Only a loving family can create that glow! Sorry for double post. #oilportrait #childrenportrait #oilpainting I had created a time lapse of the painting start, and it is fun – although much fussing has to be done to set it up correctly–balancing the phone, positioning the light, and painting while trying to stay out of the frame… While I can’t post it here, you can see it on Facebook or Instagram (posted around end of August 2022). Here’s a photo.
This has been turning into a series. Not a series related to each other in any way other than that they are all of children loved by others, who would like to see their dear faces frequently. I feel a bit Beatrix Potter saying “dear faces”, but that is kind of how you feel, especially as a grandparent. While in the midst of parenting, I know it is much more difficult to see the forest for the trees. Sadly, but there it is!
While I often paint using a limited palette this young lady required more colors. She is so fair and blonde, her features become just mildly prominent. I like to try to get a feeling for the person while painting, and, to me, her face seems to shine kindness, fairness, even-temperedness, and I’m sure she is all of those things!
Finding simple things to do in these days of staying at home a lot. Drawing and painting has been my #1 go-to, since it’s easily done within your home with just a minimum of space. “Simple” may not be an accurate description, maybe “elemental” is more like it. It feels direct, and the outcome is entirely up to you.
A few months ago, I participated in 30faces30days from sktchy art school. One day we were presented with the face of a baby—a difficult subject! You might think it would be easy, but to keep the lines brief and accurate, to show the sweetness is very difficult, at least for me. “There is no growth without pain” they say; this was pretty tolerable in the pain department, though hopefully enough to learn something.
I got through that one, and it inspired me to try some in oil paint as well.
Maybe someday, someone will find a cache of baby teeth and wonder what it was all about. This little guy lost two in two days — I think he’s happy the tooth fairy will come but even more than that, it’s just fun to wiggle them out!
July #30faces30days from Sktchy was an awesome way to learn more about procreate and drawing the human face. To see them “closer up” check out my sketching instagram @2minuteeggs. Sktchy has a session each month, with great teachers. I loved all the different styles, some specializing in cross-hatching, some gouache, cartoon or comic style, or a restricted color palette. It was sometimes hard to get started on the day’s drawing, and it was interrupted by five days out of town, but I got through it!
30 faces closer to 500!
I am delighted to announce that my painting was selected for the de Young Museum’s #ThedeYoungOpen, a celebration of local artists for their 125th anniversary. Artists in the nine Bay Area counties were invited to participate in this salon-style exhibition, which will happen…soon. So much is unknown right now, but hopefully it WILL open and we will get to tour the artworks in person! For those of you in the SF Bay Area, I will post it here when I find out, or keep up on their opening date here https://deyoung.famsf.org/safety-guidelines.
Sorry if some of you see more then once, as I have other places to post…
Maybe I should just do a mass post at the end of the 30 days… Here’s Day 20, and you can see more at my sketching instagram account. https://www.instagram.com/2minuteeggs/
I am honored to be included in the O’Hanlon Center’s online group show of self-portraits — “Me to Myself”. The O’Hanlon Center for the Arts is continuing, despite the current circumstances, to exhibit artists and connect people in many ways. The center is in Mill Valley, California, and the show starts today June 8, 2020.
View the show here: https://www.ohanloncenter.org/exhibits/current/
I celebrate all those who have raised their voices and put themselves out there to support the African-American community, and our whole community! How can ANY of us feel safe if ANY of us are NOT safe? We are all one.
One protester’s sign—
“We didn’t come this far to only come this far”
From an artist’s perspective, “black” people have always been beautiful to me. For one, there are so many different shades and tones, it’s endlessly interesting. The first portrait I ever painted was from my imagination of what a beautiful person would look like: an African woman (in Africa, of course).
So, here, I revisited that theme and painted another African person, a man this time. He was in a story about a man starting a video “theater” in his home town where few had tv’s and there were no movie houses. A hero of entertainment!
Micaela Marsden 