This commissioned portrait of a darling little girl was really fun to paint but had some challenges, like trying to invent the pajamas hidden by the highchair straps. It took several drawings (including one of a baby skull I found on Google) before I was ready to move ahead with the painting as you can see in the process steps below.
Emi’s face was actually easier to paint than the pajamas, and I was tempted to keep working on them, probably forever, but the friend who commissioned the painting was happy with it as is, so I am too.
Below is some of the work in progress steps. Please note that the lighting changed the colors in some of the photos.
Mimi at Marcy’s, oil on Arches Oil Paper, 9.5″ x 7″
Although I’m happy with this pre-quarantine composition and painting, I regret not checking the drawing before beginning to paint. I sensed something wasn’t right and sure enough, when I did the digital tracing (below) I found my mistake, but it was too late. I’d either need to start over or let it go.
When drawing/painting people I ask myself, “Does it at least look human, if not that specific human?” Hmmmm. Well, I guess I can celebrate the parts that worked and let go of mistakes and remember to check my drawing next time! Also I might be coming to believe that sometimes the anatomy isn’t as important as the feeling I’m trying to convey, and that caricature or distortion might be ok (though it’s probably better when it’s intended).
I did the initial drawing on Arches Oil Paper with a Prismacolor Col-Erase pencil. Then I sealed the drawing and the paper with Golden GAC 100, a transparent acrylic sealant that gives the paper a slick, non-absorbent finish. I dislike using Arches Oil Paper as is, it’s way too absorbent. So even though it’s safe for oil painting on directly, I can’t really use it without sealing it first. Some people first cover it with Gamsol but that would be way too much solvent exposure for me.
Here are the steps as it progressed:
Original drawing with reference photo on iPad
Digital tracing in Procreate of Reference photo over painting. Oh well.
Portrait of Dayris, Oil on Arches Oil Paper, 10″x8.5″
I’ve had so much fun painting and sketching the lovely Dayris from Sktchy in oil (above), and before that, in pencil and then doing a digital sketch in Procreate (below). Also below you’ll find a slide show of the work in progress. Doing the two initial drawings really helped me quickly get a pretty accurate drawing for the oil painting. You can see her reference photo on Sktchy here.
Initial pencil drawing of Dayris, 12×9″
Digital Sketch of Dayris in Procreate
Below are the steps in the process of making the portrait.
Initial pencil drawing of Dayris, 12×9″
Digital Sketch of Dayris in Procreate
Umber underpainting
Some background and shirt
Some paint on face
Icky background in with palette knife
More work on background, still icky
Background better but not happy with shirt or hair
Almost done
Scraped off shirt and some hair to redo
Portrait of Dayris, Oil on Arches Oil Paper, 10″x8.5″
Portrait of Kori L from Sktchy, 10×8” oil on gessoed watercolor paper
After working on this portrait for two months, trying over and over to capture this lovely woman in paint, I have to admit I never truly succeeded. I learned from all the struggles and attempts but it’s about to be a new year and time to start something new so I’m moving on. You can see her reference photo on Sktchy by clicking on the image of my painting here.
Below are two digital sketches in Procreate from Sktchy, done this month while waiting for the paint to dry on the portrait to try once again on a new layer of oil paint to get it right.
Sketched in Procreate from a Sketchy app photo by Nicolas Schram Illustration
You can see the reference photo for the sketch above here and the one below here on Sktchy. Just click my drawing there to see the reference photo beneath it.
Hannah W from Sktchy, 14×11” oil on Arches Oil Paper.
Learning to paint (well) for me means a constant but gradual process of 1) learning from my mistakes and 2) having “layers of the onion” lifted from my eyes until I at last can see something that was previously mysteriously hidden from me. (You can see the reference photo for this painting on Sketchy here.)
This painting taught me once again how much harder painting can be when you don’t start with an accurate drawing, going directly to drawing with paint and then correcting, correcting, correcting.
Getting the drawing right and capturing a likeness can be as “simple” as recognizing the big shapes, contours, divisions of space and observing where things line up with each other. Getting the values right can be as “simple” as observing where the light comes from, how it lands on the large and small planes of the face or any object, and asking myself where the darkest and lightest areas are and how this plane compares. Getting good color “just” means accurately observing the overall and predominant range of colors (saturated or grayed, warm or cool) and then asking is this the spot “warmer or cooler, more or less saturated, lighter or darker.”
I can ask myself these questions over and over, but until yet another layer of the onion is lifted, I just can’t see the answer. When that happens my brain tells me it’s too hard and just jumps ahead with a lazy guess, which then sets off another round or layer of correction, correction, correction. But I do learn from my mistakes and each next painting is an opportunity to put what I learned from them into practice and hopefully remove one more layer until at last I will be able to truly see!
