I just completed my large, 48"x36" painting, and, as promised, I took progression photos to share the process with you! My lovely cousin Laura was the model for this painting I titled "Classic Beauty." I embarked upon a journey of paint, and I gleaned so much along the way - when painting, I have a board of inspiration to help me continually focus on my artistic goals and learn from some of the best! For this painting, I pinned up examples of Jeremy Lipking, Morgan Weistling, Dan Gerhartz, Michael Malm, James Tennison, and, of course, Sargent, Sorolla and Cecilia Beaux are always present. :-)
So, here is the underpainting that I began with (I did the first phase of the drawing in acrylic, but I soon had to adjust the measurements, so I will be doing the underpainting in oil from now on! Live and learn...)
Phase 2 - Blocked in the darkest darks and began work on the portrait.
Closeup of the beginning stage of the portrait - a long way to go!
Phase 3 - A lot of work on the main figure, alteration of the profile, and the addition of the reflection - I had to make sure that colors, values and shapes remained consistent in the main figure and the reflection of the figure!
You can see how much the portrait changed from the beginning - I removed the waves of hair behind her face to highlight the soft elegance of her features.
Detail of the reflection
The completed painting :
"Classic Beauty," Oil on Linen, 48"x36"
(In honor of one of my good friends and great inspirations, I painted James Tennison's painting hanging on the wall!)
I just entered this painting in Southwest Art Magazine's 21 Under 31 Competition, but I won't find out if I made the cut until September! So time will tell...
I would love to hear your thoughts about this one!
Thank you for visiting - More paintings will be coming soon to a blog near you! :-)
Incredible. Art is so foreign to an insurance lady but so taken by the beauty and the talent that can produce such an incredible piece. I cant even fathom how this comes out of a persons mind, hands or soul. So so gorgeous. I look forward to seeing how the 4 painting of the 4 Mom/Daughters come along. Keep me posted on those as well so I can enjoy the life of an artist through you and your family. It sure beats an Excel spreadsheet and a conference call!!
ReplyDeleteLorri, you are so encouraging! Thank you for your support, you are such a blessing to my heart! I will definitely keep you posted, and I'll take lots of progression photos of the new paintings (I'm hoping to even do a video of the making of one of the paintings). It was a joy to spend time with you here in the Lone Star State - we hope to see you again soon! :-)
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