here, yeller....

commission, 16"x20", pencil on illustration board

i struggled to take a super photo of this piece, so i suppose this will have to do for now. the photo is also cropped down a good bit from the original. 

day 10 - and i'm done!

commission, 16"x20", pastel on illustration board

this is actually the 10th and last piece of my countdown! yes, i know that i said there would be "12". but, during the twelve days, two of the project deadlines ended up being pushed back until after christmas (thankfully!). i started them, but eventually saw no need to push myself and finish when i didn't have to (save the countdown). i'm sorry to disappoint if you were actually following the countdown. but, thankful that i had a little more time to go christmas shopping and take care of things before tomorrow that i wouldn't have been able to otherwise. i'll post the belated two later on. thanks for following!

day 8

commission, pencil on illustration board

detail of a portrait that i'm in the process of finishing up. 

what i'm working on today...

this is a little commissioned piece that i've been playing around with lately. it is a wedding gift. i met with the bride and she gave me photos to work from. it only measures one foot by one foot, but it's been a bit of a challenge for me. sometimes when i draw/paint portraits i am able to capture personalities and faces more quickly than others. this one is more of an "others". i left it alone for a while in hopes that i would be able to discern its finality. i'm still contemplating it this morning...

beginning to end

the above photos document my progress on a commissioned piece that i've been working on for a client in tyler. she has a blank wall in her dining room in need of some art. she gave me a swatch of fabric that the dining room chairs are covered in for inspiration and lots of photos of her friends and family that we decided to include in the piece. because the photos i was given to work from were primarily smiling faces from the shoulders up,  i had to get a little creative with the bodies and clothes (i do hope that they like what they're wearing!). 

this piece was different than any other that i've created before because i used paper collage, acrylic paint AND oil pastel all in one.  it was also a stretch for me because i'm used to drawing/painting realistic portraits. i've trained myself to work until i get an exact likeness of the person i'm drawing. it was definitely a challenge for me not to concentrate too much on facial detail, but to go with more of an abstract representation of each person, experimenting with color and composition. 

the entire piece measures 7'x4' and is broken up into three canvases. 

a portrait

the portrait above is a commissioned piece that i am working on. the piece is on a 16"x20" piece of white illustration board and created with pencil. for some reason the scan of the original photo doesn't read well on this post. it seems like the photo image is even slightly elongated (and i'm not just using that as an excuse!). i can't figure out why it's copying that way. 

stepping back from this portrait, there is still a bit of shading i'd like to do that will soften him up a little more. i'd also like to build up the detail in his clothes. i'm still contemplating any other changes that might need to be made. once i get some feedback from my client i'll be able to finish him out!