Category people

Contemporary Portrait-Indian Girl

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12 x 16 ins, oil on canvas panel

So much fun! This portrait is based on a photo from Unsplash, but adapted according to my memories of our 4 month stay in India in 2014. One overwhelming impression there was the riot of color—in clothing, outside temples, in decorations. It was a beautiful feast of color!

Here’s a gallery of some steps in the process:

Dancing with the colors—a freehand placing of connected colors.
Adding the motif by oil transfer.
Negative blocking—rubbing out the lightest areas with a paper towel.
Blocking in the major values and colors.
Adding some momentum—brushing, scraping, swiping and swooshing!
Restoring the image with more layers of color and refinement.

Eden

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Oil on canvas panel, 18 x 24

I painted this picture of my youngest granddaughter from a photo taken and sent by my daughter-in-law. Besides loving the subject, I loved the light on her face. The photo was actually taken in their bathroom without the toys. I adjusted the background and requested a photo of the toys to add to the foreground.

This painting is currently on display at the Link Art Gallery in Paris, IL. I was delighted to find that my painting was chosen as the one used for the promotional cards for the Show. It will be up until July 15, 2022, along with other works by members of the River City Art Association, including two more of mine.

Applying Lessons to Portraits II

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One of my major painting goals for 2022 is to paint from life as much as possible.

After my enjoyable sessions at the live portrait group in Pennsylvania, where I simplified the process by using only the Zorn palette (yellow ochre, cadmium red, ivory black and titanium white) plus transparent red oxide, I decided to concentrate on using the Zorn palette for more portrait practice this year.

I returned to photos that I took in Nov 2019, when I asked family members to sit for me for an hour at a time during the week of my birthday and I painted 11 x 14 portrait sketches using water-mixable oils:

11 x 14 oil on canvas panel, 2019
Photo taken at end of sitting 2019

Now, in 2022, I’ve repainted from these photographs using a 3-step process:

  1. Charcoal drawing
  2. Oil color study
  3. Finished oil portrait

1. Charcoal Drawing

Charcoal study from photo above, 6 x 8 ins

2. Oil Color Study

Oil Study painted from photo above, 6 x 8 ins

3. Finished Portrait

Portrait, 9 x 12 ins, oil on canvas board

Applying Lessons to Portraits I

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I decided to apply the lessons I’d learned from the live portrait group to some work at home.

Sadly, I did not have a live model anymore (working on ideas to find some!), but I revisited the time when I did have live models sit for me, during my birthday week of 2019 (one of my birthday wishes).

This is the one hour painting (water mixable oils on green-toned 11 x 14 canvas), and the photo I took at the end of that sitting.
I started the 2022 session with a charcoal drawing from the photo above, 6 x 8 ins.
Then I painted two studies using the Zorn palette, plus Transparent Red Oxide. 6×8 ins each, oil on canvas
I used all that information and practice to paint this final portrait.
9 x 12 ins, oil on canvas board.
I was pleased to see some progress over the last two years!

Live Portrait group in PA, II

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Here are the results of the second 2 hour session I attended. The model this time was a local veteran. He was a very patient and cheerful sitter!
A photo of the model.

At the end of the session, the model inspected the various representations of himself, with generous comments to all!

The group plans to continue painting veterans every other week, and in Nov 2022 have a display of all the year’s portraits of veterans at the VA hospital. At that time each veteran may choose one portrait of themselves to keep. I thought that was a great plan!

Oil, 9 x 12

Several months later, I painted the same subject again (from my photo), on a larger canvas and with a more expressive background.

Live Portrait Group in PA, I

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During our fall stay in PA, I went to a couple of two hour live portrait sessions at a local art center. On one occasion we painted a class member and on the other, a veteran. There were 6-8 artists present, using a variety of media.

On the first session I attended we painted a class member. I started in charcoal, and was pleased to find I could make a decent likeness in about half an hour.

Charcoal on toned gray paper, 5.5 x 8.5 in

Then I painted the sitter again using a very limited palette of oil paints. This was yellow ochre, cadmium red, ivory black, titanium white and transparent red oxide (a modifed version of the palette used by Swedish master artist Anders Zorn).

Oil Paint on canvas, 6 x 7.75 in

I started with a very rough block-in, then painted all the shadows with transparent red oxide for the face and ivory black for the clothing. I found the limited number of colors easier to manage and mix.

I was very happy with the glow that the red oxide gave to the face. The other class members had useful comments to make about my efforts and said I’d captured his likeness exactly. It was all very enjoyable and satisfying.

Juried Shows in Terre Haute, Fall 2021

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Swope Art Museum, 77th Annual Juried Show, Nov. 6, 2021-Jan. 9, 2022

I was delighted this year to once again have a painting selected for exhibit in the Swope Art Museum Annual Juried Show. My painting ‘Flying 2020’ was chosen by Juror Drek Davis from Louisiana. In his comments he said,

“While there is no specific theme for the exhibition, it seemed to me that the vast majority of the works submitted in one way or another spoke to the moment that we find ourselves in. Nina Simone is famously noted as saying “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times.” And while it is debatable whether that charge is an actual duty, per se, the works assembled here suggest that numerous artists in the Wabash Valley understand it as an opportunity to address some of life’s persistent emotional, social, and psychological issues. In the times that we find ourselves, for this moment, that’s important I think.”

That was exactly how I felt at this moment in the airplane! I sat there with my face almost totally covered, one mask required by the airline, one mask desired by me, and thought, “This is a strange situation we’ve come to in the world”, and was motivated to capture the moment in paint.

Flying 2020, 9 x 12 Oil on Canvas panel

Arts Illiana Small Art Show 2021

I was also pleased to have two paintings selected for the Annual Small Art Show at the Arts Illiana Gallery, this fall.

As The Earth Spins, 6 x 8 in, Oil on canvas; Hugging the Weeper, 6 x 8 in, oil on canvas

The works submitted for this Show must be less than 12 in in any dimension. It is a varied and interesting Show.

Master Copy III

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A copy of part of a portrait painting by Philip de Laszlo of the Princess Elizabeth, oil, 12 x 12 ins.

I painted this Master copy earlier this year, in a lesson with my teacher, Kari Rajkumar. I chose the portrait out of several she showed me because of my Britishness and my interest in painting children.

There are so many lovely colors in her skin! I really enjoyed trying to match them. I have focused since on understanding the warm and cool colors in skin, and I think I’ve gained some ground.