I had to try this one again, but this time I decided to make it a square painting. I found a version of the photo reference where her hat was in the air instead of laying on the ground, which I like much better. This is still a work in progress, but I like the direction of it.
My Hat, Squared, 10×10″ pastel on sanded paper by Marie Marfia. WIP
And here’s the final. I love spending time with my granddaughter.
My Hat, soft pastel on sanded paper 10×10. $850.
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Spent a wonderful day at the beach in South Haven, Michigan, playing with my granddaughter, Maeve. I got a picture of her just as her sunhat blew off in the wind and had to paint the memory.
She spent about an hour playing with rocks and pouring out water onto the sand. Maeve is just over two years old and her boundless curiosity about the way the water disappears when you dump it onto sand was irresistible. All that squatting I did to bring her more water from the lake! My legs are pretty sore today!
There’s something really fun about painting a memento of a certain place and the company kept. Good times!
My hat! 6×9″ pastel painting on sanded paper by Marie Marfia, $600 framed.
No. 76, 100 Portraits in 100 Days, 6×9″ pastel on mat board with pumice ground by Marie Marfia
There are days when I just don’t want to do anything. I don’t want to paint, I don’t want to do yoga, I don’t want to do my job.
The whole thing just feels overwhelming. So, since I usually can’t skip whatever it is because hey, I’m a grown up and grown ups just carry on, I try to break it down into small, bite-sized pieces.
Today, for instance, I decided not to think about how hard portraits can be, and how much time they take to do, and instead I concentrated on just getting a board ready to paint. Sometimes just doing the stuff that leads up to the painting can help me feel better.
So I found a piece of mat board and cut it to the right size and taped it to my easel. Then I mixed up some acrylic pumice ground with a little water and brushed it on the board. While I let it dry, I opened my photo reference in Photoshop and cropped it and then printed out three references, one black and white, one posterized and one regular.
I took the regular photo reference and made pencil lines on it using a ruler, marking the picture into quarters and then putting lines in for where the eyes were, where the chin and top of the head fell, the edges of the face. I drew plumb lines from the corners of the eyes and the mouth and the nostrils.
When I got that done I decided to go ahead and begin the preliminary sketch using a blue pastel pencil and measuring as I went along. Once that I was done I took a break.
I like to sit and think about the painting and what kind of underpainting I’m going to do, what colors are in the photo, what kind of day it was when I took the picture, what color the light is and what the colors of the shadows should be.
After a little while I get out my pastels and start blocking in the shadows and the lights using the black and white reference. I generally use four values for the underpainting. In this case, I used 4 warm blues for the face and some purples for the background. Then I rub in the color with foam pipe insulation.
After the block in I use the posterized reference to put in some colors over the underpainting, keeping mostly the same values.
Another break and then I taped up the regular photo and began to put color in, trying to marry the sections together and bring what was already there more in line with what I saw in the photo. This is the hardest part and where I’m most likely to have a melt down. The trick is to squint a lot and be patient. Sometimes the painting doesn’t want to cooperate, but sometimes it takes on a life of its own. Those are the best days.
Today was a very good day. I’m glad I painted today.
Scott is a friend of my husband’s, actually, but since Steve isn’t on facebook, I get all the status updates that Scott posts and pass them along. It’s not in the marriage vows, but I don’t mind.
I’ve always wanted to draw Scott’s face, almost since I first met him. He’s got wonderfully strong features, just fascinating to me, really. This painting did not go well at first and I ended up brushing it out and starting over again. It’s still not perfect, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned about doing a series, you have to be able to let a piece go and move on. As it is, I’m pleased the way it resolved in the end and that’s the main thing.
Scott, No. 10, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on mat board by Marie Marfia
(I’m behind in my daily posts. Forgive me, I’ll try to catch up as I go along. I will get to them all so please be patient.)
Here are the progress pics.
This is my 30 Friends in 30 Days series. Each day I take a friend’s selfie and make a pastel painting from it. Then I post it to ebay at auction for 7 days. Follow my progress as I learn to paint pastel portraits with a little help from my friends.
