As mentioned in a previous post, I decided to create a gift for my husband and do a portrait of his mother. I also decided to treat this in a similar fashion to a commissioned portrait. I had him pick from my best possible reference photos from our visit with the family at Christmas. I… Continue reading Mum
I received an email the other day from a young lady in California who advised she had found me on Quora where I have answered questions or made comments in relationship to art in the past. She was working on a paper in which she had to “interview” an artist. As a former journalist (WAY… Continue reading An Interview
When I started painting many, many years ago in school, I was taught that there was really only one surface acceptable for fine art paintings: canvas stretched and primed with acrylic gesso. I’ve learned since there then are a whole lot of other options and so long as you approach the issue in a logical… Continue reading The Right Surface
I started this painting as a demonstration for a Beginner’s Oil Painting Class last summer. I got as far as starting to put the second layer in and never got beyond that. Looking at as a photo, there may still be changes I will make to it. Yesterday I continued where I had left off… Continue reading Discovering What Works and What Doesn’t
I don’t normally make a list of New Year’s Goals, but I have seen how making goals (i.e. a To-Do List) does seem to help me stay on track and I accomplish more with a list then I do without one. I should also probably pull together a vision board as a visually oriented person,… Continue reading 2020 Hopes and Goals
The photo has a bit of glare off the wet dark paint around the head of the nearest dancer, but I think you can get the idea. Again, here is the original photo so you can see some of the very conscious decisions I made to 1. focus the composition, 2. preserve the privacy of… Continue reading Waiting in the Wings
Here is my progress from Day 4. I darkened the curtains and redefined the spaces for their legs and around their faces and backs. I also made a few changes to the very far back wall as defining the rail into a line shape pointing to that puff in the front dancer’s hair helped the… Continue reading Ballerina’s Day 4
I’m in search of a title for this painting and I’ve posted some of the progress photos on Facebook and I’ve gotten some interesting ideas. I just haven’t decided yet. My Daughter-in-law, who provided me with the reference photo, advised that the girls were in a Ballet called The Carnival of Animals and they were… Continue reading Ballerinas Day 3
As you saw from my last post, I spent the first day (well, actually the second if you give me a day to choose the reference photo and makes notes and sketches about any composition changes and enlarging the photo) transferring the photo with my notes to tracing paper. I also stained the canvas. In… Continue reading Ballerina’s Day 2
