Cec's portrait continued- acrylic underpainting finished

 I'm now starting to finish the rest of the under painting his shirt and background. I wanted a light background as I think of  Cec and the Samaritan's as a beacon of hope for a lot of people.

I also wanted to to set the scene by including the Samaritan logo or a suggestion of it .

 Shirt roughly started , logo in place , background shade done..

  Now to start doing the Oil colour over the top. 

After spending so long getting his face pretty accurate I decided to have a play doing his shirt and the background first before ruining the lovely facial underpainting...lol's

 I want Cec's expression and character to be the most important thing in the portrait. 

I knew I wouldn't be able to play around much with his features so I had some fun suggesting his shirt! I didn't want it too tight with every detail spelled out, rather that people should get the general impression.

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I had fun with his shirt! I'm very happy with it at the moment. 

I don't want to get bogged down in detail and end up with it being boring.

 

Now to see how the background colour I had planned looks. This will affect how I do his face colour so best to do it first.

 Argh! Now the scary part..It always looks worse before it comes good and I hated to wreck that underpainting.

 Oh well I plunged straight in - it can't get any worse now so stop worrying! 

 

Above- The ugly stage.. laying in some broad colours / tones as a base. I don't want his teeth to be the focus so I'll play them down later. I want your attention to go to his eyes and expression.

 At least all his face is now covered so I can compare tones and colours. I haven't got a likeness yet and there will be a lot of back and forth and fine tuning before I'm satisfied! I'm playing around with colours..

 All roughly covered now to continue with his face.

 I was hoping to use quite a few colours but 

The reference photo was taken in flat lighting with his face in the shade. That made it very difficult as I found if I  increased the contrast things just didn't look right! 

I had my life portraits next to the portrait as I had hoped to keep it more painterly like them. They all have spotlights on the model which gives you much more scope for impact and colour.

If I do an entry for next years exhibition I'll use more dramatic lighting. 

 Having said that a more conservative style used with this portrait  suited the calm kind feel I wanted to achieve.

 

Above - This is one of the stages where I decided to add some orange / green colours for some more zap in Cec's face. I found the colours just didn't sit right with the rest of the portrait and his complexion looked a bit green.

I chased my tail a lot with this portrait and ended up just staying with pink, red colours and upping the highlights as much as I could. 

 

 About this time I realised his chin needed to be moved over more to the right. Argh!

 Not a good time for major surgery..lol's 

 

 Here I've gone back to more pinkish colours and the portrait is holding together better.

I made a lot of changes but you probably can't see them in a photo. His head was too high so I chopped off a bit of height , made his neck thinner on the LHS, changed eye and nose shapes subtly and played with the highlights. Getting there..I also lightened his eye colour and added some extra zap.

Original reference photo

The completed portrait 

 Cec 

 50 x 60cms 

 Oil on gallery wrap Canvas 

 I feel I have captured the kind caring look I aimed for.

The creation of Cec Shevels portrait

The reference photo

The portrait so far

Below - the stages- 
 
I did a really rough grid over the photo + the canvas just to ensure that I didn't end up with his head too close to the edges etc. I usually do it by eye in portrait sessions from a model. As I only have a few weeks to create this portrait I don't want to have to go back and move things because they are too close to the edges etc.. 
I also roughly put in the angle of his nose and the height of his eyes.The tilt of his head is really important for the expression and it's easy to miss this.

 Early stages - rough as guts! 
Most artist don't show you these ugly stages but I feel it makes it more interesting. When I first started painting I would get scared at this stage  as it looks so bad! Now I just have fun as I know it can only get better.
Just trying to get the rough placement of each feature- measuring and comparing distances and angles as I go.
His eyes are very roughly placed.

 

Below-  I've realised his eyes were too large and the wrong shape so I've fixed.

 I'm constantly refining and improving things. I haven't done his mouth yet just marked a rough angle and width.

 Below- his eyes are a bit more refined and the tones on his face a bit more finished.

It doesn't matter if the painting isn't in colour - if the tones ( shade of dark and light ) + shapes are right it will look like Cess.

 His mouth suggested.

  Cec has very unique smile - I need to capture that but at the same time tone down his teeth  a little to keep it flattering and natural.

Getting there..
I'm getting a bit frustrated with the acrylic paint as it dries darker than when you put it on whereas Oil stays the same. I'd get the tone right in the wet paint but once it dried it would look less contrasty and drab- grr. 
After fussing for a while I've decided  I'll fix that with the Oil.  
I don't want to spend too much time at this stage as it will all be covered anyway. I do want to get the proportions right and get a likeness though..

Just about good enough for the likeness at this stage.
I'll start on his shirt and background next. I wanted to do the hardest bit first while I was inspired!

I'm afraid I'm not very good at selfies  lol's!
 This is just to give you an idea of the size. 
The portrait will be a 50 x 60cms Oil on gallery wrap canvas

Cec Shevels - The creation of my 2016 Portrait Painters Hunter Exhibiton entry

I've finally decided on a concept for my 2016 Portrait Painters Hunter Exhibition entry.
 

As usual I have left it late and only have 3 weeks to complete the portrait!

 It will be a 50 x 50cms Oil on gallery wrap canvas.
I am painting Cec Shevels who has just retired from 25 years of leadership of the Samaritans.
He lived the values of the organisation - compassion,justice &, integrity- and was an inspiration to all staff.
I hope to capture something of this in his portrait.I went and took lots of photos of Cec . I had him talking to someone about his favourite subjects and took lots of photos.
Here is the one I plan to use.I will place the Samaritans sign partly obscured in the background.
I've made the canvas and will draw / paint the underpainting tomorrow. I usually do an accurate sketch for portrait commissions but I'll just wing this and paint straight onto the canvas.

Christmas greetings!

Best wishes that the Christmas period provides what you need- be it exhilaration or relaxation!
I'll won't be on the computer as much for a week or so but I will still be in the studio at times   so you can still contact me.

Finishing off the rearing arabs - Freedom

 

For sale

 Freedom 

She will be tastefully custom framed when dry and 72 x 76cms framed size.

 A stunning feature painting!

Contact me

This is where I got to at the end of the demo day.

 Above - as they were at the demo.

 

Above - Now at home I wanted to refine the front horse and make her a bit more accurate.The first thing I did was increase the crest of her neck and add some highlights on her face. The lightest accents where the light hits her.

 Here I've done  more with her main . I still need to do her legs and general body and suggest some dapples.I still want to keep the orange glow as that will give the painting oomph and more depth.

 

  Now I've highlighted and refined her legs and body. Time to move onto the rear image. You can see the drawing lines on her and I want to build up her form and refine her more accurately.

 

 Now I've  roughly done the rear horse although her legs still need more work and a few dapples and minor changes. I've refined the background. It's hard to get a decent photo as the light shines back off the wetpaint and in the photos it comes out shiny and lighter than it really is.

 Finished! I've deliberately left her more suggested and colourful. I wanted to capture the movement and spirit and have depth in the painting with the 2nd horse a ghost image. I'm pretty happy with her!

Creating the fun demo painting of Aphrodite the gorgeous Arab

 I painted this demo at Lambton Park on Sunday when I was at the Hunter Arts bazaar. I didn't get as much done as usual as I was really busy and talked heaps!

 As this painting isn't a commission I'm being a bit more creative and going for more of a feeling than an exact likeness.

( Although if you'd like something a bit different and have some good action photos or an unusual angle they can make a stunning portrait!)

Here are the original inspiring photos of the arab mare Aphrodites - 
Thanks for letting me use them  Renee!

I played around for quite a while before I came up with this idea. 
I've got rid of the background , flipped one of the photos and I will take off her halter and lungeline.
 I like to have the photo in B + W as if it's in colour I find I start to blindly copy the photos colours . As photos can't capture all the colours your eye can see if you copy the photos colours you start at a disadvantage. With this one I'm being more adventurous than if it was a commission and choosing colours for best effect.

Early stages of sketching the idea. I wanted to make sure it fitted on the canvas.
Much as I loved this one below I could see that the head at the back was larger than the one in front so I had to make the front one larger or the rear one would dominate. I want the rear horse to be more of a ghost image to add to the feeling and not distract.

 Ok the heads are more the same size now and I've roughly got them done. The enlarged reference photo isn't very clear  so I can't see her head structure very well.
It doesn't matter as much here as it's not a commissioned portrait.
The paper is white at this stage it's just a colour caste in the photo.

This is the stage I got to before I went to the event.I would have liked to do the acrylic underwashes there but I need to lay it flat to do them and the paint would have dried too fast outdoor.

 Here they are at the event and I'm starting to come in and do the tonal underpainting on both horses ( both are Aphrodites)..

I've now got them underpainted and it's time to start doing the Oil paint over the top.This is the fun part!

 

 Starting on the dark accents in the front horses head and I've also roughly suggested the blue stripe in the background. This will be refined later.

Doing a bit of the in between tones / shades on her face. This is what gives her head the structure and reality. 

Starting to come together! I love the glow and how the front horse comes forward.

 A bit further along building up the tones.

 Below - closeup

This is where I got up to at the end of the day. I want to darken the background stripe, add highlight dapples on the front horse and refine her face a little plus a few more darks. I'll also refine the rear one a  little hopefully without losing the lovely oomph and glow it has!

I'm not sure when I'll get around to finishing it off but will post it when I do.