Portrait 13/100

 

Thank you to "ie va" on the Museum by Sktchy app for the awesome reference photo. I have often heard that it is helpful to start a painting by making it clear to yourself what in particular about the subject matter appeals to you. That is, what is the main idea you want to get across? I was inspired to paint this one because of the interesting light pattern on her face. It made an oval on the upper 2/3 of the portrait. So I wanted to keep that light oval emphasized in the painting. In the reference, the background is white, but I darkened it in the painting so that the oval is the lightest part. Here's what the final painting looks like when reduced to 5 values: 

I think I achieved my main aim for this portrait, so I'm happy with it. I also think it's a pretty good likeness. 

Here is a series of in-betweens. Those middle two actually should appear to have white, unpainted backgrounds--not sure why my camera made them so blue. The last one is correct in its blueness.

Portrait 12/100

 

This is a portrait of Maris T, who modeled for photographs by @bcliston, so thank you to both of them for the lovely reference photo. 

I painted the portrait in several stages. The first one involved making an acrylic underpainting in red and yellow. The second was identifying the general area where I wanted sparkly bits to appear in the curtain, and I glued imitation gold leaf there. In the third, I approximated colors all through the painting. For the face, I made a light color and a shadow color and applied big flat areas of paint. I let that sit for a few days because we lost power in our office/studio and I was thinking that frostbite was imminent (not likely, tho--I'm in SoCal). The heat returned and I finished up the modeling of the face and fixing proportions and colors. This one was hard!

Portrait 11/100

Thank you to Rechelle Rissetto on the Museum by Sktchy app for the sweet reference photo. 

I had to break out my turquoise blue to approximate the color of the fancy blue eye shadow. I couldn’t tell if the extra color around her mouth was Kool-aid or lipstick—probably the former, but I painted it like the latter. In this progress series, you can see a panel that I let dry and then sanded it down--trying to get a fresher surface to finish the painting. 6x6” oil paint on mdf panel.

Portrait 10/100

I thought the reference photo for this was so cool—a model with her portrait (or perhaps self portrait?). 

I started with an 8x10" gessoed mdf panel and made an underdrawing using transparent red oxide and some odorless mineral spirits (to help keep the white spaces white). Then I started quickly dabbing in the colors that I thought were right. The next day I fussed around with everything, adding more paint and trying to get the features right. This is a very white painting! The shirt is a warmer white and the background is a cooler white to differentiate the two somewhat. 

I thank Zuly Bustamante on the Museum by Sktchy app for the reference photo. When I get to the end of my yearlong challenge and I find myself short 1 portrait, then I will count this one as two!

Portrait 9/100

 

Portrait 9/100. I made this as part of a Let’s Face It 2025 online class given by Kara Bullock. I was inspired by Kara’s loose brushwork, but my version got a little tighter than hers despite my best efforts! 

The underpainting was in acrylic, and then I switched to oil paint for the rest (Kara did hers all in acrylic). Thank you to Kara for the lesson and Mae Martinez on the museum by Sktchy app for the reference photo. 6x6” mdf panel.

Portrait 8/100

 

Early in this portrait I fully questioned the wisdom of this project. I didn't think I'd get it to the point where I wanted to post it. The hand and the curly hair, in particular were difficult. Often when it's difficult, I scrape it back and paint again, which I did a few times here. I think it worked out fine in the end. Here are the progress shots:

Thank you to Richard Castor Jeffery on the musuem by sktchy app for the reference photo.