Portrait Sketch

ROGER

oil

8" x 6"

Venice portrait studio sketch.  I thought I had primed the canvas with a neutral acrylic green the night before.  Turned out to be a lot brighter in daylight!  But liked the way it worked showing through in spots and in the beard.  I left a patch in the lower right hand corner.  The canvas was primed with acrylic which I find too chalky.  I like to paint a thin coat of tinted acrylic over this so the paint stays on top and slides around the canvas easier.  Just a personal preference.  The entire underpainting can be acrylic (if left thin) and the final layers painted in oil.  But for studio painting, I find oil dries well enough over night to layer over.  A method used by John Singer Sargent and Phillip Pearlstein, by the way.  For plein air though, alla prima...  painting at one time, wet into wet is what I do most often.  And also with portrait studio sketches.

Plein Air Painting

MORNING WALK
oil
8" x 6"

One of my favorite places to paint is Punta Gorda, Florida where I once lived for about eight years. Charming buildings, great colors, wonderful plants and trees. Painted this sitting on the back of my opened mini van. An artist friend stopped by and chatted almost the entire time. Hazy, cloudy, back lit morning. I prefer sharper sun shadows but this one worked out fine with naples yellow sky.

Plein Air Painting

SALLY'S WALK
oil
6" x 8"

Painted with Sally Christiansen's morning workshop group. Sally begins with a fast, fifteen minute pastel painting. We stand in awe as it forms right before our eyes. A lot can be learned from watching another artist work. Even though most of the artists in the group are extremely accomplished, there's always something new to learn. How boring would it be if we thought we knew it all. I'm learning to loosen up and paint faster. Painted Sally as she walked by in her straw hat. A figure can give a painting life and scale, and I think Sally pulls this one together. Service Beach, Venice, FL.

BIKER GUY
oil
10" x 8"

Great model at the Punta Gorda Visual Arts Center Portrait Studio (PGVACPS for short).
Cool guy, Stanley. Held still... some models have bobble-heads or fall asleep. The headband was useful as a reference point to measure distances between features. Sometimes it's difficult to paint portraits without the ears showing. Ears are a landmark. These three hour sketches are wonderful for a quick, loose painting style. Like plein air painting, my goal with these sessions is to finish it on the spot.

ART IN THE PALMS
oil
6" x 8"

Heatstrokes plein air painters (summer division of Punta Gorda Visual Arts Center) exhibited and painted on Palm Island. This painting was my demo. Not easy to paint and talk at the same time.

GRAND TOUR KAYAKS
oil
6" x 8"

Plein air painting at Grande Tours Kayaks in Placida, FL. Building on left was the Bridge Tenders House for Boca Grande, 1910. Old wooden cistern, the round structure was used in 1938. Yellow building is new (restrooms for Grande Tours).

HURRICANE IDA PASSING
oil
8" x 10"

Plein air with Venice Art Center group, Sally Christianson workshop. Day was gray with Hurricane Ida passing way out in Gulf. Great waves, Venice pier in background.

PARROT LADY
oil
8" x 6"

Wonderful model at the Venice Art Center Portrait Studio. She posed with her African gray parrot. My panel was too small to fit the perch in. Bird tooted along with the classical music. Great session, wonderful artists.

LAWNMOWER MAN
oil
20" x 16"

Placida fish market area, FL. This man was cutting grass all around our plein air group last summer stirring up mosquitos. He came over to see what we were up to and agreed to pose. His house is the one on the right where has lived for about forty years. The background is made up from bits and pieces of the location and from imagination.

SCARY MOTEL
oil
7" x 5"

Motel near Englewood Beach. Loved the way the sun hit the faded umbrella and lit the inside.

SCARY GATOR POND
oil
8" x 6"

Painted yesterday on a ranch outside of Punta Gorda, FL. Waterlillies were closed when I started and fully open when I finished. A joy to watch. Meanwhile, I was watched by a baby gator (its head painted bottom left). I wondered where the mother was. And someone warned me the area was known as "Rattlesnake Ridge." Sometimes, plein air painting can be scary!

IAN
oil
8" x 6"

Painted Ian at the Venice Art Center last week. Wonderful group of talented artists there!

OCTOBER IN FLORIDA
oil
6" x 8"

Just entered this painting in the First Annual October Facebook Painting Competition. Not many autumn leaves down here. Thought I'd paint a blue Michigan license plate as a sign of snowbirds returning, but discovered the blue plate isn't made anymore. What a loss! This umbrella was outside a seedy little motel near Englewood Beach. I added the flower-filled pumpkin from my imagination to illustrate October.

BEHIND PRESSLER'S
oil
6" X 8"

Chilly morning painting with plein air group behind Pressler's Deli/Gallery. Finished this on the spot. Cold for Florida, must have been in the 70's. Will need those gloves with the fingers cut out.

PORTRAIT STUDIO SKETCH
oil
8" x 6"

PUNTA GORDA FOUNTAIN
oil
8" x 6"

TRIUMPH
oil
40" x 30"

End of demo. Feel like I could paint the whole thing over again, but need to stop. Think I captured the ghost-ship feeling of this rusting hulk. Soon will be an artificial reef or sold for scrap. The cost of refitting this boat would be more than it's worth. At the end of its life, rusting away in an upscale marina... the only boat with character. I will research its history and report later. Really love the name...TRIUMPH!!!

TRIUMPH
oil
40" x 30"
demo day 3

Difficult to get a good photo of wet paint. I think one more day and one more layer of paint will do it.

TRIUMPH
oil
40" x 30"
demo day 2

TRIUMPH
oil
40" x 30"
demo day one

Roughed in with thin wash of paint. Can already see many changes that need to be made. This is a large scale studio painting I'm doing after many days painting plein air on site. Will be using small paintings and photos for reference.