Another New Portrait

Here is a recent (like finished 2 hours ago) pencil portrait of Alex. This one took about a week and a half.

I tried a few new things here, all of which failed miserably, I'm afraid. The paper is too rough, I couldn't get nearly enough fine detail, I tried toning the paper with watercolor which, in theory, I like, but it looks a little wonky. I also tried adding white highlights and I'm not so happy with those either.

In spite of all that, it still looks like him, which is a good thing.

It's Finished!

This is quite possibly my favorite portrait yet. This one was a big challenge for many reasons.

Sit back, relax, and listen to my litany of woes:

• Reflections in the sunglasses
• Dark skin with a rainbow of colors reflected in it
• Beard with white hairs

Okay. I'm done whining. This one was on the board for almost two months. I'm still not 100% convinced that it's finished, but it's pretty close...

It was a big challenge, but I'm happy with the results.

On the Easel Right Now

I've been spending a lot more time daydreaming about the life of a reclusive artist, painting away in a filthy garret studio, sipping red wine and acting all sensitive and stuff.

Frankly, it's an unappealing sounding life.
Except for the painting part.
And the wine, I guess.

I've been doing a lot more portrait work lately and this is my latest venture. I found the photo online and absolutely loved the colors on this guy's face. Dark skin has always been a challenge for me to paint in watercolor because so many of the brown pigments lift right off the paper if you paint over them again.

So for this one, I tried something new - no browns. This is painted entirely (so far) from 5 paints: 2 blues, 2 reds, and a yellow. I also wound up using a very small amount of white in his beard (for the fine hairs on his cheeks), something I rarely use.

There's still a lot more work do do on his face before I even get to the rest of it. His lips aren't finished and I suspect there will be more work to do on the reflections in the glasses.

I have no idea how many hours I've put into this one so far, but I suspect I'm due for a few hundred more before it's finished.

Please pass the wine.



As a ridiculous side note, I really enjoy the contrast between this and the sketch I did in my sketchbook last night.

Not so creepy anymore!

Here is the completed watercolor painting of my son, Alex. This is the end result of the eyes that I showed a few posts ago. I love doing these portraits. I think that sometimes people are surprised (shocked, astounded, aghast?) at how much I charge for these.
I'd like to take a moment to point out that this took me weeks to do. And, in fact, my prices are actually lower than many portrait artists I've seen out there.
I'd love to do more of these portraits in the future and I know you'd love a picture like this hanging on your wall. Or perhaps laminated and used as a placemat?
How cool would that be? There's more information on my website. Go check it out. You know you want to...