Chilean Sunset

 

One time I promised David that I would paint a picture of Chile for him for a birthday or something. Well, better late than never. And I forgot to take progression photos, so this is all I've got. It's been a while since I've worked with acrylic, and I forgot how quickly everything dries out! But it was fairly straightforward and I'm happy with it. 

J & C

Time for another wedding portrait! I'm going to submit it to the Provo Homegrown Art exhibit this year. Fingers crossed, yes?

Here's the original. (Aren't they cute!)

Fancy doors drawn mostly to proportion.

Sketch of the couple. I was really preoccupied with the doors because architecture isn't really my thing, so I drew the details in too dark. I came to regret that later. 

Finished drawing. Someday I'll get better at drawing men. But...it is not this day.

Door detail and highlighted color wash.

Door detail.

Coloring in the suit. The picture I was sent was very color corrected, so the suit looked black and didn't have much definition. So I looked at some of their other wedding photos for reference. I didn't realize how off his left leg is until later.

Finished suit. I like the corsage, though it might be too big. I fixed some of the coloring of the suit, too. And I think it looks a bit more realistic.

Skin tones. I know it looks super creepy right now, but not every in-between stage is beautiful. (That sounds like a life lesson.) I was pretty concerned at this point because the skin looked too yellowish.

I did a light red wash over their skin to make it less yellow. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm pretty happy with the facial details as well (except for his eyebrows). 

I did another, darker wash on the door to help fix the yellowy tone. Base layer on the hair.
It's usually at about this point that I realize just how beautiful the bride is, after being able to capture some of it on paper. Also, one of the hardest things about painting a wedding scene in watercolor is that there is so much white! And in watercolor, if you want something to be white, you leave it blank and let the paper show through. But when it's a temple or the whole dress, you have to add some gray shading to make it look real. I'm pretty pleased with how this one worked out.

Some additional work and detail on the veil, which I'm so proud of. Also some shading for his shirt. 

The setup.

Finishing touches with the white gel pen. Also, I listened to Ed Sheeran's newest album while I finished. It's a wonderful album. 

Final. I made his leg a little thicker so his hand could feasibly be in his pocket and then evened out his ears a bit. I framed it and am keeping it around the house for now. It's kind of nice—I usually give the painting away right after I finish it, and I like being able to enjoy my own work for a bit. 

Anyway, I finished it too late for her birthday but fairly early for their April 2nd anniversary. But if the Homegrown Art Show accepts it, then the couple won't get it until May. 

Puppy Portrait

Melissa is one of my oldest friends, and she adopted a dog two years ago. I offered to paint a puppy portrait for her for Christmas. 

Here's the original. I'm going to change the colors on things with really crazy patterns because, well—those are hard to paint.

 Original sketch. The proportions worked pretty well, though I'm not very well versed with animals.

Good progress, but it looks like Christmas puked on that paper towel. 

Not promising. Almost quit. But Eliza kept me going on. 

A little simplification goes a long way.

Adding some fur. 

I don't know much about animal faces, but I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. 

Simplifying the bandanna worked great, but the words don't look too realistic.

Final(ish) product. I'm happy with how it worked out. And Bear liked it so much that he licked it through the plastic. 

M&A Anniversary

 So I had the chance to do a wedding portrait for my cousin's anniversary! (On a bit of an expedited timeline, which was a fun challenge. I drew it on one Sunday afternoon and painted it on another.)

Original photo

Initial drawing

Completed drawing

Initial color blocking for the suit

Thinking *I'll just do her hair while I'm using black...*
Which was a terrible idea, because then I had to avoid getting the black everywhere as I filled in the rest of the painting.

Background and boutonniere 

Showing some skin. (It was pretty yellowy for a moment there; I'm happy with the pinker shade I managed with a careful wash.)

M's face

Hand and dress details. (The original photo doesn't show the rest of the dress on the right, so I had to improvise—not my forte.)

Facial details and hair work. I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

Background details

Detail work with a white gel pen (the single greatest innovation in modern watercolor)

Original photo

Watercolor final

I'm really pleased with all the facial details and how the hair turned out. I didn't quite get the proportions right on A's face, the hand is probably too small, and I didn't quite capture M's smile and eye contact with the camera—so there's always room for improvement. I'm very happy with how it turned out overall, especially considering that it didn't take as much time as most of my previous works. 

One of my favorite things about doing portraits of friends and family members is that I feel like I know the person better after staring at them for several hours. As I reproduce their faces, I'm struck by how beautiful they are. And I know I'll never look at them quite the same again. 

Coronavirus Crafts: Baby Yoda

So I’m a hobby artist. I work almost exclusively from photos, and I have a hard time creating in a void. I usually rely on someone to tell me what to paint (hence you’ve seen so many wedding photos and pictures of my nieces) but I’ve never done a commission. (It’s a small area, but that’s where I operate.) 

 I felt like once I monetized my hobby then it wouldn’t be a hobby anymore—and I desperately want a hobby and really don’t want another job. 

Well, on a video call my nieces told me that they were painting. I said I would paint with them if they told me what I should paint. And thus Baby Yoda Holding a Pumpkin was born. 

This tiny little guy caused quite the stir. When I posted a picture to my Facebook Gallery, this 30-minute doodle easily eclipsed the painstakingly painted wedding photo in likes (they were posted simultaneously) and garnered an immediate request for a commission. And since I didn’t have any other projects on my docket, I figured I might as well try it. 

I was able to knock it out over several hours on a Saturday evening while listening to Midnight Sun on 2.35 speed. 

The sketch and a touch of green.

All the rest of the green. Definitely more creepy than cute at the moment, but don’t worry. We’ll get there. 

Ear detail. 

Not loving the chin area, but I’ll fix it in a bit. Coat detail. I’m always amazed by how it feels like a mess when you’re painting clothing but somehow it ends up looking great. 

Here’s to hoping the eyes help it cross over from creepy to cute. 

Baby Yoda squad.

Correction on the left ear. (I used to think that watercolor was unforgiving, but that is SO not true.) Reworked the mouth to be cuter and less creepy, even though it ended up being “less accurate.”

Finished product of The Child with a Turquoise Ball. Its future home (a play therapy office) has a gray and turquoise color theme. Here’s to hoping it will match well! 

Anyway. That’s the story of my first commission.