Portrait Sketch, 24x20"

Hello Friends:I am starting a new commission of three little girls, ages 20 months to 5 years old. As you can imagine, a painting of three children in one portrait will be the same amount of work for me as three individual portraits would be. In some ways, it's even tougher, because the relationships between them need to be kept in mind, along with the sizing of the heads, bodies, and hands, as well as the lighting.

A project of this magnitude needs to be well planned from the beginning. I like to paint a preliminary oil "sketch" of the portrait, in order to get agreement from my client regarding the final layout and size of the painting, the positioning of the children and the overall "feel" and colors to be used. In this case, the client was very happy with the positioning of the girls and the feel of the painting, but we were in agreement that the painting needed to be made a bit wider to give more space on the sides. After a bit of debate, it was agreed between us that the painting size will be 28x20".

I'll go back to the drawing board and start a brand new canvas. This sketch took two painting sessions of about 4 hours each, so I haven't spent too much time on it. I would much rather start again now and have a painting the client will be thrilled with than to produce one that's the wrong size and have a so-so reaction. And since I know that the colors and layout are correct, I'll use it as my guide in painting the final portrait.

And while I'm at it, I may change the position of the arm on the left side to bend toward her little sister. I don't like the way that it's pulling us out of the scene. I don't know that I would have seen that if I hadn't done my sketch!

Richard the Second

Hello Friends: Well, I'm glad I spent the second sitting with Richard to really go in there and finish off some details in his face. When I look back on where I was with his portrait after the first sitting, it's nowhere near where it is now. I like the color saturation so much more now.

I've gotten into the habit of trying to finish a portrait completely in one sitting, and sometimes it's a really good idea to slow down and concentrate on the details. Thanks, Frankie, for pointing this out to me-- I owe you one!

Self Portrait

Hello Friends: Yes, I know that this portrait doesn't look a whole lot like me-- I'm serious and I've got my mouth closed (!), but as you can see, it's what I would call "experimental". I can do this with a self portrait, because I know that the client won't mind. I used a loaded palette knife to apply the paint, so the likeness got away from me a bit. But I'm happy with the push that I gave myself in a new direction, so I won't sweat the details.

And Now For A Teachable Moment:Several of my portrait students have asked that I jot down some of my teachable thoughts on my blog, and I have a couple of them today. In class, I stress the importance of finding the light and shadowed areas on the head, face, and neck and sticking to those areas throughout the painting process. In this portrait, after I found the light and shadow areas, I was free to apply any color I wanted, as long as I stayed true to my original "map". Notice the huge green area on the shoulder. Since it's in the right value, it reads right. This allows me to push my colors into completely new and unexpected areas. Having a plan is actually very freeing!

And now a thought on using the palette knife. Applying paint with a palette knife is a lot like riding a wild horse with really loose reins-- you're not really in control and unexpected things happen at every turn! I maintain just a bit of control by having very large mixtures of paint on my palette in light, middle, and dark values, and I "average" the color in each puddle to what I see in the large areas of my portrait. As long as my values are kept separate, I can add colors and apply them liberally without as much fear as I normally would have. Let's look at that shoulder area again. I started with a very light mixture of paint for the skin in the light, then added light green and light blue to my mixture with the knife. These colors didn't blend entirely on the palette, so tiny streaks show up in the painting. I love this effect. Every time I reloaded my knife, I picked up a bit more color from somewhere on my palette and put it into my mix. This keeps the area alive and gives a feeling of movement.

So stick to your plan, and push your color! You might find new experimental horizons of your own!

Richard

Hello Friends:

This is a portrait that I painted today of Richard, a model who came in to sit for us at Mainstreet. Even though he'll be back next week for another sitting, I'm tempted to leave well enough alone on this one and not overwork it.