oil portraits
I’m finally posting the oil portraits I finished in January. Karl is the trucker who moved us from Colorado, and he commissioned this portrait of his mom from her passport photo, and also a painting of his grandparents from the photo below.
Here is the painting of the grandparents.
This one came first, and took me nine months. It was a labor of blood, sweat, and tears (well, sweat and tears, anyway!) as I wrestled to create skin tones from a black and white photo. I can’t say I’m exactly good at it yet, but I learned quite a bit in the process.
Once I finished the grandparents, the portrait of Karl’s mom was a breeze. I whipped it up in a couple of weeks, bouffant and all. Actually, I’m just now realizing that I may have skimped on the bouffant a little…it was probably my brain screaming to make her hair just a little more natural, hehe.
Looking forward to painting more portraits! Hopefully from color next time. š
They turned out really good. I can’t even imagine using color from a black and white photo!!! Looking closely, I can see where your brain had to go to make a realistic image using tints and shades of color(so complicated to me). That must have been so hard to do. The portrait of all of them are actually more flattering than the photos, which is a plus, always. What a work of love! And I’m sure you did learn a lot! They came out great!!
Wow! Very impressive!
Mimi,
Thanks…it’s always hard for me to let a painting go, since I’m never quite sure if it’s really finished. But after nine months that gets a little crazy, ha. I tried to infuse the grands with life and timelessness, where they might be either young or old. I’m sure I lost a bit of photorealism in that process (and the grandma turned her head a little along the way!)
Jennifer,
Thank you! Do you still blog? I’d like to follow you, but not sure how to find you:)