Tag: Art

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Art

Daylight Savings End Eve=Xmas Eve

Daylight Savings Eve, 5×8” Ink, Neocolor II, Inktense pencils

The end of Daylight Savings is my favorite day of the year! It’s like Christmas Eve—I love knowing I get a free hour to use as a “Do-Over” sometime during the day, after I’ve fallen into a rabbit hole of one sort or another.

And I fall into a lot of rabbit holes, thanks to ADHD and its “time blindness” feature.

Like today, I was about to do a Peloton cycling class but found myself finally clearing out all the bags and bins of lockdown-era flours for bread making instead.

Then I moved on to the containers of dried beans and peas I’ll never cook. I posted the beans on my local Buy Nothing group. Hopefully someone who is still friends with legumes can enjoy some soup making. 

I finally did the fun cycling class, but so late that lunch after was at 4:00 pm. And finally got in the studio and drew this to celebrate Daylight Savings End Eve.

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Art Sketchbook Pages

Goat Self Portrait, Because Bouc & Caprine

“Le Bouc Caprine” Colored pencil and Neocolor II in Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook, 10×8”

Yesterday, while reading The Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, I came across a word I didn’t know: “caprine.” In a painting of the sisters, “the artist had given their faces a caprine quality.” A quick dictionary lookup said it means “relating to or resembling goats.” Yikes.

But I was delighted to find a new word for one of my favorite animals. Then it hit me: my last name, Bouc*, also means goat! (Billy goat, actually.) I immediately had to find a goat photo to sketch for the day’s self-portrait.

Preliminary sketch in colored pencils (that I colored over)

Which version do you like better? I think I should have stopped with the quirkier, more curious, more me, colored pencil version. But I wanted to keep playing and added Neocolor II crayons on top. One day I might learn to stop sooner rather than later.

*Bouc was my ex-husband’s family name, but I kept it after we parted. I’ve had that last name much longer than my father’s last name — a name I never liked and that wasn’t even really ours. My grandfather, a refugee from Kiev, was given it at Ellis Island because they said his real name couldn’t be spelled in English.

Me if I was a goat, photo reference:

Photographer: Andy Bodemir on Unsplash.com
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Art Faces Gouache Painting People Portrait

Brian from Police IT Department: Gouache Portrait

Brian from IT, Gouache on paper 9×12”

His name isn’t really Brian. I took a photo of him from the TV screen when I watching a European detective show on BritBox because I found the colors mesmerizing.

I don’t remember which show it was, but he was the sweet, smart guy who could always be relied on to find the solutions on his computer. Even though most of those European detective/police procedural shows follow a similar formula, with a similar set of characters (like the sweet IT nerd guy), I still thoroughly enjoy them.

Photo reference from the TV

It was challenging but fun to draw and paint from the above photo reference. I really wanted to capture his sweet expression and the vivid colors. It took me 4 drawings and then starting over after abandoning a painting before I was satisfied. I had such a great time with the headphones! But I got lazy with his shirt and left off the plaid because I was ready to move on.

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Art Faces Gouache Painting People Portrait

Grumpy Old Brit Character Actor

Portrait in gouache of old British male character
Old Brit Character Actor, Gouache, 10×7”

My last painting of 2024 is this gouache painting of a British or Irish character actor from one of the great detective shows on BritBox (but I forget which one).

I tried to do a Google reverse search from the photo I took from the TV (see below) to learn his name but it failed, giving me everything from Donald Trump (?!) to an advertisement for tweed jackets. Do you know who he is?

After dong a couple sketches it was time to paint. I was inspired to use gouache instead of oils because I hate the way my oil paintings almost always end up taking forever and feeling overworked while I try over and over to perfect it.

I don’t do that with gouache, I get more carefree, playful and have fun. It had been nearly a year since I used gouache and it felt like I’d forgotten everything.

This was my get-reacquainted with gouache painting and I’m excited to start the next one, also a still from a TV show.

Who am I? Reference screen still from TV
Categories
Art Faces Oil Painting Painting People Portrait

Freckles Minus Freckles

Freckles Minus Freckles, oil on gessoed Arches Oil paper, Zorn palette, 9×7”

Her nose! That interesting shape is why I wanted to paint her when I saw her photo (see below) on Pinterest. In the photo she is speckled with freckles but I was only interested in getting that nose!

Painting at 2 hours ( + 5 minutes to mess things up).

My intention had been to paint this in one session but I started too late in the day. I could have left it as it was at the the two-hour mark, but instead of walking away and getting dinner, I stupidly decided to just touch up one thing (which was unsuccessful of course because I was exhausted) so I had to basically touch up everything.

Inspiration photo from Pinterest; no photographer credit provided
Categories
Art Faces Oil Painting Portrait

Fallen Star: Portrait of Justin Timberlake after DWI

Justin Timberlake After DUI Bust, Zorn palette, oil on paper, 11×7’

There was something so poignant about the news photo of Justin Timberlake after his bust for Driving While Intoxicated and I wanted to capture it in paint. Then something hilarious happened when I was preparing the photo of the painting for posting.

I clicked on the ℹ️ symbol in Apple Photos to make sure the picture I was selecting was the correct version for posting. I noticed a little white dot appeared in the middle of the photo. When I clicked on the dot, Apple AI/Siri told me that this was a painting of Robert Fergusson painted by 1700s Scottish painter, Alexander Runciman. WTF?

WTF Siri?
Robert Fergusson by Alexander Runciman
Categories
Art Faces Oil Painting Painting People Portrait Self Portrait

Getting Wiggy

Selfie with Wig, oil on paper, 10×7“

My social media feeds kept showing me wigs (how do they know my formerly boisterously curly hair was getting thin, grey and wimpy?) The influencers looked so cute in their (probably very expensive) wigs that I decided to try one.

A dog park acquaintance who always wears a wig recommended I order one from Temu. It was cheap, hideous, huge, hanging over my eyes and shedding. It quickly went back to Temu, a store I’m not a fan of.

Then a friend pointed me to some higher-quality inexpensive wigs on Amazon. I bought the one I’m wearing in the picture because it reminded me of what my hair looked like in my 20s: long, thick, wavy, chestnut color.

Unfortunately, not being anywhere close to my 20s anymore, I looked ridiculous in it close up. But it was fun to take a selfie wearing it and then paint a self-portrait before returning the wig.

About Painting: I recently watched an online painting video with Carol Peebles. Her guidance about comparative measuring in portrait drawing clarified so many things I’d been confused about. It helped me to get a likeness with much less struggling.

Painting is so much more fun when starting with a good drawing! I’m really happy with how this turned out. I think it’s my favorite self-portrait ever and I’ve done at least 50 of them over the years.

Categories
Art Drawing Faces Oil Painting Painting People Portrait

Back from Burnout

Oil painting of Fiona’s friend 10”x8” on gessoed Arches Oil Paper
Portrait of Fiona’s Friend with the Mona Lisa Smile, oil 10×8”

I’m finally back to painting and drawing again after a very long break. For nearly a year I had illustrated my dreams and the daily Wordle and had posted about half of them. Then I burned out.

For the first time in my life I went for months without drawing or painting and for the first time since I started my blog in 2006, I stopped posting to0. I was afraid my passion for painting was gone for good and wondered who I would be without it.

Finally my desire to paint and draw came back (hooray!!!) BUT I was so rusty! Before the burnout I was able to quickly sketch a decent likeness. That was gone (as you can see in some of the failed attempts below!)

Some of the preliminary sketch starts (that didn’t end up in the trash)

It took more than seven sketch-starts before I kind of remembered how I draw (above).

Final painting and 2 of the failed painting starts

Then it took 5 painting starts before I felt I had a good enough beginning structure to keep going and complete the portrait.

My goal was to capture her Mona Lisa-like smile and I wouldn’t stop until I did.

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Art

Wordle: ARBOR (Day)

Wordle: ARBOR (Day)

For Wordle ARBOR I thought of Arbor Day, a holiday I remember from elementary school when people made a big deal about planting trees, which I was confused about. I didn’t know the meaning of the word Arbor nor what it had to do with tree planting.

It turns out “Arbor Day—which literally translates to “tree” day from the Latin origin of the word arbor—is a holiday that celebrates the planting, upkeep and preservation of trees.”

Arbor Day was invented by a couple in Nebraska in the 1870s. You can read about the interesting history here.

Categories
Art Sketchbook Pages

Wordle: VAGUE and Dreams

Wordle: VAGUE and Baby
Dreams

The pencil portrait on this page has a VAGUE resemblance to a dear friend who used to be vague—always a good listener and caring person but one who rarely spoke up about herself.

Then she found her voice and now she asks for what she needs. She is no longer vague; she is very specific and now our friendship is so much stronger.