Fiona
22nd Feb 2010
I have started a new picture today. It is another portrait, of a friend, in oil, canvas size 80 x 110cm.
I did a brief outline of prominent shapes in Fiona’s face, and then quickly started to lay down skin tones. I have noticed with Fiona’s face, that you can see yellows, blues and reds in her skin tone, even though she is fair skinned.
I have put my brush on a long stick in the attempt to help me loosen up my style in painting. I use this technique in my drawing and have really taken to it, so I thought I would try it in my painting. So far I like the results.
2nd March 2010
Well done a lot today, have made a right pig’s ear of the hair, but hopefully I have managed to sort that out, it certainly looks better now. I have tried to capture all the curls, and Fiona has different shades in her hair, such as blond, grey, brown and yellow.
Joe came to see me today at 121, which was great, as he gave me some good advice on my painting. So now I have to look at the lips again, they are a bit pouty, which I have started to correct. Also i need to work on and around the eyes. Also, the final touches around the face and neck, the correct shading and hopefully I will be finished!!! I hope.
While I was painting Alan 1 and Alan 2, I was looking at a pose in which Alan was looking into the mirror. The mirror reflection was all blurred and Alan himself was sharp in detail on the photograph I took. i thought this would be a good subject to capture, and have tried to give it a go. I have again used oil on canvas (size 80 x 110cm).
I tried to capture the blurred shadows of the picture by using a big brush and slapping wet oil paint onto the canvas, the technique seems to work. Don’t know I f what I have done is correct, but I have enjoyed it. Enjoyed it so much I forgot to take photos of my painting progress, so did this straight off until finished, took about 8 hours.
Well I knew I’d tweak it more! This time I think I might have finished it.
I am working in oils; the canvas is 80 x110 cm. The shot was taken of him going down the stairs, and pausing on the stairs to the front door in my home. The difficulties I have found so far are getting the right texture for his hair and beard. I have so far put a lot of time into the hair and I am now working into the beard, as you can see it is not quite right. It is all still a work in progress.
Well so far I have continued to fill in the canvas. I have tweaked the eyes a bit more, as they were too green. He has a grey green blue colour, which I am finding hard to duplicate. The jacket has also been painted in.
I have noticed that the picture looks flat, and the head rounded. His neck is too short and his nose too big so I am attempting correct this. I took the canvas into college to get the opinions of my fellow students and tutors and they agreed with my view.
I have difficulty in trying to be subtle with the use of colour and blending, tones and shadows. This is what I am attempting to do in order to sort out the flatness of the image.
However, I am worried, that with all my tinkering, it no longer looks like Alan. As so far I have stream lined the back of the head, and cheek. I have moved the (R) eye and altered the nose, but the features now look too sculptured, so I guess I will be repainting again.
Well I have turned my husband into George Micheal!!! His nose is too sculptured along with the eyebrow’s. His beard also is a bit more messy than I have painted it. So I will try and change this so I will recapture my husband again!!
Well this is it, I think I have got the result I wanted, again I will study it, and if anything looks like it needs to be changed then I will do it, or not!! Who knows!!
Well, I have managed to turn my husband into Sigmund Freud, with the hair line. It is a bit square, which is all wrong. Also I need to work on the shadows, tones of the skin, the nose look s a bit flat.
And the Ear, well, I am not going there! It looks like a rugby player’s ear. I am finding it hard to draw right, and get the correct tones.
Well, I have put some colour all over the canvas, and now I will study it to see what I need to do next.
My picture all though has a lot of character, looks flat, so I will strive to make it look more 3 dimensional. I am enjoying studying the colour mixes to get the right skin tones and shades. Alan’s face has a ruddy tone to it, so it show’s a lot of reds and yellows, he has a sun weathered face, through years of riding motorbikes, and the sun hitting his forehead and cheeks.
I think I may have finished it, but no doubt I will find something wrong or change it again. I have so far, altered his hair line, and ear. I have also dabbled more with the skin tone, trying to achieve a ruddier tone to his skin.
We will have to see where I take it next
