Day 98 - Fauvism?!

Today I spent a couple more hours trying to straighten this portrait gone wrong.  I was shaving off 1/8" at a time..lowering an eyebrow, an eye, shortening the chin....getting more frustrated by the second.   I actually am fairly pleased with her until I look at some practiced portrait painter or figure painting.  I just started portrait/figure painting less than a year ago.  Hmm February I think!

Love the way the hands turned out!!

And doing it with acrylics can be SO frustrating. I fixed the drying out of acrylics part by buying one of those sealable pallettes...its fantastic.  The paint just stays wet forever.

The completed portrait!! Ho Hum!

However I thought I was getting too fussy with my painting because I could keep the colors from drying out...just can't make me happy!! :)

Scroll down to see what I decided to let fly today!! And it was actually fun...didn't give me a headache.

Yesterday there was  a big discussion during break about what makes a great memorable artist as opposed to a competent good artist....has nothing to do with selling but making art that is different.  Something novel...not run of the mill.  So I set a challenge after completing this portrait.  Maybe it was a quest after I listened to Elizabeth Gilbert on Super Soul Sunday?!

Fauve Erica*

I got out a piece of canvas board...cheap stuff..no expectations and made two rules for this second go round.  NO using flesh colors and I could only use large hog bristle brushes...hard to get too ticky picky with those large hog hair brushes.  Funny thing.  People are liking this like crazy on instagram...including a gallery...HUH!! Maybe playing is the way to go??

The background...I scraped the paint off the palette with a pallette knite scraping it on the board. Then I sprayed it down with a spray bottle so it could run.

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   *Fauvism is the style of les Fauves (French for "the wild beasts"), a loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism. From Google!
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3. Here's a link to more about Fauvism if you want to read about it! Try it - it's fun!!

Day 65 - Alex is done

Thanks for bearing with me as I complete this painting...she's come along way since the beginning.

Calling her done. The color is off in this photo - iPhone misbehaving. Maybe I should get out the real camera?!

The painting is done on canvas with acrylic paint.  Time to be brave and get out the oils!!

Alex Detail

Since the face is a bit blurry in the photo of the whole painting I am adding a detail so you can see her better.  I really like her eye.

And here she is in her glory.  My favorite part is her hand and the fabric nearest her hand.  OH and her eye!!  Now its time to put my feet up and think about something else for a while.  This started as an alla prima painting Sunday.  I suppose it still is...I am just glad shes DONE!! And yes I do like her. For the moment I am quite pleased with her!!

If you notice the background has changed alot in the finished one.  I did it by painting over the right background with yellow ochre and white  and sometimes a little burnt sienna, thinning it and smearing it with the biggest brush I could find.  The left side was done in a similar manner with burnt umber, ultramarine blue and phthalo blue.   The colors are scrubbed on with a dry brush OR I thinned it with water to glaze over the underlying colors which united them.

A few other adjustments...her arms were just off as was her breast...too big...and I narrowed her shoulder...just fractions of an inch but it can make a BIG difference!!

Who knows...I may get up in the morning and decide she needs a whole makeover but I think shes staying like she is for now..maybe forever.  A coat of Minwax semigloss polyurethane will give her the shine of an oil painting. Then she really will be done!
Thanks for looking.  Promise something new tomorrow!!

Day 64 - Erica again!

Alex

Continuing to work on refining the painting I call Alex though it's really Erica. Hope you are not bored with her yet because her sirens call continues.

Art guild meeting tonite and am hoping I leave her further refinement till tomorrow.

I stayed up til about 1 am last nite working on her. Never a good idea at my age. Gone are the days when I could stay up late at nite and get up and go in the morning.  No more 1 am painting!! At least til next time. :)


So exactly what did I do to her? Lightened the shadows on her. Refined her upper arm, shoulder and the breast. Worked on the hand and fabric. Looking better but still not there.  Her head should actually be tilting away from the viewer to her left...mine does not tilt enough.  More needs to come off her upper arm, her shoulder and her back.  Tomorrow!!

Day 63 - More Life Drawing

This was how I left her last nite.  All of these paintings are done with acrylic paint on canvas.  The first one is 14x16. Done from life modeling sessions.

Erica 14x16

Thought I has finished Erica after a few minor tweaks only to notice her cheek in the shadow is lighter than the one in the light. Hmmm?!

Done or so I thought! Till I noticed that her left cheek in the light was actually darker than the cheek in the shadow...HMM its always something isn't it??

I did lower her right eye...it had been slightly higher than the left.  Can you find the other changes??  I read in Richard Schmid's great book Alla Prima II that all of the features should be parallel to each other. AKA a line draw thru the brows should be parallel with a line drawn thru the eyes and the mouth...I had a few problems there.  I think I fixed them now.

Erica II (20x24)

Al Beyer was painting her from the side yesterday and I thought it a much more interesting view so I snapped a couple of pics of her from that angle.  Today I started to paint it...so far so good.  I really like this one.

Pleased w how this is going. Still a lot to do like her hand but the major work is done. I actually did not draw this one first like I usually do. I sketched  her in phthalo blue paint of all colors. Then I changed to burnt sienna. I do like the phthalo that is showing thru on her lower face above the shoulder.  She's fairly simply painted with large brushes without a lot of blending.  

BYTW I finally broke down and bought one of those large covered pallettes by Masterson Sta Wet Pallette..best thing since sliced bread.  It's kept my paint wet since MAY!!! I just spritz it down before I cover it till next time.  Truly amazing. I was tired of throwing out dried out acrylics or even worse finally mix the right color only to have it dry up before I finished painting. GRRR!!! I finally changed the pallette sheet today but still have some of the colors I put out in May...colors I dont use a lot.   Be SURE you get the large flat one with the BLUE lid not the one with the slots in it.  

Day 54 - Live Drawing at USC Aiken

Most Saturdays Prof. Al Beyer has a life drawing class in his studio.  Today we went.  This is what I have done so far!!

Erica

I seem to always get on the shadow side during life drawing lately...well for the long poses....and I like her head...but that shadow on her chest has to go...tomorrow I hope!! Shorten the right arm...oops...thats easy!! Other than that and some tweaking I think she's done. 

 Maybe a purple or vermilion cloth on the chair?! The blue kind of gets lost.

Thanks for looking!!

Day 50 - A Portrait

That's the painting equivalent of skyrockets, right?!  I have a commission portrait that I have been working on.  It's done in acrylic.  

First I drew it and then I scrubbed in a base color on the raw canvas.

Then I started painting him.  I love using the flesh color made by Liquitex and  Buff for the skin.  I also used Nickel Azo Gold, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, White, Burnt Umber, Vermilion, Cad Red and Cad Yellow Light.  However I could not tell what color his eyes were from the photos I had of him.   Did I let that stop me? NO, I kept on painting!!

Here's a close up of the eye.

Except OH NO his eyes are a very bright blue...but that was an easy fix!!

I greyed the rusty shadows out by adding a light blue to them...scrubbing it in with a dry brush...you have to be creative when painting portraits with acrylic because it dries so fast.

Currently this is what he looks like right now...I am going to sleep on it and see if I decide to change him in the morning...you never know do you??  I do like to look at it a while to decide how to tweak him!! 

Thanks for looking!!