Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Step 20

Today I only painted for an hour but I had a lot of insights. The first was that when I put out the oil paint I need to adjust them with medium so they are all the same consistency (not some thin and some pastey), I also should not scimp on the amount of paint I put out. In my painting I realized that one pupil is lower than the other so that will have to be adjusted. The hairline is also way too high. I am developing a technique to blend colours and I am still using bigger brushes and blocking in colours better every day. So little time put in but lots of good learning. Today I worked all over the face adjusting colours. I had to stop because eveything is too wet. I can't paint tomorrow (life gets in the way) but that will give the paint time to dry a little.


Monday, October 30, 2017

Step 19

Today I realized that the blocked in colours on the face weren't right. The darks weren't dark enough and the lights not light enough. I've started revising the blocked in colours on the face so right now it looks rougher than yesterday but I'm getting the values more accurate. Nothing worse than a washed out looking painting. LOL. I also worked on the nose trying to get the shading right.


Sunday, October 29, 2017

Step 18

Today was for working all over the cheeks and nose. I'm getting the idea of doing oils. I am picking up bigger brushes and blocking in areas of colour rather than going with little brushes and picking at details.


Saturday, October 28, 2017

Step 17

Today was for correcting a few details in the same eye and working on the mouth.


Thursday, October 26, 2017

There is mostly just the head to do now with just some minor adjustments on the clothing and background later. I've decided rather than skip all over the face I'd start at the eye and begin getting it as close as possible and work out from it. So today I just worked on the eye. I'll start showing the face in the photos so you can follow the details. There will still be final adjustments after this layer is finished.


Monday, October 23, 2017

Step 15

I only had an hour to work on this today because I've started my xmas baking. So today I worked some more on the clothing and zipper. They are getting close to being finished. Back to the face again tomorrow.


Sunday, October 22, 2017

Step 14

I was running late and didn't have a lot of time to paint this morning. That and the fact the face wasn't completely dry from last time, meant that today I concentrated on shading on the arms and vest. Very subtle changes but a lot of finicky work. Imagine blending like you do with eye shadow (those of you who use it).


Friday, October 20, 2017

Step 13

Today I worked on areas all over the face correcting colours. I also worked on the zipper. The changes aren't very obvious but it's one step at a time.


Thursday, October 19, 2017

Step 12

It's been many months since I did any painting. Life just gets in the way. I have now decided that I need to schedule time daily to get back into the habit instead of just consigning it to the bottom of the daily "to do" list.

I'm back to working on this oil portrait of my brother-in-law and just in time. It has to be dried and varnished by December for a show it is going in.

I've started back by blocking in all over the face to cover the yellow empty spaces. I am trying to get the colours close in colour and value and will go back later to correct. The side of his face is not that light beige colour you see. I had a hard time getting an accurate photo. It is more the colour of his forehead.