Christine’s Hamilton is all done! What an alert, but peaceful gaze. The lupine-filled background is rich as a tapestry, but I hope it doesn’t compete with Ham’s delicate coloring and brindle markings. Below is a detail view of the same area I gave you last time for comparison. Hamilton’s portrait is my first whippet. How … Read More “Portrait Marathon update: Hamilton DONE”
Christine’s Hamilton is coming along nicely. The original reference photo had a lot of detail, which is good, but it was taken in low light, with no real shadows. Maybe a very cloudy wintery day? Anyway, the light was cold, and it was hard to see his golden fawn patches. At my request, she sent … Read More “Portrait Marathon update: Hamilton progress 1”
Yeah. I should never post these until I’ve slept on them. Looking at the portrait this morning, I felt the background was too busy, and too yellow, that it competed with Tiger’s gold and busy self. H agreed, so I softened up the daubed background, and cooled it down, with some washes of warm and … Read More “Tiger: Done, only more so!”
Tiger is all done! Thing P did get back today (see my last post to make sense of that), thank goodness! It and I went back and forth, lighter and darker, cooler and warmer, working nearly entirely on the stripes for several hours (whew!!) The colors in real life are more complicated and intense than … Read More “Portrait Marathon: Tiger is DONE”
Edging towards completion. I love the brindles, don’t get me wrong, but sheesh! SO much WORK! LOL! And, like Tiger’s mouth-frills, his stripes are also very distinct, which means, of course, no fudge-factor. They are also the main source of information about his shape in this picture. There are very few actual shadows, so the … Read More “portrait Marathon: TIGER progress 2”
Tiger as of tonight. I didn’t get as far as I’d have liked. (Am I really going to catch a cold? Bleh.) But, just to be different, I started with the eyes this time. It kind of weirds me out! These eyes, floating in a hazy scribble, then in this glowing fog …. Well, it’s … Read More “Portrait Marathon: TIGER progress 1”
Thanksgiving was great, with lots of family fun and food. I’m re-charged and ready to PAINT! Jennifer’s Ruler TIGER is up next. Jennifer sent me a wonderful photo to work from. Look at that happy boy, with the jaunty tail! Cropping and getting a general idea for background got me this final reference image. Now, on … Read More “Portrait Marathon: TIGER’s turn! (I stand corrected!)”
Ah! Done! Skye’s owner, Leslie, told me that Skye likes to really MOVE, treating the yard like a Nascar track. Her (further) use of race car terminology tipped me that she’s a fan (I hope I got that right!) The reference photo is a stark stare, eyeballs ready to pop out of her head, she’s … Read More “Portrait Marathon update: Skye DONE!”
Some folks have expressed interest in the progress pictures, which I didn’t post for Quilty. So, we’ll go backwards in time here to get a look at how she ended up done. Here’s the reference photo: I have to start these by cropping the photo down to fill as much of the canvas as I … Read More “Portrait Marathon update: Quilty progress (going backwards in time)”
