Portraits and Figures

Title: Sun Drenched

This is a painting I did of my daughter Caroline on our back deck with strong sunlight. This painting was painted with flowing paint allowing the paint to mix on the paper with little detail. I think that the eyes slanting down and the light creates drama. The dark background was done with several layers allowing the color to show through with each layer. The face was also painted in that technique.



Title: Pearl Earring

This is a painting of someone i saw recently with interesting facial features, and I asked if I could take her picture. After painting two frontal views I tried this profile with a unique background and liked it best. The face was done loose letting all the color flow together. I strived for little detail and tried not to go back and overwork the face. The background is done with three layers of color and blue green gouache is applied in a random pattern over it. This allowed the figure to pop against the background.

Title: The Reader

Strong light defines the shape of this portrait. The figure is in deep contemplation. I used only the three colors red, yellow, and blue.

Crabs by the Bushel

This painting won first place at the Delaware Watercolor Society's Annual Exhibit this month in Wilmington, Delaware. The exhibit is at Grace Church and runs through the end of Oct. I tried to capture a fleeting moment of crab packers as they worked. I used a limited palette that helped to create an interior of a packing shack.

Pug in Manhattan

The girl is texting and eating lunch while poor little pooch sits and waits for his walk.. I love the composition! The background wall is going to be grafitti posssibly.

Musicians

Portraits

I painted this portrait of a man after my trip to New York City this summer. My daughter and I traveled around the city photographing people and street scenes.

This painting below is titled Afternoon in Verona. This was painted to show the light on the figures. I liked the way the figures are connected to form an interesting negative space as well.

This summer I have been working on casual portraits of people. I have been experimenting with backlighting to create drama.