I have been trying to be a looser painter, so I give myself an A+ for starting out about as loose as I have ever painted a portrait. The drawing may have gone a tiny bit astray, but over all I’m happy with this little image.
Here are some progress shots:
This was a tricky one, with the bright sun at her back. I painted with the colors that I picked from the reference photo and trusted that the shadow side wouldn't look too dark (even though her nose has a dark purple stripe). I wanted the rosy color in parts of her face to stand out more, so I opted for a background that is less warm than I originally planned so that it would be more of a contrast.
I started with a sketch that I eyeballed, and then fixed by checking it in procreate against the reference. The sketch below is after all that fixing. Then I got 4 or 5 average colors mixed that I could scrub in (very dry!) and make a thin layer. After that, another million years of adjusting with more specific color dabs. I hope the sunny day comes through!
The reference photo comes via the patreon of Bryce C. Liston (thank you to Bryce and model Heather).
Thank you to Karen R on the Museum by Sktchy app for the lovely reference photo. I love the way the light gently illuminates her face, and I tried my darndest to model her face to give it proper volume. The closeup below shows the brushstroke minutiae.
This is a 6x8" oil painting on a thin mdf panel. Paints used: Naphthol red, Hansa yellow medium, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, and warm titanium white. My strategy on this one was to create an average dark color and an average light color for the skin tones, plus a medium dark for the hair and eyes, and then to cover most of the panel with these average tones. The next million years were spent placing small brushstrokes of subtly different colors all over the image.
Here are some in-between shots:
I painted these four portraits at the same time, bringing them up together. I thought doing 4 at once would help me with the action of applying a brush stroke and then leaving it alone, moving on to something else. And while I was able to move along better, leaving brushstrokes alone, I can see I need more practice getting the right color and placement for the first, expressive brushstrokes.
The women here is the actress Tanya Reynolds in the series "The Decameron", which my daughter and I are watching. I think that Tanya has the most expressive face I've ever seen--going from gorgeous to goofy. So I took screen shots and decided to use them to practice portrait painting. And in doing 4 at once, I'm finally getting ahead on my 100-portrait project.
Each is 4x6", oil paint on kraft paper postcard that has been sealed with a few layers of GAC100.
The video shows the progression of the paintings.
I fussed over this one—scraping back in places halfway through and reworking details. But it started simply: an average dark color for the shadow side, and an average light for the illuminated side. Then the fussing began.
Some paintings come together so easily, and then I don't understand why other paintings do not. This one was a struggle, but I think it came out well in the end.
Thank you to Stacy Patrice on the Museum by Sktchy app for the reference photo. 8x6” oil on MDF panel.
I love all the colored strands in this woman's hair, plus her slightly red nose adds some drama.
The in-between images show how ridiculous the portrait looks in the beginning. Here I decided to fill in the entire panel with paint, using a general color for a large area. Then I refined the painting with smaller marks of more specific color. The initial pass using large swatches of color made the second pass much easier, because I didn't have to fill in everything with a smaller mark. Some of the color from the initial pass worked just fine.
Thank you to Milla Weideman on the Museum by Sktchy app for the reference photo. 8x6” oil paint on mdf panel.
It's me! I took a selfie using a warm lamp on one side and ambient cool light on the other. It makes an interesting color pattern. Putting in the initial color spots seemed like the painting was going to come out with crazy colors, but I think they made sense all together.
I took a dozen or so selfies for this painting session, picking the most flattering photo of myself, even though I have stringy morning hair. I don't generally like photos of myself, but I will probably do this again during this 100-portrait challenge. In the painting, I like how my face almost fades into the background, while my glasses are dark and crisp. This is 6x6" oil paint on canvas panel.
I love this woman’s hair style, so much so that I exaggerated the bundle on the right and merged it with the background. It’s fun to play with abstraction, and I don’t usually do it, but want to keep reminding myself to try.
I started on a white canvas panel and drew in the portrait with pink paint. Then I blocked in the main colors in large-ish brush strokes. In the final pass, I got more specific with the shapes and tones and paint coverage. I loved painting her hair, with all those colors and squiggles.
Here are some in-betweens:
Thank you to Stephf J on the Museum by Sktchy app for the reference photo. 6x6” oil paint on linen panel.
This girl has such big eyes, and I hope she doesn't look too stern. I loved the reference photo because of the whimsy in having a bird on her shoulder, but I also loved the big eyes staring right at the camera. I wanted to paint this more loosely, and that idea was strong in the beginning, where I started out a looser, with big spots of color on the face, but then my inner nature took over and I fussed over it. I added the shadow shapes to add a bit more interest to the painting. Many thanks to Rechelle Rissetto on the Museum by Sktchy app for the reference photo. 6x8” oil paint on mdf panel.
For this painting, I'm still using a 3-primaries plus white plus phthalo green palette. I added some abstract shapes and color to jazz ...
