Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Oil Paintings from Photos

These 2 were done from photos. I like the results better than from life (more detail and "finish") but the process isn't as much fun.

Oil Sketches from Life

Here are 4 oil portraits from the last week. The top 2 are the same model, same day, about 45 minutes each. Bottom 2 are the same model, different poses, 30 minutes each. There's never time for small details in these quick studies but they bring out the best in me. I never thought I could paint the bottom pose in 30 min. (with hat, glasses, patterned shirt)!

Friday, June 11, 2010

New Oil Portrait

Here's a new 6x6" oil painting. It was painted on top of another failed painting--I like doing this because of the random colors that show through from the old painting!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Homage to Milt K

I have long admired Milt Kobayashi's painting style and this is my imitation-needs a lot of work! But I was: restricting white, using black, stylizing the face and figure, piling on the paint, blending edges, using a lot of grayed neutrals. I'll keep trying! 6x8"

Wet Paint: 2 Stages of a Painting

Here are 2 shots of a 6x8 oil painting. Stage 1: using transparent colors and a larger brush, lay in large flat value shapes and establish basic light/shadow.
Stage 2: use smaller brush and add white to mixtures, laying in the lights and details.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Wet Paint

Just painted this 6x8" oil from a photo I took in class a few years ago. Jessica G, the model, had a great Fairy costume her mother had made. I lit her with a green spotlight. The red shadows and apple greens in the hair were fun to paint!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Blond Boy Model


Blond Boy Model, originally uploaded by meli66a.

Well, I fell down the rabbit hole all day and now have uploaded my small paintings from this year too! This one is just so silly! I like the expression on his face. Most models develop a blank stare during poses. I also love his crazy hair!

Portrait of a RockClimber - SOLD


Portrait of a RockClimber - SOLD, originally uploaded by meli66a.

Wow! Today I uploaded over a hundred images of paintings to my Flickr account. AND found out how to blog images directly from Flickr.
So here's one I did from life a few years ago and later sold on Ebay. The model was a rock climber I remember and had the most amazing expression on her face! Painted at Jim McIntyre's wonderful Hancock Rec. Center Saturday session in Austin, Texas.

Paul Wright painting in San Marcos, TX

I attended a great painting workshop with the brilliant British artist Paul Wright. His juicy, bold, bright , broken colour brushstrokes are inspirational! I loved painting in the college art-class atmosphere and did tons more work per day than I ever do at home! Does anyone else have this issue?

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Portraits of Guys

Here are 2 paintings done recently from life at Eve Larson's great local painting session.
I have much more practice doing females than males! Models are Jorge (top) and Jean Pierre...both very handsome in that dramatic dark-eyed smoldering way!