Diva Hair

In preparation for the hope that some day soon regular people will want to sit for a portrait session, I've started practicing on family members. Here Hilary poses quietly while I paint a simple, stylized portrait of her.



The work went really quickly. The idea is that if non professional models are to pose for portraits, I need to be able to work faster than I normally do, which also might mean that it will be necessary to perfect a simpler style, hence this portrait.



There are still some kinks to work out as far as studio set up goes. As it was today, Hilary was reclining on the futon in the studio while reading a book. At approximately five feet, I sat across from her. The desk top and palette were to my left which didn't work well, as I am right handed. The desk top was also at an awkward position for seeing and mixing the colors properly.

This was painted on a yellow primed panel, which is out of the ordinary, considering that I normally paint on linen, and sometimes cotton. Because the easel was also to my left, it was easier to paint this while the panel was propped up on my legs, right above the knee.

Even though it was afternoon when we started, the sun kept dodging in and out of the clouds so that I found myself constantly correcting the shadows on Hilary's face. Toward the end, I removed most of the shadows to make the painting simpler.

When Hilary saw it, she said, "I have diva hair."