New painting based on a photo I took at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, an amazing free concert at Golden Gate Park in S.F. last September.  This was during Iron & Wine’s set, which was absolutely packed.  I won’t be able to take any photos at ACL fest this fall, because I won’t be there. 

I really like this painting.

My first ebay experience didn’t work out, but I am heading back in there and relisting that painting, along with this one.  I am oging to list a few more of these older paintings (less than a year old) on ebay and etsy before moving on to newer ones.  I do think that these portraits are good and would make some lucky buyer very happy.

If you’re interested in buying, go to http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260465068377&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

New posts to come!

This is a painting that I created while doing a demonstration at Jerry’s Art-A-Rama in Austin.  One of the employees complimented me on it, which is always nice.  I think she looks quite romantic and dreamy with her pouty lips and heavy eyes. 

I will also be updating my etsy account with some new paintings for sale. 

To bid on my ebay listing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260461019782&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Kate Winslet from a scene in “Revolution Road”.

The sketch on canvas.

Adding values.

The blue light reflected on the left side of her face.

Further definition of features.

Working on skin tones.

Filling in the lips.

The finished painting.

Reference photo.

All images (c) Shelley Aikens.  Noncommercial distribution permitted with attribution.

 The Cathedral of Junk is a South Austin landmark.  It is the creation of Vance Hannemann, who has spent the past 20 years building, sculpting and adding detritus to this structure (found to be safe and sound by city engineers) in his backyard.  It holds myriad treasures and surprises to discover.  http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/7816

Donations

Heavenly Light

Step Up

Stop and Stay

Horseman

No Outlet

Visitor

Wyoming

Rainbow Route

Acid Glass

All images (c) Shelley Aikens.  Noncommercial distribution permitted with attribution.

Watching “Gone Baby Gone”, I was fascinated by Casey Affleck’s bone structure and how the lighting in the movie accentuated his cheekbones and eyebrows.  I made this painting of the scene where he and his partner meet with the drug dealer “Cheese” to discuss the ransom for the missing girl.

I started with a 12″ x 12″ canvas primed with purple acrylic paint and sketched out the subject’s facial features in oil paint.  As usual, I mixed ultramarine blue, burnt umber, and a touch of alizarine crimson to make black paint (rather than using black out of the tube).  I used Gamsol to thin the paint for fluidity.  This first step in painting a portrait is very important for getting the proportions of the features right.  Look at the eyes, mouth, parts of the nose, shadows on the cheeks, etc. as simply shapes that fit together to make a whole image.

Still using thinned oil paint, I brushed in the skin tones.  I used a mixture of raw sienna, burnt sienna, cadmium red and cadmium yellow with lots of titanium white for his pale skin.  For the warmer areas, I added more reds.  In the shadows, I added burnt umber and ultramarine.  I kept the paint fairly thin and washy.

Developing the painting further with the darkest areas in thick black paint.  I continued to mold the shapes of his face, looking for highlighted areas where the light hit his face.  I also painted the background a medium bluish-grey and his jacket green.  Some of the purple acrylic paint still shows through from the underpainting.

The painting is basically finished at this point.  The cropped photo at the top of this post shows more contrast and greater color saturation.  I like to let the brush strokes show in my paintings rather than blending them smoothly.

All images (c) Shelley Aikens.  Noncommercial distribution permitted with attribution.