Tag Archives: Black Children OIl Painting

Beads in her Hair

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Beads in Her Hair 9×12 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

My painting this week was influenced a little by the Rembrandt study I posted last week, though the beads in her hair give it a pop of modernity. I like it. I enjoy the portrait look of the Old Masters which continues to influence many modern painters. The poses, the lighting, and even the expressions have a certain look. The reference image for this p ainting was a young girl about 10 years old, wearing a very colorful sundress sitting in a swing on a playground in bright sun. This is why she is lit from above. I subdued the lighting atop of her head to keep the focus on her face. I also subdued her expression, making it a little more serious. I wanted to add a pop of color and decided on turquoise which is a nice compliment to the gold and orange colors on her face. So far, I haven’t wanted to change the painting but I make no promises.

The painting is showing up in this post a bit darker than I see it but I know it will vary on every device anyway. There’s nothing I can do about that. Enjoy your day. Winifred

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Ballerina

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Ballerina – 12×16 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

She’s a lovely ballerina – and I’m sure this painting will be appreciated. There were, however, many challenges in creating this painting. The reference image was photographed using a wide angle setting with a phone camera. That introduced substantial distortion and error in perspective. It was difficult to use as a painting reference. It’s pretty easy to correct perspective distortion in buildings but not so much in a posed ballerina with curves. I know because I tried.

In the reference photo, the ballerina wore black posed in front of very colorful and boldly graphic wall. It looked like a fun “Senior Photo”. The lighting was flat. I wanted something softer and wanted to introduce energy and movement. As always, as soon as I get a little distance from the painting, a few more changes will likely be made. This is my first attempt to paint a ballerina – I’m sure not the last. Have a wonderful weekend. Winifred

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My Red Purse

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Strolling With My Red Purse – Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

I painted her face from imagination which was not easy – I even turned her head to look in a different direction from the reference – challenging! Overall my painting gives the little girl a different look from what you’d expect in our modern culture. The coat/dress and shoes in this painting were inspired by attire I saw in a film clip.The little girl in the film clip was Eastern European with traditional clothing and headdress from her country. Though inspired, I wanted to make sure my painting deviated significantly from my reference. I altered her coat/dress, face of course and gave her a little red purse and ribbon.

Unfortunately, photos of my paintings which are painted on highly textured surfaces – such as this linen, don’t photograph very well and they are further degraded by the internet compression process. It looks a bit rough. I regret this but there is little that I can do about it – I’m not going to blur it or add filters. I love the look of this linen surface in real life.

Have a super weekend. Winifred

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