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HumpDay How-to: Painting Portraits

I enjoy painting portraits.  Scratch enjoy.  Ok, well, I do enjoy it.  But I always also find it terribly difficult and frustrating.  Human faces pose a particular challenge to artists because while everyone is attracted to the face, everyone is also extremely sensitive to the shape, color, and relationship of the features, so that any small abnormality shows as a mistake.

Self-Portrait 2004

Self-Portrait 2004

Personally, I have the damnest time with shadows on the face, and getting the colors to not read as either dirt or bruises.

So I’m always looking for information on how to do portraits better, especially since I want to do portraits of my loved ones and want to do them passably well.  Which is why I bought and reviewed Kullberg’s Colored Pencil Portraits Step-by-Step a few weeks ago.

I also believe that we can learn from other artists, even outside our own chosen medium.  My preferred mediums are pencils, colored pencil, and oil pastels, all of which avoid brushes (which drive me nuts) and allow me to use my hands instead.  But I learn a lot by watching how other types of painters capture a likeness as well.

 

 

 

 

So I’ve found a few more resources that I want to share with you.

 

Written on February 29th, 2012 , Art, How-To Tags: ,
Saturday Status: Works in Progress

I’ve got so many things going on it’s not even funny.  It’s almost scary and overwhelming.  So I must refrain from beginning anything else until I can mark something off the list.

Most of these will eventually be turned into step-by-step demo blogs soon, so I’ve been taking photos along the way of everything I’ve done.

Here’s what I’m working on today:

Shell Inlay Box

Today, I’m hot-glueing the shell mosaic onto the box.  This is a photo of me testing out different designs.

Shell Inlay Box
Shell Inlay Box

Shadowbox:  Rose Tints My World

I got this box on clearance at Michael’s for 99¢.  Now it’s very hot pink.  Well, the front half is.  So today I’ll be painting the back half.  Then I can proceed with the decorating.

Shadowbox Front Painted
The front half of the shadowbox is very pink.

Sunflowers on my Easel

The other major thing I’ll show you is the sunflower I’ve been painting. The reference photo is one I took last summer of a rogue sunflower that grew under one of the bird feeders in the backyard.

Sunflower WIP
The Sunflower on my Easel

Medium:  Oil Pastel
Paper:  Portofino Acquerello, 140 lb, Hot Pressed, 20″ x 14″
Primer:  Colourfix
Image size:  18″ x 12″

I just put in the background colors yesterday.  I’m not quite happy with them yet… I can’t decide if they’re too blue-ish, or not blue enough.  What do you think?

Written on February 18th, 2012 , Art Tags: , ,
Friday Favorites: Artists

Today I’m going to spotlight three of my favorite artists.  I chose each one because I like his or her life story and I’m attracted to, inspired by, and influenced by his or her art.

Self-Portrait with MonkeysFrida Kahlo (1907-1954).  A Mexicana who taught herself to paint and whose work reflects all aspects of her life, from her long-term physical disabilities, to her difficult marriage to artist Diego Rivera, to her love of Mexico.

 

 

 

 

George O'KeeffeGeorgia O’Keeffe (1887-1976).  An American woman whose independence and big bold paintings are a constant source of wonder to me.

 

 

 

Vincent Van GoghVincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). He was born in Holland but most well-known for the paintings he did while living in France.  His use of color, line, and texture are amazing.

 

 

 

Who are your favorite artists?

Written on February 17th, 2012 , Art Tags: , , , , , ,
More About Color

Last Tuesday, I posted a review of Blue and Yellow Don’t Make Green, by Michael Wilcox.  I’d like to share a few more resources on color today.

Yurmby Wheel

Yurmby Wheel

I’d heard of the Munsell Color System before, but never found it helpful. But until yesterday, I’d never heard of the Gurney Journey or the Yurmby Wheel (although the advice in the Wilcox book is similar to the Yurmby Wheel).   The Yurmby Wheel is also used on this Gamut Mask site.

Also, I wanted to include the Color Scheme Designer Website last week, but it was down for some reason.  Now it’s back.

I can only guess that as I continue to have more experience as a painter, I’ll develop a deeper, more intuitive understanding of color.  I’ll eventually remember which mixes work together and which result in mud.

In the meantime, I’ll keep using my swatches and wheels and any other crutches that help me make beautiful paintings.

Written on February 13th, 2012 , Art Tags: , , , ,
Humpday How-To: Adjusting the Easel Made Easier

Last year, I upgraded to a Mabef easel that was more stable than the tripod style easel I had been using, and I love it.

My Mabef Easel

My Mabef Easel & my assistant Lucky

However, one of the features I most wanted – the complete adjustability – also turned out to be a bit troublesome.  It stands up straight, or lays down flat, and holds any size support I may decide to work on.  But I found it to be tricky to quickly and easily get both sides of the easel adjusted to the same levels every time I changed from one position to another.

So this week I broke down and used a Sharpie to add markings to the slots where the bolts slide up and down to make it adjustable.  I had to overcome my reluctance to write on my ‘furniture,’ but I figured it has paint on it already, so I’m not really messing it up.

All I did was hold a ruler up to the slot and make 1″ marks along it.  You can also see that I made a longer mark at my preferred upright position on both the upper support and the lower leg.

I made the marks on both left and right sides, always beginning at the top of the slot and working my way down so that both sides would be the same.

It was a quick and easy fix to a nuisance problem and I no longer dread adjusting the position of my easel.

Mabef Easel - lower leg

Lower leg of easel with markings

Mabef Easel - upper support

Upper support of easel with markings

Written on February 8th, 2012 , Art, How-To Tags: ,
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