Saturday, April 14, 2012

A Pensive Gaze

This child was fascinating and fun to paint.  The skin tones in dark skin are beautiful and subtle.  I enjoyed capturing the cool colors in the reflected light on the left (our left) side of her face and warmer highlights on the right. Her attitude and expression were fun to paint as well.

Oil painting completed 2/14/12 in about 3 hours.

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100 Faces - Introduction

After painting many portraits, I've found I can achieve the likeness, attitude and personality of my subjects, given enough time. Now I want to be able to create them faster!
My art goal for 2012 is to paint one hundred faces - small, quick practice studies, either from photos or from life, in whatever amount of time I have. If I only have an hour on a particular day, the idea is to complete the portrait in an hour. No time for fussing over details. I want to use larger brushes and more paint. Rough studies can have their own charm. Since it's just practice, I may throw them away, paint over them, or go back later to finish them further.

Click on the pictures below to enlarge and see the brushwork.