Tag Archives: woman

No. 86, Arielle

This woman. She is full of ideas, and mischief, which is kind of the same thing. I wanted to paint her in the style of an artist I only just found out about this morning, Richard Suckling. His plein aire landscapes are full of big marks and squiggly lines and I want my art to be like that, so today I did a more gestural drawing to start with and then I made sure I stopped before I’d completely covered it up. I like the lines! I think they give my work a more dynamic feel. And Arielle is the perfect subject for this, because she’s all about movement. She wants to do things, to change things, to make things better. She’s a mover and a shaker and this is what I see reflected in this portrait. Aahh! Love it.

Ariel, No. 23, 100 Portraits in 100 Days, 6×9″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia

You may remember Arielle as this skull painting (No. 23 in this series), as well. She’s awesome on the inside, too.

Arielle, No. 86, 100 Portratis in 100 Days, 6×9″ pastel on gessoed mat board by Marie Marfia

No. 11, 100 Portraits in 100 Days

Here’s Kelly and her kitty. They look so comfortable snoozing like that together. I miss my cat sometimes. She was a clever kitty. But Steve is allergic to cats so our last cat was our last cat.

Kelly and cat, No. 11, 100 Portraits in 100 Days, 6×9″ pastel on UArt 400 sanded paper, mounted on foam core, by Marie Marfia. This painting is available ($100 plus $12 shipping). Contact me to purchase.

Here are the progress pictures:

: Pencil sketch on grid

: Block in

: Local color

Read more about my 100 Portraits in 100 Days project, and follow along on Facebook or Instagramor Twitter. Sign up for my newsletter and be the first to see my portraits as I finish them!

No. 10, 100 Portraits in 100 Days

Thank you, Suzanne, for sending a picture of your mother for me to paint. She looks like she loves her life. Such a great smile.

pastel painting of a smiling elderly woman

Gloria, No. 10, 100 Portraits in 100 Days, 6×9″ pastel on UArt 400 sanded paper, mounted on foam core, by Marie Marfia. Sold.

Here are the progress pictures:

: block in

: Local color

: Tweaks

No. 9, 100 Portraits in 100 Days

This is from Erin, a painting of her lovely sister. Thanks, Erin, for sending it to me! I hope your mom loves it.

No. 9, 100 Portraits in 100 Days, 9×6″ pastel on mat board with pumice ground, by Marie Marfia. This painting is available $100 plus $12 shipping. Contact me to purchase.

Here are the progress pictures:

: Pencil drawing

: Block in

: Local colors

: Tweaks

No. 3, 100 Portraits in 100 Days

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.

Here are the progress pictures:

: Pencil sketch.

: Green underpainting.

: Block in.

: Local color.

: Tweak and done!

No. 2, 100 Portraits in 100 Days

Here’s Kennah, my second portrait in this series. As usual, these are more fun the more I do them. I liked her pale hair and the tender expression on her face.

Kennah, No. 2, 100 Portraits in 100 Days series, 6×9″ pastel on mat board with pumice ground. Available $100 plus $12 shipping. Contact me to purchase.

Here are the progress shots:

: Initial sketch and block in with green.

: Rubbing in the green underpainting.

: Block in with local color.

: Blending.

: Tweak.

: Tweak.

: Done.

Yellow Bikini

I painted this last week, while I was working my shift at The Attic. I liked the contrast between the woman’s dark skin and the bright bikini and really, really liked both against the cool blues of the water. She was so relaxed, sitting in the surf and letting the waves wash over her. I think I was wearing shorts or jeans or something and I remember feeling a little jealous. Why wasn’t I sitting in the water like her?

Yellow Bikini, 6×9″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia

Yellow Bikini, matted and framed, $269.

Yellow Bikini, 6×9″ pastel on paper, matted and framed, $269.

No. 25, 30 Friends in 30 Days

Diana

This is my mother-in-law, Diana. She took her first ever selfie just so she could be part of this series. I love her. She’s always ready for anything.

We just shipped her back to Michigan. She came down for a visit over Christmas. She made gingerbread cookies, put jigsaw puzzles together, played endless games of cribbage, and played with my Duolingo app. She speaks French now and then because she always liked it as a girl, but she’s Italian through and through. Look at her strong jaw, those amazing eyebrows!

I tried to take pictures every day so I could make a little photo album to send to her for when she gets back and can’t remember everything she did while she was here. She’s such a sweet woman, always wanted a daughter, and she always tells me I was the daughter she never had.

We’ll be moving back to Michigan soon, and then we’ll be closer to her and able to visit her more often than twice a year. Take her out for ice cream. She’ll love that. Me, too.

Diana, No. 25, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia

Diana, No. 25, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia

Here are the progress pics:

: Charcoal on a grid.

: Posterized colors.

: Rubbed in color with pipe insulation.

: Restate the darks using a notan.

: Begin adding local color.

: Towards the end.

: 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.

Click to bid on this painting.

No. 22, 30 Friends in 30 Days

Mary

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

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.

Click to bid on this painting.

No. 18, 30 Friends in 30 Days

Loni

This is Loni, a new friend I met through my Facebook page.

One of the challenges of working on a picture of someone who is beautiful is that you stop looking at your reference and just paint a beautiful face. This portrait had some tricky bits to pay attention to, like the highlights on her cowboy hat, the shadows under her chin and the shape of her mouth and nose. It was a really nice picture to begin with, so I tried to make it something more than just a reproduction.

I think the texture that I put on the board helped. I like working on board that has an obvious brush stroke in it. Today I mixed a batch of acrylic ground, which gave me more tooth to play with than the usual clear gesso would.

Thank you, Loni, for sending me your beautiful face to paint!

Loni, No. 18, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×6″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia