tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7745923503633259602024-03-11T19:23:35.575-07:00theslipcoverAn art blog to explore and share drawing, painting, and life.Melliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05095407632265293378noreply@blogger.comBlogger897125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-9454382686698311922024-03-11T19:22:00.000-07:002024-03-11T19:23:01.478-07:00More in the themeContinuing very loosely with the same theme (goddesses? mythological characters? yeah, something like that), and with the same size and medium, I did go outside the color palette on this one, although there is still a tiny bit of each of the colors (Cobalt Orchid, Light Ultramarine, Red Oxide) in this one. But my primary objective was to use this beautiful and subtle Titan Green Pale from Golden Acrylics as a background for a goddess of equally subtle coloring: <b>Ngame</b>, the West African moon goddess. Ngame created the heavenly bodies and brought life and soul into every living thing with her beams. She is known as the White Goddess, according to Robert Graves, and is also considered a muse, a patroness of creative inspiration, so it seemed appropriate to make a painting of her!<div><br /></div><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-7lxRz2wgneSITYnQMTnky9NSsropxqlGVXdCiS-vWbM_ugMgCMhFcXEMu0ksytNYcW-uW4XyPWaWPVbAJC4KIvOMpcaIapY7Ez45J4HEVfxpkvxtBrwVoElKX-bcglbucphdytp6aSgpBlJB2P6HJNAS6zTcS-Wtbl3qas8tOgfjS4Kzmg9Q6L8aj9Td/s4635/AkataWitch.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4626" data-original-width="4635" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-7lxRz2wgneSITYnQMTnky9NSsropxqlGVXdCiS-vWbM_ugMgCMhFcXEMu0ksytNYcW-uW4XyPWaWPVbAJC4KIvOMpcaIapY7Ez45J4HEVfxpkvxtBrwVoElKX-bcglbucphdytp6aSgpBlJB2P6HJNAS6zTcS-Wtbl3qas8tOgfjS4Kzmg9Q6L8aj9Td/w304-h303/AkataWitch.jpg" width="304" /></a></div>As my model I chose someone I have painted once before, the beautiful <b>Diandra Forrest</b>. I first cast her (in watercolor with an acrylic background) as Akata Witch from Nnedi Okorafor's book, back in 2022, but for that painting I used a much younger reference photo (the character in the book is 14). But for Ngame I chose a mature photo, although I still went with the free-flowing shock of hair rather than the short cut or the long braids she sometimes wears.</div><div><br /></div><div>I started out uniformly pale and then integrated subtle bits of all the colors, one by one, into the painting. As an albino person Diandra's skin tone is a very particular tint: It's not pink, not olive, but rather a distinctive shade of creamy white, with underlying green, blue, and lavender tones, and the shadows look brown, rather than gray. It's both fun and challenging to paint.</div><div><br />I enjoyed playing with a new tool to get her hair just right: I had ordered some plastic scrapers meant to be used with Gelli plates that one of my Let's Face It teachers had recommended for making stripes or patterns in oil paint, and I used one of them to "scumble" the colors together and put some texture into her soft cloud of hair.</div><div><br /></div><div>The green is an unusual color to use for background when depicting a moon goddess in front of the full moon (one automatically thinks black, deep blue, gray, or sunset colors), but there is that moment just before dusk when the sky isn't quite blue or gray when you might see this shade in it, and I decided it was okay to accentuate that a bit. I did try glazing over it with light ultramarine, but it didn't really work, so I wiped off most of it, just leaving some to be the darker shadows on the surface of the moon.</div><div><br /></div><div>I thought about adding some gold medium onto the moon, like I did in my last few portraits (as halos), but decided it would take away from the primary focus (Ngame), so I left it off.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdp6FF9hESQqxk6H9FNaclQSnRhTqrbefmT8CT8H4-STvUSPf18DY1P9KQeuEQ1MmSEFW4JFDbe5Q1r-8LETefm-pHMyfMH1oY0Zhg2IjZp932Q_gRNktRUk9V3iHWo9pwuT-19HGw3vNoROUWRMqEcCZU74nU8nZXO1GFsZ2cCFalsCoqHqpQQaB0hw0/s4713/Ngame.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4713" data-original-width="3472" height="895" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdp6FF9hESQqxk6H9FNaclQSnRhTqrbefmT8CT8H4-STvUSPf18DY1P9KQeuEQ1MmSEFW4JFDbe5Q1r-8LETefm-pHMyfMH1oY0Zhg2IjZp932Q_gRNktRUk9V3iHWo9pwuT-19HGw3vNoROUWRMqEcCZU74nU8nZXO1GFsZ2cCFalsCoqHqpQQaB0hw0/w660-h895/Ngame.jpg" width="660" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"Ngame"—acrylics on thin birch board, 12x16 inches.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>(Note: My scanner cut off a bit of the top left corner and also a tiny strip of her shoulder on the right—the original doesn't have the moon falling off the page up there quite as much, and also shows more of her arm. I have to do these in two pieces and put them together in Photoshop Elements, since my scanner bed is 9x12 and these are 12x16.)</i></div><div><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-90482319461018792732024-03-03T18:29:00.000-08:002024-03-03T18:29:08.449-08:00Sort of a theme?<p>I continued this week with using the same color palette and with exploring mythological themes for a new painting. I had a vague recollection of reading one worldview in which the Moon is a Triple Goddess, with the waxing (growing) moon being the maiden, the full moon as the mother, and the waning moon representing the crone. Although I wasn't entirely comfortable with the symbology—are middle-aged women only worthwhile if they are mothers? and are crones really "waning" or diminished in some way? I think not. Nevertheless, the idea, preoccupied as I was last week by the maiden portrait of Proserpine, stuck in my head, and then I came across a reference photo that seemed like a cross between a goddess and a saint, subject of the portrait I painted before that one (Saint Side-Eye), so I decided I could take this vague legend and make something fun from it, even if I disagreed with its characterizations.</p><p>The result is this woman in the full flush of the middle of her life, cheerfully giving a blessing. I dressed her in the red oxide color I've been using, thinking of a Blood Moon, and gave her a necklace that harks back to an early witchy symbol for the three-part goddess. And then, just for fun, I also gave her a halo of sorts. (I thought about hanging a blood moon in the upper left corner, but finally decided it was too literal, and maybe also overkill. But...?)</p><p>The painting went smoothly until I got to the decorative bits. I did an undercoat of the red oxide on the necklace before putting on the gold metallic acrylic medium, because in the painting of Saint Side-Eye I liked the effect of the red peering through the gold, and I thought it would go nicely with her dress; but for some reason it was harder to get the gold to cover the red here. It also looked flat, which was perfect for the saint's halo but not for a necklace, so I ended up giving it some highlights and dark edges with regular paint.</p><p>I didn't want to undercoat the halo red first, because it would be too stark against the light ultramarine background, so I went in directly with the gold paint over the blue, but it didn't work at all. Then I decided to put a film of white paint over it, but that just killed the glow. So I coated it again with the gold over the white, but that was splotchy and looked like she had made herself a homemade halo out of a paper plate or something. So I went back in with the blue background color and, instead of an unbroken perfect halo, I did a sort of "rays" effect with alternating blue and gold, so that it became an extension of her blond hair. I'm not completely happy with it, but I think it works okay.</p><p>The only other element with which I had a problem was her gaze. In the reference photo it is a direct look at the viewer, but no matter how conscientiously I tried to duplicate it, I couldn't get her to look at me! I have noted this problem before, and still haven't figured it out. I would have liked the portrait much better if I could have achieved it here, though, as she had such a friendly, cheerful, intimate glance.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviDLf9FG8BTK13frJvVAsB_hMcKGL3krySBsg2TQfbyQB5L0fZTIUctttAq2V-XUsm7LdiK1ye7Aq3V0CUQnw0tSqHpbpBmrEggdKbGMb2kUtsuaQ7tZe0Z-4GJQTA5r68AeUBFp5f4iiPcdkYS2FAuOICzjNR8KUK3oImJ0hEp9GNCz_jxfPTvDgimXI/s4694/Selene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4694" data-original-width="3404" height="910" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviDLf9FG8BTK13frJvVAsB_hMcKGL3krySBsg2TQfbyQB5L0fZTIUctttAq2V-XUsm7LdiK1ye7Aq3V0CUQnw0tSqHpbpBmrEggdKbGMb2kUtsuaQ7tZe0Z-4GJQTA5r68AeUBFp5f4iiPcdkYS2FAuOICzjNR8KUK3oImJ0hEp9GNCz_jxfPTvDgimXI/w659-h910/Selene.jpg" width="659" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>This is "Selene"—acrylics and gold medium on thin birch board, 12x16 inches.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-52836631907038766242024-02-13T19:45:00.000-08:002024-02-13T19:45:20.685-08:00Old medium, new technique<p>Lat week's <b>LFI2024</b> lesson was with watercolorist <b>Unyime Edet</b>, and it was an adventure in using a familiar medium in an unfamiliar manner. First and foremost, he paints with a flat brush, which I have never done in watercolor—the general approved method for watercolor is round, with a point. Second, he paints the darks first, layering up to the light instead of starting light and adding in the darks in layers. It's challenging to save the whites when you work like this, but it also gives dramatic contrasts. I also liked that he noted the actual colors you use don't matter, it's more about capturing the values, dark to light. I follosed his lead in using a deep purple for the darks, and I think it worked well.</p><p>The reference photo he used for the lesson didn't appeal to me that much, so I decided to be my usual impudent self and paint the teacher instead. This is my rendition of Unyime, using his flat-brush technique and starting with the darkest darks on the left side of his face. I lost some of the whites and lights I wanted to save, but overall I was surprised at how effective it can be to paint with a flat brush, defining planes rather than blending. I didn't do his technique justice, but I made a start on it, and his was a fun image to capture.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC7xyzzPTLUOEqZP-bu8Deb6j3vuPLsC_47qN65z3SLwi9BO1Jn1f2YFV-afYoTOrK1hyphenhyphenckMwFfHN7mVGo2T1y4Jq5oA8GKneWSlniTxLBtNuOKJzvhNnlrqm1caFz3slxhZ5yGfUBq8ZfifFMkhgAB5jFL2uUmDY2vrXdFI63C2DtAqIpzCJzyV_-zFfk/s3477/Unyime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3477" data-original-width="2523" height="914" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC7xyzzPTLUOEqZP-bu8Deb6j3vuPLsC_47qN65z3SLwi9BO1Jn1f2YFV-afYoTOrK1hyphenhyphenckMwFfHN7mVGo2T1y4Jq5oA8GKneWSlniTxLBtNuOKJzvhNnlrqm1caFz3slxhZ5yGfUBq8ZfifFMkhgAB5jFL2uUmDY2vrXdFI63C2DtAqIpzCJzyV_-zFfk/w662-h914/Unyime.jpg" width="662" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>"Unyime"—pencil and watercolor on coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.</p>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-28991481551715229192024-02-08T13:09:00.000-08:002024-02-08T18:32:59.037-08:00Classical imaginingIn my leisure reading this past week was a reference to Persephone (in the Greek) or Proserpina (Roman), the ostensible reason for seasons on Earth. Since seasons are much on my mind (my heater still doesn't work and it's COLD in this house), I dwelt a little longer on the legend than I normally would, and it inspired a portrait. Since the color palette in my last one was so successful, I thought it would be fun to use similar tones in this one, perhaps creating a series. They don't really go together that much, given that the subject in the last one had dark, warm, rich skin tones and is portrayed as a saint, and the subject for this one is about as pale as a white girl can get and comes from Greek/Roman myth; but I used the eggplant color (Cobalt Orchid) from Saint Side-eye's shirt as the background here, and picked up the rust color (Red Oxide) from the saint's background in this one's hair and the fruit in her hands.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXmm4EBcGIXilWMticQQYqjCTrUzCeY2q0NPgern2qfKcurdnBdhwhtzV5u2WCP4EhxwiBRnE1R0gqLJH2T5WCmFoiMAJKbE7n4-uIoeMJn-JonCZ4IngGWmrJi8_4IRczKbhI7kqDKBs9V5dbp2qk4tVNpPjZy25t-xDe_Ru2Qtd-wyQoZAt_sNLiYVo8/s418/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-08%20at%201.01.47%20PM.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXmm4EBcGIXilWMticQQYqjCTrUzCeY2q0NPgern2qfKcurdnBdhwhtzV5u2WCP4EhxwiBRnE1R0gqLJH2T5WCmFoiMAJKbE7n4-uIoeMJn-JonCZ4IngGWmrJi8_4IRczKbhI7kqDKBs9V5dbp2qk4tVNpPjZy25t-xDe_Ru2Qtd-wyQoZAt_sNLiYVo8/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-08%20at%201.01.47%20PM.png" width="195" /></a></div>Lest you have forgotten the <a href="https://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html" target="_blank">legend</a>, Hades, lord of the underworld, has a crush on Earth Mother Demeter's daughter, Persephone, and kidnaps her. Demeter loses her shit and quits minding the climate, with the result that things on earth die and freeze—generally not so great for the populace. So her daddy, Zeus, tells Hades to return their daughter, but because she ate some pomegranate seeds while downstairs, Hades is able to enforce at least a partial stay with him every year. During those four months when she is being queen in the underworld, Demeter mourns and the earth experiences winter; when she returns topside, temps warm, flowers bloom, the ground produces a bountiful harvest, and Mommy is happy. A little more dramatic story than Punxsutawney Phil, and vastly more paintable!</div><div><br /></div><div>Although most of the classical pictures portray her as more mature, wearing formal dress and a diadem, she is always described as a maiden and, as the story goes, she is "playing" in a field of flowers with her nymph buddies when Hades makes off with her. So I chose to paint her as a young, fresh-faced girl—sweet, but maybe a little awkward and not quite a woman yet. She traditionally has either blonde or red hair and blue eyes, so the color scheme I had chosen worked for the hair. Rather than a fancy dress with a jeweled bodice, as she usually wears, I put her in a simple shift the color of a Luna moth to signify spring; she is holding the pomegranate that was her downfall.</div><div><br /></div><div>For some reason, this is one of the hardest portraits I have painted to date. Part of the reason is that because I am working in a familiar size and format (12x16) but portraying most of her torso, everything was a little smaller than I usually work (facial features in particular), but that doesn't entirely account for the difficulty. I think I just didn't know where exactly I was going with this one, so it simply took longer and required some decisions that I ended up taking back. The narcissus is "her" flower, so I thought I'd paint one tucked into her headband, but I knew it was a mistake the minute it was finished—it completely drew focus from her face and the fruit in her hands, which are the dual points of the entire portrait. So I sanded it with some fine sandpaper to take off the raised paint and restored it to flowerless simplicity.</div><div><br /></div><div>I think that deep orchid color works great to signify that she's in the underworld, and the white and light blue highlights on the dress and headband make her glow.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebnRL0K34fCHzXFOXvjIA0YpL97Dh8NKN7qdH9RWJhkaBLBiwugYDGkYvCh0zM7VsBU7GrtN_pjkdxhVTC0Vig6Utwxuy7E45d9SPBeLiZrx0RqqNECtFQxu0BCit71nGbLQD7DFvFOAfn-5KwK6ak1E9SPLAzKrMipdLMQ5hSVaw82p6dSzWRPf9TEjI/s4675/Proserpina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4675" data-original-width="3452" height="898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebnRL0K34fCHzXFOXvjIA0YpL97Dh8NKN7qdH9RWJhkaBLBiwugYDGkYvCh0zM7VsBU7GrtN_pjkdxhVTC0Vig6Utwxuy7E45d9SPBeLiZrx0RqqNECtFQxu0BCit71nGbLQD7DFvFOAfn-5KwK6ak1E9SPLAzKrMipdLMQ5hSVaw82p6dSzWRPf9TEjI/w661-h898/Proserpina.jpg" width="661" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><br /><div>"Prosperpina"—acrylics on thin birch board, 12x16 inches. <i>(I prefer this name, in the end, to Persephone, because when I was a kid I read it out loud literally as "Percy-fone" and was embarrassed when I found out I was wrong!)</i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-7365704458259359232024-01-31T19:10:00.000-08:002024-01-31T19:10:12.287-08:00Let's Face It lesson...kindaThis week's <b>Let's Face It 2024</b> lesson was with the adorable <b><a href="https://www.instagram.com/mistysegurabowers/" target="_blank">Misty Segura-Bowers</a></b>. She did it in oil, but those of us who prefer acrylic were encouraged to use that. I picked a fairly limited palette, though not as limited as Misty's, and followed basic procedure, but ended up changing the final product a bit. I used my own reference photo instead of hers, and rather than making it 12x12, mine is 12x16, because I wanted the opportunity to isolate the space around the head from the space around the body so I could have some fun with it.<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzs8drRY9QNpUjcuS74vyBe_UmxY7du1wvsZ9P-DyKGxn2e_JCCacdQKNqtcHwkVyIeQD-4gxOthtzzHBPTX_4MfIUTZeJGadAns_aZJrQa-Dv-zYoxRv6M3xnlI9kwNiJkzAOKrKxuo22j8tQvD8NOfZto869xiR0ABD-h6pZ4erc2Nd__HHMmGahIzpY/s4611/SpeakUp.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4611" data-original-width="3392" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzs8drRY9QNpUjcuS74vyBe_UmxY7du1wvsZ9P-DyKGxn2e_JCCacdQKNqtcHwkVyIeQD-4gxOthtzzHBPTX_4MfIUTZeJGadAns_aZJrQa-Dv-zYoxRv6M3xnlI9kwNiJkzAOKrKxuo22j8tQvD8NOfZto869xiR0ABD-h6pZ4erc2Nd__HHMmGahIzpY/s320/SpeakUp.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>I have painted from this specific reference before, in my Deb Weiers-inspired phase back two years ago right after I took her class, but that was a whole different kind of fun from this one!</div><div><br /><div>Misty used Cadmium red as her base and then did a thin overlayer of raw umber, but I had just bought an enticing color called Red Oxide, which came out a few shades darker, so I painted my background with that. (I also don't like using Cadmium colors, even though they say the level is so low in paint that it's not toxic. Why risk it?)</div><div><br /></div><div>Misty used a grid and sketched in the figure upside down with raw umber, filling in sections as she went; I don't really like working with a grid (it's a pain to remove it when you're done using it), so I did a rough outline trace using white pan pastel, and then free-handed the rest.</div><div><br /></div><div>This was a challenging portrait in many ways. Painting a darker complexion on top of a very dark background meant it was hard for me to see the contrasts, so I kept getting things either too light or too dark and having to color-correct. In doing so, I lost some of the spontaneity of my earlier marks. The best part of the portrait may be her shirt, because I painted that quickly and using broad strokes, without fussing too much with blending or defining.</div><div><br /></div><div>Her bald head was also difficult, because part of the darker shadows on the back-side of her head are actually a faint fuzz of hair growing in; but I didn't want to get itsy with that, so I made it smooth. I had a few false starts, too, with how light the lightest lights should be against the rest, and using what color; I started out with more of a Naples yellow, but it didn't look right, so I switched over to Titan Mars Pale, mixed with a little burnt umber. The darkest darks in this thing were supposed to be raw umber, but I discovered I was out (how did I let myself run out of that essential color?!), so I mixed the burnt umber with some Cobalt violet and a teensy bit of Payne's gray and made do. All of this was made more subjective because the reference photo is in black and white! (Misty's was, too, and I thought I should play by that rule on mine, even though it was a different model.)</div><div><br /></div><div>The gold halo is a Liquitex metallic medium. I really wanted to add this, but I'm not sure whether I thus ruined the painting. I did like the simplicity of it before, but I had this idea of giving it an iconographic feel, so I went for it. Parenthetically, someday I would like to try gold leaf instead. I used gold leaf way "back in the day" (i.e., in the misty past of my 20s) when I did illumination and rubrication on calligraphy manuscripts, but I have only ever used it in tiny bits (on ornamental capitals and borders) and on paper; doing large areas on a board will, I think, be another challenge. I aspire to doing something more interesting than this flat circle—more along the lines of the awesome <b><a href="https://www.instagram.com/stephrew/" target="_blank">Stephanie Rew</a></b>!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWEGWT1VUi3nNMMiQx4foYdmuDgOmuFrLMFwpqtx3ktfgRXZCRqcLcmBE5lcKWL6dxMQCHbqvyw7xfF_bD3_AW0JR2ipwnNMlQ58pAvTdYOgn_eqcoKeyo5TEsSd-Vz6D63y4XxqzWLOD7fqk098Gq53_lw78PQMU-oHxXpEVngw21-lqR3okOV2yksPE/s4636/SaintSide-eye.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4636" data-original-width="3495" height="869" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWEGWT1VUi3nNMMiQx4foYdmuDgOmuFrLMFwpqtx3ktfgRXZCRqcLcmBE5lcKWL6dxMQCHbqvyw7xfF_bD3_AW0JR2ipwnNMlQ58pAvTdYOgn_eqcoKeyo5TEsSd-Vz6D63y4XxqzWLOD7fqk098Gq53_lw78PQMU-oHxXpEVngw21-lqR3okOV2yksPE/w655-h869/SaintSide-eye.jpg" width="655" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, here she is. I named her <b>Saint Side-eye</b>. Golden acrylics and metallic medium on thin birch board, 12x16 inches.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-41992501566586092772024-01-25T18:44:00.000-08:002024-01-25T18:44:13.090-08:00Afternoon playWanted to make some art today but didn't have anything special in mind, so I went browsing through photos I have saved in my reference folder and found one of the admin on a Facebook page to which I belong (Lymphedema Warriors). I loved the goofy wide-eyed stare and the wispy hair (although I didn't really do the hair justice). I did a quick double-line ink drawing freehand and then added watercolor. Took me about an hour or so. The right eye is a little too small for the rest of the face, and a little close in to the nose, but hey, freehand, people!<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnu4wUrkVJp4XAhFIvHuHipFXR6JmyWlnjzgIcybxZjRWSUiieKWSW6P3fULOCVxAe2pE-IPOBxEcZeZlcEd-r74rGj5EbO-GlbKtuVpdAUnfydGUEJqTeaPywD32hEcRf2OtH6tIlXGYxIhvKER2HHi9hMy9p8mxqDwgIFjCJxHjJsdsCH49RnP4T41_/s3462/BecF_LW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3462" data-original-width="2544" height="896" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnu4wUrkVJp4XAhFIvHuHipFXR6JmyWlnjzgIcybxZjRWSUiieKWSW6P3fULOCVxAe2pE-IPOBxEcZeZlcEd-r74rGj5EbO-GlbKtuVpdAUnfydGUEJqTeaPywD32hEcRf2OtH6tIlXGYxIhvKER2HHi9hMy9p8mxqDwgIFjCJxHjJsdsCH49RnP4T41_/w658-h896/BecF_LW.jpg" width="658" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"Bec F."—Uniball pen and watercolors on 140-lb. coldpress, 9x12 inches.</div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-66160642882732139872024-01-20T16:10:00.000-08:002024-01-20T16:23:23.610-08:00New media<p>I am generally resistant to new media (and also old media!), preferring to hone my skills in my two preferred "genres," watercolor and acrylic. Even though I can do stuff with pencil, charcoal, markers, or what-have-you, I'm not a fan; I get impatient having to shade with a pencil using a tiny little point (or even the side of the lead) when I can do it in a few strokes with a paintbrush and enjoy the effect more. But after last week's Let's Face It assignment using pan pastels, I was persuaded by instructor Mika Denny's comment that likened using them with an applicator as closely akin to painting, and ordered some implements and a few colors to try.</p><p>The assignment called for a base of tinted paper, and I know I have some tan and maybe some gray Canson Mi-Teintes lying around somewhere, but it's at the bottom of an archaeological layer of art supplies, printer boxes, and books, and there is a slim chance of finding it without more work than I wanted to put in, so instead I started by coating a piece of watercolor paper with a thin transparent wash of Payne's Gray to serve as my base, and messed about on social media while letting it dry. Unfortunately, it dried so light that the white pan pastel didn't even show up against it, so I tried again using ultramarine. It kind of defeats the purpose of the black-white-gray dynamic that was intended, but I did feel like the blue went with my model's expression, so there's that.</p><p>The whites and lights showed up much better on the blue background, while still giving a subdued effect to this moody abstracted gaze that Christa Forrest was wearing while waiting for her taped demo to begin. Christa has been one of our instructors for multiple Let's Face It years, and I have actually painted her once before, but that was a bright, cheery watercolor using intense Daler Rowney inks, and I really wanted to try conveying a different mood this time with the pan pastels.</p><p>My finished product is not near as sophisticated, detailed, or precise as the one demonstrated by Mika. Although I ordered the pastels, the applicators, and the tips, I didn't get a blending stump, and the black and white charcoal pencils I used (because I already had them) are pretty soft and messy, so I couldn't get the fine details around the eyes that she achieved in her demo. There's also a weird thing going on with that shadow on the side of her face—I think I messed with it too much when I brought color into the face. But...now I can say that I gave the pan pastels a shot, and although it's probably not a medium I will use much, I can see the appeal, particularly the softness of blending you are able to achieve when using the applicators and sponge tips rather than just pencils.</p><p>Here's the finished product: Christa in pan pastels on a watercolor background, 12x9 inches on coldpress watercolor paper.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw80uRIARDHaM0uQfBEeuDVs7sHGYQRFWMxZ2MtxCfXabQzpHTyIWxh05su3T85PHQk1su-a4CgX2RBRViDkFgdN4t55rpDYlmftKL-7M3yF1_v8OCW4aUdLPisRW_1xawWvY49HPhW4lCPDzNIOyojgB2_86HiQbKCoPti4QtjANuUfwPmnTtht77NGDb/s3464/ChristaPanPastels.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2541" data-original-width="3464" height="483" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw80uRIARDHaM0uQfBEeuDVs7sHGYQRFWMxZ2MtxCfXabQzpHTyIWxh05su3T85PHQk1su-a4CgX2RBRViDkFgdN4t55rpDYlmftKL-7M3yF1_v8OCW4aUdLPisRW_1xawWvY49HPhW4lCPDzNIOyojgB2_86HiQbKCoPti4QtjANuUfwPmnTtht77NGDb/w657-h483/ChristaPanPastels.jpg" width="657" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-32624526775888549282024-01-15T18:51:00.000-08:002024-01-15T18:51:33.381-08:00ExpressionsI save photos that people post when they have interesting, difficult expressions on their faces, and eventually get around to drawing/painting them. This is one of our teachers for Let's Face It, Sabra Awlad Issa, who usually has a solemn, sort of deadpan expression, so when she posted this goofy face I knew I had to use it!<div><br /></div><div>This is sort of a Deb Weiers production—I did the drawing first, in Uniball pen, and then washed it with two colors of Daler Rowney Acrylic inks, followed by a paint job with white gesso and watercolors, finishing up with white and gold pens for highlights and details on the glasses. I had fun.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGFDi0Y2ZDRh_Lck04AM_aSge5B-cIeQ4dYjC6ZhhthLstpq2hDkQ4x_0BIpJQ-jCkKJrXfampvhgDKWQVPog2dYbX2TeSP4D3thJxvhu_fxoAf7VfR8_ncKEImyalb4ovt7aCl3vwiabbwCz3dsodU9xjSTczPvADvro3qAkKVFfMl3f9EpJ6Rvg8vC1W/s3504/Sabra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3504" data-original-width="2544" height="810" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGFDi0Y2ZDRh_Lck04AM_aSge5B-cIeQ4dYjC6ZhhthLstpq2hDkQ4x_0BIpJQ-jCkKJrXfampvhgDKWQVPog2dYbX2TeSP4D3thJxvhu_fxoAf7VfR8_ncKEImyalb4ovt7aCl3vwiabbwCz3dsodU9xjSTczPvADvro3qAkKVFfMl3f9EpJ6Rvg8vC1W/w587-h810/Sabra.jpg" width="587" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>"Sabra," 9x12 on 140-lb. coldpress.</div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-81818047932877543092024-01-14T13:24:00.000-08:002024-01-14T13:24:49.405-08:00BuddiesI did a little drawing and watercolor this morning, once again of my teacher and friend Emma Petitt, this time with Buddy, a dog she has fostered, going out of her way to find him the perfect home. The first placement didn't take, so Emma had him back to stay with her and her gang of dogs until the right adopter turned up, months later, never losing faith that Buddy would eventually land where he belongs. I wanted to capture the memory of her relationship with Buddy, because it was so sweet and loyal on both sides.<div><br /></div><div>I loved the photo I used as a reference, although my drawing/painting doesn't quite capture the full wide side-eye gaze of Emma in the photo, so it's not quite as amusing. But I had fun and kept my hand in, and isn't that, if not <i>the</i> point, at least one of them?<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHAdhcuNrwdh88IS0qxPPm4e6R6hENAaS53oGojFyCwmLEKe6Z9wX1xGelB2Lg35lKKctBjVco1ycTtpb3og7RvAVeUldi1Fny7mSvtSjZRwLIHcZ44EHfqrsq81SkILBkBydEla5j1Vg0VnJ6fIcgvgQckcwJGLZpvzfoyKT7cgpxgJsQwAdFRzQkOFBt/s3174/EmmaBuddy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3174" data-original-width="2287" height="910" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHAdhcuNrwdh88IS0qxPPm4e6R6hENAaS53oGojFyCwmLEKe6Z9wX1xGelB2Lg35lKKctBjVco1ycTtpb3og7RvAVeUldi1Fny7mSvtSjZRwLIHcZ44EHfqrsq81SkILBkBydEla5j1Vg0VnJ6fIcgvgQckcwJGLZpvzfoyKT7cgpxgJsQwAdFRzQkOFBt/w657-h910/EmmaBuddy.jpg" width="657" /></a></div><br /><div>Uniball pen and watercolors on 140-lb. coldpress, 9x12 (with a border).</div><div><br /></div></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-21131173969680702582024-01-06T16:30:00.000-08:002024-01-06T16:30:30.546-08:00Companion pieceLast week I painted Lynn Como's great-grandchild, Nerai. The reference photo included both her great-grandchildren, Nerai (two) and Evelyn (four) in it, but I wanted to paint large, and the biggest board I had was a 12x16, so I decided to just paint the little one. But after I finished it, I got to thinking that it would be fun to do a companion piece with Evelyn in it, reversing the colors (background and foreground) so they would go together but not be matchy-matchy. So yesterday I painted my board the light ultramarine color I used for Nerai's clothing, then did my pencil drawing, and today I painted Evelyn, changing her hat from the shocking pink in the photo to the peachy-pink color I used for the first painting's background, also drawing that color into the flower print of her dress, and using the same stencil for snow in the background to further unite them.<div><br /></div><div>I was happier with the likeness I caught for Nerai than today's for Evelyn—try as I might, I couldn't quite get the eyes right, and hers are prettier—but over all, I was pretty happy with it. I think they would be fun to hang side by side in a floating frame.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCfY9dZHvHc-Kv2xmHXyv8aoRcZ8Kh6NasLEYSIBuh4U5cKk_Da4RQ-dMfOGN4Ka22s7_gsLCyr71uWGwJOC1BgVIWQgi_6B_WqGD4kcNwjyxhBkGJUauNVhZBjhtXyw7PLUQYV3ctlGYahijL4eFwM407QOXoIIufPVZHqb9QuUrFJd1P8B1DGxa3pTOm/s3477/SnowEvelyn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3477" data-original-width="3471" height="664" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCfY9dZHvHc-Kv2xmHXyv8aoRcZ8Kh6NasLEYSIBuh4U5cKk_Da4RQ-dMfOGN4Ka22s7_gsLCyr71uWGwJOC1BgVIWQgi_6B_WqGD4kcNwjyxhBkGJUauNVhZBjhtXyw7PLUQYV3ctlGYahijL4eFwM407QOXoIIufPVZHqb9QuUrFJd1P8B1DGxa3pTOm/w662-h664/SnowEvelyn.jpg" width="662" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>"Snow Evelyn"—pencil, acrylics, and stencil on 12x12 thin birch board.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7HEqb8avBUyBJxvaXUGSrvthfV7vUEMGrWQDzoXyu59Pd1kKWtCmhyphenhyphenZbu_SzAcFFGhIP8Mu76Oc6fQl94ixEdUMKmyMgQdRTluWn2mur5njvpL27cgIjzCKzKB_q4BifFusGTYKngSIfvplqztYcLlZSWmba4Q-v7hCwMkAhkdE4eMKtQ5zoqILoBdwJ/s4635/SnowNerai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3471" data-original-width="4635" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7HEqb8avBUyBJxvaXUGSrvthfV7vUEMGrWQDzoXyu59Pd1kKWtCmhyphenhyphenZbu_SzAcFFGhIP8Mu76Oc6fQl94ixEdUMKmyMgQdRTluWn2mur5njvpL27cgIjzCKzKB_q4BifFusGTYKngSIfvplqztYcLlZSWmba4Q-v7hCwMkAhkdE4eMKtQ5zoqILoBdwJ/w313-h234/SnowNerai.jpg" width="313" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj49qqGmim3KFuOW3twtYrc6Wikl9xotp5L7lR7HblGOL_YMxmIBR5Xh-L5IXdUdPGBdTjIN23O9cWdos4NGOh41Y4j3RmDbo1GU674o5wSG_GDl1bGQ9n-RmFGXQi6vROZXcLQW79EwjY2RtxpVoqMYS4VE6t35-cnBdlCnq2rVwg9yBEmQv6T2EzhOapt/s3477/SnowEvelyn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3477" data-original-width="3471" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj49qqGmim3KFuOW3twtYrc6Wikl9xotp5L7lR7HblGOL_YMxmIBR5Xh-L5IXdUdPGBdTjIN23O9cWdos4NGOh41Y4j3RmDbo1GU674o5wSG_GDl1bGQ9n-RmFGXQi6vROZXcLQW79EwjY2RtxpVoqMYS4VE6t35-cnBdlCnq2rVwg9yBEmQv6T2EzhOapt/w230-h231/SnowEvelyn.jpg" width="230" /></a><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-41473631891241779732024-01-02T14:38:00.000-08:002024-01-02T19:02:36.980-08:00LFI 2024, Day One!Starting a new year of portraits, with Kara Bullock Art School and the class Let's Face It 2024. This is year #3 for me with this class, and although I was MIA for about two-thirds of it this past year, it's still worth it to get 50 lessons for the year and be able to go back to them whenever I want.<div><br /></div><div>Today's lesson was with Kara herself. I love the loose, painterly quality of her work, but have never been able to loosen up my hand and eye to quite that degree. But I'm going to call today's painting a win anyway, for several reasons. First of all, I did an underpainting and then did my sketch using a large paintbrush, instead of drawing out every last detail with a pencil, which is huge for me. And then I continued using one brush for almost the entire painting, although it wasn't quite as large as the one Kara used. My painting is much more blended than hers, and although I used most of her palette, I introduced a few colors to which I am partial (like Cobalt Violet and Titan Mars), and switched out her black for Payne's Gray, because I don't like the harshness of black. I also confess that I broke out a smaller brush to clean up a few edges, but not much!</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's my sketch and underpainting in burnt umber fluid acrylic:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaS582ZblXWB_3UyJOuJRlgR-6x1Pnf5BgHNtK5q19NTotNB-xQBKVIg2q9G6kJH1DMKZxTQh9NdLbeovtvmaP4krmuy0b9g8G9eLFsZZkrT4KXYQT-AGhUsVEckzGiRSXN1BHMMLt0bU4JDXr_FGVcxKWcujVvW_Byp17JqtxKgr5VXoUd3K8U-gVqsFV/s853/BrushDrawing.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="640" height="579" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaS582ZblXWB_3UyJOuJRlgR-6x1Pnf5BgHNtK5q19NTotNB-xQBKVIg2q9G6kJH1DMKZxTQh9NdLbeovtvmaP4krmuy0b9g8G9eLFsZZkrT4KXYQT-AGhUsVEckzGiRSXN1BHMMLt0bU4JDXr_FGVcxKWcujVvW_Byp17JqtxKgr5VXoUd3K8U-gVqsFV/w434-h579/BrushDrawing.jpg" width="434" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div>The model photo didn't have a name attached, so I'm going to call her "Tanya"—acrylics on 140-lb. coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9z1ukvsTrmb9c4cuPOeUcSJA07bX6gO_zeDmI8vVNu5nSmdDFCEb4YdQ1IfGNDJ5wZprs3zQ8uNGxad7Bz9LSx8sFyn_j8K7JGFVc3KUpi2MhuUr2_jDQuL2eSqFBStgUH-93lioqMmWkj8bJdEjFTrxwDICVdqnFfLEiaP9hhcRKj1Y6ENVy5J0hd6r/s3489/Tanya1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3489" data-original-width="2526" height="886" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij9z1ukvsTrmb9c4cuPOeUcSJA07bX6gO_zeDmI8vVNu5nSmdDFCEb4YdQ1IfGNDJ5wZprs3zQ8uNGxad7Bz9LSx8sFyn_j8K7JGFVc3KUpi2MhuUr2_jDQuL2eSqFBStgUH-93lioqMmWkj8bJdEjFTrxwDICVdqnFfLEiaP9hhcRKj1Y6ENVy5J0hd6r/w642-h886/Tanya1.jpg" width="642" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJmEPdJ-6vorKGVT-YaO60IzGl2ms6lfuvE0f0VR-x9K3JAIR7Krxe7p2rBteG5DonosutED3_IIYnr-iA-PzzqLckJKM3rUe7btayFGUsG9L3gyxOjjsFW061Twlgey_zVYyJxefQDSF1xH9KEhdpOv3HF55EuF1HE7ER8BMXiJcTx6DpMf-SotXpK11t/s3490/Tanya1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-88850268568120836162023-12-30T13:12:00.000-08:002024-01-06T16:17:15.086-08:00DecisionsMy FB friend Lynn Como published a photo of her two great-grandkids posing for a picture by sticking their tongues out, and it inspired me to make a painting in which that stuck-out tongue made sense. I initially painted the child against the plain/stark peachy-pink/orange background, and I really liked the rather surreal way the figure popped against that non-background, but then I thought, Oh! The tongue could be sticking out to catch a snowflake! and did a search of my stencils for something that could stand in for snow. It was a big decision to invade that pristine field with the stencil images, though. These are flowers, but they were stylized enough to work, I think. (Do you?) (I hope Lynn will forgive me "borrowing" her great-grandchild's image!)<div><br /></div><div>This was a fun one to paint, and surprisingly didn't take a whole lot of time. I just laid in the base colors, and then advanced pretty quickly to details. Admittedly, I could have done a better job if I had painstakingly mimicked the knitting of the sweater and cap, but I chose to merely suggest some form to it and spend my time, instead, on the wonderful little face. The colors are so pure in children, and the peach background perfectly reflected the rather hectic color in the cheeks, brightened from being outdoors in the cold.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm trying to decide what to call it: Snow Day? First Snow? Taste the Weather? Or should I just call it by name (Nerai)?</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-EUzog7Xlxr7V3UvVEj-AZ-BFWOjuhypcLlTcanKqMOCJ_qguW4QbTI6EQDZztUHbeE9QxsD1A5csHrusqQ3_L5GxRneilO7ZxZ4gydl3Bs2ZQ1YGDLAQzFeY4Rev9ZVYXIc_FrmjsQsJIbKDqTDrxf8ua4bR8Xio0C-fpDtExPfKNXgimV0Sh3s-fzH/s4635/SnowNurai.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3471" data-original-width="4635" height="493" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-EUzog7Xlxr7V3UvVEj-AZ-BFWOjuhypcLlTcanKqMOCJ_qguW4QbTI6EQDZztUHbeE9QxsD1A5csHrusqQ3_L5GxRneilO7ZxZ4gydl3Bs2ZQ1YGDLAQzFeY4Rev9ZVYXIc_FrmjsQsJIbKDqTDrxf8ua4bR8Xio0C-fpDtExPfKNXgimV0Sh3s-fzH/w657-h493/SnowNurai.jpg" width="657" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>For right now..."Snow"—pencil, acrylics, and stencil, painted on a 12x16-inch thin birch board.</div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-64737791197609447012023-12-20T18:28:00.000-08:002023-12-20T18:28:23.505-08:00Another quickieWho could resist painting somebody with the name Kelly Bonelli? Especially if she is wide-eyed, is giving a sill grin, and has pompoms on wires sticking out of her head?! I was afraid of overdoing the wideness of the eyes but actually ended up not quite capturing the true pop-eyed quality of them, but otherwise I think I caught her.<div><br /></div><div>Another quick Uniball sketch and sloppy paint job. Just a little fun to keep me from spending the entire day on the sofa watching TV!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil4DC6XSs9reZ3CyaK09Bs5GQX2gy6K9YYB8bENMtbiv5CsmjysRObbWg7L4D7VyyC1bbcTXF-6x4Ego3M6OnnK5jEgJmClASzF0gcNO_bZU7MgCG5m-Q0V2SjsVmhP6F-CJSzNn1w90JgaFD5ijcgzxfvubH3b6us6KpILDysMxA3K4WRN3NWrZXPAQHx/s3468/KellyBonelli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="2514" height="796" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil4DC6XSs9reZ3CyaK09Bs5GQX2gy6K9YYB8bENMtbiv5CsmjysRObbWg7L4D7VyyC1bbcTXF-6x4Ego3M6OnnK5jEgJmClASzF0gcNO_bZU7MgCG5m-Q0V2SjsVmhP6F-CJSzNn1w90JgaFD5ijcgzxfvubH3b6us6KpILDysMxA3K4WRN3NWrZXPAQHx/w577-h796/KellyBonelli.jpg" width="577" /></a></div><br /><div>"Kelly Bonelli"—Uniball pen and Paul Jackson watercolors on Strathmore 140-lb. coldpress, 9x12 inches.</div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-12237775180752244112023-12-20T12:08:00.000-08:002023-12-20T12:08:25.026-08:00Quick selfieMy furnace isn't working. This isn't the disaster in Los Angeles that it would be in Michigan, but it still gets damn cold inside my poorly insulated little bungalow when temps drop. So I'm currently doing my best impression of the Madonna, having read somewhere that you lose a huge amount of body heat (possibly as much as 40%!) out of your head (presumably out your ears?) and that if you keep it covered/wrapped up, you will be warmer all over. I'm keeping small beach towels, afghans, and throws in all the rooms, and wrapping up my head and shoulders while working at my computer, or sitting up in bed reading, or lounging on the sofa. Since it's the Christmas season, and also since I haven't done a selfie in a while, I decided to capture bundled-up me in a quick ink and watercolor portrait.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsCWKA4fopg1-oBTbyfaR6JaPcfxOXCPc0ZhzpIA7gIIMOtqWnn29KD9wHbrZ7_yvlb3DAnEqTAvxtxLac081wsPincgbU6HlX9iIt1TfaRoJLSXeEQfk0XdSGQjw-Yg2tl10qUyw1ZhcmF1vwlqirFUqQ8zaslflpJ9ykMqe_WBj0q66KUd9ypYUjSFAu/s3504/MEMadonna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3504" data-original-width="2544" height="846" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsCWKA4fopg1-oBTbyfaR6JaPcfxOXCPc0ZhzpIA7gIIMOtqWnn29KD9wHbrZ7_yvlb3DAnEqTAvxtxLac081wsPincgbU6HlX9iIt1TfaRoJLSXeEQfk0XdSGQjw-Yg2tl10qUyw1ZhcmF1vwlqirFUqQ8zaslflpJ9ykMqe_WBj0q66KUd9ypYUjSFAu/w613-h846/MEMadonna.jpg" width="613" /></a></div><br /><div>"MEmadonna"—drawn with a Uniball pen and then watercolored (Paul Jackson signature paints) on 140-lb. Strathmore coldpress, 9x12 inches. Merry Freezing Christmas.</div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-23239893205507733342023-12-07T13:30:00.000-08:002023-12-07T13:30:20.782-08:00Conveying emotion<p>I wanted, no, needed to paint this week. Most of the time I use my paintings to express fairly sunny subjects (or at least neutral), but even so, they sometimes help me work out my emotions, and with the somewhat abrupt loss of my cousin this weekend I needed to find a way to get those feelings down on paper.</p><p>I did an ink underlayer first, using Prussian Blue, Turquoise, and Payne's Grey. It came out way too dark (the inks are getting old and sludgy), so I had to repeatedly wash the paper with water. That both buckled it and overworked it, so that when I went to make the painting over the top it was hard to get definition without further ruining the paper. But the soft edges probably work with the subject.</p><p>Not a great painting, but it says what I wanted it to.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWf97kF2JcVR2K6N_HxZHqS9z4WOjyGt394mlMNIBUSM0h9hAQuwUtnj_aEvEc7O5o3j7szgMO5-GvJSYiQoTGU42BhkqIrmtVM7PpOP_jWo-EGTZrEvAyqN2daBSfMAhuHz-GxiyPnJtUe2XwiseLIq1SFxFvk2VnyZWA-Avgct7nuKLiQmdSoJg2DFLM/s4599/Grief.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3387" data-original-width="4599" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWf97kF2JcVR2K6N_HxZHqS9z4WOjyGt394mlMNIBUSM0h9hAQuwUtnj_aEvEc7O5o3j7szgMO5-GvJSYiQoTGU42BhkqIrmtVM7PpOP_jWo-EGTZrEvAyqN2daBSfMAhuHz-GxiyPnJtUe2XwiseLIq1SFxFvk2VnyZWA-Avgct7nuKLiQmdSoJg2DFLM/w659-h486/Grief.jpg" width="659" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>"Grief"—Daler Rowney inks, pencil, watercolor, on 140-lb. Fluid cold-press watercolor paper, 16x12 inches.</p>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-65739741984535665752023-11-18T16:34:00.000-08:002023-11-18T16:34:56.892-08:00Another Venus<p>I keep coming across these models who remind me of the Botticelli Venus. The previous two were these:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48gRwkvvAgz6mmvQO7-xu70wJCbdfLLusilX9SzogoKg32Kw1XaFrYmZBQnk7_GUYkMrq-COX4X2xm2rzvRR4JSWsPnMGgUMBws4GIgSVxU15_OskBxNwF_wcTKPtvSDFWG_RlhtiyieMwoVTg6pDASrQ5ikb1hXMUJqLGoi3UOcSqzTkgUB777o0yqw5/s4678/RoseandRoses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4678" data-original-width="3399" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh48gRwkvvAgz6mmvQO7-xu70wJCbdfLLusilX9SzogoKg32Kw1XaFrYmZBQnk7_GUYkMrq-COX4X2xm2rzvRR4JSWsPnMGgUMBws4GIgSVxU15_OskBxNwF_wcTKPtvSDFWG_RlhtiyieMwoVTg6pDASrQ5ikb1hXMUJqLGoi3UOcSqzTkgUB777o0yqw5/w261-h357/RoseandRoses.jpg" width="261" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPOSh6Bv0LbzXAyRMlMmYsv86INfir1Wg1ZJsRrox1-Up8nJvdmPAhsptwt8ORtHx4EJanX5TfYQ4-QU2cKLWNS582XV4oHkl97HMAZMTfFvaLjLb8FGKZmnQ7X4BfuDUDmCETBA49Fxfhd_xW66HIqdIs_frTgSz8hjtKu2uWMIJjo19WXdTgiwk2O_JH/s4615/Angelic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4615" data-original-width="3400" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPOSh6Bv0LbzXAyRMlMmYsv86INfir1Wg1ZJsRrox1-Up8nJvdmPAhsptwt8ORtHx4EJanX5TfYQ4-QU2cKLWNS582XV4oHkl97HMAZMTfFvaLjLb8FGKZmnQ7X4BfuDUDmCETBA49Fxfhd_xW66HIqdIs_frTgSz8hjtKu2uWMIJjo19WXdTgiwk2O_JH/w266-h360/Angelic.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The left one is in acrylic with a stencil background on thin birch board, while the right one was done on paper using Daler Rowney inks for the background, skin, and dress, with watercolors incorporated for the features. And today, I did another, again using the Daler Rowney inks as the base, but mixing them to get a much pinker tone. I washed the paper with water and then squeezed eye droppers full of Flesh Tint and Fluorescent Rose inks and painted the entire page by combining them and adding water until I got it to the proper tones. Then I used the Daler Rowney Red Earth for the hair (mostly), and painted in the shading and details with watercolors.</div><div><br /></div><div>There's a lot of pencil showing in this one, because I kept redrawing it to get the hands right. They were really difficult! So the outlines are not terribly solid in some places, but I feel like I conveyed the pose fairly well. The only problem with using the inks as base is that it's hard to save whites—the back of her shoulder, the top of her arm, and the left side of her face were much lighter in the photo. But I do love the variation on flesh and pink tones I managed to create.</div><div><br /></div><div>I drew this about eight days ago and just today found the time, energy, and concentration to paint her. Not great output lately!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEoXHzhVtBjG9Df28BqaG_vYaJy8tYPAgfGER5cmylf9x3100ltOBM3d_gQEUK89qcqcQfwHBYAxDzSAgSseoRDGO6FtdX83VRizoqke1TKEYDa6uTo7SG-krKn2OL4J21rQGMCbpME8sTKB3Mt43BsIUtjAysLW7Md271pf9KO5egXagY_eWjs5o3WMMs/s4600/VenusVariation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4600" data-original-width="3415" height="877" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEoXHzhVtBjG9Df28BqaG_vYaJy8tYPAgfGER5cmylf9x3100ltOBM3d_gQEUK89qcqcQfwHBYAxDzSAgSseoRDGO6FtdX83VRizoqke1TKEYDa6uTo7SG-krKn2OL4J21rQGMCbpME8sTKB3Mt43BsIUtjAysLW7Md271pf9KO5egXagY_eWjs5o3WMMs/w652-h877/VenusVariation.jpg" width="652" /></a></div><br /><div>"Venus Variation"—Daler Rowney inks and watercolors on 140-lb. Fluid coldpress paper, 12x16 inches.</div><p><br /></p>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-81773344678808776292023-11-02T15:58:00.000-07:002023-11-02T15:58:01.881-07:00Style switchingThis one was big fun! The week's LFI 2023 lesson was with Kara Bullock her ownself, and I got to try painting loosely, with a big brush, and backwards to whatever I usually do. I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but I actually enjoyed it and was fairly pleased with my result, considering that it was completely foreign territory.<div><br /></div><div>That probably sounds funny to a non-painter, because after all, you're using the same materials you always do, and how different can the application be? But it is, significantly.</div><div><br /></div><div>I draw a fairly intricate base portrait before I ever start a painting, while Kara roughs things in, using a grid to get the outlines in the right places, and then sketches an outline with a brush and some burnt umber liquid acrylic. I do the base color first and sometimes the highlights, and then add the darks, whereas Kara starts by putting in the darks so she can see her "map" for the portrait. I premix colors specifically, while she tries out different colors and tones and paints over them if she doesn't like them. I blend a lot, while she lets things be a little more raw and strokey (this part I didn't quite pull off). And her objective isn't a perfect likeness, it's a pleasing painting, while I am still pretty hung up on getting that resemblance down.</div><div><br /></div><div>This was a really limited palette, with a few mixed colors, and I like the dramatic contrasts she encouraged (the reference photo was much more monochromatic). It was also a pretty quick painting to pull off, taking me under two hours start to finish (and I could have—and maybe should have—stopped even sooner!). I'll try some more like this.</div><div><br /></div><div>I should note that the background wasn't part of the "Kara experience," but was rather a sheet on which I used leftover colors to make a substrate per Emma Petitt's admonishment not to waste paint!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRoynPCQncsfzlOzZFd1CocWaBw0thv5_dLw4kofbkgiB3BpgdPeMKuSKxRmbUeJwmRD1EBAHsn2lYgXm1ofMDYzP1JdWFq74ebM152PLYo9SlEslMZTGlkofpTd5kqenic0yv-Lv8yynMYq6emUv0iHSVK9vm3flRxrkm-xxjJaHF86jH6IqpCB2KH_bI/s3504/Ingrid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3504" data-original-width="2544" height="868" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRoynPCQncsfzlOzZFd1CocWaBw0thv5_dLw4kofbkgiB3BpgdPeMKuSKxRmbUeJwmRD1EBAHsn2lYgXm1ofMDYzP1JdWFq74ebM152PLYo9SlEslMZTGlkofpTd5kqenic0yv-Lv8yynMYq6emUv0iHSVK9vm3flRxrkm-xxjJaHF86jH6IqpCB2KH_bI/w630-h868/Ingrid.jpg" width="630" /></a></div><br /><div>There was no name listed on the photo, so I called her "Ingrid"—pencil, Stabilo, and acrylics on Fluid 140-lb. watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.</div><div><br /></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-12322307250800842122023-10-22T19:29:00.000-07:002023-10-22T19:29:21.644-07:00My favorite modelI was excited when I checked out the lesson for yesterday, the 21st, and discovered that the reference photo was of my favorite model, Jenell Del Cid. I was not so excited by the time I had redrawn her not one but three times, going so far as to superimpose my drawing over the top of the reference photo to try to figure out where I was going wrong.<div><br /></div><div>I'm quite pleased with the delicacy of the painting and some of the effects; I liked Lee Grest's soft approach and the way she worked from dark to light and then went back in to strengthen certain areas of the portrait. But what stymied me, weirdly, was the likeness. It was a challenging pose, looking up and over her shoulder as she is, and that's the only way I can account for not being able to get it to look that much like Jenell. The other portraits of her I have done have been face on, or nearly so, and came out very like her, in my opinion, but I'm not sure one of her friends or followers would see this and say "Oh, look, it's Jenell!" It's a portrait of a pretty woman, but the likeness isn't exact.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGi8lw0kEgHqpzEMO5OXPAr_13JMOUS0jH5uSIekqda7pCt78ULAcIrHJv5XgmnqjPr5qN9VqUzbRbYpJbn9U0nzFI5w8wUvuczpla5J3LZ-bYDEdkWhBZUyDz4Kaa6uhwHtnchFvpgyjGhlmYnllZ89St3Bi_Se7AdlInCDnP0USovK8TVLe-nmT4TuDd/s3458/Sy2123_Jenell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3458" data-original-width="2537" height="897" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGi8lw0kEgHqpzEMO5OXPAr_13JMOUS0jH5uSIekqda7pCt78ULAcIrHJv5XgmnqjPr5qN9VqUzbRbYpJbn9U0nzFI5w8wUvuczpla5J3LZ-bYDEdkWhBZUyDz4Kaa6uhwHtnchFvpgyjGhlmYnllZ89St3Bi_Se7AdlInCDnP0USovK8TVLe-nmT4TuDd/w660-h897/Sy2123_Jenell.jpg" width="660" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"Sy2123_Jenell", pencil and watercolor on Strathmore 140-lb. coldpress, 9x12 inches.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here are some of the others I have painted of Jenell, just for comparison:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEH96PKAR9DeiTSd0cI9S-6pJP-nSj9aFf3_aGvOioCMyDmRRodrp-0NDUgAUB0U3e9rUAA2OP7nFsPNHuKZXeGcbHywjlqS3jIQwFwHiUUzUqsNUKEHXginKku2TduTkQ1TuLFId-Pie0PwkeZknPgE2xVy5kiOt04GcxCL0R34zMoGjTdQybZovBLdsk/s3571/JenellWhatRev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3571" data-original-width="3501" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEH96PKAR9DeiTSd0cI9S-6pJP-nSj9aFf3_aGvOioCMyDmRRodrp-0NDUgAUB0U3e9rUAA2OP7nFsPNHuKZXeGcbHywjlqS3jIQwFwHiUUzUqsNUKEHXginKku2TduTkQ1TuLFId-Pie0PwkeZknPgE2xVy5kiOt04GcxCL0R34zMoGjTdQybZovBLdsk/w391-h399/JenellWhatRev.jpg" width="391" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EKrikZ7ATWZ6laPlLnA_r7dukX49c3nX-qikhphM_OvkXvWqkiTrY4sEjeDwi07cP1jdzY-Cg5BX4RYOEvua3aIxpqUgKd1-8g-QPdJASli44QGyWLX0DlsRuvbYIR_EvGOLdkgQBbsCjwr72A9dufcjTvKJb7x3JWycTboA9gJ2jzFv3xEQlV2gbiGF/s6138/JenellwithLily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6138" data-original-width="4622" height="401" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9EKrikZ7ATWZ6laPlLnA_r7dukX49c3nX-qikhphM_OvkXvWqkiTrY4sEjeDwi07cP1jdzY-Cg5BX4RYOEvua3aIxpqUgKd1-8g-QPdJASli44QGyWLX0DlsRuvbYIR_EvGOLdkgQBbsCjwr72A9dufcjTvKJb7x3JWycTboA9gJ2jzFv3xEQlV2gbiGF/w302-h401/JenellwithLily.jpg" width="302" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3hNESRzQx6qtT9g9mdmVDMkXI8sqoxN0rKrpUBxY3snGBIGBfj2Q6H2dUAXEHxZYuasyhFh5WHUFTMmOImergr6Kxxg7s8fMhpKwtk5iwE5hGmNK76C48cHWrfDjR-s-bY5UYDJ3DfaM-g3zksjnMRXrj2vvEThrYVNFKGIdD0EMeye2pioU4WwVWFw35/s4669/Mirror.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4669" data-original-width="3427" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3hNESRzQx6qtT9g9mdmVDMkXI8sqoxN0rKrpUBxY3snGBIGBfj2Q6H2dUAXEHxZYuasyhFh5WHUFTMmOImergr6Kxxg7s8fMhpKwtk5iwE5hGmNK76C48cHWrfDjR-s-bY5UYDJ3DfaM-g3zksjnMRXrj2vvEThrYVNFKGIdD0EMeye2pioU4WwVWFw35/w291-h397/Mirror.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-44940226308243360352023-10-22T18:48:00.002-07:002023-10-22T18:48:16.599-07:0012, 16, and 17As you can tell, I'm not keeping up very well with the daily paintings, but I did a few more this past week so I thought I'd post them.<div><br /></div><div>This first, <b>Shannon</b>, was under the tutelage of <b>Ellie Kerr-Smiley</b>, and I wasn't particularly satisfied with it. It had some challenges: First of all, the angle of the face (I'm terrible with profiles), and second, the flowers, which I haven't the patience to master.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PgYENozLOVe5bdNOrf0_B6coCNepf4k0YB6tmRRVu3EDowZlcX8wq9QM2EPq4Gkbiory7TH4eCeqU1-St4TfKP4W_WgSqseBMnRxZDjuiz5CU5x4Bxyo73U__jzwMcnhAdXzbTheGWZito8RkJTMHaY2PUftCrqSLUfL04tXdROGh-dRrlpLDX_3xw4A/s3367/Sy1623_Shannon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3367" data-original-width="2383" height="715" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5PgYENozLOVe5bdNOrf0_B6coCNepf4k0YB6tmRRVu3EDowZlcX8wq9QM2EPq4Gkbiory7TH4eCeqU1-St4TfKP4W_WgSqseBMnRxZDjuiz5CU5x4Bxyo73U__jzwMcnhAdXzbTheGWZito8RkJTMHaY2PUftCrqSLUfL04tXdROGh-dRrlpLDX_3xw4A/w505-h715/Sy1623_Shannon.jpg" width="505" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Next we have <b>Amelia</b>, painting with <b>Elena Mahoney Sánchez</b>, who was a crazy exercise in extreme uplighting (not to mention some interesting makeup choices that I haven't seen since the '70s), and then <b>Tom</b>, also painted with Elena using an interesting red and green color palette.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgYePAcZqZKUWKxCzWXZVh6_-URTK-7cm4q7a2zR2LodPdZgTsVhiBl-wxCEgmKyikRBqD3Mg_Y5A_vwXrQN3wM6PCPXGclMlR7BpzIkIyzm_xJ0AbW2IxNvkh9bf5hpmQ8SwLY4HPnSToc8Mia-g_Jp5zL40ogT0wo1uQdU54mYGsodl0C9942_eQg3a-/s1434/Sy1723_Amelia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1434" data-original-width="1348" height="471" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgYePAcZqZKUWKxCzWXZVh6_-URTK-7cm4q7a2zR2LodPdZgTsVhiBl-wxCEgmKyikRBqD3Mg_Y5A_vwXrQN3wM6PCPXGclMlR7BpzIkIyzm_xJ0AbW2IxNvkh9bf5hpmQ8SwLY4HPnSToc8Mia-g_Jp5zL40ogT0wo1uQdU54mYGsodl0C9942_eQg3a-/w443-h471/Sy1723_Amelia.jpg" width="443" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGsrs7E4Bq0ahovaMLXGVfa-JgpA4PyyL13kXAUKHYCO9OxUupMbGC7e-WhgG9NrYwYneG7I4DJQ_dN7Tf5Q9yW8EBg7JGBjqk0u_3Vfbcg14ACgJGRfAIwYVqgRUQZZ5EaPvCgVXgJgf7GXWUkywU5fNld0bifsGFaukalQ8Czqjm2fvj3IP5wl6AfKj/s3045/Sy1823_Tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3045" data-original-width="2170" height="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGsrs7E4Bq0ahovaMLXGVfa-JgpA4PyyL13kXAUKHYCO9OxUupMbGC7e-WhgG9NrYwYneG7I4DJQ_dN7Tf5Q9yW8EBg7JGBjqk0u_3Vfbcg14ACgJGRfAIwYVqgRUQZZ5EaPvCgVXgJgf7GXWUkywU5fNld0bifsGFaukalQ8Czqjm2fvj3IP5wl6AfKj/w441-h620/Sy1823_Tom.jpg" width="441" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Amelia made me kinda crazy but turned out to be weirdly wonderful, while Tom was a great exercise in using alternate colors to reality and also leaving parts of the painting untouched in order to spotlight other parts.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm definitely learning some stuff doing this, even if it's not been a daily process.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-86022995365720199342023-10-11T18:04:00.001-07:002023-10-13T10:53:23.985-07:00Day 11I made an oops with the date yesterday, which was the 10th, so today is actually Day 11. This model is from Day 9; I loved how weird she is with her strange chiffon clothing and flower-pot hat and her sadsack expression, but I didn't love what the artist-in-residence on Sketchy decided to do with it—she focused on the background and clothing colors and painted the face and hair all in black and white—so I did my own rendering instead, maximizing the pinks and purples and browns but letting her keep her black hair (for which I used Payne's Grey, because I don't like stark black in watercolor!).<div><br /></div><div>I just found out that the model's name is Emily (the photographer is Judith), but I see her being happier going through life as a Roxane, or maybe a Lilith? Emily is Jane Austen. This gal is more Daphne du Maurier from <i>Don't Look Now</i>. Anyway, I had fun with her, and decided to forego the giant flowers in the background for a faint stencil pattern of diamond shapes reminiscent of harlequin, which is how she comes across to me. I painted them on in white gesso; my intention was to then use a deep color, maybe an ultramarine, to make them pop, but instead I switched off and coated the background with a layer of metallic gold medium. I like the resulting color all right, but it didn't do justice to the stencil pattern, which is barely discernible in person and not at all in the scan! But this is how we learn...<div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwROlD2wkRnimGLR_PGobKMcqkFGwKX8asV8BBMh7BAItj4cUZBqTo4Uu6HgHOg8TCBM0jt6FL21Ev9EzJBUOSdjVeMeZ_CBMYAeH8N92W6TyPiwRwmisqSpClsck4V-B26nr-6HwPcNLMIN-3jjsjg-07TSZfwT6CqioNohYJ8OZYh7SPWblUq3LumoNW/s3499/Sy1123_Judith.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3499" data-original-width="2522" height="913" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwROlD2wkRnimGLR_PGobKMcqkFGwKX8asV8BBMh7BAItj4cUZBqTo4Uu6HgHOg8TCBM0jt6FL21Ev9EzJBUOSdjVeMeZ_CBMYAeH8N92W6TyPiwRwmisqSpClsck4V-B26nr-6HwPcNLMIN-3jjsjg-07TSZfwT6CqioNohYJ8OZYh7SPWblUq3LumoNW/w661-h913/Sy1123_Judith.jpg" width="661" /></a></div><br /><div>"Sy1123_Emily"—pencil, watercolor, gesso, a little Uniball pen, and stencil on 90-lb. Strathmore coldpress, 9x12 inches.</div></div></div><div><br /></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-80436907357631986802023-10-10T15:02:00.001-07:002023-10-11T17:06:41.081-07:00Day 10I finally got back to the "drawing board," i.e., making a new portrait painting from Sktchy. I had a health "oops" that set me back about a week in the excellent recovery I've been having lately (read all about it <b><a href="https://medoublell.com/2023/10/07/idiocy/" target="_blank">here</a></b>), and haven't felt up to painting, but today's symptoms are much milder, and I needed to pass the time until I had my healthcare visitor—yes, they're back—so this is Day 10, even though this is the model from Day 8. I loved her quizzical, upward-gazing expression, and the somewhat casual but nonetheless calculated way the artist, Wayne Smith, painted her, so I gave it a shot myself.<div><br /></div><div>The downlighting was fun, and I liked the pastel palette with just hints of stronger color here and there. I didn't quite capture her fey quality, but I daresay Bronwyn would be able to recognize herself from this portrait, so it's all good.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ0bSSbcnmc6ECmu8rWGPtAISaSsqJGqQH2Mt8ndgLJ8HnKWeVY37G7F3_fxuWjIblU6s_jiTtRXAnfLcnuqwGyPBl40nfVxLszHS78P_e6rrKrSLwFkpxV5OWwwIGgJDJUxBBLPcjV7eXvMoR2sjiJhn1HfG8pYFML8C0NGyV0DJ1XReH6RKT47rrBIOP/s3396/Sy1123_Bronwyn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3396" data-original-width="2372" height="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ0bSSbcnmc6ECmu8rWGPtAISaSsqJGqQH2Mt8ndgLJ8HnKWeVY37G7F3_fxuWjIblU6s_jiTtRXAnfLcnuqwGyPBl40nfVxLszHS78P_e6rrKrSLwFkpxV5OWwwIGgJDJUxBBLPcjV7eXvMoR2sjiJhn1HfG8pYFML8C0NGyV0DJ1XReH6RKT47rrBIOP/w629-h900/Sy1123_Bronwyn.jpg" width="629" /></a></div><br /><div>"Sy1123_Bronwyn"—Pencil and Paul Jackson watercolors on 140-lb. Fluid coldpress, 8x11 inches.</div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-67752067390657172112023-10-06T13:28:00.000-07:002023-10-06T13:28:34.725-07:00Day 6This is the model/lesson from Day 4, but since I'm doing it on the 6th, we'll call it that. I don't think I'm going to catch up with the previous couple, but will go onward and do as many as I can. I'm letting myself pick and choose, because some of the models and methods simply don't appeal. Maybe that's not kosher, but I don't care!<div><br /></div><div>I liked this one because it was a young boy, and children are notoriously harder to paint than are adults, since their faces are still in different proportion. I can't explain exactly what I mean by that, but if you have tried it, you will know.</div><div><br /></div><div>Dritan Duro is another loose painter, somewhat wet in wet, which is not my usual style, but I feel like my rendering of his lesson was fairly successful—at least more so than my last blurry effort! I liked the challenge of keeping the light on the side of the face and the hair—I had to forcibly make myself stop instead of painting it in. It looks a fair bit like the child, though from a little more extreme angle than the photo, somehow. A good exercise.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdc0H9HihoMJV7YSTTh_XGY3D58NKj1JyDxjXUexLV_LLrOZt8PNdAABvK7nSiDyPAMiB6nUyuvImpNN0fEMscxkw_9rlGSyyffYyFADREYjwqRlw347R3yvu7pBRTgrgT0VCKMkbf-4uygjK5_dWqPOCHqgpRWhbneWOYTZNp52k1jbY02-vYv96mi2md/s3482/Sy623_Jess.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3482" data-original-width="2263" height="897" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdc0H9HihoMJV7YSTTh_XGY3D58NKj1JyDxjXUexLV_LLrOZt8PNdAABvK7nSiDyPAMiB6nUyuvImpNN0fEMscxkw_9rlGSyyffYyFADREYjwqRlw347R3yvu7pBRTgrgT0VCKMkbf-4uygjK5_dWqPOCHqgpRWhbneWOYTZNp52k1jbY02-vYv96mi2md/w583-h897/Sy623_Jess.jpg" width="583" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>"Sy623_Jess"—pencil and watercolor, on 140-lb. Fluid coldpress, approx. 8x11.5 inches.</div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-10086978596606930012023-10-02T15:44:00.000-07:002023-10-02T15:44:01.806-07:00Day 2These Sktchy artists seem to be dedicated to keeping things, well, sketchy, or at least the watercolor equivalent. It's called loose, as regards both strokes and adherence to actual vs. interesting colors. Which is fine with me for a while, although I tend to enjoy working a little tighter than this.<div><br /></div><div>This guy was a challenge from a couple of standpoints: His brows and parts of his beard were a very pale ginger color, that red hair color that's almost yellow but with a pinkish cast, and I didn't manage to save the eyebrows from being a bit sludgy or the beard from being darker in some spots than it should have been. I did have fun with the deep shadows around his eyes and under his nose, and I did enjoy introducing a lot of counter-intuitive colors to his complexion, but he got kinda smudgy towards the end. Overwork!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAI4WTS7vW1KH9w1Nq6rhLnqJDNH__Y9X-g6IWulVSppnH27NSfIlvWEoJo77YkznOxPvw0Qu2wlzrowMIoJ38Ouqy-VA1DK7_7Nn2GBPtl42ckMZ2kuZoV84fUOuZ4Vxo6zRdLpdwcpiyQyHNJ9wIBrkSJLjB2Ip03zC1wfLNN7moA4MleKRHzJ0EF_CZ/s2845/SY223_Castor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2845" data-original-width="2273" height="745" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAI4WTS7vW1KH9w1Nq6rhLnqJDNH__Y9X-g6IWulVSppnH27NSfIlvWEoJo77YkznOxPvw0Qu2wlzrowMIoJ38Ouqy-VA1DK7_7Nn2GBPtl42ckMZ2kuZoV84fUOuZ4Vxo6zRdLpdwcpiyQyHNJ9wIBrkSJLjB2Ip03zC1wfLNN7moA4MleKRHzJ0EF_CZ/w596-h745/SY223_Castor.jpg" width="596" /></a></div><br /><div>This is "Castor," aka SY23_Castor in my files. Pencil and watercolor on 140-lb. fluid coldpress, about 8x10 inches.</div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-20002350159331769642023-10-01T15:45:00.001-07:002023-10-01T15:45:42.690-07:0030 Faces/30 Days and a birthday<p>I have been painting so infrequently lately (because of all my extenuating health issues) that I scarcely remember what I'm doing with a paintbrush in my hand! But things are beginning to be resolved (stone gone, stent out, AFib under control with pills, legs decreasing in girth a bit with new Beltwells), so I ambitiously decided to sign up for Sktchy's 30 Faces/30 Days challenge in watercolor. And of course messed it up from Day One! I didn't look at which year I was on, and ended up doing Day 23 from 2021 instead of Day 1 from 2023. Oh, well, I enjoyed it, which is the main point. I'll get back on track tomorrow.</p><p>It's a looser, wet-in-wet kind of painting that I don't often employ, mostly because I'm kind of a control freak, but I do like it when it turns out well. This one's not bad, but I've done better. I'll have to work on this technique some more. I tend to go too far and over-work it, and that's the death knell to the spontaneous look.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4VWP3WPs58yk8JGqIoEPejblKQcVORUYUzkBlQ_nc18SFfo6IjxyO6d2dt4VGE-74nRFgDzIZuBE1BxoVDKjTg5WDCYLXi3TfWF5bJ53z9uKBqdcdW1fgK9qeQnvw1N_fqktplGZrkb1g8deoRA1GqNhf28NzyiIbGjm0kuUHy5dfotSQ8_x-F4E7K5I/s3423/SY123_Leeza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3423" data-original-width="2341" height="811" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4VWP3WPs58yk8JGqIoEPejblKQcVORUYUzkBlQ_nc18SFfo6IjxyO6d2dt4VGE-74nRFgDzIZuBE1BxoVDKjTg5WDCYLXi3TfWF5bJ53z9uKBqdcdW1fgK9qeQnvw1N_fqktplGZrkb1g8deoRA1GqNhf28NzyiIbGjm0kuUHy5dfotSQ8_x-F4E7K5I/w555-h811/SY123_Leeza.jpg" width="555" /></a></div>SY123_Leeza: pencil and watercolor on Fluid 140-lb. coldpress paper, about 8x12 inches.<div><br /></div><div>Yesterday I did something in a style more typical to me: Kara Bullock had a birthday, and I decided to do a birthday portrait based on a cute photo she had taken of herself in her studio. This is Uniball pen, in Deb Weiers's double-line style, painted in watercolor, about 8.5x10 inches.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9GiVDrvIPXmhHcveW5xMoys5CJPMaWF1MpK6HtBhsFIgkn3t25nL6pdlMWULBDEn3VBOAWwogoJaaER3G7cHzR3Jyjyqzbv8ClTLlHZQxYEPBQEuxfw7CzzT1h_zh4nt8Q7Gnif8lkBnRdgKtFFr_9ZlZ3hT5JRS7w-bJh_a5tsBL4R6-fZjFhy7nMgz/s2852/KaraBdayPic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2852" data-original-width="2015" height="751" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9GiVDrvIPXmhHcveW5xMoys5CJPMaWF1MpK6HtBhsFIgkn3t25nL6pdlMWULBDEn3VBOAWwogoJaaER3G7cHzR3Jyjyqzbv8ClTLlHZQxYEPBQEuxfw7CzzT1h_zh4nt8Q7Gnif8lkBnRdgKtFFr_9ZlZ3hT5JRS7w-bJh_a5tsBL4R6-fZjFhy7nMgz/w531-h751/KaraBdayPic.jpg" width="531" /></a></div><br /><div>I purposely made space next to her face so I could add birthday greetings in type in Photoshop Express when I was finished.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hopefully there will be 30 more faces to follow—we'll see how it goes!</div><div><br /><p><br /></p></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-774592350363325960.post-20746461896054143072023-08-23T19:10:00.000-07:002023-08-23T19:10:20.721-07:00Do-overWell, I got impatient with my own cowardice (and also the first one was pretty much unredeemable) and re-drew my girl, did another draw-check photo in Elements, and then did the wash. I risked the ink again, because I don't have anything else exactly that color, but this time I put a pre-wash of water on the paper and used much less ink, then spread it quickly, and it came out better. It's still a little blotchy here and there, but it's right at the edges, so I can crop that out in framing, if I ever do that.<div><br /></div><div>I did this exact same technique of pre-washing the paper in acrylic inks for almost a year during and after Deb Weiers's class, so I don't know why it's suddenly being contrary, but there it is; things work, and then they don't. It may be also that there was too much erasing of the paper before I did the coat of ink? Or I got a bad batch of paper (which has happened more than once in my painting career). Anyway, this one is acceptable.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm really glad I persisted and did this over, because I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. I sort of melded my own style with Angela's, so I copied, for instance, the sold shape of the hair rather than making individual strands, except for those signature pincurls above the temples, which I couldn't resist including. I didn't use any colored pencil like she did, but I did put in some sketchy outlining, use white gesso for the ruffle and highlights on the shirt, and drop in some white Signo glints in the eyes and here and there on the skin.</div><div><br /></div><div>I may paint this one again sometime—the reference photo woman has these incredible bedroom eyes that I didn't quite capture here, and I'd like to give it another shot. But for now...done!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41QvqySZA3aN6cJdMwVpZovo6N6Ki6dei-r9NhnnvPZd2jwAwiyeFGNXW83bGsHXaIjbegSt7tuAPq_ifvRR1LSJVCdYvATL8FQ_CqxHjdy8h8zfiV31UUGub8HSDTnVSlMCQDkvs2Si7Jxwxl8mrpOqutkYsop_wFWLukl2qCMIKrbRQL18oyvx1wYl0/s4615/Angelic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4615" data-original-width="3400" height="897" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj41QvqySZA3aN6cJdMwVpZovo6N6Ki6dei-r9NhnnvPZd2jwAwiyeFGNXW83bGsHXaIjbegSt7tuAPq_ifvRR1LSJVCdYvATL8FQ_CqxHjdy8h8zfiV31UUGub8HSDTnVSlMCQDkvs2Si7Jxwxl8mrpOqutkYsop_wFWLukl2qCMIKrbRQL18oyvx1wYl0/w660-h897/Angelic.jpg" width="660" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>"Angelic"—pencil, acrylic ink, watercolors, Uniball pen, Signo gel pen, on 140-lb. Fluid watercolor paper, 12x16 inches.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Meligelliotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02144018952630629675noreply@blogger.com0