Cyclist

For my husband for Valentine's Day. This was what he asked me to paint. Well, in general. I provided the details.

Thanks to Contador who provided the inspiration for the big teeth and the bushy eyebrows that got dropped somewhere along development.

Portrait of my son

Here is a portrait I did of my son. I worked extensively from a photograph which has its ups and downs. The up is that you can keep checking details to be sure things are right. The down is that you can keep checking details to be sure things are right and you drive yourself crazy not painting but copying. Yuck.

Anyway, this took a couple of days (6 hours total maybe?). Obviously there are still issues with it, but it's another attempt at a more traditional media look.

This was (is) part of my Valentine's Day gift to my husband. Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie! 

From There to Here, From Here to There

Original concept sketch.

Color palatte chosen.

Main colors blocked in.

Initial face shadow work.

More skin and face work.

Face takes another direction. Looks weird.

Face looks different again.

Feature refinement.

Initial clothes work. Had a steampunk idea initially and started to work on that.

Worked on land in distance.

Sea work.

Sky added.

Clothes going in a different direction now. Dumped the edgy look idea.

Fun with satin! YAY!

Further lace work.

Hair.

Hummingbirds. I only drew 5 of them and then copied and changed their size and blend mode. Yay for Photoshop!

Changed the color balance on the background.

Final touches.

Didn't like the composition so I cropped it. Voila! Finished!

Self Portrait: Things to Come

I used to do so many self portraits, but it's been a long time since I've done one, so I thought I would hack one out. This is far from "polished" but I like the colors and the painterly feel. I think it looks like me.

I haven't forgot about the Venus WIPs. I'll get those posted soon. Promise.

Venus...or At Least It Was

Here is my latest. Originally my idea was to do my own version of the Birth of Venus (see Botticelli) but the more I painted, the further I got from my original idea. The long ropy curls stayed. The idea of making maybe a slightly ugly Venus was originally on tab, maybe dressed up with some great steampunk style clothes. But then this happened. Not that what happened was so much better than Steampunk Venus would have been (I mean really, how can anything steampunk not be awesome??) but I am somewhat pleased with the results.

I feel like I say this every time, but the more I paint the more I realize how much more I have to learn. I look at my work and easily see tons of mistakes, but sometimes I also look and am pretty pleased with what I did.

I think the hummingbirds are nice. :)

This is a cropped version of the original, since the composition ended up being totally wacked by the end. I am also meaning to post a the work in progress shots for this so that, if you're interested, you can see how I work. Of course, by doing this, you're also going to see all my sucky mistakes too. Still, it could be interesting...

Click for details and enjoy.