Portrait of a Beautiful Woman

Today's daily painting was painted directly from life, with a standing model. She was wearing an antique kimono, in reds and corals. This 9" x 12" canvas was from an hour + pose. I hope to continue next week with more visual information. I tried to concentrate on the forms of the face and leave the rest of the painting loosely painted. Hopefully we will have an additional hour with our beautiful model next week.
What would an artist do with another sitting? With more time you can check proportions, add stronger values,make sure edges are how you want them. Edges help to define her character, (soft edges on the form and hard edges for cast shadows.) I need to check the size of the back of her head....I have a tendency to not give the back of the head enough space, so I'll take a look at that, it feels a little short.I will even out the eyes and check the vanishing point between her horizontal eye-line and the horizontal line of her mouth.
There is a point in portrait painting when all the shapes are correct and the whole thing "locks in". I'm not quite there yet. After that you can feel freer about applying more paint and worrying about color shifts, texture, paint strokes, and painting across the form.

Seated Woman, Nude study

Today's daily painting is a figure study, oil on linen panel 7" x 10" It is painted direct from life. Always fun to figure paint especially with a great model. Available.

Daily Painting, Old French Key

Daily paintings are a nice way to start the day with a cup of coffee and a little canvas. Here is an early morning 6 x 8" oil on panel. I found this old key in France at a french junk store out in the countryside, like a french Funk & Junk! There's only so much a person can pack in their already crammed suitcase,n'est-pas? Available on Etsy

Mr. Smith, Pet Portrait

Here is the charming, Mr. Smith, the little soulful dog. Today's daily painting was painted over a couple of days. It is a 24" x 24" oil on canvas and a surprise Christmas present. Occasionally I do pet portraits, they are great fun to do. I hope to capture the look and a bit of the personality of each pet.
If you have an interest in non-traditional pet portraits, let me know!

Portrait of a Dancer

Today's daily oil painting is a portrait of our local dance instructor, Linda Downs. She is much prettier than I have painted her, I wanted to show her introspective side. 6" by 8" oil on panel. Available.

Standing Pose

Today's daily painting is a 20 minute standing pose painted from life. It is 7" x 10" oil on linen. I cut several pieces of gessoed linen and taped them to a drawing board to have ready for each pose. Linen is such a nice surface to paint on, not as slippery as a panel, it holds the paint better. Available.

Green Zinnias

Each year I try to grow green zinnias, some years are better than others. Today's daily painting was developed from a pastel sketch done earlier in September. I liked using a pastel sketch as a reference for this painting. Pastels have a painterly quality anyway, and they are so quick when you don't have time for the whole painting rigmarole.....Oil on canvas panel, 12" x 16" Available at Funk & Junk.