Bennett Finished

I am calling this one finished. I worked some more on the fur and don't want to add any more washes to the skin tones. It is easy to go too dark on babies and look unnatural. Again, the photo background is a little darker than real life but I had to darken it to get the skin tones to look accurate to the painting.

Just about finished

I just have a few corrections on the fur to do to call this one finished. The fine details of the fur were tricky because the watercolour paint wouldn't hide the underpainting. I had to use white acrylic to paint the fine hairs of the fur. I just have to go back and add some greys to them to blend them a little better and this one will be finished. The photo is a little greyer overall and the skin tones a little darker than the actual painting.

Step 5

With everything going on lately, this commission is going slowly. However, now that the areas of value changes are established, it will speed up a little. It is just a matter of adjusting the values, adjusting the overall colour, and then working on the details. :-) This isn't the best photo because the day was very overcast and I had to use indoor light.

Step 4

My lower back has been bothering me lately (strained it at work), but today I was able to work on this some more. I am still working all over the skin tones developing the values. I will be going darker on the shadows before adding a pale wash overall. I have to be careful not to make a baby's fair skin tones too dark.

Bennett Step 3

I did a little more work on this today developing the contours and starting to darken some of the values. It's hard to get a good photo because it's so light right now.

Step 2

I worked a little more on this today. I'm going over the whole painting developing the contours of the face before I start going darker. In case it's not clear from the painting, the baby is lying on a furry rug so that is why the face fades out on the lower edge.

 

 

Commission Step 1

 Here is the first washes on a commission I've started. It's still very pale but I'm just working out the overall layout with these first steps. I've had to darken the photo to be able to see it here at all.

Step 6

I worked some more on the background although you probably won't see much difference. There is still a long way to go on the background before I'm satisfied with it but I'll work on that before I go back to the child.

Upcoming Show

Join me at the opening of my upcoming show Aug 13 at 7:00 pm.

Young Gardener Step 5

I worked a little more on this one but my job has been keeping me from making much progress. I have an idea for a new still life so now I am motivated to get this done faster. The hard part will be finding time.

Sorry for the long time between posts. I've been busy teaching workshops and the prep for those has taken all my time. I've decided to get back to my own paintings by finishing one I have left on my easel for far too long. It is full sheet size. I don't know how fast I'll get it done but it will fill in the time before I decide on what my next major painting will be. Here is the step I am at right now. I'm just blocking in large areas of colour and working on the values.

Painting in Metal finished

I finally got a chance to finish this unusual painting. I sprayed it with a clear protective coat but it only made it even harder to photograph. Here is the best one I could come up with but in real life it changes depending on the angle you are looking at it. I can now start the work I need to do for a workshop I am teaching in Sudbury in about 10 days. Next month I can get back to painting for myself. :)

Stage 2

It is impossible to get a good photo with it so reflective. I added the copper foil on the shadow side but it is reflecting very bright here. There are still areas not covered with the metal foil but I have to wait for a few things to dry before going on. I don't think I like it but learned years ago to work through the ugly stage before I make a final decision. The only area I really like is the shirt. I found a varigated metal foil and used it. I might experiment with painting or staining the metal maybe with oil paints after but that will be a last resort. The metal leaf is really difficult to work with because my adhesive doesn't seem to work really well.
The darks on the eyebrows and eyes are a glue with glitter in it. It will lighten as it dries and I will dust them with a brass powder I have.

Stage 1

I still don't know if this will work or not. I will keep going but I'm not too happy with it right now. I can see this is going to be a problem to not only photograph but also display on a wall. The angle of the light changes the whole look of the painting. Both of these photos are exactly the same except I changed my position and the light is reflecting from a different direction. It looks very rough right now because the darks haven't been added. I have no idea what I am going to do with the shirt. I might just take it out. Lots to figure out and work on.

Painting with metal

This is a real experiment and I don't know if it will work at all or be a total waste of materials. Our local art club is holding a show next month with the theme of "Goldbrush". It will tie in with our city's 100th anniversary celebrations. Our city is a big mining town built on the rich gold finds in the area, hence the reference to gold.

I couldn't come up with any ideas for my painting so I decided to just play with the idea. I have sketched out on a cadled board "canvas", a posterized version of a portrait of one of my sons. My idea is to paint the different tones of his face with different tones of metal leaf, paint, and powder. I have no idea if it will work so you can all follow along as I try this experiment.

Oil Painting finished

This weekend I attended an oil painting workshop taught by Pam Dallaire. It was great fun and a chance to refresh my memory on painting with oils. This weekend we added colour over the grey underpainting.

Here is the finished version.

Step 5

I'm getting to the point that I'm not sure how much more detail I'm supposed to add to this since it's an underpainting and I'll be adding oil paints on top. I'll stop here and ask the instructor if I should add to it. It helps that she's my sister and coming over tomorrow. :-)

Step 4

More work on the basket and vase.

Step 3

Another hour of painting this morning. Starting to get the feel of working with acrylics (something I've not used before).

Step 2

I worked a little on this today but not a lot of time to paint - nightshift again tonight. I am continuing to find the shapes and adjust values on this acrylic grisaille for the workshop.

And Now for Something Completely Different

I am going to be taking an oil painting workshop from Pam Dallaire in April and have received my instuctions for our homework to be completed before the course starts. We have to paint a grey scale underpainting (grisaille) in acrylic on the 16 x 20" canvas so that at the course we will be learning how to glaze in transparent oil paints. I feel like I am back at step 1 of my learning! I haven't used acrylics before and we have to paint this using 5 values from white to black. This is step 1 after just a few hours work. I can't believe how long this is going to take me!

Original Camo

I've finished this one. It is fairly loose but as I just wanted it for a demo for a workshop, that is as far as I want to take it. Now I can get started on a more serious painting. :-)

Black stripes

Again, I did the two zebras on the outside before the one in the middle. For the sake of keeping this shorter, I'll just show you the finished black stripes. Now I have to go over the whole thing adding shading and adjusting details. Then the grass on the ground they are eating.

Original Camo - red underpainting

The next steps in painting the zebras heads was a little confusing keeping all the stripes right. So I painted the two zebras on the sides before tackling the one in the middle that made my eyes cross. :-) Here the stripes are painted red. The next step will be adding the next glaze of colour that will make them look black.

Two paintings for a workshop

I am planning on holding a workshop later this spring teaching how to mix blacks. I am using a lesson plan created by Char McGill (http://www.charmingart.org/) (we exchange lesson plans) but I need to paint the demo paintings to make them my own and have the paintings there as an example. The fun way to teach blacks is with zebras. The first painting of the single zebra is based on Char's lesson. The second will be a slightly different approach. I also am doing them on watercolour paper wrapped around a canvas and they will then be varnished.

The first painting is finished (above) and I'll show the steps in the second one. Here is step 1 - adding shading in the beginning.

Early Frost finished

I finished this one today and will finish framing it tomorrow. This one was a quick and easy one for me. By keeping it looser I was able to do it in about 6 hours total. Deciding what I am going to start next but it will have to be later in the week as I work nightshift the next two days.

Early Frost step 4

I did a little more on this one today. It is hard for me to leave it with so few details but I wanted to try a looser style for it. Only the two left hand tomatoes need finishing and then to go over the whole thing adjusting and tweaking.

Early Frost step 3

I am finding that the heavy use of water is really slowing things down. I am working from right to left going darker with values and starting to pick out some of the details in the leaves.

Early Frost step 2

I had a chance to work some more on this this afternoon. I have to wait to go farther because everything is too wet to work on. Having fun just dropping in colour and letting it do it's thing. Forgot to mention in my first post that this is 11" x 27" - not small.

Early Frost step 1

I am doing a loose washy painting of green tomatoes picked early from my garden last fall because of a frost. It is just to get me painting again before starting more detailed paintings that I have planned (three figures and a painting for a themed show that I haven't decided what I am doing yet). I just needed to do this as sort of a palette cleanser (pun intended). LOL. I hope to get it done fairly quickly but again I have to work this weekend. This is just the first two hours where I have started on some shadows to work out layout and then the first washes on the two right hand tomatoes.

Lianne finished

I have finally finished this painting! I was going to add more detail to the hair but realized that I wanted the focus to be the eyes and adding detail in other places would draw attention to it. So the hair is more loosely painted. I also am cropping a few inches off the bottom to better balance the portrait. Less is more and things shouldn't be added just because they are in the reference image. An artist needs to ask themselves if inclusion helps or lessens the overall look they were trying for.

I will add the drawing stage of the next painting as soon as I have it started after I work this weekend.

finally back to painting

It has been a long holiday season for me but things are finally back to normal (or as close as I get). LOL Today marked a big step... I finally got back to my painting. I have many more ideas for other paintings so I need to get this one finished. It's been on my easel (between other paintings) for over a year.
This is step 9. Today I corrected features, added a pinkish wash all over the skin tones, and a darker brown wash over all the background and the hair. I need to go in and work on the hair a lot more adding tones and hightlights. The face is mainly done.
The main reason for painting this portrait with the lighting I chose, was to give it the look of an old master's oil paintings. I don't need it to be photo realistic in the hair so it will go faster now.