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Friday, February 24, 2012

Hairy Background

I WISH I COULD SHOW YOU MORE, BUT I PROMISED SECRECY

So in bits and pieces: The Beauty Shop yesterday, hair today. I finally got the chutzpah to jump into my portrait of the two children with oils today. Still a bit edgy about attacking the skin tones, I began with the easy things like hair and background. Moving cautiously, I keep thinking about something Georgia O'Keeffe said. She starts at the top corner of a painting and works her way down. If only painting was that simple. We all know that's not how it's done. The whole process is a balancing act.

The little spots of white you see is the glistening of the light on the wet oils. If I waited for the paint to dry, I'd have nothing to show for today except the edges of a lot of gallery canvases that I finally painted mahogany. What a boring job that is! But we had a snow day, and I still needed to fool around before I picked up my brush to forge ahead on the painting I've been side stepping all week.

I have a new follower I want to introduce. She just started painting. From the looks of her first finished painting, she's natural born, but not a stranger to paint. Her name is Inge Van Rees. I was her first follower. She was my seventieth. Thank you Inge. All the best.

Have a nice weekend everybody who is getting ready to have one. If you're in it, I hope it's going well.

10 comments:

  1. Thanks a lot! Hope that I can learn a lot from looking at your work and reading your stories

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  2. The portraits are painted very challenging, I understand the tension you feel.
    Ciao and happy Sunday.

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  3. This is really looking intriguing. How much longer do we wait?? :)

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  4. Inge, it looks to me like you already know a lot. You'll learn a lot more too just from painting everyday and posting it. Don't worry about writing fascinating stories. Don't worry about writing. The idea is to paint. You're very welcome.

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  5. Then Gabriella, I ran into some very interesting portrait painting tutorials on YouTube. I no longer like what I've done here. It's not loose enough. It's not painting. I've been copying a photograph. I have half a mind to start all over--or loosen up considerably. Except, I've never seen the children and did not take the photograph.

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  6. A long time Farm guy. I won't show the whole thing till the client has it.

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  7. the colors are looking great! nice sneak peak ;)

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  8. Thanks Kyla. Sorry for just a peek, but that's how things stand right now with the client. I'm going to ask her to give up the secrecy.

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  9. Hi Linda.
    I`m sure that I posted a comment earlier for this one, but it`s not there so here goes. I can`t wait for the completed portrait. It looks great at the moment but I know what you mean when you said it`s not loose enough. I love loose portraits as you do. All the best Linda.
    Vic.

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  10. I'm still waiting for the finished work and so is the client, Victor. Flesh tones are troublesome. But even when I get those sitting right, I won't be able to show you the whole thing UNLESS the client says I can. Privacy issues.

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