Loved and Lost......

I started a painting some time ago of my finance's sisters, first posted HERE.....

The youngest sister in the painting was sadly lost to the family at a very young age.As a mother myself I couldn't begin to know how that must feel for the family and especially to a mother. This is most certainly one of the reasons reasons I needed to paint this photo so much and wanted to finish this as a present for the older sister in the painting, it was a special birthday for her, her 65th.

 The nose shadow on the elder sister on the previous painting was still giving me trouble. I had washed this back, which is something I almost never do, and hate doing, it just wasn't happening. 

I decided to get out a fresh clean piece of paper and start again......

  

There are parts I still like on the first painting, but overall I was so much happier with this one...  The nose still gave me problems though. It was an old black & white photo with little detail. On this version I deliberately played down the shadow on that area, this way it would be less noticeable, and works better for it I think. 

Sisters......

 

I've had some problems on the progress of the older sister. It is an old black and white photo with little detail in places. The side of her face is in heavy shadow especially the nose, and her eyes are almost shut with squinting through the harsh sunlight. I need to be careful how much detail I do put in this one. I'm going to let her sit for a while, while I think on it....

 I've brought in more colours here, including green. I'm treading very gently though with these colours..... I still need to do some more work on the hair and ribbon, but don't want a completed look on both sides of each girls face. Although I will probably put in some darks immediately next to the face and where the hair meets on both girls..... I need to let this all sit for a while now to see how much more it needs and if it's working for me.....

Close view of Jeanette .

Defining the features.......

I've been asked by friends to share more of how I work so here are some progress photos for you......

I may have lost the likeness on this a little, but am still going to finish it as it's all good practice as they say...and it's surprising how much you learn when you relax with no pressure, and often find it all comes together at the end.....

Have started painting around the eyes. For me this is the most important part of any portrait, they are the soul of the painting as well as the person. If they are wrong then I don't go on with it.

For the eyes i've also used  Burnt Umber & Venetian Red. ( Be very careful with Venetian red, it will kill your painting if you use to much of it.) 

If you look at the right eye I have placed some BU with a rigger brush.
You need to make this juicy enough so it doesn't dry instantly.

Keeping with the rigger and painting only with clean water I paint the rest of the detail in. As i'm doing this I touch the pigment already on the paper and let it flow in where ever it wants too. Do not try and control it too much. 

I carried on with a larger brush doing similar around the nose and mouth...

The area right of the mouth and nose has 3 colours in it. Ven.Red, B.Um, Per.Rose...

I pick these up as I go, no mixing on the palette or on the paper, they are placed almost next to each other and mix where and when they want too, you just have to nudge them occasionally....

.In other words, I change colour as I see or feel it. I often do this by just wiping my brush quickly across the colour in my pallet, which I have already sprayed with water before hand. Picking up different colours as I go.

 I've also added a touch more Perm Rose to her cheeks....I've scanned these steps so it shows a bit harsher than it is, it's much softer IRL.

next I went on to put some of the hair in so I can see where i'm going value wise...I don't tend to work in a technical way, more one of feelings and emotion, moving around the painting and adding colour to the next area that grabs my attention

The first wash......

After a few initial sketches I drew it onto Watercolour paper, trying to have as least pencil work as possible. There was still things I wasn't to sure on but had drawn it so went on with it, if it didn't work it would still help on colour knowledge for the next one.

I often change the way I paint portraits, depending on my subject, how I want the finished piece to work, and even sometimes just the way I feel at the time. I knew I didn't want this one to be quite so loose as I normally work, I also wanted to try and keep that old fashioned look to it, so chose my colours differently....I went with Raw Sienna instead of my preferred choice of Aureolin, Permanent Rose, Colbalt Blue, and Cerulaean Blue

This is just the 1st wash, unfortunately the light had gone and the colours are a little washed out here....

That Special Painting......

Each piece of work has something that inspires you to paint it in the first place, a meaning, a message, colour, light, something that draws you in. ...but occasional there is one that has that something with more meaning, one that holds something special, one that you just know you just have to paint. As soon as I saw this photo I knew this was one of those..... 

Jeanette was the younger sister of someone very close to me, a sister he never really knew, as she was sadly taken from the family so suddenly, and at such a young age. This is an old family photo that his older sister had, a sister that did get to be with Jeanette, but only for a short time, and is the older girl in the photo, on the right.

Capturing the soul of a person is probably the biggest aim when painting a portrait, and doubling this up is quite a challenge, but a pleasurable and meaningful one. And although there is a slight tension to get this right, it's still one of a real passion of capturing this special moment as a gift for special people....

I started as I normally do with various pencil sketches to become familiar with the girls faces. I always have some sort of sketching paper on my board, and will doodle and sketch features or parts of the portraits in every spare 5 mins I have. This really brings me closer to my subjects and while doing this I'm also thinking about the composition. most of the time this does seem to come together on it's own, as if each subject knows how to sit on the paper.

The first sketch is always a quick one, no fussing, and not to much correcting. Step back and look and you will see exactly where you need to change it if any...There are a few things I need to get right before I go on to the painting which is why these initial sketches are invaluable.

Along with obvious things such as proportions that need altering, Jeanette was the youngest and I've drawn her face too large to sit next to her older sister... I also drew this one with her mouth closed, this doesn't work for me. When you see the person often, you see them with different  expression in many different poses, but as this is one of very few photographs, especially at his age, the image here is one that is remembered more distinctly than would otherwise be, so needs to be as is, or very close. . . 

I decided straight away that I wanted to go with just the head shots. Moving the heads close together so they connect better. I was aiming for the hair to flow together, maybe the ribbons too, this is something I find comes together when painting, where letting the watercolour work along with you, often leading the way.....