Portrait of A. – forming the features

I had a day to myself when everything else was drying, and I put the Portrait of A back onto the easel. I’d already done the hair and jacket, but not completed them – they were on the canvas to

Portrait of A. – background

The gridded portrait was quick enough that I could get started on the background in the same day as I began the tonal sketch. I decided to go with the same lighting as in the train, and to lie about

Portrait of A. – gridding up.

I finished the tonal study of A. and went straight on to squaring up, transfering a composite of images onto the canvas as one. The jacket and pose from one photo along with the face from another will give me

Portrait of A*.

Sometimes in the life of an artist there comes a time when they just have to terrify passing civilians by asking, “Do you mind if I paint you?” For extra points, you can then tell them why, but that usually

Girl in a Dress: Day 4

The last days were about slow, steady improvement and painting a castle wall. Day 4 and Day 5 were really one and the same, and as such, I have filed them together. The face was defined better and skimmed slightly

Girl in a Dress: Day 3

Day 3 of painting was full of little tweaks on the dress and hands, and the long, slow slog of painting stone. Stone slabs have to look flat, be in perspective, and still be interesting. I painted a matrix of

Girl in a Dress: Day 2

On the second day of painting, while the dress was still tacky but not wet, I finished off some of the details and began on the face. Immediately, I hit the problem of the strong grounding. When I was mixing