My "CHASIN' FIREFLIES" painting
I am loving these portraits and doing faces! Getting the personality and expressions just right is challenging but so rewarding! My students wanted to do a face in acrylics. I told them it is very difficult to get a glowing face in that medium even with blending mediums, but we could try. Well, long story short, we ended up switching to oils for the face.
This was a young girl at night with a candle illuminating her face and many twinkle lights behind her casting a glow on her head. Everyone was excited to give it a try!
I always start with a toned canvas, in this case it was yellow. Then we drew the subject with charcoal and coated with fixative. Next came the background of dark greens (acrylics) and dots of bright color to represent lights out of focus. We then switched to oils to do the girl, the glow around her, and the candle. The oils were necessary to get the glow that we wanted. Some would say it can be done in acrylics, but if you love oils and especially the natural luminescence oils give then that becomes the natural choice. I'm sure you agree that the finished painting looks great due to this quality!
Below is the finished painting. We named it CHASIN' FIREFLIES. I well remember those warm summer evenings chasin' what seemed like millions of fireflies all around my yard growing up in West Virginia. Enjoy!
16 x 20
