A First Attempt at Portrait Painting
The Finished Portrait
March 12, 2009
Melinda suggested that I do more work on his face. Actually, so did my friend Jimmy. I’m not sure you can tell how hard I worked to give him more expression. It’s about as far as I can go, though. The paper won’t hold much more color and the painting is in danger of being overworked. I’ll keep trying. I have two new sets of pastels – the Sennelier soft pastels for portraits and a 96-stick box of hard NuPastels. I do want to do a painting of the old Baldwinsville train station with an engine that was actually used here, and I’m sure I’ll keep trying portraits because David has been so encouraging.
Kaya Meets the Snow
The First Draft
March 9, 2009
After spending years doing Pet Portraits I decided to try painting a person. David has been encouraging me for a long while to just DO IT. I have this thing about starting something and then throwing it away. For some reason I want to get it right the first time. So for my first attempt I decided to try a picture of Kaya, using a photograph I took when he was here in November, as a model. He is seeing snow for the first time.
Kaya Meets the Snow - first attempt
I thought it would be a good idea to work on a picture where I didn’t have to get the eyes right, for my first try. The next one will have his eyes open but I don’t know if it will be good enough to post.
Melinda says the face needs more work… so stay tuned.
I haven’t a clue, as I work in pastels and paint a lot with my hands. That was my issue with oils and acrylic – the brushes. I can’t seem to manage them very well. I would imagine that some of the fundamentals are the same – like the importance of light…and how to look carefully at what you’re seeing. Lots of times I turn my subject photograph (if I’m using one) upside down so I can free myself from what my brain assumes it knows, like the shape of a nose or eyes, for example. Once the model is upside down I can really concentrate on the spaces and shapes.
Comment by Marianne Miles — October 11, 2009 @ 12:50 pm