Medieval woman in thought

12X9" Pastels on Canson Paper

     My second go at a portrait ala Mike Beeman approach. I am finding that I like working from full darks and layering on the lights over them, as I progress through the painting process. I am still wondering if enough is done with the background.  Took some liberties with the photograph again.
     This photo is also from the collection of Photos from Hans Splinter on flickr, with his permission to use them. Here is a link to his page.

Woman Sewing

12"x9" Pastel on Canson paper

    Something different today, a portrait. I needed a break from all the landscapes and I enjoy painting portaits. It took about 3 hours fiddling with it, until now it has the most layers of pastel that will stay on the paper.
   So I stop.  Thanks for looking.

Lil Egg Washer

I worked more on the egg girl today. I think I'm at the stopping point, but will put it aside to see if anything needs adjusting later on.
I put more greens here and there. Finished up all the overlay on the background door. Put some greenery outside the window and tightened up the area between here face and hand/egg. I overlayed the cabinet with green so that she becomes more the focus.

Here is a crop that I like, showing the details of the focus area.

Egg Washer 2nd stage

I have finally had time and energy to update my recent progress on this painting. I really don't like the cold...

I have been working on the background mostly, trying to push it back to allow the girl to come forward in space. I really need to work on pulling the front corner of the sink towards us. I have been fiddling with her dress trying to get it to appear translucent around the hem line leg/thigh area. I think I will add some red around the same value in a diagonal opposite of the blue in those areas to bring it back to... Red Dress.

lil egg washer

Things have calmed down so I had time to start another painting from the old photos I have. This one is in the National Archives under the depression era. A simple blocking of shapes and values at the moment. I'm trying to keep the back of the neck and legs so they appear to glow, the main light source being behind her and a small light above. So she will aslo have a halo around the hair. Hopefully the dress will appear a bit translucent around the thigh area.

man of the cloth

this is a challange portrait from Wetcanvas.com, so i had a go at it. Its 13.5x10.5 pastel on colorfix primed watercolor paper.
I'm reasonably happy with it, it appears to look like the subject.

Girl with a daisy

This is the final for this painting. I changed a few things and corrected to color.

8.5x10"

Girl with a daisy

yep another little girl painting but i did find an older girl. I struggled with getting her braids to appear right but im happy in the end.

8.5 x10" on colorfix primed watercolor paper

Daisys in a bucket

This is the 3rd in a series of little girls i guess....i have become addicted to painting them recently. This is my stage 1 look at to see what else to do. It had a huge potted plant orignally in the the left upper right, but i can seem to get plants to look good, so off it came. Then i put a big blue garden vase and hated that also. So its empty.
its 8.5x10" on colorfix primed watercolor paper.

little girl at the beach

This companion to the baby doll from last week. She is playing with sand i hope you can see it. I will be looking at it for fixes that always show up.
8x10.5

Baby doll

Here she is I think finished with little tweeks lightening the background and pushing it back with some neutral grey/blue. Add little highlight on cheek and eyebrow and softened the window frame at the wall.

baby doll

this is a quick portrait, because i needed a break from landscapes. I am happy with the rich colors i got from this.

8x10 colorfix paper 2 hours

Arianna by firelight finished

Here is the finished painting of Arianna by the fire. It took me alittle bit with kids and pets coming and going this week.
I fiddled with her far eye and added more reds and purple shadows. It was a challange to get it to look like nighttime and I am happy with the outcome. I will try another night painting soon.

Arianna by firelight

This is the 2nd stage of "Arianna by the firelight" I am fiddling with things still, wondering if it needs more.

This is a work in Progress
Arianna by the fire about 1 hour in. Finding it interesting to do skin tones on dark paper!

ari by campfire

quick 20 study of Arianna by a campfire from this summer...i'm thinking about making this a painting on a dark paper

sad little one

This is a quick 1 hour sketch of a costumed little girl. Its done on canson 10x12

Haircut

Johannah just got 8" cut from her hair to donate to "Locks for Love". They make wigs from donated hair for those who have lost hair to cancer treatments.
2007

Silk Dress 2007