Different Folks Portrait

8" x 10" Oil on mounted linen.

Well, the 12 days of Christmas are over, so time to post my assignment for Different Strokes. I would not call myself a portrait artist, so this really was a challenge. Did I get the likeness? Are the colors okay? Did I make her look too fat or too thin? What's "wrong with the mouth"?

Another great quote from Sargent sums up my feelings, "Every time I paint a portrait I lose a friend." It's probably just some healthy self-doubt.

I did take a peek at what Sheila did with my photo. She got the likeness. (I think I have had enough of that snow now.) Of course, she has some more experience with faces. Check out her blog post with my portrait.

So, this is my part of the "group self portrait".

Flocking Trees and Portrait in Progress

Painting progess has slowed some as I have been working on cabinets for the house and doing other chores. Here you can see me flocking our evergreens on Christmas Day! ;^)

I do have a progress photo on a portrait of Dot. I have a portrait to do for the current Different Strokes challenge and I am warming up with one of my wife. She says portraits are scary and she is right when you are the subject! This is definitely in progress; at least one of the eyes needs scraping. We all know that John Singer Sargent said "A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth." This one is not an exception.

Oil in progress 11" x 14"

Karin's Boots

10" x 8" Oil on mounted linen.

$100 - Shipping to US included.

These boots are painted from Karin Jurick's weekly challenge. I painted them from both her picture and looking at the color from Van Gogh's Boots. I really like how this one turned out even though it is pretty dark and moody. I'm really on a Van Gogh kick lately. :p

Nutcrackers

5" x 12" Acrylic on mounted canvas.

These nutcrackers took quite a while to complete. Lots of detail and lots of dots. They are inspired by Van Gogh's Self Portraits, but painted from life. They are a pair of little 8 inch high nutcrackers.

Morning Hydrangeas

10" x 8" Oil on mounted linen.

$ 100 - Shipping to US included.

This is another painting from a Different Strokes image. I don't do Budda, so the he is edited out and replaced with sunbeams forming a cross. The flower pedals really pop out from the blue gray surrounding on this one when viewed in person.