Portraits

Artistic Output of 2016… so far!

| emmapittson
Best of 6 months 2016 part1 small
Starting at the top, left: Face Study (pencil on paper); Face Study (digital); Face Study of Nita Naldi (digital); commission of G.I.Joe’s Duke “Long Day at the Office” (digital); 5 Daily Paintings of New Zealand landscapes (acrylic on panel)

As we approach the halfway point of 2016, I thought it would be cool to assemble all (or most of) the artwork I’ve produced so far this year and get a better sense of where I want to go next.

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Face study: Mayowa Nicholas

| emmapittson
Untitled-1.2
©2016, Emma Pittson. “Mayowa Nicholas Face Study”, Photoshop, 2016.

My first Superheroine painting went rather well, despite the fact that I never had an actual model in front of me at any point in time (this is all coming up in a future post, btw – I’m a little out-of-sequence).  The whole thing was cobbled together from images from vintage fashion magazines, the internet, etc.  A Franken-picture, if you will.  And because I wanted realistic shadows on the face, I used my own face as reference.

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The Blue Lady

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20160426_115959
©2016, Emma Pittson. “The Blue Lady”, acrylic on paper.

Every now and then, I like to get back to basics and do a proper study.  Since most of the paintings that I have planned center on portraits of women wearing late 60’s – early 70’s clothing, an image from my copy of La Fileuse (a French knitting pattern catalog) from 1968 was a good place to start.

Being a sucker for punishment, I also decided to use only white and Phthalo Blue (“the priceless troublemaker”, as Carol Marine would say).  Here’s what I learned from this particular experience:

  • In progress
  • The original image
  • I’m pretty happy with the results, but I have to say: Carol Marine was right about Phthalo Blue.  Even the tiniest drop will have far-reaching consequences.  Use with caution!
  • Along those lines, no amount of white on top of Phthalo Blue will be nice and bright.  Best to use a light touch.
  • Because I wanted crisp lines along the edges of the painting, I applied a light coat of matte medium along the edge of the artists’ tape.  The paint didn’t bleed, but it did form a kind of “shelf”.
  • Also, when you look at the painting from the side, there’s a slight difference in sheen where I applied the medium, and where I didn’t.  I’m pretty sure that can be solved by applying a varnish all over, but that reminds me that…
  • … I forgot to varnish the painting before removing the tape.  Oops.