Adding glazes and modifying Lorena 20"x24"

The portrait of Lorena finally got dry enough for me to try applying some glazes. I used M Graham's non-toxic walnut alkyd medium for oils, mixed with small amounts of paint.







Note: The top photo is of the eyes after I read pasadenaadjacent's comment and re-painted; the lower is of the askew eyes pasadenaadjacent commented upon. The last photo is of the whole portrait, as it now looks.

Lorena 20"x24": Work in Progress

This oil portrait is much larger than life and presents a new challenge. I'm still working on it and thinking about it, but I feel it is going in a good direction.

I'm trying out some new paints: M Graham, which are walnut-oil-based, rather than linseed-oil; they flow better and stink less. (I learned about these paints from reading another blog, rue Manuel bis, at caseytoussaint.wordpress.com.)

I'm also trying out using oil bars (I have a black and a white) and I'm liking what they can do in terms of mark-making. The oil bars were a suggestion of Anne Saitzyk's. I also was inspired to try them by looking at the blog My Journey With Art, at rjoynerartworks.blogspot.com (he paints in acrylics and uses crayons or a squeeze bottle to make his marks on paintings). (Both blogs I've mentioned are on my blog list, if you want to check them out.)

Lorena, 2009

These are paintings from last week, painted from photographs taken in daylight without flash. The paintings are on 12" square canvases. I'm working on conveying Lorena's personality--how she lights up the room.