Back to Painting

After a bit of a too long break from my recent portrait undertaking, about 5 weeks or so, I got back to it.


It still has a ways to go, but it is getting there.

Worked again in the face today, some of the hair, neck, and began establishing the sweater (which will be Hard as hell).

Hopefully over the Christmas holiday time, I can get about 12-15 hours into it.

Portrait Painting Progress

Still a bloody long way to go, but am ramping up weekend painting, putting that is a priority the next 6 months or so.

More progress on the portrait of my daughter last weekend. Will get 3 or so hours again in this weekend.

Since I sit cross legged on the floor, it's hard on my legs and feet, sending them to sleep, which feels horrid waking them up every 20 mins or so.

Some corrections will need to be made as this goes along, and the background in the end will need an assessment, mainly for it being less saturated than the figure, grey back a bit and more atmospheric.

I bought my husband the wrong brushes one day, on a brush buying errand at Curry's which is a walk from my work, but they work awesome for my painting needs, so it worked out. Luckily, because they were expensive.

I accidentally painted on the wall, which won't matter, since I've had the dark burgundy paint since last year, to paint it with, and will do that once Winter comes. White and light walls are not my thing lol!

Some Painting Progress - Beginning the Face

Got in some painting over the Christmas holiday days. Not a ton but began establishing the darks and lights in the face. I did go a bit further in the face, at this early stage, than was planned, but am happy with its beginnings.

Still the painting has a lot of the look of an under painting, but with a year and a bit to work on it still, it will go through a lot of transformation.

More Portrait Progress

Had 2 days holidays left from this year's work holidays that I get. Got some painting in on my portrait on the one day, and am going to see the Turner show at the AGO the 2nd day, with my Dad and my hubby. Should be nice, I have not been to the Art Gallery in Toronto for a few years.

I bought a really nice size wide size 10 filbert brush at Curry's and I am happy to say I chose right! It is really working well for rubbing and blending my soft layered background shapes. So, I made some progress, albeit a small amount, in my background. I also widened her arm on our left, her right.

There is quite a long ways to go but so far I feel confident it will work out in the end to my liking, hopefully.

my palette laid out, ready to begin

Portrait Painting Progress

The last couple of weekends, I have gotten in 5 - 6 hours on my personal portrait of my daughter. It's slow going but I feel happy painting again.

There are some issues with the arm on viewer left, which I will need to solve still.

The biggest obstacle I am facing is I do not really have a work space, a studio space if you will. I have been basically sitting on the floor but this does not allow for comfort, sitting cross legged on my pillow on the floor of the living room. I don't have the painting up high enough to work on the bottom of it. To sit at my drafting table, I would need to angle my board at such an angle that I cannot put my paints, my plate that I use for a palette, nor my mug that I have water in to rinse brushes. I used to have wire coat hangers bent in a way that I could hang my canvas off them from the top edge of my board, but I'm unsure where they are since having moved a few years ago. New ones would need to be made.

In any event, it so far is going ok. Background will be what I work on for a while. Though, always, I stray.

Sometimes a colour I mix for one area, intended for a different part of the painting all together I end up by instinct using it in the skin, and it tends to always work. I feel that this happens, especially with neutrals, because we tend to Think we know what pigments should work to mix skin tones and hone in on those, when really, skin tones have way more neutrals in them than we think. Therefore, when Not intending the colour I mix to be for the body, I end up mixing something that just Works. But I know I do this, from so many portraits in the past, so I in a way now lead myself down this same very path every time intentionally :-) Mix my background colours and neutrals, mix my hair neutrals, and voila, use them in the skin too.

The canvas I used to buy, from Curry's, I could no longer find after a while, one where I could rub such a soft layering of velvety dry brush blending with colour over colour. This canvas I can purchase now does not have quite that finish on it so I've had to adapt to the difference.

It will be a long go, probably over a year, but I am happy so far with the beginning progress stage.

Drawing and More Drawing

The last 2 weekends, I got in a few hrs of life drawing. Both on the still life and on a portrait of my boyfriend I began a few weeks back. Still both have a ways to go.

Feathers and Stone - Drawing from Life

During our walks we have found a few items we've kept, mainly as sentimental reminders of a particularly memorable or exciting experience on that day's outing.

We have a couple swan feathers from The Mill Pond in Richmond Hill, a beautiful smooth white quartz stone from the shore line near us, and the other feather here is a Flicker's feather that I found outside my old work on Milner in Scarborough.

I set up these items on an old wooden cereal crate that my Grandparents gave me 20+ years ago, from Port Colborne, Ontario, where they lived and where I visited them when I was a kid and teen. I just am using an ordinary table lamp to light the objects and create cast shadows that are interesting to draw. It is just being done in B, 2B and 6B pencil.

It is enjoyable to do an hour or so every Saturday and or Sunday, after being out on hikes during the early part of the day. It'll take some time to complete it.

Part of the inspiration to work with natural objects such as feathers was seeing Canadian artistTom Forrestall's work one day a couple weeks back after my boyfriend and I dropped off his latest completed painting at his gallery on the same street. We dropped in to a couple other galleries, gabbed with people he knows, and that is where I discovered the gorgeous little feather and spoon paintings, as well as the scare crow and raven painting of Tom's. He is an artist who I had forgotten from college when looking at Canadian painters during art history.

Drawing from life is challenging, especially when one's eyes have changed and become older, but it is a real enjoyable exercise on a weekend afternoon. It keeps one's observation skills well honed as well.

Past Lifedrawings

Have been thinking recently, I need to cut back on the weekend jaunts, and add back in some art time again. I do have 2 pieces I've been asked to do, this time for family and friends of family, rare for me as most of my commissions were stranger based always, as a portrait artist for over a decade. However, working full time in the last 2 years or so, as opposed to part time, decided for me that I will not accept commissions anymore. I wanted to keep my leisure time mostly for myself - my kids and myself and my partner.

Having a lot of life changes in the past 2 years, many quite challenging, by choice and some not within my control at all, has really made me cherish my weekend time and nights. My fiance and I began taking walks to the harbour in our new vicinity, which lead to exploring new areas to walk, eventually leading me to become more of an outdoor person than an introverted indoor reader and drawer that I grew up as as a kid and teen. As a born artist,  the camera began taking the place of painting and drawing, which in turn meant I carry my camera on 99.9% of our outings. It's definitely Not as satisfying as painting I can tell you that. However, reference photos were a tool I used having been a representational artist.

 

As a teen, as well as a student at what was the old OCA in Toronto, life drawing was a 1-3 day a week thing for me. I also kept it up over the last few years. As well, I do occasionally model for life drawing groups and some classes, but it has become more as a favour and for the personal enjoyment of the environment and the attending artists, most of whom are great people, then for the extra income. Since working full time down town, it has become not so convenient to go so it is quite rare now that I do. I grew up drawing from the figure, so this may lend itself to being a pretty good life model.

However, in the last couple of years, I've not really practiced my life drawing, mainly due to time and travel inconvenience, not to mention expense.

The best time I ever enjoyed as an artist involving life drawing occurred when I visited my very good artist friend in Ottawa about 5 years ago. We attended life drawing at people's houses, at the community centre where she regularly attended, and I even was allowed to join one of the portrait class sessions she attended at the time. It was so much fun! It was somewhat like what I slightly imagined it would be like being a free spirited artist hippie in the 60s lol! - something I don't quite think I'd have been then since I have that practical and logical side as well as artistic free spirit side lol! But I always recall that time spent with her and her husband, both awesome people, fondly and know it can never be totally be relived or come close to again. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

Some Old Life Drawings (from 2-6 years ago)

Portrait Work in Progress

Continuing today on the portrait I began a week ago. Content with the progress. Today is a perfect day for painting due to it being an overcast day. I work in natural light conditions so bright sunlight strips coming in across my work surface are not ideal conditions.

Keeping the skin neutral and not "hot" has always been a challenge for me. I seem to be tackling that so far.