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.
