Oil Painters of America Paint Out

Below are some pictures from the New England area paint out for the OPA. There were about 12 of us up in New Hampshire for the day, I was able to fit in two oil sketches, some lunch, and some great conversation before I had to make the long drive home. Below are a couple pictures of myself that a local photographer took, and then some pictures of the other artists.

Painting Demo - Part 2

Here is the continuation on my painting of Kelly. (I haven't named this painting yet, so if you have a good suggestion, just add it as a comment).

At this stage, I added more detail to the face and neck, and then started the darks of the hair. Also, you will see that I added a warm tone to the dress, this is intended to show through the darks of the dress to add some color variations and luminosity.

Here, I have added the main details to the hair and continued to refine the skin tones and edges.

I then moved down the back fixing the values and colors, and getting most of the painting done in the dress.

Working my way out, I work on the arms and some of the background. I'm really trying to be as accurate with as little strokes as possible as I move out of the main focal point. I want the exteriors of the painting to be very "brushy" and soft edged.

More to come soon.

Painting Demo - Part 1

This is a demo of a painting I started about a week ago. I am further along than the below pictures, so I will post Part 2 shortly. The painting is 24 x 36 stretched linen and I'm working from two photos combined in photoshop (foreground and background). For the best color, when painting from photos, I work off my computer screen -- the colors are truer because it is light producing the colors instead of pigments.

I started with a basic drawing, making sure everything was located in the right place and focusing on the details of the face. The drawing took about 3 hours. I then lightly sprayed it with some fixative and then toned the canvas using a mixture of Transparent Oxide Red and Ultramarine Deep.

Next, I did a block-in of the key features. Using mainly the local color of the area, I just wanted to get enough down so I can make the correct color judgments when I do the final strokes. I used a large hog bristle Signet brush for the block in, mixing the paint with some medium to keep it translucent -- this way I'm keeping some of the canvas and tone showing through the strokes.

I start right into the eyes, forehead and nose, slowly adding more detail and surrounding color. This is about 4 hours of work from toning the canvas to this point. Drawing accuracy and color is always in the front of my mind, if something is wrong, I scrap the whole area down and start over again (I did the eye twice and the nose three times)

More to come in the next day or two.