project Complete Contentment » By Sidney Eileen

Painting Updates – 18 November 2012

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Nov 182012

I worked on two paintings tonight. One is a continuation of the Diana Portraits project, where I laid down a second underpainting layer on a new test portrait. It’s just a field of olivy green, so it’s not really interesting enough to post a photo of that one. The other painting I worked on was the Complete Contentment Celtic piece, which is finally nearing completion. I think it just needs some more treatment on the outer edge.

Complete Contentment – WIP 10
5″x7″ oil paint on masonite board
On this layer (actually done in two sittings), I painted the dark brown border around the knotwork, and went over the outside edge with an opaque orange paint to hide some smudging. It will probably need another layer around the outside, as well as some other edge treatment, but it’s nearly finished.
For the record, I cannot for the life of me take true photos of the colors of my paintings at night in my home. This is not actually solid orange. :/

Project: Complete Contentment

Painting Updates – 4 October 2012

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Oct 052012

Wonder of wonders, on Thursday the 4th of October I finally sat down and got out my oil paints for the first time since moving to Las Vegas. The transition has been a difficult one for me, and my health problems continue to have a tremendous impact on my ability to work. With a little luck and a lot of determination, I hope to put out artwork and sewing at a more consistent pace. Thank you for staying with me during this difficult time.

The main purpose of getting out the paints was to work on the cover art for Mermaid Drowning, which must be finished before the end of October. While I had the paints out, I also worked on a couple other things. Primarily, I spent time adding shading to Complete Contentment, but I also put down an underpainting layer for another color/style test for the commissioned family portraits I started last winter.

Complete Contentment – WIP9
5″x7″ Masonite board
Oil paint
8 sittings
For this layer I added shading on the mouse and its tail.

Project: Complete Contentment

Painting Updates – 23 March 2012

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Mar 232012

I spent four hours this afternoon painting, finished the test portrait for Diana, and worked on two other paintings, a Celtic knotwork piece and a still life.

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Complete Contentment – WIP8

5″x7″ Masonite board
Oil paint
7 sittings

For this layer I added orange shading on the cat’s knot work.

Project: Complete Contentment

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Samhain Candles – WIP3

11″x14″ oil paint on canvas board
4 sittings

I finally purchased some warm hue black (lamp black) and used it to darken the shading in the background. I did not make any other changes, but the previous WIP was overall a bit darker than the actual painting.

I am now happy with the background, and in the next sitting will move on to the still life objects.

Project: Samhain Candles

Painting Updates – 10 March 2012

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Mar 102012

I spent a little time painting this afternoon. It’s not much, but the weather was turning to rain so I came back inside. I hope to sit down to paint again in the next few days.

Click for larger view

9″x12″ oil paint on canvas board
7 sessions

All I added today were the irises of her eyes. They are phthalo blue and white, with a tiny bit of black for the pupils. Yes, her eyes are actually that color.

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. As the painting nears finishing, I believe I will need to underpaint with cool green instead when I create the larger portraits.

Project: Diana portrait

Click for larger view

5″x7″ Masonite board
Oil paint
6 sittings

I have re-painted the background areas with alizarin crimson.

Project: Complete Contentment

Painting Updates, 31 Dec 2011

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Dec 312011

I’m finishing out the last day of 2011 by working on art. The last couple weeks have been filled with contemplation, planning, and plotting, and I am so excited about things to come in the following months, including a return to writing tutorials.

Glass Vase and Candle - WIP2

4″x5″ oil paint on canvas
Three sittings
Reference is one of my own photos

In this layer I added brighter candle reflections in a very pale yellow.

Project: Glass Vase and Candle

Pentacle Candle and Apple - WIP2

3″x5″ oil paint on canvas board
Three sittings
Reference is my own photo

In this layer I brightened up the red of the apple, as well as brightening and better defining the white on the candle.

Project: Pentacle Candle and Apple

Familiar - WIP4

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

I added some white detailing around the eye, as well as the whiskers above the eyes. I then stared at the overall painting for a bit, because I was very, very unhappy with the entire composition of the lighting. I wanted to give the appearance that the eyes are glowing, but it looked very confusing with the back lighting being so strong. Thus, I colored over all the backlighting with a thin layer of black, also adding some shade detailing around the muzzle.

I’m not sure if I will be doing any more work to this painting, so it’s a WIP submission. At the very least, I will take a better photo once the current layer is dry, so the tones are true.

Project: Familiar

Complete Contentment - WIP6

5″x7″ Masonite board
Oil paint
5 sittings

This one probably seems odd as part of a progression. I added a thin layer of yellow over the entire painting, which greatly decreased the contrast and brightness of each individual part already colored. I did this to even the tones a bit before layering again, to help hide the pencil showing through, and to completely eliminate any white spots still showing. In the future, I will do this kind of a layer to begin with.

Project: Complete Contentment

Painting Updates, 12 December 2011

Fine Art, Painting, Work in Progress 4 Responses »

Dec 122011

I had a little time on Sunday to work on paintings.

Diana - WIP 3

9″x12″ oil paint on canvas board
4 sessions

Unlike WIP3, this one is fairly color-true.

This layer I added very thin shading to the lighter parts of the skin, defining some details and adding warmth. I also added another layer of lighter green over most of the background, and defined the area that will be the shoulder straps of her shirt.

Project: Diana Portrait

Complete Contentment - WIP 5

5″x7″ Masonite board
Oil paint
4 sittings

I added the orange on the cat.

Project: Complete Contentment

Painting Updates, 4 December 2011

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Dec 042011

These are the two paintings I was able to work on this afternoon before it got too dim.

Diana (Commission) WIP 2

9″x12″ oil paint on canvas board
3 sessions

Last week when I sat down to do this layer I found that it wasn’t dry enough yet, so all I added was the white for the eyes.

In this layer I added thin, more detailed shading for the skin. The colors are very cool (cooler than they appear in the photo, actually), so I will need to add more warmth on the next layer. It also needs more depth and detail to the shading, especially in the shadows.

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.

Project: Diana Portrait

Complete Contentment - WIP 4

5″x7″ Masonite board
Oil paint
3 sittings

I added a paler beige for the cat and details on the mouse’s face.

Project: Complete Contentment

Painting Updates, 25 November 2011

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Nov 262011

I happily spent six hours today painting. I enjoy sewing, but it doesn’t feed my soul. Art makes my soul glad to be alive, regardless of the other problems in my life.

I attempted to work on the commissioned portrait, but found it was not quite dry enough for another layer yet. “Familiar” was likewise too wet to work on.

Pentacle Candle and Apple - WIP1

3″x5″ oil paint on canvas board
Two sittings
Reference is my own photo

Base layer is thin alizarin crimson

Today I first laid down a very thin layer of black paint across the entire canvas. Next I added in a cadmium light red to create the glow on the apple and brushed black back into it to create the pentacle shadow. After that I added white to create the base lighting on the candle holder.

Project: Pentacle Candle and Apple

Glass Vase and Candle - WIP1

4″x5″ oil paint on canvas
Two sittings
Reference is one of my own photos

Base layer is thinly applied alizarin crimson.

The second layer started with a very thin application of black paint over the entire canvas. It then took a pale beige paint and defined the outline of the vase. Additional beige and white paint was added in places to create the base layer of lighting.

Project: Glass Vase and Candle

Complete Contentment - WIP3

5″x7″ Masonite board
Oil paint
2 sittings

I added a pale beige for the mouse.

Project: Complete Contentment

Samhain Candles - WIP1

11″x14″ oil paint on canvas board
Two sittings

Definitely not the prettiest point in any painting. The base layer is a tomato red. In this sitting, I outlined the figures in paint, and then laid one layer of the background. It will take at least one more layer on the background before that looks right.

Project: Samhain Candles

Painting Progress 11-12-2011

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Nov 122011

Painting and drawing is easier for me to do than sewing, because I spend most of the time sitting in one place. That means while I pace myself on the sewing I will be creating a lot more drawings and paintings. Today, I share with you some work-in-progress paintings.

I also laid the underpainting layer for a commissioned portrait, but that’s not very interesting to show because it’s just flat dark red. I should be able to add the first real layer of color in about a week.