Portrait of Harley

Just finished this portrait of Harley of the soulful eyes.

Portrait of Oriana

Have been working all month on a portrait of my oldest granddaughter. It's 24 by 36 so lifesize. This isn't the best photo of it, but I'll post this for now and replace it after I get a better one I plan to take in daylight. It's been really hard to photograph it without getting a lot of glare in the dark background even though it is not glazed and the finish is matte.

Dakota Outside - oil on linen, 12 by 16

Finally finished after a few corrections and touches.

Dakota Outside

Got the background in and just have finishing touches to do.

Dakota continued

Have been working mostly on the background and trying to decide how much detail to put into that brick. Don't want to overshadow Dakota, but she does look nice against a red background. Haven't done any more work on the dog, will leave that til after get most of the background the way I want it.

Dakota - First Wash

First wash in oils of Dakota and beginning to put in some background. Her favorite spot was sitting outside the house.

Dakota - Initial Sketch on Canvas

Below is the sketch on canvas for the painting of Dakota, transferred using a grid from a favorite photo provided by her owner. Sadly, this beautiful dog passed away several weeks ago, so I'll do the best I can to make this painting a lovely reminder. I sketched the eyes with more detail than I usually would because they were difficult to make out in the photo and I did what I could with Photoshop to clarify them and bring out some detail. Hopefully I haven't had to guess too much.

Morning Daydreams

A second self-portrait that will also be in the show at Tall Grass Art Gallery.

Just woke up and contemplating the day.

Winter Scarf

I did this self-portrait with my favorite winter scarf for an upcoming show at the Tall Grass art gallery in Park Forest Illinois.

Finished Sketch

This is the finished charcoal sketch done on Strathmore toned gray paper. I decided to include the right hand and wrist after all and just a small part of the arm because her arm seemed to be distorted in the photo I had and the angle was awkward.

Sketch in Progress

Sketch I just started working on from a photo provided. Trying to decide if I want to include the hand and arm in the photo or try to fill in the part of the hair I can't see and leave it out.

Sketch on Toned Paper

Tried Strathmore tan toned sketching paper in life drawing today. Also got the gray toned which I will try soon. It does help you sketch faster, a good thing when drawing from life in a fairly short pose.

Headdress

This beautiful lady poses for a portrait painting/drawing group I attend and she wears the most wonderful head pieces and dresses. She also does fantastic hair arrangements. I'm hoping to do a series of paintings. I am able to get a good start from life, but since she usually holds one pose for about an hour, an hour and a half tops, I take a photo to finish up from. This one is 9 by 12, painted on board primed with gesso.

Fenced But Free

This 8 by 10 oil on linen was finished today and painted from a reference photo provided by photographer Lee A. Brown. Lee posts one of his beautiful photos monthly as a painting challenge and then posts the paintings that we email to him in a photo gallery on his website. Check them out at leeabrownphotography.com.

Happy Yellow Pears

Getting back to fruit, I did this mostly with a palette knife with a few touch ups with a brush. This was purely practice as I have almost no experience with a palette knife, but have loved the look in other people's paintings. It was fun, sort of a cross between finger painting and frosting a cake - yes, I used my fingers too sometimes. Since I knew I was going to do that, I avoided cadmium yellows and used non-cadmium versions. Permanent yellows light and deep from Holbein and radiant lemon from Gamblin. Also think I have permanent orange from Holbein in there. I do have some cadmium reds and yellow light as well as cobalt blue. No fingers then unless I use gloves which I get by the box from the beauty supply shop.

Stretching

Another ballerina. This is 6 by 12 oil on linen.

One of the paintings I did for the outdoor art fair. Dancers are fun to paint.

Red and Yellow Peppers

This is what I worked on today. Peppers from my daughter's garden. Might just do a few tweaks, but essentially its finished.

Ballerinas

Finished this up today.

Still Life with Lemons

I have finally caught up with myself, so here is the painting I did today. Got really ambitious and combined some flowers - daisies - one of my pewter pots - I have a small collection of them - and three lemons. This is a 9 by 12 oil on linen which I started yesterday and maybe finished today. So I actually will be able to use the lemons. I've taken down the set up and will let this painting sit for a day or so. Then I might still make some adjustments.

I"m hoping I can continue to post my paintings here on a more regular basis since I'm hoping I will continue to paint everyday. It's a great habit!