It's been months since I painted a portrait but this week I felt that I needed a change from the landscapes I had been doing. I enjoyed painting this darling child a few years back, when I painted "Renaissance Child" and so I decided to try her again this past week.
I used a very different technique this time, attempting a much more impressionistic approach than my previous attempt. I was very happy overall with her face, though I suspect I'll be continuing to work her costume a bit more in the future.
Here is a close up of her face. If you click on the image you can see the detail better. You'll see that there are many spots of broken color applied and some very thick passages of impasto in the light passages:
This past week I was very pleased to receive some samples of new art materials from Jerry's Artarama. In the box was a set of Pro Stroke Powercryl brushes in various sizes. After painting with these brushes all day yesterday I was shocked to find out that they were NOT Chungking bristle brushes at all! They were wonderful synthetic substitutes having all the same qualities of firmness, springiness and paint absorbancy that I normally find only in premium hog's hair bristle brushes. I went to Jerry's website and found that these brushes are recommended for acrylic painters. I can say with confidence that I would also recommend them for oil painters for the reasons mentioned above. Although these are synthetic brushes, they handled the paint with the degree of structure and firmness that I usually require in painting the opaque passages of my work. They also worked well for the transparent passages!They are currently on sale at 55% off at Jerry's. You can go here to read more about the brushes and place an order.I do recommend these fine brushes by Creative Mark!
In addition, I also rec'd some samples of Lukas oil paint. This is not a brand that I would normally think of using but I was very pleased with the overall consistency of the paint. I tend to switch back and forth between different brands of Titanium white because I am never perfectly happy with the overall consistency of the brands I have been using. Lately, I had been mixing Permalba white (which is extremely gooey and watery) with Winsor and Newton (which is far too dry in my opinion) in order to get the overall firm but not dry consistency of paint that I desire. With the Lukas titanium white, I found I had a perfect consistency! I also used some of the cobalt violet mixed with transparent oxide red to get some of the neutrals for the background and for the neutrals in her face. I really liked these paints and noticed they are very affordable and I will definitely purchase them in the future! Thank-you Jerry's Artarama! I look forward to trying the other materials that were sent to me in the near future.
To see the painting I did of this little child 5 years ago, please go here, and if you have a chance, please let me know which one you like better!
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