Luke's Portrait, step 2

Luke is my 13-year-old son, and often he'll look right at you with this direct stare that reveals a blooming confidence along with a youthful uncertainty. I wanted to capture that dichotomy through use of subdued color, his body language and expression.

I added the darkest darks early in the painting, but not early enough. I see that the shadow area is going to be too light so I'll add a darker wash over it. It takes a good deal of practice to determine how dark to make your shadow areas on the face. If you are working with watercolor, you need to know that it will dry about 30% lighter than what you see.

Luke's Portrait, step 1

This is the first step of the actual painting but there are a number of steps before the painting ever begins. First the photography, then the design, which includes cropping, a color study and a value sketch (the lights and darks in the painting). The final step before actually painting is the drawing. I draw the portrait on tracing paper, layer over layer until it looks accurate.

Inspire Me Thursday-Halloween

The assignment for "Inspire Me Thursday" is Halloween. This painting is titled "Desire, Death and Divas". Ghoulish enough?



"Inspire Me Thursday" is a website (http://www.inspiremethursday.com/) that helps promote creativity by way of suggestions, word prompts and playful exploration.

50 Figures, #7

Figure #7 is titled "Kismet". It was painted on 300# coldpress with layers of transparent color. This little painting is only 5 x 7", but is a great study for a larger painting.

50 figures, #6

I couldn't go and paint 50 figures, and not have one of my beloved Malcolm. I discovered the joys of painting with opaque white from a Pittsburgh artist named Jeannie McGuire. Take a look at her website; you will absolutely fall in love with her work.

50 figures, #5 again

I couldn't resist playing around with #5 a little more, all those little creepy lines to bring out. This is a case of should've-left-it-alone, but that's okay. I like this self-imposed exercise of painting 50 figures because it gives me the opportuntiy to experiment without becoming so attached to what I'm doing. I grab an idea, work on it and move on to the next idea--no fretting allowed, just happily creating. What I do like about this painting is that when I hold it vertically I see a terrestrial being of sorts, and when I turned the painting horizontally I see the figure flowing along in moving water. Doesn't make it good, just a little interesting.

Sounding Authentic e-class

Sounding authentic? That phrase caught my imagination immediately and got me thinking, "what in the world does authenticity sound like?" So I thought I would find out by taking the class. Led by voice coach Katherine Scott, so far it is a bit of a surprise. Instead of focusing solely on the physics of the voice and on the spoken word, as Toastmasters does, the class also includes a good deal of psychological examination. Focusing on your response to voice, your own as well as others, is an important part of the class. There is also time spent on your belief and perceptions about your voice and powerful statements of intention to improve your voice. I have mostly expressed my creativity by visual means and I love the addition of the study of voice and sound.

50 figures, #5

Inspired by the work of an artist I recently discovered (Rezi van Lankveid, http://www.petzel.com/rvl/rvl_ex1007.html), I tried to "pour" a figure into black and alizarin crimson paint while still wet. While not exactly what I had envisioned, it's a technique definitely worth exploring with a few more paintings.

Three Books to Check Out

These are books I've been poring over the past few weeks. They can all be found in the library and contain great examples of the best of figures and portraiture.

Painting People, Figure Painting Today includes work from a wide range of contemporary artists, including a few of my faves, Lucian Freud and Eric Fischl. I discovered some artists I hadn't heard of before like Yan Pei-Ming (beautiful, expressive paintings http://www.artnet.com/artist/722994/yan-pei-ming.html) and Rezi van Lankveid (really different stuff, definitely check her out http://www.petzel.com/rvl/rvl_ex1007.html).


The other two books are less diverse in style, but no less inspiring. I'm constantly bouncing between the two worlds of traditional, figure drawing and contemporary, figurative work. So many artists pick a side and stay on it. Some traditionalists value classical painting and don't see the value of expressive, figurative work, and vice versa. I am inspired by the best of both worlds--the discipline and technique of the realistic painters and the bold diversity of the figurative painters.

50 figures, #4

Titled "She's Always There", this painting is one I've wanted to do for a long while. It is about the myths and stereotypes surrounding adoptive and birth families. The painting was done with layers of vivid color outlined in black and muted with opaque white.

Inspire Me Thursday: Intimacy

These paintings are from a recently started "mini" series (5x7) of figures in their most intimate moments.

"Inspire Me Thursday" is a website (http://www.inspiremethursday.com/) that helps promote creativity by way of suggestions, word prompts and playful exploration.

50 Figures, #3

My graphic design background comes sneaking through in the simple shapes and hard edges of #3. I started with a heavy wash of Cadmium Scarlet, then added layers of opaque white and black mixed with Alizarin Red. I also used a gold pen on the top layer. I pulled off the black in areas to reveal the Cad Scarlet underneath. I call this painting "In The Garden".