Sunday, April 7, 2013

"Unexpected Visit" - portrait in process


Last week, my daughter came home for a brief and unexpected visit.  Considering she currently lives in Alaska, this is a pretty big deal.  While I was cooking dinner, she sat on the kitchen floor, knitting, while we chatted it up.  I looked over at her and said, "Don't move!" and quickly grabbed my camera.  I thought this would make an excellent portrait.  Even better, Cooper, our dog, came over to see the fuss and I snapped a great shot of the two of them.  The painting is still in process but I thought I'd share my progress so far.



I started by painting my canvas with a thin wash of a pink acrylic paint.  I then used black art tape and red thread to make a grid on my canvas so that I could transfer my photo reference accurately.













After I refined my line drawing, I began to shade in the darker areas just to get a sense of the composition.  I'm still undecided on how to handle her scarf.  It is multicolored and I think it would be too distracting if I paint it as is.  Hmmm....












I started with the dark hair and my daughter's face since that is the most critical element of the painting.  











 



The next thing I tackled were her hands.  Hands are really hard to do!  Stay tuned as I hope to finish the portrait later this week.








2 comments:

Maria Bennett Hock said...

love seeing this process. So unlike mine...love the pink background also. can't wait to see more!

Linda Nickles said...

Laurie, this is amazing! I am intrigued by your process of using the black tape and red thread. I've used a grid before, but never thought of using the tape as you have shown here. How do you use the red thread? I can't wait to see the finished painting. Thank you so much for sharing.