Pattie

After 125 Sessions my latest painting is finished.

I almost never sign my paintings, but today I’ve signed this one and I think it’s important.

Socks have an interesting fuzzy texture to them and it takes a scumbling, dabbing stroke to get them right, a normal brush stroke will not work.

I’m pretty happy with that title, it’s not totally true, but close enough. Her right foot is the second to last I have to accomplish on this painting.

There is so much meaningfulness with everything I do on this painting. It’s important that I get even the socks correct to the best of my ability.

I’m almost certain I’ve finished the wood floor except for the smaller shadows under her feet which I will do when I work on the feet next.

The shelving is done now I can focus on finishing the floor then the very last will be Pattie’s feet.

I did a few more lines of the shelving fronts today and I’m almost to the bottom. Tomorrow I may finish the shelving and the floor.

As I’m painting the vertical fronts of the shelving I remember painting over them somewhat and thinking I would “fix it later”

We had a super long trip last night and didn’t get home till 2am so I’m painting a bit late in the day on Pattie’s portrait after getting some needed sleep.

Now that I’m getting better at painting the wood grain I have to deal with another complexity, shadows cast upon that wood grain.

I’m getting the hang of a painting this wood texture without too much detail. Honestly I’m kinda feeling like I’m being lazy with it.

I wasn’t looking forward to the wood floor so I just dove right into it. Normally when I don’t like something it’s because I need practice.

Working on the very bottom right shelf and a random shoe box, I’m not sure why it’s there.

I finished the harry potter books shelf today even though I’m now suffering from a cold…

I enjoy meticulously painting the spines of harry potter books on the shelf, a very important part of Patties life.

Another late day doing art, although I spent a lot of time earlier in the day stretching my canvas for the next painting.

Right after work today I had to shoot off to the mainland for a Dr appointment so I’m doing my art much later in the day than normal.

After sanding and two more coats of gesso on my next painting I had to work on Pattie’s portrait with some extreme construction noise distracting me.

Most of the background on this painting has been a lesson in chroma and reducing its intensity.

I just spent a little time on painting the dishes today because I was putting many coats of gesso on a new painting.

I’m not working on two paintings, I’ve determined the next painting’s composition and I have started preparing its canvas.

A birthday present given a funny name by Pattie and one that has stuck fondly with us for many years.

I spent most of the day today traveling and waiting with errands on the mainland. As I write this I’m totally exhausted but happy that I got some work done on the painting.

I didn’t get much done on this painting today as I was doing a lot of preparation for my next portrait.

I’ve worked on this painting now for 100 sessions. Most of the session have been an hour or shorter but this is still the longest I’ve ever worked on a painting.

I’ve started preparation for a new painting that I will work on in tandem with this painting. I hope to increase my motivation with variety.

Today was a shorter session as I need to run off to a friends house to take photos for another planned portrait. I now have two more portraits in the works.

Another session with the top shelf. I’m working from left to right and at the end of the line is a bunch of elephant figurines.

I worked on more items at the top shelf today plus I went through over 400 photos taken of Patrick yesterday. I’m excited for the next portrait.

The small mass of items at the top of the shelves includes fairies and a whole bunch of stuff that isn’t recognizable, at this point it is just texture.

I’m now working on a couple angles to the right of the tiny portraits. These will be much more indistinct and fuzzy than the portraits.

A photograph in a photograph, but so tiny that I have to spend several sessions getting every little tiny stroke/dot correct.

With today’s post I’ve finally caught up with all my posts after my vacation a week ago.

Even though the objects seem like detritus most have some history in Pattie’s life, today I’m painting tofu containers and fabric from Ireland.

For this session and many others I’ve moved to the top of the shelving unit and started with all the complex items stacked up there.

I can’t seem to bring myself to generalize any of these objects into broad strokes, I see much importance in every tiny thing.

I’m working on a section of the shelves that holds nothing but sea creatures, mostly mammals like a Beluga whale and dolphins.

I’m continuing my work on the top left shelf full of vegetable animals.

Today I’m working on the top left section of keepsakes which is a group of animals shaped like vegetables, or is it vegetables shaped like animals.

We are back home from the cruise and I’m doing my art later in the day, it is good to be back home although I’m still rocking like I’m on the ship.

It’s 5am Sunday and I’m working on my painting while my mind is racing with things I need to do before our trip, so I plan accordingly.

She collected small colored sand castles when she was young. I remember seeing them in stores when I was much younger also.

I moved on to the fifth shelf out of 16 today and I’m trying to keep the colors and values the same through every session.

I spent the short session today painting a wizard figurine on one of the shelves in the background.

This painting has one goal and I make sure that everything I add to the painting is in service to that one goal.

For today’s session I finished painting the one figurine above and to the left. It wasn’t much but that part is done.

Just a little progress today on the painting. I only got a small area done but I’m happy with it’s quality and that is most important.

While focusing on edges it’s helpful to overlap brush strokes for objects that are right next to each other, rather than painting up to the next object.

All of the items in the background may seem randomly placed but I assure you that most are very important details that have a narrative in this story.

Today I worked on the cushion and box that Pattie is sitting on. I’m moving all over the painting picking out easy subjects.

I decided to work on the background shelving today, I’m still a bit sick so I chose an easy section. The square directly to the right of Pattie’s head.

It’s important to recognize my mindset when beginning a session it can make a huge difference in my performance.

I’m working on her legs now, not much to say as I’m still sick and trying to do art daily without messing up anything on the painting.

The medicine I’m taking for my cold is making me groggy and unfocused so I recognize this and work on something simple.

I have a cold and even though I don’t feel like it, I’m going to do my art today. Because I set an achievable minimum.

Yeah, the titles of my posts lack any vestige of interest, I’m not a writer, I’m an artist so I’ll be literal.

For this session it was really easy, I had a wonderful call with my brother and painted Pattie’s Knee.

I’m done with the shirt and I’m on to her almost hidden hand.

In areas where the surrounding values are very dark I find it easier to start with the darkest of them.

On lazy days when my motivation is running low I focus on smaller areas to help me get started.

Not much to update for this session, I’m still working on the shirt and will be for the next few sessions. Lots of bluish gray and subtle values.

As I painstakingly render the folds in the shirt I’m also thinking about the texture of the fabric.

The color of the shirt Pattie is wearing sometimes looks all gray and other times it has a very blue chroma to it.

I’m going to have several more sessions of work on this shirt and I find it hard to write about anything meaningful.

Moving down from the face and neck I’m working on the blueish gray shirt now. And starting in the shadows.

I’m almost positive that I’m done with the most important part of this painting, now I need to move outward.

Pattie wears these wonderfully colorful collections of yarn tied into her pony tails and today’s session was all about reproducing the one she is wearing accurately.

There is a precarious balance between sharp and hard edges with hair, too sharp and it looks like straw, too soft and it’s cotton candy.

For this session I was working on supporting elements around the face like the neck hair and ears.

Every inch of this painting is now covered in oil paint. Most of it is all a rough block-in but the rest is all about the details.

I worked more on the top shelf with all the tiny details, it was a lot of fun actually.

I continued my mind state from life drawing and focused in small areas moving from right to left slowly on the top shelf.

I finished the basic block-in for the floor and then I moved all the way to the top of the painting and starting blocking in the top of the shelving unit.

For this session I almost finished the whole wood floor with a very simple block-in.

I finished off the block-in for the pants and socks during today’s session.

I painted the fronts of the shelving unit on this session and I’m not liking the color right away.

I’m moving my way down the painting adding the first layer of paint for later refinement.

Honestly the more I finish the rest of the painting the better I like it.

It’s a simple and easy day today. I’m just working on blocking in the rest of the painting before I come back to details.

I’m a bit frustrated with the work done today at it is not turning out how I would have hoped.

I’m working again on the background and to push it back I’m keeping everything fuzzy, in other words, soft edges.

I feel as if I will never reach the vision I have in my head, or even come close to it.

I struggle to capture the most subtle of emotions and I’m not there yet but I will work on this painting for as long as it takes.

One great thing about posting my progress daily is that I can review my work from the previous day and make corrections constantly.

I finished the block in of all the square shelves and keepsakes, I still have to do the vertical and horizontal fronts but it is a good milestone.

I think it is the small things that make up the majority of our lives and who we are.

I had lots of driving today so I made only a little progress on the painting, but something is better than nothing.

The past couple days have been short sessions and today is no different.

There are some days when it is good to recognize that my focus is just not there and the minimum is okay.

I have a bit of an issue with different colors being used for the background with every session.

I’m enjoying the relaxed painting of cubby holes that I’m doing currently, I a few more of these to go before I return to the portrait for more refinement.

The shelving unit behind Pattie neatly sections off my daily art work it seems.

I’m still working on the background, this may take the longest even though I’m not planning on going super high detail with it.

I started on the background today to get away from the portrait for a bit. Her face is not done yet but it is good to work on something a bit different for a while.

I’m very new to this and I’m not very sure of what I’m doing. I’ve never painted oil over a well defined acrylic base so I’m going slow.

I’ve started with oil now and I’m taking my time, I don’t want to rush this as it is the first time I’m trying oil over acrylic.

Painting in the areas surrounding the head really adds depth to the painting so far, I’m even happier with the face as I start on the neck.

I feel that I’ve achieved what I can with the acrylic and the major features of the face.

I worked on the right eye a bit this session and moved into the structure around the eyes to see if I could figure out why the emotion isn’t there.

The emotion is paramount, yet I don’t feel the painting is capturing it. Which is why I decided to work on the eyes again today.

The morning after every session I post about my progress and review, which creates a loop of constant refinement and improvement.

Today’s session was all about getting some paint on the canvas, in later sessions I will work into each area and give it the attention it needs.

In small ways I keep experimenting with how acrylic uses transparency because the dry time is so quick that I can try many things quickly.

Every few sessions on a painting I have to revisit the fundamentals, in this case drawing, and focus hard on getting it right.

I’m using tech to help me see subtle value changes when the intensity of the colors are super high.

I must admit that I’m floundering a bit here as I’m playing with acrylic and it’s transparent properties.

I’m trying something new, I’m painting with Acrylic, but not for the whole painting just for the beginning layers of the figure.

I’m done with the initial drawing, but I will continue to refine it through the whole painting process but I’m excited to begin painting in the next session.

I’m so close to finished with the drawing that I can’t wait to start painting. But I need to finish the drawing well if the painting has any change of going well.

I think I will have about two more sessions before I actually begin with paint on this painting.

I have everything represented on the surface now. It needs refinement, but at least I have everything placed.

I needed to take more photos of the shelving today after trying to refine the keepsakes I’ve been drawing, I needed more detail.

Like Michelangelo with his “David” I’m chipping away at this painting one day at a time one small piece at a time.

The background of this painting is a large shelving unit full of keepsakes. I’m excited and a little overwhelmed at all the detail to capture.

I’m focusing on the background of the painting now which has a shelving unit with lots of square sections, lots of interesting perspective.

For this session I’m moving to the background but I wasn’t happy with the pieced together background images that I have, so I began to take more.

I think I’m done with the drawing of the figure and now I’m moving to the background.

At this point I have so many lines going all over the place that I need more information to separate them, so shading helps a lot.

For the most important parts of this drawing I do constant refinement until I’m certain I have what I want.

Folds in clothing can get super complicated and as I move down the portrait I’m having to deal with more and more folds.

More drawing on this painting today. I’m moving slowly through the figure, from top to bottom with a focus on accuracy.

This phase will take the longest, or it will seem like it. The most important thing is the foundation, the drawing.

The idea for this painting has been in my head for months and I finally had time to take the photos.