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Monday, March 20, 2017

Half-Hour Portrait

My friend Phebe recently asked some really great questions. Her first one might be the hardest for me: Do you think the portraits you are doing now are different from your earlier work? If so, how? 

So I went back and looked at some portraits from 2010. And yes, they’re definitely different. But I’m having a hard time putting into words just how. I’m more confident, for one thing. That shows in stronger lines. I take a good chunk of time at the beginning of each portrait to get a basic drawing that captures a likeness. Once those lines are good, I stand by them. It also looks like I’m using slightly larger brushes, which probably is the case. No messing around with little strokes trying to figure out if the color and value are right. I’m not taking as much time figuring things out on the painting. That frees up a little time for what I see as the third difference, which is a little more attention to what’s going on in eyes and lips and shadows. OK for a start, Phebe?
Oh, and I've been wanting to paint this boy's eyes for a long time. 

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