The Second Go at Spencer

Note to self: Never ever paint eyeglasses askew, even if they really are askew.  It might work in a photograph, but not in a painting.  See!

From the Weekend

First up is this fifth pass on this painting by Carolus Duran.  I was having trouble getting the head right and it took a few tries to get there.  So now I am continuing on.



Next is the second pass on this Ingrid Bergman where I concentrated on the face.  The medium closed up on me pretty fast so I didn't have time to work on most of the hair.



And last is this start on a painting by... uhm... uhm.... I forgot his name.  It's a larger 12" x 18" size.

Next Set

First up is a black and white start on Spencer.  I was thinking about having everything but the face disappear into the dark background.  That's why the shirt is much darker than the original.



Next is this unknown color waiting.  I was thinking going in with some orange would tone down and darken the background, but it did not.



And last is this Duran painting where I'm still trying to get the basic head mass down before continuing.

Clearing out the backlog

Here is the second pass on this unknown female head study.



And here is tis first go on an old Ingrid Bergman photo.  I think it's Ingrid.  I'm actually not sure where I got the photo, so I can"t check.

Unknown Painter

I found this on an auction site, like Sotheby's, but not Sotheby's.  Here are the first three tries.  The next go I'll unify the background and that should help it along some.

From Saturday

First is this James Dean study where I worked on the sweater.



And next is this painting by Carolous Duran.  The second and third try.  I had trouble getting the basic head shape down.

Finished This Series

Here is the sequence of a head study, done in three tries.

Catching Up Again

I know it's been a few days.  I've done a lot of drawings, but here are some of the paintings I've worked on.  First is the 2nd pass on this head study.  I'll do one more try and fix up the bangs and bright spot below her right eye.



Second is the first go on this unknown woman.  I forgot where I found it, probably drawn to it by the shadows.



And last is this start on this painting by Carols Duran, who was John Singer Sargent's teacher.  Like always, I'll notice the mistakes as soon as I post the photo here.



Yep, I've got to bring in her left shoulder a bit.  Not a bad start though.  I can fix a lot on the next go.

From Saturday

First up is this black and white study of a Ziegfeld girl.  I concentrated on the lower part, the arm and garment.



And the next is this color head study.  This was the third pass where I worked on the background and hair mass.  I went too dark on the girls's right side, so I scraped it off and created more problems for myself trying to get it dark again.

Two Head Studies

Fisrt up is the 5th pass on this color head study.  I forget what I originally planned to do with the background, but today it seemed not to work what ever it was.  Anyways, I need to work that out with the thumbnails in the future.



Next is this black and white one where it now appears to have way too much forehead.  I'll trim that down next time.

Catching Up

I've missed a few days, so first up this this color portrait.  I mainly worked on the face and hair.  I was using the last of that bunch of medium and it tacked up really fast.  Looking at it now I shouldn't have thinned the width of the head last time.



Next is the continuation of this James Dean photograph.  Again, I worked mainly on the face and hair.  I darkened the cheek area and now that I look at it I could darken it further still.



And last, finishing up on this female head.  I think I'll give it one more try to get it right.  It's too wide and the cheek shadow goes too low.

Portraits

Ok, after getting some issues resolved, I'll try get back into the swing of things.   I have two head studies.  The first I worked on the hand, to catch up with the rest of the painting.  The second, made some corrections, mainly narrowing the head and started to define shadows.





And then worked on this cruise ship.  This is the second pass, where I made some corrections, like take the smokestack down an inch.