At today’s life class, our model was a nice woman named Dakota. I painted her portrait in about two hours. She held her pose perfectly, which helped me get a reasonable likeness. She was concentrating hard to stay still, and I tried to capture her rather serious expression. Alas, I forgot to indicate her shoulders, heh, and by the time I realized it, the model had left. Oh well.
Geoff Watson, “Dakota,” June daily painting #16, oil on panel, 11” x 14,” 2019.
Shoshana sat for my life group again today, but I couldn’t get the same seat, so I started a new picture. I wish I’d had fifteen more minutes to model the eyes! But I’m still happy with it.
Geoff Watson, "Shoshana looking left," oil on panel, 12" x 16," 2018.
In today’s life class, our instructor asked us to mass in the form without drawing contour lines. She suggested amoeba-like soft edges, allowing us to push and pull things to refine the drawing. I like this approach. It took some of the pressure off the initial lay-in, and it promoted soft edges. We had only two hours, so it’s still rough, but I still feel I made a statement.
I only wish I’d painted this on a panel! All I had handy was a canvas pad. Maybe some future art historian will cut it out, put it on stretcher bars, frame it, and donate it to the Met. :-)
Geoff Watson, “Mallina,” oil on canvas pad, 12” x 16,” 2018.
I had less than two hours to paint Wayne, but I was pleased with the results. I’ve given him a somewhat unhappy look, but it’s pretty faithful to how he appeared: he was holding a difficult pose involving ropes and cuffs!
Geoff Watson, “Wayne in profile,” oil on canvas panel, 9” x 12,” 2018.
I've been working on this self-portrait for a few days, using a single mirror, so the image is reversed. One can cure this problem by using two mirrors, but it's very tricky to do this. Anyway, I'd like to add more color to my face, make me smile a tad more, refine the shirt and glasses, and fix other stuff.
Unfortunately, the likeness is pretty good! I should have stopped painting when I looked like Paul Newman. :-)
Geoff Watson, "Self-portrait," oil on canvas, work in progress, 14" x 18," 2017.
I started this portrait last weekend, but I forgot to post it until now; it's been a busy week. The drawing is good as far as it goes, but I hope to develop it further in the remaining two sessions.
Geoff Watson, "Emily," work in progress, oil on panel, 11" x 14," 2017.
This watercolor portrait of Sheba is still in progress, as this was the first of two sittings. The likeness is already pretty good, but her features all need adjustment, and I inadvertently chopped off a bit of her chin. (I drew it correctly with my pencil but then blithely ignored my pencil marks when doing my first washes of watercolor.) This first image is after about an hour:
Geoff Watson, "Sheba," work in progress, watercolor on paper, 12" x 16," 2017.
And here is the painting after two hours. I added some skin tone, which looks okay so far, and also added some cool greens for transitional colors -- but I overdid it with the green, heh. I'll dial it back next week. I still need to adjust her eyes, nose, lips and ear. But I'm already very pleased with the likeness and the overall feel of the picture.
Geoff Watson, "Sheba," work in progress, watercolor on paper, 12" x 16," 2017.
This is a photo of the early stage of a portrait that I started using only two colors, Burnt Sienna and white. Here I'd just started adding hints of color, but I was already running out of time, so the image looks rather ghostly. It's still interesting, and the likeness isn't bad. It helped that the model, Lily, held her pose so well. I went on to add some color, but I didn't finish; I like this "brunaille" version better. I'm hoping I'll get another chance to paint Lily so that I can finish the picture.
Geoff Watson, "Lily," oil on panel, 11" x 14," 2017.