I had a couple hours to paint this afternoon.  First on the list was the commissioned sample portrait.

Diana – Commission – WIP1
9″x12″ oil paint on canvas board
2 sessions

This is probably the ugliest stage in any painting, made uglier by some less than stellar placement of shading on the right eye and right side of the mouth. These features will be fixed in successive layers.

This is the color and style sample portrait for a series of much larger commissioned paintings. They are intended to match the color palette and style of family portraits she already has which were made the better part of a century ago. Unlike most modern portraits, the ones in her family have a very cool feel to them, with an olive toned background. However, I need to balance that coolness with warmth in the skin. To that end, the underpainting color is a dark, cool red. The first layer of the background is a dark olive color in a very thin layer, so in the photograph it looks almost black. The first layer of skin is also very, very thin, which is why it won’t be a problem to shift the shading on the right side of the face.

Project: Diana Portrait

Familiar – WIP3
Oil paint on gallery wrapped canvas, 9″x12″x2″
Four sessions
Reference: One of my own photos of Ringo

I finally figured out how to get detailed fur texture in paint, so it’s an interesting contrast in the level of detail around the eye and on the rest of the painting.

Project: Familiar

Untitled – WIP4
Oil paint on canvas board, 8″x16″
Five sessions

I’m ready to be done with this one, so I decided not to add more to the smoke.

Project: Distant Fire