Capturing The Sole Essence

This painting is of my late mother. I lost her in 2019 of Lou Gehrig's Disease or better known as ALS. Such a horrific disease to watch as your love one succumbs to this progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells controlling voluntary muscle movements. It causes muscle weakness, twitching, difficulty speaking and swallowing, cramps, stiffness, and respiratory problems. There is no cure, and treatment focuses on managing symptoms to improve quality of life. The prognosis of her disease grim but her sense of humor still sparked in her eyes until close to the end of life.

Creating this painting became therapeutic for me as all my emotions poured out onto the canvas. I wanted to capture her essence. Her eyes reflected a smile for a brief moment as depicted in the older photo. The other photos are of my mom as a child and another in mid-age. 

This painting should have been a real challenge since I have had very little experience painting with oil. However, I took to this project like I knew what I was doing but actually had no clue where to begin. 

When choosing pigments it became almost instinctive and were so different from what I generally used with other previous portraits. The deep purples and dark brown hues along with the dark corals seemed off putting in the beginning of the underpainting. Almost scary as shown below. 

The painting came together quickly but as each layer dried and more time passed between the layers. I was leery to continue adding more layers out of fear of messing it up. So it hangs on my wall, partially completed until I get the confidence to finish. 

What I love most about this painting; as I look at this painting in the eye's of my mother. I see her looking back at me with love and it feels like she is near. 

Weird but peaceful!

 

 

Oil Portrait

 

After finishing several oil based paintings I discovered
the water-base oil paints. I found they did a good 
job covering and clean up was much easier. 

Thin layers of water-based oil paint

Lean Over Thick

In oil painting, you may have heard of the principle "fat over lean," referring to paint consistency. Initially, I found "thick over thin" confusing and made mistakes in earlier works. Rushing the process resulted in dull colors as subsequent layers were applied before the first one dried properly.

Before starting this painting, I premixed my colors without adding linseed oil, my preferred choice for thinning paint. Then applied a thin coat of pigmented oil paint as my initial layer. Letting the layers dry in between. I also use liquid Liquin to help speed up the drying time. 

Shooting Subjects Of Interest

Rock and Mississippi River Photos

      

 

Portrait Pitfalls

When I embarked on my journey of painting portraits, my primary aim was to capture the likeness of my subjects. However, I quickly realized the limitations of my skills, particularly in achieving realism, a feat that demanded abilities beyond my current amateur proficiency.

Reflecting on a piece I completed eight years ago; I acknowledge the significant growth I've experienced through subsequent portrait projects. One invaluable lesson learned was the importance of creating a grayscale underpainting to better perceive the play of light and shadow on the subject's features before introducing color.

Despite my efforts, I encountered challenges during the process, notably in achieving a natural skin tone. Overworking certain areas resulted in a muddy appearance, leading to feelings of frustration and defeat. Despite these setbacks, I persisted, refusing to abandon the piece until I deemed it complete and affixed my signature.

This particular painting holds sentimental value, depicting my daughter Natalie and my grandson, intended as a Christmas gift. The pressure to deliver a satisfactory outcome was palpable, especially as I struggled with adjusting the paint colors to achieve the desired skin tone.

Consequently, I didn't deem the piece satisfactory in my own estimation. However, my grandson's reaction far outweighed my own feelings. His delighted smile upon receiving it was all that truly mattered.

Painting, I've come to realize, is an ongoing learning process, irrespective of one's initial skill level. Success hinges not only on talent but also on the dedication to cultivate patience, passion, and practice, essential elements in mastering the art of refining one's craft.

Thoughts

Keep moving forward

Climbing towards the top

A harvest is bountiful and life is too

Enjoy the simple things, they mean the most

Painting Grey Scale

As a self-discovering artist one learns at their own speed. Since I tend to drive in the slower lane I also learn at a snail’s pace. So when I found out what greyscale values were and how to apply them to my painting…Whoa, game changer.