This painting was challenging and enjoyable. I couldn’t think of a good or clever name for it. This is the same young lady with all the curls I painted and posted a couple weeks ago. In the end I cropped my painting because I had an issue with her hand which was not right in the reference photo and I just couldn’t correct it. That’s fine – as paintings get cropped all the time. Not a lot to talk about today – probably a good thing. Have a great weekend. Winifred
She’s my neighbor and for the past two years, since she was 4 years old, we’ve explored crayon, watercolor, colored pencils, pastels, paper cut outs, and now her latest fascination – clay. Initially, I thought I would “teach” her but I quickly found out I had no idea how to do that. Instead we just play – mostly I watch her. She’s pretty happy if I just give her 100% percent of my attention during our half hour or max hour together once or. twice per week. I’ve seen so much progress. She is totally focused on the activity of the day and happy to take the day’s activity home with her.
She has learned that I don’t like to do smiling photos and she has no problem with this. Normally her hair is in braids or one or two pony tails, hence and on the day she arrived with her hair down in curls I decided to photograph her. I could complain about some of the colors as they shifted in the photograph of the painting – but what’s the point.
Today, I began cutting back my strawberry plants and adding the foliage to my compost pile. I say I’m tired of gardening but yesterday I found myself buying large bags of container soil to transplant my many kale plants in another week or so. Cabbage worms decimated my many kale plants a couple years ago. It was so depressing I haven’t tried since. This fall I will. Have a wonderful remainder of your weekend. Winifred
I took a break from painting portraits the past few weeks to paint still lifes. I’m so glad I did. It made this stylistic shift in my portrait painting much easier. I looked at the original version of this painting this morning – fresh eyes. It had a solid blue background with a deep shadow on the left.These attributes were reflected in the reference photo I took recently – but it wasn’t working. Her name is Cinnamon. She’s a pretty girl with beautiful cinnamon curls. But overall the entire painting was just normal – quite boring I thought. The only thing I was happy about was her face. I had avoided over blending her face – it was painterly, but I needed to do more. I made paint mixtures of orange/gold and burnt sienna and started creating big, loose swirls of curls, alternating the colors and moving all over her head. Can you imagine my fear! However, I liked the effect right away. Energy was emerging. Then I envisioned adding green and gold as background colors rather than just blue. I mottled in the new colors. The painting was transformed. I enhanced the highlights of the face and it was basically done – for now. Abstracting portrait elements for some reason is scary for me but it’s my intention to move beyond my fear. As days go by I will likely make more changes. That’s what usually happens. Thank you for looking. Winifred
A couple weeks ago a friend gave me a large beautiful bouquet of peonies from her garden. There were pink peonies with a light yellow centers and even larger white ruffly peonies. I began photographing them right away. I knew I would select a reference image from them one day, when I wanted a very complex and difficult image to paint. I continued to photograph the peonies as the petals wilted and the bouquet grew smaller. The pink flowers with yellow centers wilted first, days later, the white ruffly ones lost their petals. Thereafter, only white buds remained until one of the buds, began to unfold as a small flower. The buds and young flower were originally white but I wanted a different look and feel hence painted them pink and lavender colors and added the small decorative pitcher.
The peonies have all faded now – until they come again next spring. I am happy I captured the many stages of their life in photographic files, in addition to these two oil paintings as memories.
The painting below reflects the last of the larger white peonies and some of the remaining buds. (The pink flowers with yellow centers are not represented in these paintings).
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
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
This painting has had quite a journey. I think I am finally satisfied with the painting above. It’s rather refined, something I’m comfortable with.This time I added a lace shawl and a more refined necklace patterned after one of my mom’s broaches. Painting the lace and the jewels was a new experience. It’s a matter of making just the right brush marks and using the colors reflected by the light. I found it interesting and rather effective.
Do you recall the progression of the previous versions? See both below. First (the gold) a loosely painted version (photo a bit distorted) which I over painted because of my insecurity paint about loose paintings. I regret that. Below that, I made changes attempting a tighter painting,which I didn’t care for. This led to today’s third version.
I am currently working on a Rembrandt copy. It’s very interesting to do do. It’s not really a copy but but an exercise using Rembrandt’s painting as the reference.
This past week, I set out to improve upon the more loosely and unfinished painting I posted last week – the one below. I decided I could improve upon its loose and unfinished look – something I’m still trying to develop a greater appreciation for. I took it back to the easel. I spent hours and hours this week, making the painting “more correct” and more traditional. WHEN WILL I EVER LEARN! Finally today, I photographed the latest version of the painting and looked at the two versions side by side. Yes, the latest version is “more correct and more finished” but it’s energy and freshness is lost lost. I definitely prefer the version below. No one would care about a paintings correctness. They do care about color, energy and freshness. I’ll miss that painting. I’ve never painted a portrait in quite the style as the first version before – and now it’s gone. This was a good lesson for me. Previous painting is below for a quick comparison. What a difference. Happy Spring! Winifred
She was a high school senior when this reference photo was taken. It was more than 15 years ago. I had the opportunity to know the entire family and their many challenges as they attempted to integrate into this society and with no mom – who was dead. I found it interesting that this family came from the same country, Kazakhstan, as the actor/director/comedian Borat. Remember him? … a very funny guy. In creating this painting, I had some success in not over smoothing, not over blending and making some interesting brush marks from time to time.
Initially I attempted a floral painting. It’s so complicated that I put it down to paint this portrait. I think that’s funny. It was the chrysanthemums in the arrangement I couldn’t master, they have such a complex petal structure – but I’ll keep trying. Bye for now. Have a great week! Winifred
It was 2010 or earlier, I think, I took this photo. I watched these baby swallows grow to bigger little swallows and then fly away. Other than very messy, it was wonderful to watch their mom flying back and forth to feed them. They were insatiable. This is yet another of those digital files I knew I had to paint – they are so adorable. I had to develop the confidence that I could paint soft feathers and a bird nest. It’s not too bad! I also loved the fact that there is a “stand out” little swallow which posed itself to create the perfect focal point. I couldn’t have planned it better. Have a great weekend. Winifred