I HAVE STARTED PAINTING PEOPLE AND PORTRAITS!
This has always been something I wanted to do but never quite found the time, or the nerve. You see portraits are one of the hardest types of art there is. We can all probably paint a human, but getting the painting to look like a specific human is another matter entirely. It requires measuring and faithfully copying those measurements to paper or canvas in order to get it just right. Even a centimeter or two off in measurements and the final result isn't who you want it to be, the person in front of you is not your subject. Ouch!
Well, I started out watching Youtube videos. (I do that a lot!) And it wasn't long before I knew who I wanted as my teacher. Actually three people, Andrew Tischler, Cesar Santos, and Ben Lustenhouwer. I like these men because their explanations are easy to follow and they are thorough. I also wanted to do very detailed portraits with lots of lines of age and expression. Not necessarily smooth skinned, young people as such. I also want to do them in oils instead of acrylics. I just feel that oils are much more suitable for getting the glow and life of skin, etc. On a side note, Andrew Tischler is also one of the best landscape artists out there. His realism is phenomenal! His website is andrewtischler.com and he also mentioned that his latest painting took him 80 hours (24 x 36) That's two weeks of full-time painting. Makes me feel better!
I ordered the books suggested by Ben L. and got videos from Andrew T. and Cesar. S. These have been very helpful to me. Did you know that a really detailed portrait can take a month or more, especially if the person is older with many wrinkles and expression lines. That's ok, I want it to be right.
This is going to take dedication on my part, but I really want to do it and also work on getting hand detail as well. In fact, it's the hands that tell most of the story. They are also the most difficult part of the body to portray. Interesting isn't it?
With this said, I'd like to share a recent experience. About a month ago Ocean Art Gallery in Ormond Beach, FL (one of my galleries) recently contacted me asking if I had any "poured" artwork that was 16 x 20. A customer wanted something in that size range and possibly a second. I quickly pulled out some canvas and created a painting that size and let them know. However I didn't hear back from the owner. Finally about a month later, I got an email from the customer herself asking me to send photos of my 12 x 16 paintings. (the gallery only had one) She decided that size would fit better in her home. I quickly sent photos of 6 paintings to her. What is interesting is that she needed them in white frames. I told her I happened to have 2 ready that were white. (My husband and I make these float frames). She chose 2 from my photos and we made arrangements to meet at the gallery. Long story short, I sold 2 paintings! Being flexible and cooperative can go a long way to making sales! She also sent me a thank you note! Nice! I have photos of the two paintings below. The first one shows one of the white frames we make. I have asked the customer for a photo of the paintings hung in the home, and hopefully she will send it to me. If she does, I'll post it. Enjoy and Thanks for looking!
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| "EXHILARATED" 12 X 16 Fluid Acrylics on gallery wrapped canvas |
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| "SPARKLING" 12 X 16 Fluid Acrylics on gallery wrapped canvas |
