Category Archives: Portrait Oil Paintings

Lady in Blue

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Lady in Blue 12×16 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

I love the lighting I was able to capture in this portrait. This was actually the reflection in. the mirror. There was a skylight which gave me this light effect. The other part of the image visible is a profile – very nice also. So much of what we paint as lighting in portraiture usually bears some similarity. Rembrandt lighting, broad lighting, butterfly lighting etc. I don’t know how one would describe this lighting if one would want to give instructions to another. This was so complex and more difficult than usual. I really do liker classical poses and the lighting. I’m finally resolved to the fact that I will never be happy with abstract portraits. However, I do enjoy abstract “everything else” as is primarily the case in the image above.

Purple Poppies Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

This is some serious color. I don’t think I have it any longer. I haven’t seen it anywhere. It’s just so summer, that I wanted to share it.

Garden News: I have just a little bit of garden news. Last week I made my first compost tea. I always have a pile of compost developing discretely under a hidden shrub. The shrub does so well – as you can probably imagine. Tons of worms accumulate under and within the compost which I manage diligently. PROCEDURE: I filled my 5 gallon bucket with water. I allowed it to sit for minimum 24 hours so the chlorine can evaporate. I put a couple cups of worm poop compost in a flow through bag and tied it. Then I attached it to a wire across the bucket so it hangs mid way. I attached my aquarium pump, added a couple teaspoons of raw molasses to the mix, to feed and support the multiplication of the microbes. I allow the pump to run to aerate the mixture for 48 hours. 24 hours would have been fine. Compost tea adds and increase the microbial life in the soil. I then pour the mix on my flower and few veggie/fruit containers. I think this is particularly important when one gardens in containers because the plant roots only have the commercially bagged potting mix to provide it’s nutrients. I was so proud but have just learned of a different procedure which may render faster and greater benefit. It’s all an experiment for me and fun.

THE RESISTANCE I am the only person in my HOA who has containers of flowers lining the curbside of their property. My containers are very colorful and receive lots of attention. I receive compliments all the time. Today I ordered several medium sized American flags and two NO KINGS signs which I will display in my containers. I will take my Black Lives Matter sign, and add BROWN to the sign and integrate it into the display as well. NO KINGS demonstrations were quite successful nationwide. All are ways of “walking softly but carrying a big stick”.

The administration is crass, cruel criminal and crazy. So sad!

As of the past week I’ve finally, begun to loose some subscribers. I am only surprised it took so long for them to go. Except for those who regularly contact me via email, I don’t know who my subscribers are, but when one has this many, I was bound to have some MAGAs and I knew they wouldn’t last long once I started posting “THE RESISTANCE”. I’m certainly fine with this and I wish them well. Have a great week. RESIST! Winifred

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Sargent Study

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John Singer Sargent Portrait Study

This was an interesting endeavor. Perhaps you’ve seen this painting in a book or in online images. it is from a painting titled Daughters of Edward Darley. It depicts Darley’s four daughters. She is the girl to the far left. This is head and shoulders of a full body, interior room painting. When I began this painting I was not aware of the many delicate color and tonal variations in the highlight area of her face. There is little point in trying to duplicate each brushstroke, but I did work diligently to create her likeness and the overall look. It was tedious to paint but enjoyable in a way. I did a pretty good job. I’m not sure what I learned in this process but learning is always an incremental and cumulative process. I can never paint a portrait in a day – I am definitely not a fast painter. Below is the painting progression which took place over 5 days.

There’s an online site for painters which looked at my paintings as they considered whether my paintings would be appropriate for their site. One of the reasons they liked my site was that I very often showed a painting progression, as above, whereas most painters do not. It’s never pretty – but I’m not concerned. I forgot the initial sketch even this time. I don’t know if there’s any real interest but I’ll try to do a bit more of this in the future. In the end, I was invited to the site but decided not to participate. It felt too much like social media.

Below is one of my favorite digital paintings and favorite memories.

Trombone Playing Teamwork

The story is captured in the painting. Its a digital painting I did years ago. I was in New York. I descended the steep stairs to Grand Central Station to board a train and was delighted and astonished to see this little girl playing her trombone while her little brother held the music. The trombone case held the money thus far collected. Only in New York I thought. I ask for permission and stood for a few minutes to observe the performance and to photograph them. I love the color variation throughout. Why don’t I do that now? I felt so free and creative when I was digital because if I messed up, I could throw away one layer and try something else. Not so with oil paint but I’m getting there.

THE RESISTANCE: It depresses me to think about the ongoing nightmare we live in. The resistance gives hope but I saw an interview yesterday which I think is critical and may serve us well. I would predict that there is absolutely NO WAY Donald can make it though the remainder of his term. The problem is that the MAGA Republicans have all been so “potty trained” to behave with the same level of cruelty and lawlessness. He might go but what follows? May 1, 2025 – I watched a NEWS NATION interview. If I had any doubt about Donald’s COGNITIVE decline, no doubt lingers. Donald has long had trouble maintaining a single coherent line of thought but it has become much worse. Donald was ask about his position toward HARVARD and his desire the cancel Federal Research dollars, control hiring, student selection and the curriculum. His response shocked and totally perplexed the entire panel and me. He wove a long rambling response started with comments about HARLEM ( which initially I thought he misunderstood for the word Harvard but that was not it. He then spoke of Black support in the election, then he made comments about of billions of research dollars he would cancel at Harvard, then back to Harlem where he said they wanted to do remedial math like (2+2) he said, then back to comments about horrible foreign students at Harvard. His brain is a scrambled mess. Perhaps you saw the ABC interview where Donald was insistent that the M I 13 text which he has been shown on a photo of the fist of Garcia, and firmly believes this text is real. It was explained to Donald that this Arial font had been Photoshoped onto a photo of Garcia’s hand. He was told it is not real but Don was insistent, even combative, siting over and over and over and over again that it is real. Garcia’s hand by comparison has been photographed recently in El Salvador, and does not show any such graphic information. Donald’s mind is not in good shape. For any who were concerned about President Biden, Donald is far worse. President Biden would sometimes forget but he never went off on multiple incoherent tangents. Trumps playbook is to be mean, unapologetic and cruel.

And now, Congressional Republicans have voted that Don can deport American citizens to El Salvador. Can you believe any of this!!! Don, a mad man surrounded by incompetent hateful lackeys. It’s all so dangerous. Winifred

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