One of my nieces and her husband asked me to paint portraits of their two children. Being a big chicken, I procrastinated for quite awhile. Finally I dived in. Here is the final of their daughter Ceci. Here are some some of the steps along the way, if you’re interested.
While I was thinking ‘figurative’ and ‘photo’ for Emily’s painting, I decided to take a stab at a water fountain/statue in the courtyard at Sibley Physicians Building. I take pix of him every time I have an appointment there.
I love the angular chunks of the composition and was debating long and hard whether to add more detail after I did my first fast rough-in. Mistake! I wish I’d left it as is. One of these days I’ll scrub some paint over it lightly and try to return it to a more primitive state. It’s way too detailed and dark for my taste at the moment. 
My sister Ceci sent me a darling photo of her daughter Emily, dressed in a black and white motif with a pop of yellow. I had to paint it, of course, trying my best to avoid the pitfalls of painting from photos rather than life. Here it is. And of course I presented it to my sis. 
You may recognize these two gentlemen from an earlier post. I was delighted that Danni recruited them to model. They were positioned so I could see each by glancing to the right or the left. Not knowing if I’d have a chance to paint them again, I decided to do both, if possible. I set up two canvases side by side and got to work. At some point I had to pick one to bring to greater finish — the bearded soldier.
Danni upped the anty with her next assignment: paint striped fabric so that the stripes drape properly with the twists and folds of the material, with shadows etc.
I didn’t want to be boring with two simple pieces of material. So I composed a still life with a red and white striped towel, topped by a bottle of red wine, standing next to a bottle of sparkling water, atop a green and white striped towel. I thought of it as a ‘Face Off’.
If you’re going to paint a portrait, you need to know how to paint clothes and drapes.
Hence the homework assignment to paint two pieces of fabric so that a viewer would know that they differ in weight and texture. I didn’t have to look far for subjects: a blue denim apron friends had brought back from Sennelier in Paris and a red satin shopping bag made by a daughter-in-law. I draped them over a corner of my easel and set to work. Voila.
I’m WAY behind in reporting on my art activities. I am hoping to give some brief updates to get back on track.
After seeing Danni Dawson’s work at the Art League’s conference mentioned in the last post, I enrolled to study portraiture with her over in Alexandria, VA.
Our first model was a lovely young woman draped in a Spanish lace mantilla. I made a series of studies of her — and they went downhill from the first one! See for yourself:
The model:
My studies:
First Attempt
Second try
Third – Aargh!
Fourth Try
For someone interested in learning more about figurative & portrait painting, there are few places better than the Art League of Alexandria, aka the Torpedo Factory Art Center. My art buddy Helen Gallagher and I enjoyed hanging out at its first conference, celebrating a milestone anniversary. Here are a few of the pieces we saw demonstrated at the event.
Shortly after dear Alison Neustrom passed away, my sister Cecilia and I flew to Maine for a mixed media workshop, turning to art to help manage grief. We wanted to try our hands at combining oil paint with patterned papers to produce unique images, with artist Katie Wilson. Ceci’s first effort was a portrait of granddaughter Evie; I worked on a biking scene of grandson Max steering dad Sam.
Ceci’s Evie
Max Steers Sam on a Sunday Ride
When last I posted in Oct 2014, I was closing in on the finale of my portrait of neighbor Rita – debating whether to make a few more tweaks despite her preference that I ‘stop right there’. I couldn’t resist, though. Here’s how she looks now, but don’t tell her that I’m tempted to start re-tweaking eight months later. Need to shorten her chin & widen her lower jaw line just a smidge.
