Double portrait practice

Trying a big painting..2'x4'

Background is multi media collage and fun!

Very rough sketch of plan

Blocking them in...then adding features, LOTS of fine tuning ahead!

Layering a tissue tracing of a drawing I did from a live model onto the background of my girls!

 

Stained background with bronze gold glaze...

New photos of Lilia for reference...

Plenty of work ahead!

Oh my, hours later...I can see progress! BUT the jaw lines are skewed! Fixing that tomorrow, AND staining background behind Laura so that her hair doesn't blend into the background!

 

Getting closer...I had conflicting light sources, but changed that below....but still not liking how their mouths and chins line up...or don't line up. Comes from not having accurate pose to work with....now....still struggling! Laura's head was originally tilted...so I really should have her left her a tad lower.....

Maybe soften the dark shadow beyond her jaw, and ....

For Lilia, Move the shadow under her nose...move her chin in line with her nose...and put tinting glazes to make her skin more even and radiant!

Ok...24 hours later....better....I see now, that Lilia's nose needs to move over to line up with her mouth and chin...meanwhile black lace was added to Lilia's hair...and rice paper to Laura's!

Still working to make Lilia younger and more herself! Tracie gave me some tips...higher forehead and more cheekbone for Laura...lighter eyebrows, no teeth and fuller lip smile on Lilia!

This photo will help! This one too!

 

Getting better...

Am going to publish this now, then come back with final photo after I nail it!

Have worked on it lots more...still not satisfied...but fun!

Uk

 

Magic moment for Sophie-how I paint....

Amazed by a bubble machine, Sophie gazes in silence.....her brows knitted, puzzled!

I am trying to make a special painting for her dad!

Simplify the background garden and make her face and the bubbles close

I succumb to the temptation of glitter....left here by my SIL, Melody!

It gives me a shimmer on the orbs...not totally like a shiny bubble, but still fun! ( my friend Gayle says she read that "glitter is the Ebola if the art world!) LOL!

 

Time to work on her face for awhile! The weather was so dry yesterday, that the paint was almost dry as soon as it hit the canvas! Sort of a challenge!

I had to use several steps to get this close up of her face printed out...

Now I am struggling working on getting her to emerge!

I can see that she is looking older than she is, and that I may not want to make her frown as deep as in the photo...or is that the real charm here???

 

By looking at these side-by-side on the computer screen, I am able to find what is needed...usually!

Several short painting sessions later, I am getting there!

Above, her face needs to be fuller and childlike.....

Better,.... now to fix the color and shadows on her and finalize the garden......fun!

Below is the final painting. I am not going for realism so much as the charm and joy of the moment!

Brush stokes of unexpected color ad movement and energy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The magic of quilting....or "Hen Party"...almost finished!

BTW! For some reason, every painting in the post is cropped on one side....grrrrr! BUT if you click on the painting, you will soon see it full size!

I quickly painted this group of ladies around a quilting frame...

 

Worked on it and still it troubled me....lots of ways....but color dominance was an issue! Too many divas, I love color and get carried away with it ....and I tend to paint without a thought out plan for each piece...just jumping in and seeing what I create....this has collaged papers to represent quilting fabrics...

Okay, so the pink, busy background had to go...I decided that blue would be my dominate color...

That's better....and now it is close to being finished.....

I think I need to make more smiles! Quilting is fun! A real hen party....sorry guys.

Finally finished!

 

 

 

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Meanwhile, I am hard at work on a new painting/collage of hens!

I like this pose...so I prepared a canvas with green and blue textures, some from dry brush and some from monoprint with a gelli plate. Then I placed the chickens in the sandy farmyard....just paint, so far.

Then I looked for papers and fabrics for collage....

The upright hen was given a dramatic eye from a design in some art papers....the "sun" is rice paper spirals,the sandy ground and some of the feathers are more fun rice papers....the I found a fabric from Kaffe Fassett which works in well for the other comb and eye and some in the plumage......still have to finish the palette knife work on both hens....but they are coming along!

Back the the final paintings soon!

This is finished too! Signed by the artist! Lila R.

 

Getting better with painting grandchildren!

From photos by my daughter and myself! Trying to stay loose, use big brushes and capture their spirit and how much I love them!

Sophie and Bindley hugging .....Nina not finished, but she is stirring up,a birthday cake for her Mom!

Nina's is a collage too.....papers for her hair, plus glitter! Papers in the green background too!

Here is the final version, she is wearing a dress and apron which I sewed for her....makes me smile!

 

Latest paintings

Working on a collage/acrylic painting of Black-eyed Susans....

16x20

Finishing this woman on a bicycle in a French farmyard.

Also 16x20.

 

 

 

Latest paintings

Working on a collage/acrylic painting of Black-eyed Susans....

16x20

Finishing this woman on a bicycle in a French farmyard.

Close up. Painting is 16 x 20.

 

 

How I paint....concluding that I am a hopeless romantic! HELP!

I keep ideas in a notebook.

This is a sketch I did from a magazine photo (National Geographic?) last summer. I am "on" a theme of women with a landscape....so I decided that she is Afghani. I found images of landscapes in Afghanistan, and chose this one to print out and add to my idea page.

Took this to painting class, Thursday, along with a blank canvas. I purchased cadmium orange on sale (!) and lightly covered the canvas. Then I took this stencil from Stencil Girl (she designs and sells lazer cut stencils)'

With the stencil, I added deep rose colored lines in the background. Much will be covered as I paint, but I hope to keep some where appropriate! I venture on....block in, using BIG brushes only the head and shoulders. The rose stencil will make a great drape on her shoulders! (Afghani infinity scarf, LOL?), so I allow some of it to show, and fill in the blue just a bit.

At this point, I had checked the Internet for images of Afghani women, only to find that many had been mutilated by Taliban justice, their noses and ears cut off! But they were strong images for sure, my heroine will still have her nose! I wanted to see the colors and textiles they wear. Here is one image I like(above), but she was facing the wrong way for this painting.

Still, how the light hits her face and the skin tones are good information.

I choose indigo violet/blue for her head scarf....and decide that I will try to work from my sketch, but since I feel a little blocked here, it is time to work on the landscape!

Blue violet mountains. Paint quickly with a big brush, leave the orange sky and half roses....good atmosphere feeling for strong war torn emotions....

There is large bag of collage materials available. I decide that this will help me break up the endless desert-like foreground. So I pull out those papers, and fibers which I like....there is even flat cork for a hill....

I realize that the cork "hill" is also shaped like a heliocopter. OK, that is evocative of wartime...... I guess everything down with GOLDEN gel medium.

Thinking more of the colors I am using, I decide I need more reds...WOW! Artistically, it is very fortunate that poppy fields are beautiful. Though opium trade is the dark side!

I study the images of Afghanistan's poppy fields and paint my landscape, even the heliocopter hill is covered I waving poppies. The woman's face is emerging, sunlight hitting her. I'm still blocked and not ready for the struggle of who she is.

I find this photo. Appropriately somber and pensive.

It would take a lot of change....tilt of head, lift of chin....so I try to skip all that re-doing....after all I like to paint quickly and keep it fresh.....in the meantime, I found red rice paper with golden strands imbedded, and made the foreground poppies more dimensional....unable to make her less pretty and more troubled, this is where I leave her now.

Hmmm, just seeing this on the screen, I notice I could make stronger shadows by her nose which could add character to her face. What troubles me is that it is lacking....so much for fast quick paintings! LOL!

Off to work on that now!

I jumped right in with some shadows...and think it made her more "real", living in a dark world....

 

All suggestions will be considered.

 

 

 

Warmed by the light

I just finished this mixed media painting!

It is a work done in a class with Nadine Ripplemeyer, a local artist and business owner.

Have started 2 other paintings this week too....as well as this one finished of butterflies and milkweed.