Woman in Head Scarf… my first portrait

Yep, she looks cartoon-like. LOL. But now I’ve gotten my first portrait under my belt. It’s difficult to make soft edges and do blending with acrylics since they dry so fast — I will have to try oils sometime soon.

Again, as with so much that I’m painting these days, this was from an online tutorial by PaintCoach. I tried using Golden Open Acrylics thinking they would work more like oils — that’s how they seem to be advertised — uh, no, didn’t work at all. The light on her face looks more like a crazy mask than seamlessly blended in.

Christmas Ornaments.. an Online Tutorial from Paintcoach

I did this work in acrylic on a 6×6 canvas board that I added a layer of acrylic gesso to before I started.

In doing this “still life” (for lack of a better term) today, I scored a victory of sorts. I only used the 3 primaries (lemon yellow, alizarin crimson, and ultramarine blue) plus titanium white. And I got all those different colors! I’m finally moving forward on the journey of intuitively mixing colors! Cheers!

Paint Week Nov 2023 — Landscape

Paint Week 2023 is going on this week, and the subject to paint is a kayaker on a river lined by mangroves. Although I’m working on a portrait tutorial by the same teacher, I took some time out to paint the landscape on a 9×12 canvas.

The subject didn’t particularly excite me; that’s probably apparent in my results. I find the value map helpful as a concept, but painting-wise, the burnt sienna underpainting shows through too much, which I don’t like. Maybe if I were using oils it would work better?

New England Landscape.. Continued

I’m continuing to work on this landscape. I painted over the first take of the yellow ochre to make it more golden, and I think the lighter green up front is too saturated/yellow, and I need to darken it.

What is left to do is the leaves on the tree, the flowers in the meadow, and the grassy definition of the path to the house.