Cade finished

I finally finished this commission and on time for Christmas as well. If the client approves it will be picked up tomorrow.

I will now be taking a break until after the holidays. I have to work three of the next six days as well as having my extended family arriving for the holidays. It will be chaotic here but I wouldn't have it any other way!

May I wish all my followers here the very merriest of holidays however you celebrate. And the very best of wishes for a joyous and creative New Year.

step 3

I should never have chosen this type of paper for the painting. I am constantly fighting with buckling and hard edges on the washes. It is coming along but not as well as I had hoped.

Cade step 2

I am back to working on this commission that needs to be finished by xmas. This is step 2 so I still have a long way to go. I am working on the values all over the painting. The background colour is going to be a lot warmer when finished.

For the Mrs. is finished

I finally finished this one. I could spend hours more fiddling with tiny details but it is as done as I am taking it. Tomorrow I'll frame it and then I'll be ready for the show it will be hung in next month. The face is less red in real life but it is a grey day and hard to get an accurate photo.

step 14

More work on the vest, hands, and starting the holly. I am thinking that I will keep this painting looking more painterly than photorealistic. We will have to see how happy I am with it closer to the end.

Santa Step 13

More work done all over the painting. I've also started blocking in the hands.

Step 12

Here is an update after a couple of hours work today. I am happier with the hair and beard after today's corrections. I continued to work all over the painting and the big realization today is that the vest is going to be too close in colour to the hands. I'll have to adjust it next time.

Santa step 11

It was worthwhile taking a break from painting for a few months. I came back to it fresh and immediately was able to see what needed correcting. My paintbrush almost flew over the painting without needing any thought. I am looking forward to doing more tomorrow.

Getting back to work

My break from painting to concentrate on hand dyed silk scarves is complete for now. My stock is ready for the Christmas sales next month. I can now focus on my painting once again. I now have two paintings in progress. I am still working on the Santa portrait with a deadline near the end of Nov for a show. I have also started a commission with a deadline near the first of Dec. Add to that the preparations for Christmas with baking, decorating, shopping, parties, etc. and it adds up to my busiest time of year.

Here is the first stage of my commission. It is 11 x 14 (with a vertical format at the client's request). This is step 1 of Cade. It is only the faintest of images at this stage working on positioning features.

What have I been up too?

Not painting obviously. Santa is still sitting there waiting for me to get over the latest distraction. I have become fascinated by dyeing silk scarves. I took one workshop and have been hooked ever since. What I am doing right now is working on increasing my stock of completed scarves to have them for sale at the Christmas Craft shows up here. Paintings don't sell well as gifts but I believe these will. I still have to finish the Santa painting for a show in Dec so I will get back to it but the progress will be slow.

To give you an idea of the scarves I am working on, here are a few photos. I started out just learning technique but I am now trying out traditional dyeing patterns and inventing some of my own. I'll only show my best ones after this post so I won't flood this blog with pics.

Step 10

I'm back to work on Santa but can only squeeze in about an hour at a time. I am nightshift all this weekend so I won't get more done for a few days. I am working on correcting values all over and have started adding washes to the lower part of the vest. Right now the hair looks darker than it will at the end because you have to have dark to add depth. I will correct it later on.

For a show

I have been delayed in doing more work on the Santa painting because of a deadline for a painting for a show with my local art club. This was supposed to be a quick and easy painting (16 x 24) but turned out to be very hard to get even washes and blending. I called it Breakfast... Assembly Required and it is a varnished watercolour. However, the varnish made it almost impossible to get a good photo because of reflections. The photo shows a lot of blotchy colours that aren't there in real life because of the manipulation in Photoshop to get the image as close as possible. I will be back at the Santa painting shortly.

Step 9

I was right. Getting the masking fluid off was four hours of hard work. I should never have left it on so long. It turned into a gooey, sticky mess. However, I finally got it off and I'm moving on. Today I added another wash of colour over the background to set it farther back, put a first wash of colour on the pants, and added another wash of colour on the face. I still have to cover more of the white areas to get a better photo. I will have a lot of work to do on all the hair and beard but at least the masking is off and I can get to work on that next.

Step 8

I think this has been a record for not continuing with a painting. Lots of things got in the way of my art. I taught two workshops out of town and the family went to Jamaica for my son's destination wedding. Now that things have settled down I can paint again. I am hoping the delay in taking off the masking won't turn into a disaster!

I have done more shading of the shadows, more working on the skin tones and started to add a gold wash over the shirt where firelight is supposed to be hitting. Many more washes are going to be needed to get the effect I want. The exciting part is that the next step will be to remove all the masking fluid and see what kind of mess lies beneath. :) I also really need to start adding colour to the bottom of the painting so that it is easier to get an accurate photo. All that white throws off the camera.

Step 7

I have been slow to get back to this one. Today was mostly working on starting the pin stripes on the shirt figuring out where the folds were. Still another sleeve to do on that before I start going darker with the values. I also added more masking in the hair and went darker where the shadows will be. I will be removing the masking there next and then will have lots of fixes to do on it.

Step 6

Another session working all over the painting. Another dark wash on the background, more colour in the folds of the shirt, the first washes on the vest, more colour on the hair and beard, and a wash of yellow over the face. I can't do anything more until it dries thoroughly. However, it will have plenty of time to dry since I have to work the next two days.

Step 5

I softened some of the edges of the folds, added more colour to the hair and beard, and added darker values to better define the face. Now I have to wait for everything to dry before I can do more.

Step 4

Today I worked all over the painting. I darkened the background, started working out the folds in the shirt sleeves, added some masking fluid on the white hairs of the beard and hair, worked some more on the eyes and the facial skin tones. I need to let it dry now before I can go on.

Step 3

I added the first washes over the chair carrying it over the background as well. Still very ugly but this is just underpainting to start it getting darker and the beginnings of the right colours. I also worked on the first washes of colour over the face. Still has to go a lot darker but I am working on figuring out the beginning of modelling the planes of the face. There is still masking fluid on the highlights in the eyes (which still need some work) as well as some in the eyebrows and hair. I have to figure out the best way to make a mustach and beard (I can't believe I have never had to paint those before).

Step 2

Today I started adding a dark wash over the background. It is bluish right now but will end up almost black when finished. The chair is brown leather so that will be washed over the chair and background in the next few steps. I also started the first washes on the eyes. I like doing them first so that I don't waste my time on the rest of the painting if I mess up the eyes totally. I would just start over.

It is very hard to get a decent photo with so much white not covered on the paper.

For the Mrs. step 1

It has been a long time since I've been able to get back to my painting. I am hoping that I can work regularly on it again.
This is the start of my latest painting. Mrs. Clause commissioned a portrait of her Nick (without the "Santa" suit). He was reluctant at first but finally agreed to whatever would make her happy, hence the title "For the Mrs."
It is 24 x 20" but might get cropped a little with framing (however, that decision is far in the future). Here is the first step, the drawing. Sorry for the bad photo but it is impossible to get a good photo of a line drawing.