Portrait of Nancy -- the start

I had just an hour to get this painting started today. My "model," Nancy, regaled me with stories about a recent trip to Syria. Nancy is a glass artist whose energy and animation need to be brought back into this painting!

Hmmm. Is this what I look like?

In-house art critic says this is what I look like. I decided that open-mouthed was a more natural look (especially when I am around in-house art critic). Less hair, more nose, more angular face, tighter eyebrow-to-eye space.

Enough already. I have a model for tomorrow who will be much more interesting to paint.

Changes, changes

I adjusted my hairline a bit... took some puffiness out of my cheeks, but I think I still need to make my nose bigger. Very hard to look in a mirror and see what other people see!

Fear of Self-Portrait

So this is very funny. I started work today, about 45 minutes, on a self portrait and figured that I just had to be brutally honest about my big nose, asymmetrical features.

My in-house art critic told me I had a wildly distorted self image and I wasn't nearly that scary looking. My New Hampshire art critic said that I needed to get over the idea that I had a small forehead, big nose, funky eyes ... so I spent another 25 minutes tonight. Brought my eyes down an inch, shortened my nose, made myself more symmetrical, warmed up my skin.

I'm still worried my original sketch is the way I look in my head. This is the kind of thing that doesn't require therapy, just more painting. I'm told by the in-house critic that the new version is better, but not right yet. Either she wants something like new jeans or she really does think I look younger in real life.

The starter sketch:

Portraits of the Artists

I've decided to embark on a portrait painting project -- and my first series is going to be portraits of the artists of the Foundry Gallery. Stay tuned.

Last Studio Portrait Day!

The end of winter indoor painting -- now I'll be moving back to plein air. It's been a very interesting winter and I may still have some indoor still lifes in me.

Rethinking the Portrait

I decided to make another go at Elena's portrait today. I painted her while sitting down and I'm definitely (as the Sundance Kid would say) better when I move, or at least more comfortable with the physicality of my painting style. Still, it gave me a chance to work out some new ideas.

Portrait of Elena

Elena and Reinhold

Elena was actually in the studio modeling. The rest is what I imagined she needed (including the shopping bag, Reinhold, the landscape...) to make something of the painting.