Catching up

Well, where to start after so long?! The journey with oil painting continues. Still so much to learn. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it feels so hard I wonder if I should throw in the towel. It's a rollercoaster! After my last post, struggling with Kpop portraits, I found cats easier. Short hair dog not so bad. It's really all about having the right brushes to match what you're trying to achieve I was invited to exhibit these, above, locally which was a huge boost and proof I should keep going with oils. 

Blogger hasn't improved one bit since I last posted and trying to get every paragraph to align in the same way continues to be a struggle - some things never change! I can't insert any text between the next two photos!

So...Two more Kpop portraits. Taeyeon, the female above and Ten below. Taeyeon was an attempt to be less blended and used a 'short flat' brush. It doesn't show much in the photo but it was an effect I loved and tried to push in later paintings. Ten was a huge struggle to make those unusual colours believable. It took two attempts and a lot of re-painting. The shirt was done in one pass!

First attempt as a long haired dog and it a challenge. I took it into my class to get advice on how to interpret the photo as the bottom part was cut off. I was very pleased with how it turned out but it was commissioned by a friend to give her daughter and my friend died suddenly just a couple of days before I was to give it to her so it breaks my heart to see it. It was given to her daughter as a gift from Caroline.

I will never tire of painting Jonghyun. What incredible bone structure.

Something a little different and fun. All these were exhibited. Funnily enough the two bottom ones sold at different times but both buyers said they bought them as they made them smile which I just loved.

Since I last posted the world is such a different place. This was painted not long after Covid broke out and we were all in lockdown. Portrait Artist of the Year went online and every Sunday hosted a live portrait painting session matching a portrait artist from the show with a celebrity and invited the public to join in. I used a new technique to get this finished in the three hours and absolutely loved doing it. Picking out lovely colours and splashing them around was a joy! A new found freedom!