With added color

Adding color to this pooch.  A commission for a living pet owner....

Tibet #152

     I tried something new this morning... (the dark outlines are something I did probably 35 years ago)... Anyhoo, I thought I'd do a painting of a picture from our daughter's travels to Southeast Asia, China and Tibet a couple of years ago.  She is a photographer, and now a photo and art teacher at her old high school.  

Erica and Chalonda #126

 

 

     I started this with a painted all over surface, and then started to work on it with mineral spirits and q-tips... It was challenging, but fun.... By subtracting and then adding, over and over, it started to take shape.  I wasn't that concerned with whether or not it got a likeness, but only with being loose.....  I also decided to only use colors that were left on my palette from yesterday.  
     The sweet face belongs to Erica, who works for my Doctor, and takes such good care of me !

The second portrait is Chalonda, who took the exray of my foot when I left the Drs office on Tuesday....

Eddie painting #74

 

     Here's Eddie, our sweet mail carrier, on the day he told me he was retiring.  I ran inside and got my camera for a snapshot I could paint his portrait as a retirement gift.  I still had the photos, so I thought I'd try it again, in my new style.   Actually, I worked on a white ground this time, and just REMOVED the lights !!!!  Pretty fun !

Rare portrait commission Painting #21

     I'm working on this as a  SURPRISE  father's day gift.  Here is the first stage, in terre verde green.  I learned this method from Chris Saper's book on portraiture.  She does her completed underpainting in green because it's the complement of the fleshtones which will be added when this is completely dry.  I've used this method in my entire series of students portraits--  flicker site---

Never waste a minute that you can spend painting.... ha ha

     While teaching the students this week, I brought my acrylic paints to use during my 'off' hours.  It's a good thing for students to see a working artist, and to see that passion plays a large part of the mix.   They loved to ask questions about my works in progress, and the finished ones I brought, also.   I really enjoy working with my oils much better, but acrylics are certainly better than nothing when you can't use the oils...

    Here are the two that I completed...  I used photos for these, and some of the kids wanted me to take their picture and paint them.   I was able to get a few to work with in the future.

Blast from the past.... another former student

  SORRY, but I CANNOT add comments right now.... HELP !
     My blog is messing up, not allowing me to even comment on my own blog-  IF YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED THIS PLEASE ADVISE....

Anyhoo, thanks for the comment, Suzanne, and here is the last painting for today.  time for some Football......

One more time... (can you tell I like this photo?) 
    

anyhoo, this is an old painting that I 'doctored' a bit... that is, literally NEVER successful, but this time I like it.    Fun to push this in new directions.

Pushing the proverbial envelope.....

     I tried a different approach with this one.   First, I actually used pencil to start to define the shapes, then I tried to be a bit more adventurous with the color.  I don't know of any 'rules' or 'formula' where this is concerned.. I just tried to add some bold color to give it some spunk !  which one do you like better?

Little (6 x 6) Serena

     After all my talk, I actually DID have a finished product.  Here is my student, "Little Serena" because she's on a 6 x 6 canvas board.   She's a very special girl, as is her identical twin, Selena.   They were both in my Art Foundations class at different times.
     I used to do the 'upside down' drawing with my students.  It's from a Picasso drawing of his friend, the composer, Igor Stravinski.  It is one of my favorites, from the Betty Edwards book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and teaches the concept of right brain skills overtaking the stronger left brain in order to tackle the task of drawing.   While painting Serena, I turned her upside down, worked a bit on the shapes and values, and when I turned her back over..... 'voila'  she was captured....

     This is always fun and successful to try if you've never done it !

Day One Hundred-Seventy Three

'Gabby'

This is one of the few baby paintings I've done. This little one was just waking up while I was doing photo portrait studies of her mom to paint.
Gabby is the cutest little girl now. She's 5 or 6, and is the granddaughter of my sister's husband.

'Loutrece'

A sweet, shy girl, Loutrece is great at Drawing. I had her in both the Drawing 1 and Drawing 2 classes. I hope she is doing well, wherever she may be !

'Mary'

Mary used to wear the bonnet for the sake of her mother, from the Mennonite tradition. She no longer wears it, and is in college. I see her occasionally on facebook. Mary is a VERY special, sweet, smart, and super young woman...
This portrait of mine was always one of my daughter's favorites, so it hangs in her apartment now...

Day One Hundred-Seventy Two

'Alex'

One of the best artists that I've EVER had in class, Alex is a 'natural' ! He is so creative, and such an incredible craftsman, whether it's 2-D or 3-D. Amazing ! such a great kid, too. Although, the hair is gone now.... He's one of our United States MARINES !!!

'Megan'

What a natural beauty, when she was in school, and now that she's in college, I see her on facebook, and she's even prettier.... She's a DANCER, too.... (some people get it ALL !!! -that's Megan !)

'Alana'

Alana was my cadet teacher, helping me with classes, giving out supplies, helping with duties in the classroom..... I don't know if she went to school to get her certification or not. Sad that I've lost track of her... Great Kid !

Day One Hundred-Seventy One

'Eddie'

I love our wonderful, funny, sweet, mailman. He WAS going to retire, so I asked him to pose for a picture (I didn't say I was going to do a portrait of him) and I presented it to him... As it turned out, he had to keep working because his son lost his job, so Eddie can't retire just yet! He is such a doll, all of us in the neighborhood love him !!!

'Becky'

Becky was my student, and so was her cute younger brother. She was in my Art foundations class, and later took the Drawing Classes from me, and then one called 'Applied Design', where students learned, collage, altered books, to knit, and lots of other stuff... what a doll ! Becky is going into Art Education, too ! they make me so proud !

'Amanda'

What a cute, spunky, girl, full of personality and charisma ! She has such a unique style about her ! She's gonna go FAR !!!

Day One Hundred-Seventy

'Otis'

12 x 12 oil on stretched canvas
nfs


Otis was a student of mine, and his portrait was one of my series from my retirement show. These paintings were 12 x 12 oil on stretched canvas with painted edge. Most of this grouping were either sold or given to the person in the painting.

'Latoria'

Latoria, another student, had several paintings done of her. She was a great subject. This painting is for sale at a local gallery in Webster Groves.

'Brittany'

Brittany has graduated and is in college studying secondary art education... yay !! she is so talented and sweet and will make an excellent art teacher !


The reason I'm posting these is because we will have no electrical power today(they are redoing our electrical box) so I thought I'd better do this while I can !! As soon as the sun comes up, and I have enough light in the studio I'll paint !!! hooray !

Day One Hundred-Fifteen

                                            'Katie Bear'

6 x 8 oil on panel

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     Not the same portrait as her sister... This one is growing on me, though.  I attempted the 12 x 12 canvas of Katie, but haven't gotten the likeness that I wanted.. I might just put it aside and start over on another one later one, but til then, this one I'll frame for her Mom and Dad !   If a portrait doesn't work well, I can only tweak it so much, and then it starts to get 'tired' looking... (I get a bit tired, too... at least tired OF IT !)
      Still love doing portraits, though !!

Day One Hundred-Twelve

                                                                        'Pensive'

8 x 8 oil on panel

60.00 + 6.00 s + h

     I've had this photo in my upstairs studio (also the grandbabies room) for years, it seems, and I decided to paint it for a daily post.  I love doing faces, and did a series of about 70 or so, of my students, and others, when I was preparing to retire from teaching art.   I painted them in oil, which I hadn't done since college, and put them on 12" x 12" canvases, with the deep profile that doesn't need a frame.  While working on this series, I taught myself to paint a 'likeness'.  My mom was an artist all of her life, and loved painting portraits occasionally, too.   She would always say how difficult she found the process of capturing the spark of the personality in the painting... That's one reason I tried to challenge myself to go about doing exactly that !!
     To view my portrait series... go to   http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanso