Kelli's mug

 The lovely Kelli Bland well before she turned....

oh and btw, we all shouldn't get so hung up on skin color...we're pretty much all the same color. White people just have more white in them. I painted Alex and Kelli with nearly the same palette, some ultramarine blue in Alex that I didn't use with Kelli.

Alex's mug

a few more strokes..... Alex.

So last week, one of my students asked me what the point was from working from life, if we can easily work from photos. This little study is from an okay snapshot. If I didn't work regularly from models, I could never create the nuances of light/shadow/color/planar effects here that naturally occur but cannot be seen in a photo. So.....work from life as much as you can!!!

Alex!! always glare issues with these freshly painted ones.... 8"x8". I decide to stop on these when I feel like I've worked enough on them for a study.

Initial block-in stage of mugshot of Alex: I'm painting this little one on top of an old one (which is why you're seeing pinks, etc.). I've always wanted to paint Alex....he's threatened to model for me years but still hasn't. So, this is an FB pic (that I found on his page) which I love because almost always, he's got a great gleaming smile on his face and looks like THE nicest guy....here, he looks very serious and possibly mean . It's clearly posed. So....now I will bring in the color.

Babyface

My angel will be 5 on Saturday. Here my little alien is a few days old. I just started it.....I'm trying out some flake white replacement and Gamblin's solvent free gel medium, a couple of the little gems I took home from the PSoA conference. ooooo la la!!

Jeff's mug

9"x6"

So after all these years, I have painted my man only four times: 2 times wearing slinky googly eyes glasses back in 2005 or so (after a short sitting supplemented with photos); then sometime thereafter during a live portrait demo. It was outside under the hot sun. He was sweaty from the sun; I was shaking and sweating from nerves; someone knocked over a cup of coffee on my palette...I didn't know *what* it was I was doing!! it was a terrible experience. So....now years later, here he is....from a crummy photo taken this weekend. Now enough time has past.....maybe someday, I'll be lucky enough to have him sit for me again.

Grant's profile pic

9"x6"

gotta love Facebook sometimes. My high school classmate posted a new profile pic the other day. I was smitten with it; I found it to be incredibly paintable. He gave me permission to paint it. Here is a little one....Grant, there will be more -- thank you.

Karlo is almost 5!

A few days before he turned 5!!!!!