It’s been exactly a year since I last painting something. I did this stranger portrait yesterday as a way of brushing off the cobwebs. It’s amazing how much you forget in just a year. I’m hoping to ramp back up and create some more work soon.
Jay (Stranger #96)
14″x11″
Acrylic on Canvas
Self Portrait #4
12″x16″
Acrylic on Canvas
I started this painting by squirting paint straight onto the canvas and loosely spreading it around with a palette knife. Working from a black and white photo, I initially just focused on getting the values (lightness and darkness) right in the flesh tones. Then I mixed up some various desaturated colors and worked them into the face until an interesting balance was achieved.
I’m very happy with the final result, but the truth is that I didn’t like the way it looked until the very last brush stroke. This one took about 9 hours.
Notes for the next painting:
1) Keep resisting the urge to blend paint… Let the brush strokes show.
2) Consider using even less saturated colors and maybe a more limited palette.
3) Use smaller brushes (and brush strokes) for the detail areas.
4) Use glazing liquid to add more layers of brush strokes for more depth.
5) Lower the lighting in the studio. This painting came out a little darker than I would have wanted possibly because the canvas was too brightly lit during the painting process.
Self Portrait #3
11”x14”
Acrylic on Canvas
This portrait was an experiment in loosening up and letting the brush strokes show. It didn’t look very promising at first, but I persisted. In hindsight, the colors I mixed were too brown/green tinted and the result looks a bit muddled. I should have started with “normal” skin tones and adjusted their hues more subtly from there. Also, the overall values of the skin tones are too dark. I learned a lot of good lessons from this one and plan to apply them to the next painting.
Dan Russell-Pinson 