Paint and Sketch From Life

  This entry was originally posted on Saturday, October 20, 2012

Rain, 11x14"

 

The best way to increase your skill as an artist is to sketch and paint from life.

Form, shape, and color appear very differently.

There are so many lessons learned that photographs cannot tell you.

And those lessons will translate into your work and make it better when you do paint from a photograph.

 

Complimentary Colors

 This entry was originally posted on Thursday  August 30, 2012 

Choosing complementary colors for your painting also helps the viewer's eye to be guided to the focal point.

It is another type of contrast that will draw your viewer into the painting.

Shoulders

   This entry was originally posted on Monday, July 23, 2012

 

Trying to draw how wide a person's shoulders are can be difficult.

But here is a general rule of thumb to help in understanding how wide those shoulders should be.

A woman's shoulder width is usually the width of her head on each side of her head.

That makes 3 head widths across.

For a man, take his egg-shaped head and turn it on its side.

Each shoulder is about the length of his head.

As Plain As the Nose On Your Face

   This entry was originally posted on Friday, July 20, 2012

It may seem difficult to capture a nose but it is really quite simple.

A nose is basically three circles.

 

A big one in the center and a small circle on each side.

 

Once you have the three circles figured out, you can draw the nose.

But not all noses are a perfect circle.

Some are different oval shapes.

Figure out the shape of the oval and you have the nose.

 

Twinkle in Your Eye

  This entry was originally posted on Thursday, July 19, 2012

That little twinkle in the eye adds a little something extra special to a portrait.

You may think that you need to mask it out or paint around it when painting the eyes.

There is no need to do so.

Go ahead and paint the eye without the highlight.

Then take that handy dandy x-acto knife when it is dry and flick or scratch out the highlight.

Eyelid Shadow

     This entry was originally posted on Wednesday July 18, 2012

Be sure to put a shadow just under the eyelid when painting the iris.

It doesn't have to be very dark.

 Just putting in a color that is slightly darker than the rest of the iris makes it look more dimensional.

Another Way to Draw the Eye

    This entry was originally posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Another way to draw the eye is to draw the whites of the eyes. 

This should help in getting the curvature of the iris right.

Painting Eyes

   This entry was originally posted on Monday July 16, 2012

When drawing or painting an eye, it is important to remember that it is a sphere resting within the eye socket.

It is also important to remember that the iris is round.

So start by drawing a circle.

 

Then draw the eye around it, remembering that the eyelids do partially cover the iris or circle you just drew.

 

 

Also notice the corner of the eye and be sure to draw in the tear duct.

The eye is not almond shaped as most people think.

 

Painting Hair

 This entry was originally posted on Saturday, July 14, 2012

When painting hair, instead of painting every strand, try to paint the shape of the hair.

It helps to squint your eyes to see these shapes.

Shadow Colors

  This entry was originally posted on Thursday, July 12, 2012

 

Once I have my flesh color built up, I will glaze it with my shadow color.

I usually use Cobalt Blue and either Permanent Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Rose for this shadow color.

For darker skin, I will once again add Burnt Sienna to the mix.

A glaze of this color (more blue in some areas and more red in others) will tone down and neutralize the orangeyness of the skin.

Modeling the Face

 This entry was originally posted on Wednesday July 11, 2012

Once I have done a wash of base skin color, I will start to model the face by using the same two colors that I used for the base. I will use more yellow in warm areas and more of the red in cool areas.

For darker skin, I do add burnt sienna to the mix.

Skin Colors

   This entry was originally posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2012

 

When I start painting a figure, I start with the lightest color to the skin.

This will either be warm or cool depending on the complexion of the sitter. 

I will create this color from a mix of New Gamboge with either Permanent Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Rose for warm tones. Raw Sienna with either Permanent Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Rose for cool or darker complexions.

Drawing A Portrait

 This entry was originally posted on  Saturday, July 7, 2012

Jaime

14x20"

 

If you are unable to paint from life, paint from a photograph.

Be sure to choose a photograph that has good contrast and shows the face well.

Some studio photographs that you find in magazines or the ones you have done of your children at school will often use lighting and computer software that flattens out features.

These photos are more difficult to paint from.

Good natural lighting and a person's unique features actually makes it easier to use as a map of sorts to help in painting a portrait.
If you do chose a photo from a magazine or from the web, remember to respect the copyright of the artist.
It is okay to practice your painting skills from their work.
It is not okay to sell it for profit.

Oh No! I Left My Mask on Too Long

     This entry was originally posted on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

When I first moved to Victoria, I had a beautiful sun room that was my studio. I loved the view and the light. I also loved the warmth from the summer sun. 

I was so excited to be in my new studio that I decided to start painting right away. 

My painting was carefully planned out and I got to work. It was the above portrait. I have to mask a few areas of the hair and part of the hand so I could paint around it more easily. 

After spending some time working on my painting, I discovered the one drawback of my sun room. My masking had baked into my paper in just a matter of a couple of days. 

I was devastated! 

I tried everything to get the masking off. Including sandpaper and an x-acto knife.

But to no avail. It would not budge.

So I then decided that I need to cover it up.

I got out my white acrylic paint and set to work.

I covered up the masking on the hand with a few thin layers of the white acrylic paint.

Then I painted with my watercolor and sometimes the watercolor mixed with the acrylic on top of the masking.

It worked! 

I have since had other success when I have accidentally left the masking fluid on longer than I should.

 

Hand after I used white acrylic paint to cover the masking fluid.

Watercolor paint as well as watercolor mixed with the white acrylic was used to paint the hand to match the rest of the painting.

Maddie and Cameron: A Portrait Commission

Maddie and Cameron

11x14"

Commission piece

   Maddie and Cameron is another portrait commission I completed in the spring of this little girl holding her newborn baby brother in her arms. I hope it is a moment that I can help her remember and cherish forever. 

    I finally got around to creating a time-lapse video of the painting process. You can view the video below. 

Portrait of Great Aunt Lois

Lois Brown

16x20"

    This summer, I was commissioned by some family members to paint a portrait of my Great Aunt Lois, who is my mother's aunt and my grandmother's sister. It was her children that commissioned me to paint the portrait. The portrait was to be done from a black and white photograph of her at the age of 18. 

      My great aunt is now 93 years old and is still very active. She spends half the year on cruises, sightseeing the world. I was honored that her children asked me to paint a portrait of their mother and of one of my favorite aunts.  Of course I wanted to change the photograph by adding color to it. I did want the painting the fade out into a gray, as if the painting were a memory coming to life. I also painted it on handmade paper to help give it a vintage look.  I didn't know the color of the dress and was pleased to discover that it was the color I painted it. 

    I was excited to discover that I would be able to present the painting to her at the family reunion where she proceeded to tell the story behind the photograph. 

     Lois explained that the photograph was taken just after she had graduated high school from a small town in Southeastern Idaho. This was when many of her friends had enlisted in the navy and had been shipped off to Europe or Japan to fight in the war (WWII). Lois wanted to cheer them up and to remind them of her so she got all dressed up and wore a special bracelet with an anchor on it (unfortunately I did not know this nor was I told about this) just for the photograph. Lois mentioned that she sent the photograph to these boyfriends hoping they would remember her and write her back. She did get one reply back from a farm boy she liked very much. The reply was that the photo reminded him of home and he could smell the country air and the manure when he saw it.  Lois said that she never wrote that boy again. 

Me presenting the painting to my Great Aunt Lois