Thursday, February 19, 2015

Commission Part 2

2015 so far has been the year of the portrait commissions. It actually began last November, but it seems to continue its theme.  I was asked to do a second portrait painting for my workout partner's mother.  He loved the painting I did for his wife's Christmas present.

He wanted to do something similar for his mother's birthday.  And here it is:
 I prepped a 20x16 canvas with watercolor ground.  I used Koi watercolor for the background, which was an interesting experience.  I'm still an amateur with the watercolor ground and I guess it takes longer to absorb the watercolor into it.  I discovered this a few hours after I painted the background with a few washes of blue.  I thought it was dry, but every time I moved the painting I would find blue all over my arms and legs.

For the mother and the dog, I used Derwent Inktense pencils.  I was working from 2 different photos so I included a few in-progress shots showing the originals I was working from.


 In order for me to figure out proportions and placement, I had to use Photoshop to put the two images together.


My workout partner and his wife loved the finished painting a lot!  So much, that he wants me to do a third portrait painting!!!