With the reference photo on my desktop computer, I cropped it to fit 8x10, as Brenda requested. When I enlarged Violet’s face to study the details I could see that a close up, done horizontally, would make a more dynamic painting than doing her whole body in a vertical layout, especially on such a small canvas. I ran this idea past Brenda, showing her both options, and she agreed. I was off and running!
For my commissioned work I choose acrylics. My favorites are Golden Fluid Acrylics. I can work with them opaquely or add the Golden Glazing Liquid for transparent layers. With acrylics it’s easy to make changes and corrections, which sometimes are necessary to please the customer. I am very comfortable mixing colors to get exactly what I want, as I did in this painting. To unify a painting, I repeat the major tones throughout, avoiding having any one section with drastically different color.
Knowing Violet’s face would be the most challenging part of this artwork, I skirted around and started on the background, her clothes and the base colors of the hat. Little of the background would show, so I shaded it from light grey tones on the left to a dark mix of blue, black, and brown on the right. I simplified her top, ignoring the little repeat pattern on the fabric and making it a solid light color with blue shading. I love painting worn denim and had fun painting the glides, clasps and buttons on her overall suspenders as well as the stitching on the fabric.
In my many paintings of cats, dogs, birds, wildlife and people, one of the first things viewers comment on are the eyes. I often do them first in a painting, since it brings the subject to life immediately. Every eye is different, and I love capturing all the fine details which make them expressive and dramatic. I tried to hold off a bit on painting Violet’s eyes, but couldn’t resist beginning them in the early stages.
As I’ve often said, I struggle most with paintings of people - and I’m not shy about admitting it. When I was introduced to Brenda at my recent art guild show, and asked to paint her niece, I initially said NO. But then she showed me her photo of Violet and I weakened at the sight of her mesmerizing blue eyes, messy face, cute hat and adorable overalls. I knew it would be a challenge, but I decided to take it on. I said YES!
The straw hat was challenging. I added shading under the brim and on the sides before working on the woven texture with opaque acrylics, including a lighter shade of the base color, along with brown and rust tones.
Next came Violet’s face. I resorted to an old trick - turn the canvas and the reference photo upside down and paint! The idea is to focus on colors and shapes, without my brain telling me I’m trying to create eyes, nose, mouth, etc. It has worked for me many times, and on Violet everything seemed to be coming together when I viewed it right side up, as it magically does. From a color standpoint, I got too rosy on her skin, as photo #6 shows, so glazes of other colors toned it down to more natural hues. For the soft shading on Violet’s nose, around her eyes and mouth, and below the chin I mixed a warm violet. Her lips were a mix of different pinks, cool on the top lip and warm on the bottom. The little darkness in the corners helped to capture her cute grin. The white skin highlights and messy stuff around her mouth (chocolate? mud pie?) gave the image great realism, and the highlights in Violet’s eyes were the icing on the cake!
My final step were the whisps of hair, and I wanted them to look fine, tousled and soft. I painted the darkest background brown first. When dry, I painted messed up strands over it with a rust color, then lighted that shade a bit for more fly-away waves. For the lightest hairs I mixed just a bit of raw sienna with white. When using acrylics, I most often use straight gesso for my whites rather than white acrylic paint - seems to be more opaque.
I think I met my challenge and I am pleased with my finished painting. What makes me even happier is that Brenda loves it, as do Violet’s other family members. I hope the painting will be a prized possession of hers when she is an adult!
