Portrait of Simone

New Portrait in Oil

Portrait

Portrait of Betsy - Oil

The last painb\ting I did relied on grisaille and multiple layers of glazes. This one started off that way in the face, but evolved into alla prima in the chest and shirt. It looks more alive in these places.

Can you tell it was painted from a photographic reference? It's difficult to guess the colors from a photo. If I work this way agian I'll do some color studies with the model and use black and white photos for the structure.

Self Portrait

This portrait was drawn a couple weeks ago following Anthony Ryder's technique.

Back to Charcoal

This drawing was challenging. A gray shirt on mini blinds on a white door. I must say the subject matter was not the most interesting, but I am forcing myself to undertake such subjects. The point is to keep studying and getting better.
The composition resembles a Trompe L'Oiel set up in how all the objects are on a flat surface with severe shadows thrusting them forward. It is an interesting and relatively easy effect to achieve.
I stayed as faithful to the actual values as possible, even though charcoal seems to want to move to the dark side very quickly and easily.
Getting away from the toned paper was a nice change. I much prefer toning myself to using toned paper. The process is much more organic. Highlights look more like actual light than bits of white out on dark paper.
In reality the color is cooler than this warm almost sepia hue. Must lean more about photo editing.