Hey Steemit Family. I hope Everyone is having a great day. It was another long night for me finishing up this painting. Went to bed at 9 a.m. and woke up at 11:45 a.m. This 18" x 24" oil painting is what I have been working on for the last couple of weeks. So I would like to share a bit of the process with you, but first a quick announcement.
Custom Portrait Winner
The winner of the 8" x 10" custom portrait drawing is @chelsea88. Congratulations. I will be in touch later today. For those of you that didn't win do not worry. I will do more of these types of giveaways in the future as my way of Saying,
"I Friggin' Love You All"
Back To the Painting
This is a painting of my youngest sister with her new baby boy, Cannon, and her fiance Charlie. This is definitely not my typical portrait. It was very challenging and fun to paint.
I started this painting a little different than I normally do. I knew the blue sheet hanging over head was going to be a bit of a dominating force as far as color harmony goes so I wanted to started of with a paynes gray wash to begin with and then made my drawing over that. Then I started with the sheet. Most often I try to cover the whole canvas before really getting to any detail anywhere, but I wanted to make sure that early on I got everything in the right color and value family. So I started with the blue sheet to get that settled in to build my world of blue.
Lazy Palette Works Pretty Well.
In the beginning I was just working off of an old overused and dirty palette so I was being a little lazy and decided since I was only working with blue at the moment that it didn't matter. By the end of it all I mixed all of the colors here using Payne's Gray, Pthalo Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White, Cad Red Light, and Alizarin Crimson even made a short guest appearance. This is definitely the most limited palette I have ever used in a oil painting, and you know what? I like it.
Once I get the blue sheet in my next goal was to attack the pillow in the foreground to make sure I had some of the brightest whites in the picture brushed in at an early stage in the painting as a way to really keep an eye on my range of value. It is hard to tell in these images but the subtle temperature changes in the pillow really set off the blue reflected light.
Then I worked some of the skin tones in a little bit so I could test the skin against my reflected light and make any adjustments to the reflected light on the pillow
Here I just wanted to make sure that I got the strongest highlight down on the sheet above her face again as a way to keep my range of value in check
Here you can see me testing little patches of color to find the flesh tone that I wanted. It is hard to get a good idea of the colors in these pictures because of the glare and the low yellow lighting of my room.
Then I spread it all around to face. The colors seem a little saturated at this point as I am trying to lay down the base for capturing the glow of her face. At this point I am really trying to make her glow a little bit, but at the same time trying to not pull her too far forward in the space with color choice.
Here I just used some highlights to give her face some shape.
These hairnets were a bit of a pain in the butt, but they were also kind of fun to paint. I like drawing and painting things with some degree of transparency. I might even make a little tutorial on it at some point if anyone is interested. The trick is really just not to get discouraged in the early ugly stage.
At this point it is all about adding temperature and tone differences while adding in your medium shapes. I also had to do a bit of blue-ing down on the top of the head underneath the hairnet since I initially got it too warm.
Then I just added the details and highlights.
Laying in a face. Nothing to really see here
Blocking in the face mask
Adding highlights and temperature changes, and voila an almost done painting.
I still have quite a few touch ups to do on this to get everything cleaned up and in the same world so to speak. Overall, I really like the range of value throughout the piece as well as the sense of depth.
Although this was a pretty technical photo I think it was a fun and interesting photo choice. The composition is just naturally interesting to me. There is basically a big x marks the spot right above one of the main focal points made from the sheets in the back the cables by her head and the crease in her arm.
The angle that the pillow comes out of the frame in the foreground really added a nice sense of space. You can't tell in this photo, but if you walk in front of the painting at just the right angle it almost seems as if you are stepping into the room.
I have had a lot of fun with this one and feel like I learned quite a bit. What do you think?
Hop in the comments and let me know what you think about the painting, or the process. Is there something you would like to know more about? As always critiques are welcome, even brutal ones. Let me know what you think........Seriously hop in the comments and say something whether it be question or complaint.
Wonderful! Thank you.
Looks like you made some really good decisions here with the design. I think the drape on top and the pillow on the bottom have just enough detail to tell the story but not enough to take attention away from the focal point. They act as a good frame drawing our eyes in. Would love to see that "in the room" effect. I've had that on some charcoal drawings that I've done before where it feels like you can reach in to it. Good stuff! :))
Thank you. Yeah I was attempting to photograph this at the proper angle but then the glare was too bad since this is one of the few oil paintings that I have used a medium in like linseed oil. I couldn't figure out how to set it up in time for the photo, but I always love seeing art with a sense of space....Usually in my case it just happens somewhat accidentally. lol
I like this very much. Every thing about it. The composition, color, the interpretation of reality in pigment. All very eye appealing to me. Just good stuff.
So I can get a better sense of it...how big is the canvas? How fast do you work?
Well, do appreciate the process look. I am always curious about the way art comes together. I can mentally deconstruct the process on somethings, but it is nice to have it laid out.
Oh and congrats on the high water mark post! May there be many more for you.
Thank you so much @armadilloman for your observations and kind words.
This is 18" x 24" . I would say I worked between 3 hours on the shortest day to 16 hours on my longest day for about a weeek and a half or two weeks. Normally I do a better job tracking project details but I have been a little out of sorts lately.
I really wanted to record the entire process through video, but again it has been a little wild around here for the extra steps.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day
HOLY FK! Can't believe I won. You are unbelievably kind & generous which proves there are GOOD ppl out there!!
HOLY MOLY by the way. Your work is VERY REAL. this post is getting resteemed not becayse you chose me either but becayse it's truly something that needs SHARED!
You can reach me on DISCORD under sane name or under FB under Chelsea Marie
:) I just added you on discord. I guess I can't actually send you a message until you accept my request
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Woohoo :)
good post
Thank you
im so amazed!!!
Thank you friend! :)
Oh I really like the way you have showed the whole process! Only compliments from my side :)
Check out my friend's abstract paintings too to support her :) https://steemit.com/art/@emanfatima/abstract-art-for-sale-by-samar-hussain
Following you to check more of your stuff :)
Thank you
Saludos. Hermosa obra con un realismo impresionante que destaca el momento de ternura propio del momento, Felicidades. Me encanta encontrar personas con gusto por la pintura como yo. Te seguiré y si deseas me sigues y compartiremos arte.
This is amazing. I love that you show us your process. I also want to let you know that your nephew's name is pretty freaking cool.