Day 16 and 17 - 29 Faces Challenge

What a very long weekend of painting with a roller.  Thank goodness the decorating is over.  So here's a few portraits for day 16 and 17.  I've tried a mixed media for a change.  Watercolour background, acrylic face, a paper flower cut out and stuck down from a garden magazine and charcoal for the hair and some of the detail.  A darker skin tone than I've ever tried before but it's pretty good for a first attempt.  I recently watched a film from 1979 called The Warriors and I took an image of the main female role as reference and inspiration.  Looks nothing like her.

 

For my second photo of the day.  There's some success and some points I would like to work on if I had had the time.   Black and white acrylic on A5 mixed media paper.  Again, a first.  First time portrait in black and white acrylic.

Original photo  https://pmp-art.com/neil-a-kingsbury/gallery/34739/the-bar

Two more to do tomorrow.  I might be caught up by Wednesday.  I already have the portraits in mind to do from Paint my Photo.  Another monotone in acrylic and a charcoal with an acrylic background.  That's the plan anyway.

Day 15 - 29 Faces Challenge

I'm enjoying this charcoal more and more. Original photo from Paint My Photo. Lots of royalty free photos to paint or draw.

I went back to the A5 paper as its smoother and smaller which is perfect for a little study. Half way now through the #29faces challenge. Motivation is slowing down a bit and I've got decorating to do in the next few days.

Once I get going I'm sure I will enjoy it.

Day 14 - 29 Faces Challenge

I graduated the acrylic paint from dark to light then drew the mermaid in charcoal. 12"x9" watercolour paper.

Day 13 - 29 Faces Challenge 'The Joker'

What an interesting character!  Original photo taken by Neil-A-Kingsbury

#29faces - Again, in charcoal pencil but I thought this time, I would experiment and see how it would turn out on the WH Smith watercolour pad.  I feel the texture is quite rough for charcoal but it depends what effect you're looking for.  I would have preferred a smoother texture. Size 12"x9" (about A4).

I tried to highlight with white acrylic paint again but it really wasn't doing what I wanted.  Probably need to fix the charcoal first before doing the highlights this way.  Wish I had a white compressed charcoal stick!  I've ordered a squeezable putty eraser so hope that will make a difference.

I'm quite tempted to do a mixed media piece tomorrow.  I saw a youtube video where you outline the features, fix with spray then use a wash to bring colour to the face and then paint flowers in her hair.  Sounds like fun!

Day 12 - 29 Faces Challenge

The early movie stars were fabulous and this little beauty was Clara Bow who's trend setting Clara Bow bob of the 1920's was the look to go for.

Day 12 of the #29faces challenge and I'm loving having the dedicated time to create.

Day 11 - 29 Faces Challenge

Rock Hudson in charcoal. How gorgeous was he! A bit later to draw today as I've had a busy day on my allotment.

A pleasure to draw at the end of a very tiring day.

Day 10 - 29 Faces Challenge

First in a set of charcoal portraits for the #29faces challenge. I thought I would try my hand at a famous icon of the past.

I've put my watercolours away so I can get the feel for my charcoal pencils which I got half price from WH Smith.

I used a folded, soft pocket paper handkerchief to blend. Because I don't have a kneadable eraser, I used white acrylic to highlight the eyes and make the teeth whiter. I can already see the advantage of chalk sticks over pencils... the sticks would cover larger areas which would have been handy for the background. The white isn't as white as I would like. Ah well. A different project and it might work well for me.

Once this darn rain has stopped, I will be spraying with fixative outside.

Day 9 - 29 Faces Challenge -The Rose

With much thanks to Christine for her original photograph. This is my first baby and rose I've ever painted and what a gorgeous combination. I think I may enter it into my local horticultural show that's on tomorrow. Just for fun and smiles.

I used a light brown watercolour pencil to sketch out the baby then used my watercolour set. I used the white of the paper to make the highlights. A5 Canson mixed media paper.

Day 8 - 29 Faces Challenge

Thanks to Paint my Photo you can use, royalty free, any of the photos uploaded on there for your art work.  Steve Lyddon has a varied and interesting selection to choose from.  Click on his name and it'll take you to his original photograph.

I tested myself against the clock and allowed half hour to get the drawing right (it took less but then as I started to do a wash over the face, I rubbed out a pencil mark and unfortunately it was still wet so it was wrecked and I had to start again) and about half hour to paint.

This challenge has really got my artistic side flowing and going.  Thoroughly enjoying it!

Day 7 - 29 Faces Challenge

I changed paper today to a WH Smith 12"x9" watercolour paper. I could point out what I would change if I were to do it again but why spoil things? I've spent quite a while on it and if I spent another half hour or so I may tweak it here and there. I started to but then that's when I started to spoil things and had to spend extra time correcting my corrections. Sigh... So at that point, I step away.

Original photo from Paint my Photo

A closer look...

First time painting a man. Those hands need to be bigger. No more said 😁

And now for something silly.

Ok, so I have centre text on and I can't change it for some reason. Ah well.

I thought I would paint something comical, cartooney and since I watched an episode of The Frugal Crafters tutorial on YouTube on how to paint a cup cake in Watercolour, I was inspired to give it a go and add the little girl.

Day 5 - 29 Faces Challenge

So here's day 5 for the #29faces challenge.  I decided to paint my daughter in watercolour.  This was the day she came back from her cadet camp and passed her cadet training. 

I concentrated on getting the features right by shading in the face.

The green is a tad more vibrant in real life but overall, I'm pretty pleased with this stylised portrait for the September 2016 #29faces challenge. I'm really enjoying using watercolours and the black drawing pen really makes it pop.

Day 3 - Flower Girl in Watercolour - 29 Faces Challenge

The photo is a little dark but then I'm using my kindle. I tried to correct a few areas and the paper lifted so after a bit of faffing I decided to not do any more damage.

Original photo reference can be found here...https://pmp-art.com/jacqueline-faith-leaman/gallery/119019/jacqueline-faith-leaman#cm922891

I'm pretty chuffed with it anyway. I used the Andrew Loomus method for the first time. A good video can be found here...https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+proko+how+to+draw+the+head+front+view&view=detail&mid=9EBB8778979DA095CDA79EBB8778979DA095CDA7&FORM=VIRE

Day 2 - Watercolour on A5 - 29 Faces Challenge

So here is today's face. The second one in the 29 faces challenge. It's a made up face and I thought it would be good to try a side angle with a different skin tone from the first. I sketched the face out lightly in pencil before painting.

I've decided to take a week or so to concentrate on faces using watercolour then I plan to swap to another medium. I'm using up whatever watercolour I have in my cupboard which happens to be from a set called 'Painting with Watercolour' from a magazine collection years ago.

I'm using a mixed media pad by Canson, 224gm in A5. It's a nice weight but does pile and curl slightly. It's good for what I need.

Day 1 of Portrait Challenge - Watercolour on A5 Mixed Media Paper

It's the beginning of September 2016 and I've started a new adventure with this challenge. To create a portrait in any medium, any size for the next 29 days. 

I dug out some watercolours which had been laying about for a decade or two and finally have a purpose for them. So here's my first portrait. I've sketched around some of the lines I had made in pencil.

I'm obviously not the most gifted in art but I believe that no matter what level you're at, the most important thing is to make a start! 

The original blogger who started this can be found at https://29faces.blogspot.co.uk