Here, now...

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Face 2

I've always loved drawing and painting faces. Out of my imagination, from photos, from life, it never grows old. A few years ago I did a portrait of my daughter that sparked off an new direction I had not imagined doing portrait commissions and it has been an excellent way for me to satisfy my urge for working in a more traditional way. Last week I created a face that was a little whacked out but it was exactly how I was feeling in that particular moment.

I don't feel like this everyday, thankfully, and I'm not going for actual likeness but more of a visual representation for any particular emotion that might be consuming me at any given time. The top photo was a calm day, thus I chose to simplify the palette and used titanium white, hansa yellow and prism violet. I started out first drawing in the face with the yellow.

Hansa yellow, as you can see, can be quite bright and startling but when mixed with white and the violet it pales and can create a warmer color that softened the portrait and worked well as a shadow. I worked and reworked the painting over until there was no sign of the hansa yellow and it began to feel more serene.

I was happy with the result and felt it summed up a more calm, peaceful and relaxed day. Can you see it?

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Cracking a code

Thats what painting feels like to me sometimes. Unlocking new doors is the best feeling when it happens, especially when you don't even know how it happened, it just happens. I had no idea where I was going with this painting & I wasn't liking it very much from the beginning & it isn't done yet but I have had so much fun creating it I wanted to share the process so far.