Head Study #84

 Arches, 11.5 x 15"

Head Study #83

Arches, 11.5 x 15"

 

Head Study #82

Upcoming a series of three.  All the actress Louise Brooks again.  Working on hair, especially the shiny bits.  Arches, 11.5 x 15"

Head Study #81

Tonight I present a copy of the magazine "Motion Picture Classic" from October 1926 featuring Louise Brooks.  I wanted to practice painting human hair and thought I would follow what previous artists had done.  Somehow I seemed to have stretched her face, especially the lower half.  Oh well...  Arches 11.5 x 15"

Head Study #80

 This time I present a portrait of another silent film era actress, Evelyn Brent.  Arches, 11.5 x 15"

Head Study #79

Continuing with watercolors, today I present a portrait of silent film era actress Louise Brooks.  I got a new brush and didn't clean it out thoroughly and while painting the background some craziness happened.  Well, that's what I think anyway.  (Arches, 11.5 x 15")

Head Study #78

I have long admired the charcoal "mugs" of John Singer Sargent.  But I don't like charcoal.  So I thought of trying to do them in watercolors, as a color monochrome.  Here is my attempt.  I see some problems with it.  Mostly the tilt angle of the eyes, should be a little less.  Also, I tried to center it by drawing a box around the head and hoping the lines would fade away as the background was filled in.  That didn't happen.  I'll try painting wetter in the future.  Arches, 11.5 x 15"

 

Head Study #77

Today I present a watercolor copy of a John Singer Sargent oil portrait of Nancy Langhorne (1908), later Astor.  I'm starting to like watercolors.  Oil paint requires a big block of time, say three to four hours including preparation and clean up.  Watercolors don't require that.  I can produce a few drops of water, make one stroke and walk away.  Sure the paint will dry, but it only needs to be rewetted.  Arches, 11.5 x 15"

Head Study #76

This is a watercolor copy of an oil painting by Gerald Leslie Brockhurst.  I don't have a title, nor a date for this, but probably painted in the 1930s.  Somehow my copy grew an inch, ended up larger than I had planned.  And I got some strange twists happening.  Arches, 11.5 x 15"