Third Place

I have been spending a lot of time working on various Commissions. I have 3 currently underway and several others I need to get started on. It is great to be busy. This is a progress shot of a commission that I am waiting for areas to dry before I can finish some final touches.

I have also made time for some painting from life. This is a painting done during a 2.5 hour pose painted with only Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black and White. I have been enjoying using this limited palette and it helped make the process of this painting much more simple than if I had 3 or 4 times as many colors to contend with. The photograph has a lot of glare, because the paint was so thick and so dark.

My Painting of my grandmother and my daughter titled "Arms of Experience" took third place at the Art Space Herndon 6th annual Portrait Competition show "Expressions" I wore my typical boots to the reception but I did buy a new dress to go with them. I realized that four generations were represented in this painting because two were in it, I painted it and my Father made the frame for me. It is made of beautiful black walnut.

From Life

3 hour life painting pose today. It was really fun to work on this portrait. because I had a little longer time to work on the pose I wanted to include her torso and not just the face. I used calipers to measure the head and body dimensions. This was such a huge help in getting the layout drawn correctly. I had a smaller canvas than  would have liked because I forgot the larger canvas on my easel at home. Her shirt had lost of design on it but I wanted to simplify and make her look a little more rustic.

 

I drew out my next painting this evening. It may be hard to see but I am very excited about this one. It is rather large at 30"x30". My daughter is drawn at full scale. Cant wait to get to work on this tomorrow.

 

Thank you

 

I want to tell all of you who have been supporting me through your kind comments, prayers encouragement and purchases a big Thank You. It is such a joy to paint when I hear your appreciation of what I have been doing. On days when it feels overwhelming to sit down at the easel after a long day of dishes and squabble management, your support pulls me there and encourages me.

 

I went in to my final live painting class for the session and saw that my first non commissioned sale has been paid for and taken home. I was slightly saddened to not get a chance to say goodbye to this little gem, but also very happy that someone else will be enjoying it.

 

Sales certainly help with covering the cost of painting supplies. Now I need to decide which items I will reinvest the money on. Please help my efforts grow. Recommend my work to your family and friends.

 

 Pelicans Perch Complete 9x12 Oil on Canvas

2 hour Live Painting Session

Live Portrait Session

Todays live portrait session featured a thirteen year old girl. She had a hard time sitting completely still. Shadows were constantly shifting slightly as well as contours. Her eyes were darting all over, but it was so much fun to work with all of these things to capture her likeness.
My teacher is always commenting about how I should work slower and get the shapes tied down before I move on. I do not think I am a good student. I seldom listen to my teachers advice. At one point he was wiping paint off of my canvas where he thought something looked wrong and I had to gently pull his arm away before he did more damage.
I may not be a good student but I have always been a good learner so maybe I will still turn out all right although sometimes it seems like he has no hope for me. I think he and I see things very differently because if I were the teacher I might have been telling him the same things.