Untamed, Unnamed

11 x 14 oil on linen

This started out as a celebrity portrait that went nowhere so I made it into a redhead (love painting red hair).  The celebrity will remain unnamed - she had her mouth open in photograph showing a full set of teeth and her head cocked back.  I made a major mess of it, gave up and improvised.  I rather like the finished look - a little wild looking!

Splash of Color Challenge - DPW

18 x 24 oil on canvas panel

This was done for the Daily Paintworks Challenge.  Actually this is just the top half of the painting.  I had been intending to paint this for some while and when the challenge came up to take a black and white photo and add color I decided to forge ahead.  I didn't put that much color in--I think I just substituted two new colors for the black and white and did more of a value study but it was a "challenge for me".

Experimenting

I have been experimenting lately with new colors and my new brush I got in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago.  It's a cat's tongue filbert and I really like the feel of it.   I like the loose quality it produces and it picks up the paint to well.  My new favorite thing!

Just Playing Today

10 x 10 on canvas board

Just playing today - had painting group and really worked on touching up other paintings most of day.  I started this about an hour before leaving and I don't know if I will go back to it.  I was trying to paint more abstractly but ended up drawing too much - we'll see!

Pres - Take I

 14 x 14 acrylic on stretched canvas

This is after the first session on my grandson.  It will hang with the portrait of my granddaughter I did a week or so ago.   He always makes silly faces when posing (he's 5) and this was taken at the beach with him trying on large sunglasses.    The actual painting isn't this yellow.  I just took it in artificial light at night so the colors don't ring true at all.  I have some more touches for it but I must be finished by tomorrow afternoon since we will be seeing them this weekend hopefully.

Happy Father's Day

8 x 10 oil on canvas board

Thinking about my Dad today.  He died on New Year's Eve in 2000 and I still miss him.    I painted this picture of him 34 years ago and I shudder when I look at the colors I used in this and how I tried to make it so smooth,  but it does look like him or how I remember him.  Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there.  

The Look

 8 x 10 oil

I've just been playing today and experimenting with skin tones, drawing, etc.  This was just a picture from a fashion magazine.   The model actually had her hand on her sunglasses as if she was about to take them off, but I didn't want to tackle fingers today so I painted them out!

Study in Umber

6 x 6 oil on canvas panel

This was painted for this week's Daily Paintworks Challenge - VERY challenging!  The only color allowed was burnt umber - no white!   The oil painters had to use turpentine and wipe off color down to the canvas for white with whatever you could figure out - mostly q-tips!   A friend who went on a mission trip to Africa took this photo while there and I loved the look on the young girl's face and had saved the photo to paint later, thought it would fit for this challenge but the features weren't very clear, so I had to use my imagination.