Bear and Hair

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Still trying to find the right blonde for her hair.

Painting advice from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

1.

Phyllis....try using a combination of burnt and raw sienna, yellow ochre, and mars black on Carley's hair....hold on the hands until you've finished Carley's hair and you are satisfied with her face...believe it or not, you have painted a very challenging portrait in record time! Paint on Phyllis!!
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2.

Mars black was only to be used to "darken" the burn't and raw sienna....I see no problem using black as much as I see using white as potentially problematic...white used with certain colors can "bleach" that color out---too much white can make a painting look "washed out"---the colors are not as brilliant, or lively as they could be.
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Background and mouth

Two things I haven't been happy with and am still not quite happy is with the background and Carley Ann's mouth/teeth. Here are the latest changes. I'll probably work a bit on the mouth area tomorrow with rested eyes and then move on to hands, legs, feet and shoes. Oh yes... and hair. :) When Carley Ann's mother and daddy saw the portrait last week they wanted her to have teeth, so I made an attempt to put them in, but now that I look at it, she looks better with just a hint of teeth showing.

Painting tip from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Very nice Phyllis!! The way that you introduced the plants is well done--nice, but not an "attention eater". Now Phyllis, here's your next challenge...take a good look at Carly's mouth--notice in the photo that her teeth are barely showing....to "de-emphasize" her teeth, take some burnt sienna and a touch of red and go inside her mouth lessening the visability of her teeth--darken her top lip and keep her bottom lip highlighted....her teeth are "aging her" just a tad---so work on her mouth area...Phyllis, you are just about at the finish line with this one...WELLLLL DONE!
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Adding green plants

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Painting Advice from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Phyllis, the flowers behind Carly is not a concern for me...you can add a bit of detail, and that's all that they will need. I'd be careful about the flowers that you've put up front...that will mean more detail....the focus is on Carly...you've painted her well enough where she can "stand on her own".....adding flowers is a nice touch, but be sure that you keep Carly as the star of your portrait!

Adding Anna Claire

I've got the block in done for Anna Claire. Here's the problem I think I'm going to run into... porportion... how much smaller is Anna Claire than her sister. I'm going for it anyway.I took away one column and will fuzz out the background when I figure out what to do. I also added some ivy on the bricks and the corner of a bush. I may put Cocoa-puff in too... just because they love her so and she's another one of my girls.

Paintin advice from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Phyllis, you can work it out on paper....the size of the paper doesn't matter, but getting the scale right does. Try working it out on an 18 x 24 sheet of drawing paper....get the scale of Carly on the paper as close to the scale of Carly on your canvas....this will make it easier to "transfer" the correct scale to your canvas. One other thing I should mention to you Phyllis, and this is an old trick to mine....after you've gotten your drawing the way that you like on your paper...turn it over, and take soft graphite or pastel and cover the back of your paper...making sure that the covering completely covers the drawing on the other side. Once that is done, you can turn the drawing back over...being careful, and making sure that the surface that you're going to lay it on is NOTtoo wet---if it is, wipe away any excess paint, making sure that the surface is as dry as possible. Next, you "re-draw" your image--pressing against the canvas, and when you've finished, the image should be "transferred" to your canvas---it might be light---in that case, you can draw a bit harder to make sure that it did transferred. It's a little work, but it can truly help you with your scale. For future paintings....your decisions should be definitive...honestly, I would not add any other images in the process, once I've begun to paint--my concern would be that your concern with getting the scale right on another image would frustrate you enough to take away from the original commitment to paint only Carly....I love your "boldness", but I must say that you might focus only on going through with the process of painting Carly, and once you've successfuly done that, (and I'm sure that you'll be successful), then you can take on the "fresh" process of painting them both in a brand new painting!
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Sunday

I took the day off to consider what to do next. :)

I think I'll be working on the hair getting it to be blonde like her real hair is and checking to see if the hair line is correct. Also, I'll be adjusting the eyes around the fold line and the under lid of the eye socket.

This next week I'll be busy with VBS so I don't know how much time I'll have to devote to this painting. I do want to think about adding Anna Claire to this painting since I'm happy with it so far and my children seem to be too.

If you have any suggestions, please post them. I would be so grateful.

Painting tip from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Phyllis, I use these colors, titanium white, cad red, yellow ochre, and lemon yellow. The titanium white and the cad red are your base colors, with yellow ochre and lemon yellow for making the flesh cooler or warmer. You can mix green on for darker tones and shadows--(true green). You can acually purchase "flesh" color at most arts and crafts stores--but you still will have to navigate through your tones. (ligts and darks).
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Canvas Covered with Paint

Today I've been working on getting paint all over the canvas and making some adjustments just to keep my head straight. I think I've figured out what to do with all that blank space to the right of Carley Ann... if she turns out to my satisfaction, I'll see if I can slide Anna Claire in beside her. :) For now I'll just leave it blank.

Painting advice from my friend Booker Thomas Poole:

Nice Phyllis! Very good start! Here's my suggestion: (this is how I paint my portraits--you don't have to do this, but from what I can see, you are painting your portrait like I paint mine.) When painting portraits, I try to consider the entire composition, and I try to avoid focusing too much on one area--this allows me to build up my entire composition all at once--it also allows me to make decisions on what background colors will work best with my subject-(there are times when the background in the photo may not necessarily compliment my portrait subject)--I make sure that my portrait subject is the main focal point--if the background is too intense or the colors don't compliment the colors on my subject---it would be difficult for the viewer to focus on the subject itself. As for using charcoal and worrying about the strong lines--try to tone down by erasing as much as you can, but in the future, you can spray drawing with fixative spray. You are doing great Phyllis!!! I'm actually painting Carly as well, and I will post the steps I took soon...coooool Phyllis!
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Refining

Advice from Thomas Booker Poole:

Nice Phyllis! Now remember, "less is more", and stay away from too much defintion in Carly's face...you've done a very good job with her eyes....soften her cheeks...try to avoid the temptation to draw strong lines...soften her mouth area.....the purpose of doing all of this is to "transition" this thought process into your painting. 85-90% of a person's likeness is "in the eyes"....and you are more than almost there.

Beginning a Portrait

First time trying to do a portrait. Hopefully this will look like Carley Ann Franklin Angel.

30x40 canvas

Painting tip from my friend Booker Thomas Poole. http://www.dazzcraze.com

Phyllis, here's some things to keep in mind when doing children's portraits. First and foremost, be mindful of what kind of canvas that you use when painting portraits-especially children. I use Fredrix Style 589 Portrait Canvas for all of my portraits---it's a smoother canvas--excellent for the softness of a child's face. Keep in mind the softness of Carly's face-(what a wonderful face! )--Keep in mind the expressiveness of her eyes--the "softness" of her facial features. When you finally start to paint her--remember "less is more"---use color and highlights to emphasize features on her face. (will illustrate this evening) Today, once you are comfortable with drawing her-transfer her to the canvas using the grid--NO PAINTING YET...only concern yourself with making sure that she is "rendered well"---drawn well on the canvas--that the composition is what you desire---study the her tones--lights and darks---study the relationship of her AND the background...become very familiar with the overall composition---make sure that it's placed where you want it on the canvas....my thought is that you'll spend the day making sure that she is drawn as best that you can---if she is a well-rendered drawing, then she shall be a well-rendered painting!!!! Looking forward to this evening, and I'll check in at some point today!!!! By the way, I like your first sketch....remember that her eyes are her best feature---keep them soft...keep the propotioned in relation to her face...not too large.....