Eyes

Eyes are the soul of a painting. Trying to capture your subject's true essence is no small feat!

When I first began my painting the subject's eyes followed me from right to left. Since that time something happened and I lost it.

One of the things I do along my painting journey is photograph each step. It allows me to go back and see what I liked and disliked. Unfortunately, painting does not allow me to select the undo tab and go back. But having past photos of my work can offer insite of what I may have done wrong so that I can fix my "happy mistake"!

Oily Face

Once the acrylic dries (which only takes minutes instead of days or weeks) I begin using oil. I may not appreciate the length of time oil dries, however, I do appreciate the smoothness of this medium.

As you can see oil creates a smoother finish on the subject's face. The next several stages will be adding one layer at a time. Hopefully, with each layer the portrait will become more realistic. At least that is my goal.

One of the things I anticipate along the way our little mistakes and as Bob Ross states, They are "Happy Mistakes"! Got to love that guy, God rest his soul!

First layer of oil

The Process

This time, I decided to try something a little different. I’d been reading that acrylics can work beautifully for an underpainting beneath oil paints, so I figured—why not? In my last oil portrait, I used oils from start to finish, including the underpainting, and it felt like I was waiting ages for each layer to dry. And since patience has never been my strongest virtue, I was ready for a better way.

Acrylic paints were used to begin the under painting process

And continued with acrylic until
everything was covered 

Oil Painting Of My Daughter

My daughter will be graduating next summer, and one of the things she asked for was a portrait painting—something personal and handmade to mark this milestone.

I started by taking several photos of her near our pond. A full-frontal shot didn’t feel right for the portrait I had in mind. Instead, a slight profile caught my eye. That angle offered richer shadows and a more interesting play of light—perfect for bringing depth into the painting.

Before transferring anything to canvas, I brought the photo into Photoshop. I enhanced the colors in her hair and skin and made her eyes a little more vivid, giving the reference image the life I plan to capture in paint.

To make sure the proportions stayed accurate—and to save a lot of time—I printed the reference as four separate 8×10 images and pieced them together like a puzzle. My canvas for this project is 16×20, so this method helped me scale everything precisely.

I love to sketch, but I’m not as accurate as I’d like to be. Some artists consider tracing or projecting an image “cheating,” but I see it as a practical tool. In the future, I’d love to invest in a projector so I don’t have to keep cutting, taping, and assembling large photo grids just to get the right image. Efficiency lets me put more energy into the actual painting—where the real magic happens.

Sketch on a 16x20 canvas 

Four 8x10 photos stitched 

              

Window Cats

 Beginning the under painting

14X18 "Window Cats"

In memory of Miss Tabby and Miss Molly

This painting was given to my mother-in-law. She had rescued this Tortishell cat from an abandon building. She tried to rescue the sister of the Tortishell, Miss Tabby but unforturnately her nine lives ran out to soon!  The window and greenery was inspired by another painting I had seen. I thought what better way to capture a cats lazy day on a sunny window ledge!

Sky Scapes and Light Houses

I have been working on painting various sky scapes and lighthouses.

5x7 "Light Dusk"

Sky Scapes and Light Houses Continued

5x7 "Light Willow

5x7 "Light Moon"

5x7 "Light Rocks"

After painting these four sky scapes and light houses I discovered I was ready to go back to a large canvas. I had thought the detailing would be easier since it was smaller in scale but actually it was much more difficult than I had expected. Although, it was another great learning experiance! On to my next project...