Profile Painting Step by Step

I've developed a really annoying habit.  I go up to complete strangers and say "Can I paint you?"  I could be at the grocery store, Walmart, the gym (on the gym floor - not in the steam room!).  I try to explain that I am a portrait artist and I think they have a great face.  Most people nod politely and then wait for the crazy lady to move along.  But luckily, sometimes they give me a call!

So I met Larry, a very cool guy - and a boxer (although that is only a small part of what he does - he actually does mixed martial arts).  I gave him my card and hoped he would give me a chance to paint him.  And...he did!  My fellow artist, a sculptor, also wanted some portrait practice so we set up a time and met at my studio.

I was working on an oil primed linen, 11" x 14".  I started with a light wash of transparent red oxide, then blocked it in.  I started adding some burnt umber to define some shapes.

This is where we both were at this point - the major size and shape blocked in, continuous minor adjustments on the placement and angles of the jawline and neck.

This is not a great photo, but these darker areas are actually shades of blue and purple.

I used cooler purples and browns on the face that was towards an open window with natural light, the warmer browns and reds were on the side, closer to an artificial yellow light source.

I continued to search for planar changes on his cheekbones, and adjusted the size of his ear.

In the final moments I added some definition to the background, adding some color, and just a small amount of highlight to his eye.

So...until I grab the next un-suspecting model...happy painting!

Oil Sketch of Female Nude

Our ever growing and always dynamic figure drawing group met this week, and it was truly a diverse crowd - painting, drawing with charcoal, pastel, and then two sculptors working as well.  It's always so rewarding to see how a multitude of artists interpret the same model.

I had a wonderful view of our model's pose, with an elegant - but tricky!  - placement of her hand behind her back.

I started with a wash of burnt sienna, then sketched in the large shape of her figure, making sure the placement on the page would accommodate her triangular shape created from the top of her head, to her elbow, to her knees.

I slowly deepened the environment as I worked on the placement of her shoulders and her knee turned away from me.  The hand behind her back kept shifting as I searched for the right size and shape of her back.  Once the shapes and proportions were correct, I started adding color with the drapery first.

It was helpful to add some cool whites to the overall warm tones - I could see the color in the skin a little easier with the contrast of white drape and warm skin tone.  

The pose had some similarities to this one from a couple weeks ago with a wonderful male model.

I spent the majority of our time with the model just getting the drawing correct - I still need to go back in and add the flesh colors.  Or...it may stay moody and monochromatic...we'll see where it goes! 

Charcoal Drawings of the Male Model

OK I'm going to post and run...just a couple recent drawings from our awesome male model.  Charcoal on white drawing paper.

16" x 20" charcoal drawing on white paper, 25 minutes

Charcoal drawing on 18" x 24" white paper, about 80 minutes

Father's Day Portrait - The Boxer

I was so excited to work on this awesome Father's day gift for an athlete from his wife.  Inspired by a portrait I painted of a bodybuilder with a superman tattoo, she sent me several photos of her husband in and out of the boxing ring.  I combined a couple of the photos for the large oil portrait.

I wanted to create a strong, energetic, and powerful image of an athlete.

There are several of layers of color, and I built up a lot of texture on the surface as well.

This was one of my favorite parts - the small scene of him boxing in the ring.  I like the loose brushwork and the indication of the feet without defining everything.  The movement of the boxers is a great compliment to his stoic gaze above.

Sometimes I am diligent about taking process photos, and this was one of those paintings that inspired me to capture each stage.  I linked the photos together in this short video...

Creating custom portraits like this are truly rewarding.

A Home Portrait and A Special Mother's Day Gift...

A couple more portraits found their way home in the last few of weeks!  For Mother's day, this beautiful watercolor portrait of a mother and newborn baby...

I also shipped out this multi-media portrait of a house, painted on panel.  The request was for lots of color - and an understanding that I am not very good at drawing straight lines :)

This was one of my favorite spots on the painting!

I don't often accept commission work for house/architectural portraits, but I really enjoyed this one!  

And of course our figure drawing group is still active, enjoying our Wednesday evenings with wonderful live models.  Last week I created this nupastel drawing of the male model on grey pastel board

I have had requests to show more progress shots, so hang tight...I will do a post on the progress of my pastel figures - soon!

Figure Drawings in Pastel and Charcoal

We've had a spectacular line up of models in the studio the last few weeks, and I am just now getting around to photographing and sharing some of the drawings.

A couple of new pastels on colourfix paper...

This pose was about an hour and a half...with lots of breaks so the model could regain feeling in her arms.

A 45 minute pose with no breaks, a beautiful arch to her back, and I love the foot tucked into the fold of her knee.

Vine and compressed charcoal, about 20 minutes.  I didn't want to over-work this loose drawing, so I did a second one from a different view.

And a 20 minute charcoal from the male model - great twist in his back!

Tinkerbell brought her magic today

Today was a special day...Tinkerbell came to my studio to paint along side me...and when she isn't painting, she's skipping around the studio.  Just skipping.  It's her preferred mode of travel. And it makes me smile.

I was getting started on a new painting, very excited...family of three, they asked for lots of color and texture, so I prepped the surface with my favorite mix of modeling paste, paint and gesso and then sketched out the figures.

I also finished a watercolor portrait, and photographed this drawing from our Wednesday night figure drawing session.  This was our first time having this male model, and he did an amazing job.  Wonderful pose!

New Drawings of Two Models, Male and Female. Watercolor Pencil

Great night of figure drawing...where I took a lot of great photos of the models, yet only produced one decent drawing!  Oh well.  I actually did start a couple that have potential - if I ever finish them I promise to share!

But here is a watercolor pencil drawing from the long pose.

I started out with a light graphite drawing to get the scale and shapes correct, then erased about 75% of the line so it was "ghost-like" and I could draw over with watercolor.  I used a light periwinkle blue first, then layered some orange, olive green, fuscia, and dark purple.  In a few dark areas I added a little prussian blue.

I'm not sure about what's actually happening between the two of them.  If it's anything like my relationship with my husband, she's just gotten over-emotional about losing something somewhere in the house and he's exasperated because all he really wants to do is go to bed.  But I digress...

The pose was beautiful from all angles.  It's interesting because when I looked at one artist's drawing before he finished - the woman's hand was not yet included (on the far left) and it made her appear to be clutching the male model's hand behind her shoulder (cover the hand with your thumb to see what I mean)  By eliminating that hand you totally change the relationship.  It's amazing how a turn of the head, a placement of the hand, the angle of an arm can change the dynamic between two models in a pose.

New Figure in Black and White - Dramatic Charcoal

This is the latest in my series of charcoal drawings on gesso/modeling paste.  I love this pose - it's the first one that's not only embracing a dramatic shadow, but pushes the depth from the tip of his head to the back of his foot.

You can see more from this series in my album on Flickr.

Bald is beautiful - new drawings of the male model

I can't say it enough - I get to work with so many amazing models in my figure drawing groups!  Last Wednesday our model was kind enough to pose for a few reference photos.  My desire is to create a large series of the black and white charcoal drawings on the textured surfaces.

With his shaved head and broad shoulders, I had a feeling this pose would be perfect for him, and so far it's looking great!    His head and hand are coming forward, the right shoulder is dropped and twisted towards his knee, there is a lot of tension where his hand is gripping the stand.  This particular surface is pretty gouged and not as smooth as some of the previous pieces, and I decided not to sand it any further because I liked that grittiness and imperfection.

He also had some great poses during our group, one of which he used a rope to pull and create tension along his back.

The second, longer pose, had a dramatic overhead light that, again, really benefited from his shaved head and well defined shoulders.

Both of these were drawn with charcoal and watercolor pencils on watercolor paper primed with gesso.

A glorious day of painting with two models

A few weeks ago our Wednesday evening figure drawing group had the privilege of working with two wonderful figure models together.  Truly professional and incredibly talented - they both have incredible "stage presence" and transform poses into mini-stories, in  a way. 

A small group of us to wanted some extra time to work on one long pose booked the same models today and had almost 4 hours to paint one fabulous pose.

I started on a primed and tinted canvas, 24" x 30", blocking in both figures.  I wanted to be sure that I was leaving enough room at both ends of the pose, so that her elbow was going to be in the frame and his foot would not be cut off on the other end.

 Working with a 1" brush I blocked in some of the larger shadow shapes.

As I started to work into the smaller areas of detail, I had to move a few elements - the length of his leg was too long, and his head was too high, so I had to re-draw both areas.

I continued to add local color, trying not to get too bright too fast.  I still feel that his leg may be in the wrong spot, or that his torso is just too long.  But I like the composition, and the space between the male and female figure.  There is an important element, his hand caressing his thigh, that I really need to paint in - it shows more of a connection between the two figures.

It was so nice to work for such a long time from one pose, to really have a chance to look, and re-look, and think about where elements need to be.  Now, when I finish this in the studio from reference photos, I'll be able to draw from both the photograph and the actual experience.

The Engaged Couple. Drawing the male and female together.

Our figure drawing group has been very lucky the last few months...we've had several opportunities to work with two models together.  It's always a challenge, not only capturing all of the information of two figure vs one, but the posing of the models is challenging as well.  You want both figures to look great - interesting, well lit - from several vantage points as artists are drawing on all sides, you want them to be comfortable, and, you want them engaged with each other - either thru a hand resting on one another or a turn of the head indicating a conversation.

Last night our models were able to give us all of that - poses that were interesting from every angle and that gave us a connection between the figures.

After a series of (INCREDIBLE!) gesture poses, we worked on this 25 minute pose.

The angles of the arms and legs, the variety of height, the beautiful shadows on the figures and cast onto the floor, the masculinity vs femininity, it was all perfect.

As I looked around the room...everyone had created beautiful work!

For the longer pose, the models utilized a bench and sat together in, to me, was a very protective way.  The male model was perched above, his arm gently holding the female models back, she leaned into his chest as if seeking shelter.

I can't wait to keep working!  I have some amazing reference photos to work from, and I think they will continue my most recent series of figures in shadow.  I'll keep you posted :)