Day 29 - A Young Maya Angelou

Young Maya Angelou, Acrylic on Gessoed Mat Board, 10"x7"

Day 29 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

The month is almost over and I feel like I have made a lot of progress in my ability to paint faces. This painting is of a young Maya Angelou from a photo I found on the Internet. I used only black and white paint on a red background. The technique I have been using seems to work pretty well for me. I have included the source photo and my initial block-in below to show how much information can be captured in those first few paint strokes.

Source photo (left) and initial block-in (right)

Day 28 - Watercolor Style

Untitled, Acrylic on Gessoed Mat Board, 10"x7"

Day 28 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

This one was done with acrylics but using a very wet watercolor-style application. I started out with the board on my easel but I had to take it down and put it on a flat surface - too much running. Although this came out OK, I have to admit I liked the stronger hues from yesterday's effort more. And although I got more subtlety in the washes, I'm not as happy with the overall effect. I have more work to do.

Day 27 - Back to Faces

Untitled, Acrylic on Gessoed Mat Board, 10"x7"

Day 27 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Back to faces. I gave myself a few days to regroup and decided I was ready to dive back into the portrait painting pool.This is from a photo I got from the Internet. If you can tell who it is, then I have learned more than I thought I would in such a short time. I decided to go with a one-shot watercolor-style paint application on a white background. Out of practice, I made the color in a few areas a bit too strong and some of the edges should have been a bit softer. Nonetheless, I am quite pleased with this one. It has a looseness and vibrancy that I like.

Day 26 - Geranium

Geranium, Acrylic on Crescent Board, 10"x10"

Day 26 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Geraniums today. I started this piece last year and quit when I didn't know what to do next. I had some ideas for it today, so I picked it up and tried them out. It still doesn't look complete but it is more interesting than it was. I have been playing with some of Karen Knutson's ideas, specifically, her "wire drawings" and the way she plays with space, overlaps, and color. So hat tip to Karen - I've got a long way to go before I get anywhere near her expertise.

Day 25 - Cyclamen

Cyclamen, Acrylic on Crescent Board, 10"x10"

Day 25 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

I decided to mess with patterns today. I used plastic wrap to make patterns in wet paint. Once that was dry, I superimposed a drawing of cyclamen on the patterns and then started playing with the division of space. The blossoms don't have as much punch as I would like but I can see possibilities for future attempts. There are interesting elements here and some things that didn't really work all that well. That's how we learn - right?

Day 24 - Tiles

Tiles, Acrylic on Crescent Board, 10"x10"

Day 24 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Today's painting is my rendition of the Daily Paintworks Tiles Challenge for this week. I chose to cross the pair crossed lines on the tile, and I painted all of the lines and dots black. I chose a four by four grid - we could choose any number of tiles. This challenge is a lot harder than it looks - there are thousands of ways to arrange the dots and lines, at which point you can make them different colors and sizes, add embellishments, and more. My version is really pretty simple - I am in awe of the folks that figured out how to blend their patterns from tile to tile all the while changing the colors and resultant shapes. Wow!

Day 23 - The Eyes Have It

The Eyes Have It, Mixed Media/Collage, 10"x10"

Day 23 - 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

Visual chaos! This is what my brain feels like after doing 20 paintings of faces. I'm fried. The portrait I was painting today ended up in the trash basket - totally unrecoverable. For this painting, I tore the eyes from a bunch of the photos I have been using and glued them onto a gessoed Crescent Board. Then I added paint. The eyes are all there looking at me. It's really busy, but kind of fun, too.