Tag Archives: winifred whitfield

From My Garden

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Roses from My Garden, Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

Most often, but not always, I paint artificial flowers. This time, however, I went to my tiny garden and cut from my shrub rose bush I’ve had for 4 years. I don ‘t typically cut nor paint fresh flowers. I prefer to leave growing flowers in place. Most likely, they wouldn’t last long enough anyway. Even when I had a huge garden, it was the same. This rose is not such a great one. II’ve had great roses of many varieties but they can grow to be really huge and I have no room for that. My shrub roses are OK, if not great for painting. They don’t have long stems, only weak thorny stems. I cut a few, then wondered how to contain them. I wanted to use my brass cup which has the large opening of a cup. That wouldn’t work – until a smaller container I could insert could be found. It worked. I took photos and used the photos and fresh roses to work from. The already prepped and textured panel was perfect for this effort. This panel was 3 years old just waiting to be chosen. I was ready to go. Above is the painting. II like it. I has a vintage look, helped along by the texture of the panel. I particularly love the green of the foliage – shiny and bright. It makes me think it is a live plant.

Hope your week was good. Winifred

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Breathing Room

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Orchids in Red Vase 11×14 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

I’ve long wanted to paint an image in this style – an image soft and atmospheric. But, I always chased the detail. In this instance I had blocked in the background enough to know what the color and depth would be. I had painted the vase enjoying the rich color, form and highlight. An initial simple shape of the fruit had been painted. I could turn my attention to the orchids, which had been loosely “rubbed” out of the initial paint layers. Already I liked this painting – it was loose and without too much detail. I only had to finalize all and paint the flowers – or so I thought. The conversation went something like this with my inner voice speaking – really it did.

“YOU’RE DONE WITH THE FLOWERS” What? I said – I really haven’t started on them. “NO. YOU’RE DONE WITH THE FLOWERS – FINISHED”. I wanted to resist – I hadn’t painted the flowers – maybe just a little more paint to shape the petals and to turn their edges, I thought. Resisting, I picked up the brush and put a bit of shadow color on a few petals, and added a bit of highlight color – I didn’t like it. I wiped off the paint. “I TOLD YOU YOU WERE DONE”, said my inner voice, AND IT DIDN’T LOOK BETTER WHEN ADDED PAINT”….. And so I was done.

I’ve never created such soft irregularly shaped, low contrast flower petals in a painting EVER! Look back at last weeks post – hugely different. As a result, I want to create more softness and atmosphere! In general people love contrast. Ask them which image they like and they will they choose the one with the greatest contrast – contrast to them meaning it’s a better image. There’s a place for contrast for sure, but at this time I’m interested in exploring atmosphere and lower contrast, a quality which has alluded my paintings. I wasn’t confident enough to employ this technique, and didn’t really know how to achieve it, and it occurred in this painting, only because I heard a voice greater and louder than mine. I’m pretty excited.

The 5 days of extreme heat – meaning the temperature reached 88 degrees – is over – at least for a while. Finally, I purchased a big air conditioner, and did so before I even knew there would be a heatwave. It was inevitable that the need would occur at some point. Our nights, however, remained cool this time. All is well in Poulsbo. I hope you’re enjoying your summer. I hope you enjoyed my atmospheric painting. Winifred

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Study of John Singer Sargent Portrait of a Capri Girl

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Study – Sargent “Portrait of a Capri Girl” 1878 – 9×12 Oil Painting

It’s difficult to even find this image on the internet because it’s such an early work painted by Sargent and no doubt it’s not one of his most popular paintings. However, I found it at some point in the past and saved it to a collection of his portraits I keep on my computer as possible references. She was one of his very first models. I have created another study of the other from his set of two paintings of the Capri Girl. It is nearly 16×20 and I enjoy it on my wall. At a point I just quit working on this one and decided that “near enough” was good enough”. After all, it was intended as a study, not a copy, and I felt I’d derived sufficient benefit from the process. I wasn’t sure what that was in this instance, but it’s always useful to attempt Sargent’s brushstrokes. I think, I’ll next attempt a still life. I have some new references. Have a wonderful weekend. Winifred

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Lady with Red Scarf

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Lady With Red Scarf Oil Painting 11×14 by Winifred Whitfield

Happy New Year everyone! It certainly *promises not to be boring. This is my first painting of the New Year. The same model as with the last two paintings. I enjoy this portrait. I rarely use such vivid color in my portrait paintings and love the loose energetic strokes in the scarf.

I keep thinking I’d like to paint a floral still life. We’ll see. I’ve also been taking some prior portraits to the studio to make changes. Some things one sees more correctly over time. Sometimes I’m just veering toward adding more detail because that’s who I am. I feel that I’m “correcting” it, whereas in fact I’m just adding more detail and should leave it alone. This is an ongoing struggle for me.

Wishing you health and happiness amidst the chaos. Winifred

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Amber Necklace

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Lady Wearing Amber Necklace 11×14 Oil Painting by Winifred

Initially I created a painting without significant deviation from the reference photo. She was a lovely model. She wore an olive green velvet spaghetti strap dress. Her hair was cropped chin length. It was a flattering cut for her. The background was plain. Upon finishing this version of the painting, I looked at it and found it to be such an unimaginative painting. I had added nothing. I wasn’t sure what to do but this first version was unacceptable. Before starting a new version of the painting, I went into Photoshop and began to play with possible changes in colors, attire, background and even her hair style. I developed a new vision. I then went back to my easel. I don’t know just how to describe this style of painting, but for me it expresses more of what I want to see in my portraits. Modern portraits and photographic looking portraits really don’t appeal to me even when they’re colorful and full of energy and well done. I’m attracted to the Old Masters, their color palette and their techniques. This painting was pretty complex because ultimately, it’s pretty difficult to create a painting when I’ve decided NOT to follow the reference photo. I do enjoy this painting now.

I am so excited that I’ve figured out how to take a decent photo of my paintings with the iPhone. I have 13 Pro Max and it has Adobe Camera Raw. I can make my own adjustments and I have altered iPhones automatic settings to eliminate the sharpening and contrast the iPhone was imposing on my paintings. I should have figured this out long ago. What a difference it makes and you won’t have to hear me complain any longer.

The last thing I’ll say is that these wars cause me great pain. Truly. Hope you’re enjoying your holidays. Winifred

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Lady in Window Light

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Lady in Window Light – Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

I was introduced to this lady by the Master Gardener’s of Kitsap County Calendar Committee in 2006 when I photographed a calendar for the Master Gardeners as a fund raising activity. It was one of those “pretend to be nude” calendars – so long ago. One of the great things that occurred during the process is that the County, or perhaps the State governing body was less than pleased with this calendar concept and require a “BANNED” sticker to be placed on it. Boy, did that increase sales! We had so much fun and raised so much money. As we ended the project, I ask the calendar committee if they knew anyone who would like to have a beautiful portrait created. They all suggested this woman. They spoke of her beauty and elegance. It was true. The photo was 3/4 body length and had a wonderful background by virtue of using what was known as a Virtual Background Machine. I created a large photographic wall portrait for her. She was very pleased. I used only her head as my reference for my painting. I’ll see if I can’t find her to let her see it.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I have lots of smoked turkey left. I wish you health and happiness. Winifred

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John Singer Sargent Study

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Sargent Study – Girl from Capri – Master Copy

John Singer Sargent was an American expatriate artist and was considered the greatest portrait artist of his time (1856 – 1925). If you are not familiar with his paintings, I hope you will look him up and view his masterful works. He was painter of the rich and famous. I wanted to imagine his brushstrokes. This is my study of his study of Rosina Ferra whom he painted very early in his career at 22 years old. She was a frequent model for his sketched and finished paintings.

It is hard to know when working from internet images what the actual colors are in the actual painting and there were so many internet versions to choose from. Accurate and original color didn’t matter to me, as much as did form, values and accuracy of in the face. There was a substantial amount of violet in my painting and in my reference. None of this shows up in this internet conversion. I have little doubt that my version of her sweater falls short of his in many ways. The sweater was far more challenging than the face but I wanted to make an effort. I wanted some semblance of the abstraction of Sargent’s brush marks – marks which will remain uniquely his.The texture of his canvas would have also contributed significantly to the creation of the sweater and all aspects of the painting. Painting her face, was enjoyable and I think the color is in the ball park.

Have a wonderful weekend. Winifred

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Girl in Red

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Girl in Red 12×12 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

Any combination of yellow, red and blue produces a lovely color harmony. There are artist who paint exclusively using this color combination. I don’t often use it but I like it. In this painting, I find the right shoulder offers too much contrast. Notice how your eye is drawn there. I must change that, but otherwise I will leave this painting as is.

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Winifred

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Breezy

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Sunny and Breezy Day Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

It’s pretty photo realistic, I’m aware.. I didn’t intend this and I don’t prefer this as a painting style, as you are well aware by now. I’m a bit surprised it developed in this manner especially when I uses no aids or processes to go from photo to painting. There was no grid, projection or tracing. I looked at the photo, created a soft sketch and then painted. Sometimes it just happens. I think it’s the hair that plays the greatest role in the photographic look. I told you about the dozen brushes or so I modified. I didn’t have to create individual strokes to get the look of freshly combed hair. it’s the brushes I’ll blame. I have another great little brush which allows me to create the individual wispy hairs. It was actually fun – the whole thing.

The photo was taken in my garden when I owned my farm more than 10 years ago. I held a workshop, focused on both photographic shooting techniques and Photoshop editing techniques. It was well attended. This young lady was one of the 2 models hired. I’ve wanted to paint this for quite a while. It’s not often that one captures dramatic backlighting and adequate highlights and shadows in the face. Her shoulders were actually bare. I added a few painterly strokes to create a little shoulder drape just to add some looseness to the painting.Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy.

For sure, next week I will post a portrait painting that looks like a painting. Be well. Winifred

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Hazel Eyes

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Hazel Eyes Oil Painting 9×12 by Winifred Whitfield

I liked her expression and the tilt of her head and I decided to focus solely on that aspect of the reference photo. As usual, it took three full rounds of painting her face and features to get to this point. Another round of painting might be merited but “over painting” most often takes the “life” from a painting. Imperfections can be a good thing. I liked the unfinished look of the hair and in addition added a couple touches of red – just because. I always worry about the color of the images in my my post because the color is never the same as the paintings. I struggle to get it as close as I can. Sometimes it’s close, other times not. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.

Have a good weekend. Winifred

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