Marie I have a basic rule when painting a portrait that generally saves me a lot of time and effort: draw in one session and begin painting in the next. When I sit down to paint, I almost always see a drawing error that needs to corrected before I put the paint on the paper. I drew this painting in a hurry an hour before I needed to work on it in a demo. I didn't take the time to either draw carefully or review my drawing before putting down my first wash. The right eye is higher than the left. I could possibly fix it by lifting and shifting, but I got frustrated, moved to the mouth and hastily put in the wrong shape. Once again, I could probably lift and shift, but I since it's early and I am already feeling negative about it, it makes more sense to me to scrap it and go on. I think I'll go paint fruit.
Kayaking with Bridget 15 x 11 pastel
Julie I picked this photograph to paint because I love the subject matter. A fun outing with my niece in the kayak. We were having a blast and I wanted to capture that fun afternoon together. Unfortunately, in my rush to get started, I didn't take the time to check the composition or do an accurate drawing. As a result, the perspective on my niece's arms doesn't work, nor does the placement and depth of the kayak. Nothing is lined up correctly and having her head almost dead center in the painting does not make for a great composition. My feet, on the other hand, don't look too bad... but not the best thing to feature in this painting either. Some day, I may try again with another photo, but for now, this one goes to the back of the bin.
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