, but I think its more fun, and I think the result really looks nice.  I don't know if I could do something like a landscape this way, but for defined shapes, I could do this all day.

Here is the picture that I used for the basis for my painting.  I still might go back and splotch in some freckles to give her face a little more detail, but if I don't do anything, I'm totally still satisfied.

Oh, and yes, like the headline says, expect mor portraits.

Monterrey Cypress

Ok, well, I tried to do another  one from the central coast.  This one being a monterrey cypress trees along the coast.  I think I jus tmissed the mark on this one.  I like some of the rocks, I think the grass is ok, but I really think I missed my mark on the tree itself.  I know, I know, thats a pretty big thing since the tree takes up the whole painting.  Well, some are winners, some maybe come in second place.  This is one that probably finished second, or even later.

Female Face

This painting for sale. 8x10 $20

Inspired by February's portrait painting challenge, or maybe by re-finding an artists work that I had hoped to duplicate, or getting some inspiration from a newly found friend, I trudged ahead with a new style of painting.  (You may link to the inspirational sites here and here.)

I used a lot more water than normal, and allowed the paint to do whatever it is that the paint does on the paper.  I'll admit to not being the most proficient with this right now, but  I love this style of painting.  I'm gonna be doing more, so get ready.