This acrylic was painted on a failed landscape painted on an 11"X14" stretched canvas that I gessoed over. Waste not, want not...and...I got a little texture from the previous landscape! After the white gesso was dry, I painted a warm, brown background. The first easel photo shows my white contour line sketch and the first lay in of skin tone. The second easel shot shows some hair, mouth, skin tone/color, clothing action. The third photo shows more refined skin tone/color action. The final easel shot shows my final refined/completed acrylic painting. I made some major changes on my skin colors as you can easily see...and... over night while I was out of my studio and not watching, the husband straightened out his bow tie!
25 comments:
Wow. What kind of acrylics do you use. Are these fluid? Open? I am just in awe of the kind of control you have with the medium!!!
Ginny, No, this are just plain Jane heavy body acrylic painted with just a wee bit of water on my brush. I have developed ways to apply the paint sometimes bold and thick, sometimes thinner, and sometimes very thin and somewhat transparent (if I minimize the amount of titanium white in my color notes). It would certainly be easier to control color shifts and edges in oil, but I sure do like the fact that within minutes I can fix things because acrylic dries so fast. Now if I want to get more oil- like, I could use a more slower drying acrylic such as Golden Open. This summer, I'm going to add oil painting to my repertoire.
Wonderful portrait, David! It was great to see your progress.
So, do you have elves in your studio like the shoemaker of old? Where can I get one?
Nice double portrait! Were the clients happy with it, too?
I'm with Elizabeth -- where do you get the elves?
There is something happening in the dark of my studio, Elizabeth. I think it has something to do with my acrylic activity.
This is absolutely fabulous, David. 'Course I find picture #2 a tad scary! LOLOL I love seeing the process and the additions you've made. Not surprised that gent straightened his tie. He wears quite the twinkle in his eyes.
Wow! Another wonderful portait in your long line of outstanding paintings. Congratulations!
I really enjoyed participating in your self portrait global love in and have been waiting for a similar exercise since. Hope to see more paint offs and such on your blog.
Best wishes,
Vinayak
Hi David,
You are funny! What a fantastic portrait. I love seeing the steps, and I like how the warm brown works. I'm sure the couple will be thrilled.
Take care,
Barbara
Beautiful result! It's very tricky getting two heads to come out equally well.
Great step by step demo, David. It's interesting to see how you build layers.Having a look at your outstanding work will help me a lot, though I wonder whether I'll be able to straighten bows without elves in my studio.I'll have to hire some ;-)
Katherine, Yes the clients were very happy with this painting. I was running the studio vacuum, cleaner yesterday, and I think I sucked up one of the elves. They are tiny and hard as hell to find in all that vacuum bag dust. I just put the vacuum back in the closet.
Thanks, Autumn!
Prabha, Yep, its 100% acrylic. I love painting in those small highlights.
Vinyak, Yes, we need to do another self portrait Global Love In.
Sorry for the miss spelling of your name Vinyak.
Oh no!!!!!... third times the charm...Vinayak. Your name really isn't that difficult to spell but alas, I am a terrible speller!
Barbara, The couple dug it.
Anna, Elf rates are quite reasonable, even in Spain.
Love it! Thanks for sharing the progression. I'm in awe of your ability to get acrylic to look like this.
Ann, I'm a long time water color artist so I needed another medium whereby I could continue to use h2o. When I first began painting in acrylic about 5 yrs. ago, I found it somewhat of a pain in the ass to manipulate, but it's become an old friend now just like water color. Texas hill country where you live must be gorgeous.
Came out great in spite the husband dicking with your painting.
You;ve done it again Mr. Lobenberg! I wish my paintings would straighten things up for me!
Wow David, these are so alive with personality and artists skill.
The process really shows how you work through the stages from unlikely beginnings to fab completion.
And a double is even more challenging since you have to sweat through one and hope you don't mess it up with the second ( speaking for myself, obviously not YOU !)
Oils next?
Why not diamond cutting or gene splicing?
Actually, Bonnie, having another face or two or three ain't no big deal because acrylic, as an opaque medium, is so forgiving. I can rework the faces until they all work together and are of the same painterly quality. Now when I have to do something similar in watercolor, I start shaking in my boots!
Yes, I'm going to brush up on my oil painting this summer, because I will have and oil painting class on campus this Fall. Should be interesting. Always a pleasure hearing from you! Aloha for now.
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