I’ve been really hammering out the still lifes lately. It doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on other paintings too. There have been a couple of times that I just couldn’t bear to work on a still life another second. A quick struggle with a portrait sets me straight.

 

 

This one I’ve seriously been working on for over a year. It’s a project I’m working on with my sister-in-law and I’m only working on it when we paint together, which doesn’t happen often enough. It’s really close to being finished so hopefully we can get together again soon and get it done already.

Self critique: It needs bit more work on the right eye and the nose. The whole painting is a tad overworked, but that’s mainly because I wasn’t trying to finish it. I also didn’t put nearly enough effort into my initial sketch, requiring substantial reworking.

 

 

This one I started in late December of 2016. It has been going slower than I would like. I just need to sit down and finish it already. The skin tones were initially really difficult to figure out since I haven’t painted a portrait of a person in color before, but I think I’m getting it figured out. It’s a very delicate balance between yellow and red that if off is very obviously off. She went through both a jaundice phase and a sunburn phase.

My self critique: The hair is way too yellow. I need to use more browns. The right eye needs work (I seem to struggle with matching eyes if these three portraits say nothing else) and the eyebrows are just wrong. Despite the corrections needed, it’s actually a really good likeness. Important for any portrait.

 

 

I don’t actually think I’ve posted about this one on the blog yet. I did post it in an artist’s Facebook group though. It’s one of two commissions for my mother-in-law (I gifted her the Dopey Dog portrait for Christmas). I really like how it’s coming together and will finish it soon.

My critique: The right eye needs a little more work. It looks pretty good as a teeny tiny picture, but in person the eyes appear to be looking in ever so slightly different directions and the right eye is a little bulged. The whole thing needs more paint since I can still see the underpainting in areas. The cheek on the right needs reshaped. The muzzle is very much in progress, hence the smoothness. All in all, I like the direction it’s headed in. I just have to take it there.