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| 16" x 20" Acrylic on board [Click to enlarge] |
Well..I tried a practice portrait before this. It went through the mannequin stage, the zombie stage and finally, the space alien stage, before I chucked it in the corner.
So much for that.
But the idea of a portrait nagged at me. My sister-in-law had been bugging me about doing a portrait of her literally for decades. And finally I felt capable of painting it.
Did it look like her? It did to me. I did the small child test. Casually, showing little interest and yawning slightly, I pointed to the picture and asked a small child, "Who's that?"
I am pleased to say I passed the test.
My sister-in-law's reaction? "Now you paint me - when I'm not young anymore?!"
Aw well. She took it home anyway.
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A book in my library that I've spent hours perusing over the years is "A Painterly Approach" by Mary Beth McKenzie. I just love the way she paints. But all that time reading her advice and viewing her wonderful paintings showed me nothing at all compared to a demonstration by the artist I found online at the Youtube channel of the Art Students League of New York. There is just something about watching an artist work. At the same channel, I found a demonstration by Sharon Sprung that was just as informative and inspiring. I hope you find them as rewarding:
Mary Beth McKenzie:
Sharon Sprung:
Thank you Art Students League, for providing this resource to we country folks (because everywhere outside of NYC is the country, right?)
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