Have been having fun these last few weeks working on small portraits using photos sent to me by friends and family. These are all 6x6” in oils:
Bleu
George
Maggie
There’s always so much to practice and so much to keep in mind. I’ve been trying to focus on keeping my heart light as I do it (listening to funny books on tape helps) and thinking about process — the steps to take to develop the image in a way that feels both intuitive and effective. I’m pleased with the outcomes of these, but still not feeling that the process feels like me.
I love the initial stages of the underpainting, where I’m just putting in a single color on a toned background, drawing it on with paint and then literally pushing and pulling the paint around with my brush till I get the shapes the way I want them.
I love that tactile sensibility, almost like sculpting with the paint… then when I start putting the colors on it starts to feel like a fight with the paint, which wants to mix with anything it touches and start to get thick and muddy or, even worse, have a hard time staying on the canvas. Is there a way to work with the wet paint but be able to continue the relaxed feeling of the first stage and its forgiving nature once I get into colors…?