My Take on a Portrait with More Than One Subject I talked earlier about portraits and how I LOVE them. From Wikipedia: A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. Couldn’t this apply to any subject? I’m going to say “Of course!” The purpose changes a little when doing portraits with multiple animals or people. The face and expression of ONE is no longer predominant when adding more than one subject. But, that’s not to say it won’t be successful. Given the right references, it can be an awesome painting! Let’s say you’ve decided to commission an artist to do a portrait with two or more pets in it instead of multiple individual portraits. First realize it won’t have the same impact as it would with one pet. Wooly Malamute | pastel | 16×20 Having more than one dog/pet in a painting gives the
portrait
What is the Definition of a Portrait?
Flower Portraits? Why Yes, I Do That Too… If you’re familiar with my work, you would know that I like to paint and draw animals, people, flowers…so as I was writing this post about portraits and what I like to focus on, I realized that what I’m really painting is portraits. Portraits of people, animals and flowers. In my bio/statement/about me sections that all artists should have, I say the same things…that I’m drawn (hahaha) to the details of a subject. It makes sense when I put my portraits together… Portrait of Alex | charcoal | 16×20 Bovine Curiosity | charcoal | 18×24 Himalayan | pastel | 16×20 Even when you look at the flowers I have done, you see the same thing…close enough to see some detail, but not too close that it becomes abstract. Violet | colored pencil | 8×10 Antique Rose | colored pencil | 8×10 Carnation | colored pencil | 8×10 Reference Photos Here are
An Old Portrait and an Older Portrait
Oops! I totally forgot that I meant to post a charcoal portrait of my daughter in the last post! That was a major reason I did a non-art post, but I guess that’s what happens when you have someone like me, posting about who-knows-what. I try to stay on topic of art, but sometimes, I gotta stray. Portrait of Anna Granted, this portrait was done years ago, and I’m painfully aware I should do an update. Plus, I have other family members who have waited patiently for their turn, but since theirs is free, they have no choice but to sit back and… wait some more. Portrait of my Dad So now we get to go down memory lane…to 20 (yes, TWENTY!) years ago. I did a portrait of my dad that I submitted and won 1st place in a Father’s Day event. Looking at it now…I can honestly tell you his lips were not that “pretty”.
"Painting" a Himalayan Cat
I recently painted a Himilayan cat who passed away unexpectedly. He was definitely the king of the house as can be seen by the photograph below. The owner is a dear friend of mine and a photographer. I chose this photograph, even though it looks a little dark and doesn’t show his eyes as well as another photograph I had. Sometimes, I just go by feel what I think would work better as a painting, but having several photos is always a plus when doing a portrait. I used Mi Tientes pastel paper cropped at 16″ x 20″. Of course I have to provide you with the work in progress photos! You can see the color of the paper in the first step. I cropped the background to concentrate on his face and body. How could I crop out his paws? This was part of his personality and was told he loved to hang out “at the bar”. Obviously, I
Tuesday’s Portrait
Tina II, charcoal, 12 x 14 inches Just in case you were wondering, last week’s class was canceled. Sorry about that – I guess I could have said something, but I was in a funk. This week’s model was Tina, which I was happy to hear that someone recognized to be the same model as one of my other drawings. (That always makes you feel good – that a person comes out recognizable!)
Two Boys – Finished
I finished and framed the pastel painting above. It’s never recommended to take a photograph of your work when it’s already framed, but I forgot I didn’t have the updated image. During my long shift at the gallery yesterday, I took quite a few photographs of the building, and some pieces of mine that are framed.
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Leah and Ian, charcoal 11×14- WIP! I’ve taken a longer break than planned, so I apologize for that. Somehow, December came in, I blinked, and it’s gone. I didn’t even post a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, Happy New Year to everyone! So…yeah, what I just said. Now that all of the holidays are over, we get back to work! I’ve been working on a commission since my last post. This is Ian and Leah, two beautiful children in Connecticut. It’s still a Work In Progress, since I still need to smooth things out a bit. Pending the feedback I get, I should have this done this week. (I really need to start taking these photos during the day!)
Charcoal Portrait…and Travel
Lilly, 8×10, charcoal I’ve been out of town this week, travelling for business. I thought I should bring along a few portrait commissions just in case I was inspired in my hotel room. The one above, of course, is a really bad picture, taken from my phone. It’s a smaller one, 8×10 and was done fairly quickly. It is charcoal, so the photograph should just be black and white (no blue in real life!). Once I return home, I will prop it up and look at it again, and tweak it before giving it to the client. I was hoping to return home yesterday, but I was among the many many people affected by the winter storm. I was trying to fly out of Providence Rhode Island. The snow is a gorgeous site for us not used to seeing it! Being from North Carolina, we see more ice than snow, and even the ice is rare…To see the snow coming
Two Boys
9×10, Strathmore Charcoal Paper I’ve been fascinated recently with pastels and how they glow with any subject. I purchased a small set of Nupastels months ago and never worked with them until tonight. On a whim, I decided to open them up. I took some Strathmore charcoal paper (md beige tint), a photo I tweaked in Paint Shop Pro and just started to sketch it out on the paper. There was no planning, so I’m sure the more I look at the piece, the more unstatisfied I will be…it’s a work in progress, and I’ll probably fix the colors, the backgound, blend a little, etc. It’s my first try with pastels, so I’m really just playing around with it. It’s another bad photo, but what can I say? I didn’t start doing this until 8 tonight when our kids were watching “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”.
Pencils, Pastels, and Paint 