Nos. 16-17, 100 Portraits in 100 Days, 8×10″ pastel on UArt 400 sanded paper, mounted on foam core, by Marie Marfia.
Here’s a cute couple. From the reflections in their sunglasses, I think they must’ve been at a park when they took their picture. Awesome! I’m a nature gal, myself. Although, I can get my fill in an hour or two. I love walking the trails, but I don’t want to be out there all day! I got stuff to do! Places to go! People to see! Know what I mean?
You’ll notice that on this portrait I opted to use a distorted grid. Couldn’t resist. It was such a twisted sort of skeleton portrait to do.
So Melissa sent me this beautiful selfie for my 100 Portraits in 100 Days series, asked me to roll the dice and this is the result! Such a pretty face! And pink hair! It was like drowning in cotton candy.
Melissa Hill, No. 3, 100 Portraits in 100 Days, 6×9″ pastel on mat board with pumice ground by Marie Marfia. This pastel is available, $100 + $12 shipping. Contact me for more info.
Self portraits are maddening. And interesting. And fascinating. And kinda fun.
I spent a few days working on this one, and I think I’d like to do more. It’s my nose, dammit. I have such a hard time getting it right. And there’s too much chalk on the paper. It’s like I circle around and around until I find the right color/value/shade.
Maybe the next one won’t be so difficult.
Marie in Blue, 8×8″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
This was another challenge because William is almost completely in shadow and his lovely wife’s hair is almost completely blown out by the overhead lighting.
This is how selfies arrive, though. You can’t say, “Take another one!” because that would be cheating.
This also took me two days to complete but I’m pleading a trip to the dentist for a crown as my reason for not finishing it yesterday. I got back from that ordeal and just could not muster any enthusiasm for art making.
I like my dentist. He’s capable and a bit quirky and I realize that I’m lucky to be able to pay for his services, thanks to insurance through Steve’s job. So I’m not complaining. But my jaw is a little bit sore yet today. It sort of felt like they were using the right side of my mouth for taffy pulling practice there toward the end.
Anyway, this is it. This is the last of the 30 Friends in 30 Days series. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I’ll post a complete write-up of it later this week, promise.
William and Co., Nos. 32-33, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 10×8″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
William and Co., Nos. 32-33, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 10×8″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
William and Co., Nos. 32-33, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 10×8″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
William and Co., Nos. 32-33, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 10×8″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Here are the progress pics:
Charcoal sketch on a grid.
Notan.
Rubbing in with pipe insulation.
Posterized colors.
Local colors.
Getting closer.
Final tweaks.
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.
I am not positive, but I think I took this picture of Deb during a camping trip to one of the Manitou Islands up by Charlevoix, Michigan. We had to stay an extra day because the ferryboat couldn’t leave port on account of high winds. There were something like 20 women in our group and we quickly divvied up all the cigarettes and booze and then a few of the more nurturing types wandered around to see if anyone else in the other campsites needed anything. That trip was a real hoot. And sooooooo long ago. I’m sure glad I lived to mis-remember it.
Thank you, Deb, for letting me paint your beautiful face!
Deb, No. 31, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Deb, No. 31, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Deb, No. 31, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Deb, No. 31, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Here are the progress pics:
Charcoal sketch on a grid.
Darks.
Posterized colors.
Local colors.
More loose blocking in.
Starting to finalize.
Last tweaks.
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.
This is Mike, Janet’s son, and all I know is, I learned a lot about painting a 5 o’clock shadow on this painting! And I remember reading something about it once, a long, long time ago, but it didn’t come back to me in time for this piece. I had to brush it out and start over again. There’s a trick to doing them so that the person doesn’t look like a reprobate. I think I managed it on the second time around.
Thank you, Janet, for sending me your son’s beautiful (and challenging) face to paint!
Mike, No. 27, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Mike, No. 27, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Mike, No. 27, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Mike, No. 27, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Here are the progress pics.
Charcoal sketch on a grid.
Posterized colors.
Rubbed in with pipe insulation.
Restating the darks.
Adding local color.
Final tweaks.
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.
This is Sha, the sister of a friend of my husband’s. I tried to see the resemblance between her and her brother the whole time I was painting this portrait, but in the end I had to admit that maybe I didn’t remember Joe as well as I thought I did.
This happens with increasing frequency, but I try to relax and enjoy the process anyway. That’s all I can do and it’s usually more than enough.
Thanks, Sha, for sending me your beautiful face to paint!
Sha, No. 26, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Sha, No. 26, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Sha, No. 26, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Sha, No. 26, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Here are the progress pics.
Charcoal sketch on a grid.
Blocking in with posterized colors.
Local colors.
Final tweaks.
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.
This are my friends, Trish and Linda. They are best friends, can you tell? Whenever they are together, it’s like they speak a private language. They finish each other’s sentences, they giggle over inside jokes. Truly, they’re wonderful to watch. I guess I’m a people watcher. I love to observe people and how they interact and these two love each other very much. Warms the cockles of my heart.
So I was very happy to have a picture of the two of them to paint. Linda, on the left, gave me a little trouble, because most of her face is in shadow. There’s dark, and then there’s dark, you know? I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out, all in all. And I’m getting better as I go along. Even I can tell, and I’m my own harshest critic, naturally.
Trish and Linda, Nos. 23-24, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Trish and Linda, Nos. 23-24, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Trish and Linda, Nos. 23-24, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Here are the work in progress pics:
Charcoal sketch on a grid.
Posterized colors added.
Rubbed in colors with pipe insulation.
Re-stating the darks with reddish brown.
Starting to put in local color.
More details.
Final tweaks.
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.
I met Mary through ebay. She’s a huge supporter, a loyal patron and an accomplished oil painter. It was cool to finally see the wonderful face behind the generous spirit! Thank you, Mary, for sending me your beautiful face to paint!
Mary, No. 23, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 6×9″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Mary, No. 23, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 6×9″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Mary, No. 23, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 6×9″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Mary, No. 23, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 6×9″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Here are the work in progress pics:
Charcoal sketch on a grid.
Posterized color block in.
Rub in with pipe insulation.
Local colors.
Final tweaks.
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.
This is Mel, another friend I met through the magic of Facebook. I began this portrait determined not to overwork it, to leave some of the bright, posterized underpainting colors showing through. I managed it, but just barely.
The only way to keep from getting too tidy with these things is to make a mark and step back and squint and make another mark and step back and squint. I like how this one turned out. I especially appreciate the crazy hair in the photo reference and I wanted that and her beautiful eyes to take precedence over everything else.
I got my first set of pictures taken of it and had to add a couple more little marks, just because. It’s hard to let go of perfect. It would be helpful if I could focus on how I feel about what I’m doing versus what someone else might think about it.
Thank you, Mel, for sending me your beautiful face to paint!
Mel, No. 19, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie MarfiaMel, No. 19, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie MarfiaMel, No. 19, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Mel, No. 19, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
One thing I know, I’m getting much better at drawing glasses!
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.
