A State of Art Portraits

Family Portrait Commission

2008-05-01T21:24:00.007-07:00

My client decided to add a couple additions to the portrait to make the portrait more personalized for her friend. She added the cross to the mother's lapel as they have a very strong faith and she wanted to emphasize this in the portrait. After many attempts to try to add the cross in without drawing too much attention, we decided to place it on his mother's lapel...the obvious choice in the end! Funny how things just find their place :)

Family Portrait Commission Completed

2008-04-29T20:11:00.002-07:00

Completed...again... I realized I was using a poor quality image for the portrait of the father which was throwing his likeness totally off. So after many tweaks here and there he is now looking like himself I think!

Family Portrait Commission - father's portrait updated

2008-04-28T22:33:00.003-07:00

Several touchups were made to the father's portrait and I think he looks much better now. I may do a few more touchups again but will give it a bit of time to settle in.

Family Portrait Commission Completed

2008-04-25T13:58:00.002-07:00

Well I think this it is! I will leave it a bit and see if anything jumps out again or if my client wants any edits. This started out as a sketch portrait but I got carried away and now it is a full blown detailed graphite portrait, I just don't know when to stop :)

Family Portrait Commission nearly completed

2008-04-24T17:11:00.003-07:00

I thought I would upload the full portrait as well although it needs more tweaking. The chests will be blended in more and the name "Scimeca" will be darkened. A few tweaks are still needed on the faces but are minor...it is getting close!

Family Portrait Commission - father's portrait

2008-04-24T15:03:00.003-07:00

The portrait of the dad is complete I think! I will leave it for a bit and do the final touch-ups on the rest of the family and them come back and see if anything jumps out at me. The hairline needs a bit of darkening I think. It looks ok on the real portrait but looks light online so will have to have a closer look...I must be getting near done, I am starting to get separation anxiety :)

Family Portrait Commission - house portrait

2008-04-23T13:07:00.003-07:00

This is a portrait of the family home. The photo looks like it was taken around Christmas time which is the perfect time to do a house portrait, I love Christmas ;) I think the wreath on the door just adds to the feeling of family celebration :)

Family Portrait Commission - the daughter updated

2008-04-22T12:09:00.012-07:00

Blogger has been having issues the past couple of days so please see link for image Portrait
Well I think the daughter's portrait is looking much better now :) It is a bit of a tough photo to work from as were the boys as the photos are a bit blurry and over flashed so alot of the shadows and features are washed out, but they are such great expressions! It really helps to have photoshop (or any other software to work with) so that the tonal values can be adjusted back and forth depending on where you are at in the drawing stage to exagerate the shadows. You can get the same effect from squinting, but this is much easier on the eyes ;) I will leave her for a bit and may come back and make minor tweaks along with the rest of the family.

Family Portrait Commission - the daughter

2008-04-21T14:16:00.005-07:00

Well there is still a long way to go but the daughter's portrait is starting to take shape. Her eyes look a little funny right now but as the graphite settles and a few more adjustments are made they should start to look more natural. The nose needs a little more widening and definition and the cheeks & jaw a little more blending and roundness. The shape of the lips needs to be adjusted here and there and then the teeth should settle in as well. Aha teeth are always fun :)

Photos from Suite E Exhibit at Place des Arts

2008-04-19T10:02:00.002-07:00

These are a few photos from the Suite E Life Drawing exhibit at Place des Arts. Today is last day of the exhibit so I thought I would grab a few photos before the artwork is taken down. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to my solo exhibit next year at Place des Arts in the same gallery.

Family Portrait Commission - the boys portrait updated

2008-04-17T13:18:00.003-07:00

They may still need a bit of tweaking but thought I would post the update as I think they are getting closer :) I will move onto their sister to give my eyes a bit of a rest at drilling into them and come back a bit later :)

Family Portrait Commission - the boys

2008-04-16T21:05:00.005-07:00

Wew, the boys portraits were tough for some reason but I am pretty happy with them now. There will likely be a few tweaks such as darkening the hair, adjusting the hair line and minor adjustments to their faces but I think the likeness is shining through now.

It really helps having a bit of time between working on the portrait and coming back with fresh eyes. I find that often something is bothering me that I can not figure out. I go and grab a cup of water and it jumps out at me. It is even more so with watercolors. I often leave thinking I should give up watercolors and take up oils or acrylic and I come back in the morning and am amazed at how all the pigments have come together and meshed. I think the graphite pencil also behaves the same way and settles into the paper more.

Another trick I find invaluable is viewing the reference photo on the computer along side the portrait. As soon as you see the portrait online the trouble areas jump out at you. I am not sure if it is due to the fact that the computer limits what you see and flattens it but whatever it is, it works!

Family Portrait Commission - Grandfather

2008-04-15T21:14:00.003-07:00

The portrait of the grandfather is now nearly complete but I will again leave it until the other portraits are near completion to do any further adjustments. The final lifting of the highlights is also left until the end to keep the highlights fresh and free of graphite dust. I have left the edges rough as well on their chests as I will wait until the other portraits are completed to make sure they relate well to each other.

Family Sketch Commission - Grandmother update

2008-04-14T21:43:00.002-07:00

The grandmother is nearly complete but I will leave any adjustments until the rest of the portraits are near completion. Of course her right eye needs to be adjusted as it is too dark and a few little tweaks here and there but mostly minor adjustments. I like to leave a bit of time beteen as well to come back with fresh eyes.

Family Sketch Commission - Grandmother

2008-04-13T20:22:00.003-07:00

Well the grandmother is starting to take shape but still a ways to go to adjust the likeness and complete the range of tonal values. Many adjustments need to be made but I think already her warmth is coming through. Of course I am adding much more detail than I should for a sketch rather than a full portrait but I just can't help it :) So far I have used 2B, H, and B graphite pencils.

Family Portrait Commission - Sketch and Reference Photo

2008-04-12T07:28:00.007-07:00

This is the start of my latest commission. It is a sketch of the grandparents, father and children which will be a birthday gift for the father from a very nice friend. The artwork is 15 x 19 on a sheet of 16 x 20 Arches Hot Pressed watercolor paper.

The layout took a bit of reworking both by the client and myself and I think it was well worth the effort. It has a very nice flow which draws the eye from the father around the portrait to the other family members.

As this is a larger commission, I will start with the grandparents and work my way down from right to left, top to bottom, to the kids, house & then the father to avoid smuding and keep the drawing fresh. Generally each portrait is completed to roughly 90% before moving onto the next and then final adjustments and tweaks are made at the end. Time to jump in!

Watercolor Still Life of Nautilus Shell

2008-04-06T08:12:00.003-07:00

This is a still life painted in watercolor of a nautilus shell. I can still see the curves in the shell everytime I close my eyes, I think they have been etched into my brain I starred at them so hard! It was fun to paint though and a nice change from what I normally do.

Watercolor Figure Portrait - Reach

2008-04-04T22:15:00.003-07:00

I thought I had posted this but looking back I did not, funny because it is my favorite in the series! It is a monochromatic figure portrait done in sepia watercolor and is currently on exhibit at Place des Arts in Coquitlam BC.

Newborn Baby Watercolor Portrait - Fighting Sleep

2008-03-28T19:20:00.003-07:00

I think this baby is finished but will leave it for a few days to decide if it needs tweaking. He looks like a little old man which goes with he personilty totally as he is so serious about everything. I have titled this portrait "Fighting Sleep" as he was trying so hard to stay awake but failed miserably ;)

Place des Art Exhibit

2008-03-24T08:51:00.002-07:00

Well it has been a busy weekend but the opening reception seemed to be a sucess for the Suite E group at Place des Arts on Thursday. The gallery was close to full at times and people really seemed to enjoy the artwork.

It was fun watching people looking at the work and the best part though was watching people press their faces as close to the artwork as they could to try to figure out how it was done :) The exhibit runs until April 19th so please check it out if you are in the area.

Newborn Baby Watercolor Portrait wip 2

2008-03-18T07:42:00.003-07:00

Many more layers have been added to build up the shape and add texture to the hair. The object the baby is lying on is from imagination and is not really a blanket or mattress. I wanted to mimic the shape of the baby but add a contemporary feel.

Yorkie Dog Portrait in Acrylic

2008-03-16T08:08:00.003-07:00

This is a painting I did recently of a yorkie dog. It is not a commission so it was just for fun. The expression was so funny I had to paint it. I have always loved dogs and used to have a boxer for many years but I am getting a soft spot for the smaller dogs the more that I draw and paint them!

Group Exhibit at Place des Arts

2008-03-11T08:27:00.006-07:00

http://www.placedesarts.ca/content.asp?ChapterID=2&SubchapterID=3&PageID=8

The group that is exhibiting the Suite E Life Drawing group that I belong to. There are a ton of very talented artists in the group so when I moved to the area I was so excited to be so close to such a great pool of talent not to mention weekly live models!

I was also very excited (I get too excited about art ;)) to see one of my paintings used on Place des Arts website as it is my first real exhibit since I quite my day job (the one that supports my art addiction) to pursue art full time.

If you are in the area the opening exhibit is March 20 from 7:30 - 9 pm and there will be free appies and all of the artists will be there.

Newborn Baby Watercolor Portrait

2008-03-10T08:39:00.006-07:00

This is the start of my latest painting. It is of my own baby boy fighting sleep but losing the battle. It is going to be done as a monochromatic painting in watercolor. I really like the effects of monochromatic artwork whether it be black and white as with pencil or graphite drawings or a single color.

Acrylic Dog Portrait of Papillion

2008-03-02T09:47:00.002-08:00

I have been playing with acrylic a bit as of late and

just completed this portrait of a papillion dog. The look he has on his face is priceless! I did take photos of the progress so I will upload as a work in progress when I get a chance as well.