Thursday, April 30, 2015

#28 of the Fifty Faces

My daughter, Cynthia , captured the photo of this man's face for my project. He willingly posed when she explained what I was doing.






Tuesday, April 28, 2015

John Singer Sargent was right!

John Singer Sargent said, " A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth". Mouths are very tricky to paint because they are so "plastic" They are not like a nose that stays put. A mouth moves and changes and a tiny brush stroke can change the look and lose the likeness.

Sargent also said that every time he painted a portrait, he lost a friend. I am safe, since none of the faces I am making are commissions and no one has to pay for their portrait unless he or she wants it. Phew!






Monday, April 27, 2015

Face for today, April 27, 2015

I think this is the beginning of week 6 of my portrait project. I have several faces started.  I like to work on more than one at a time, so I don't get get fussy with the paint strokes. I have to let the paint dry a bit overnight, so I can continue the next day.








Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Finished today

It was good t get back into the studio early today. I had been absent for a couple of days taking take of other stuff. If only I didn't have to eat, there would be no shopping, cooking and doing dishes.








I am thinking of offering a class. "Painting Portraits from Photographs". Do you think that there would be enough interest to start that live in the studio? I already have 10 online classes for drawing and painting faces. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/21068

I appreciate all the photos that people are sending to me. It seems to be time to specify what I am looking for again. No babies, small children, grinning smiles, small, or cloudy snapshots with lots of background. I will choose the faces that have interesting character and clear details.
Please keep sending photos 

I am still getting photos that are too small and without enough details.





Monday, April 20, 2015

A Change of Plans

The other night, over dinner, my daughter suggested that I make 50 portraits rather than 100. She said, "I like the sound of 'Fifty Faces." I had to agree. This is the start of the 5th week of work on the project and I have 21 faces completed, and 6 in the beginning stages.

I still plan to have an exhibition in my home gallery of the finished faces and publish a book. The portraits till be available for purchase for $425 + shipping. This is less than half of my usual price.

People have been sending me photos and some have been wonderful and many others I can't use because they are too small, too cloudy, no contrast or facial details. I can not interpret a face in paint that I can not see clearly.

Here are a couple of photos that are good examples of what I can use.