Monday, May 30, 2016

Zany portrait series

I have started a new series of paintings of family members. Not regular portraits, rather fun, enjoyable cheerful and even humorous portraits.

Pencil portrait of our grandson done as a light sketch to get the feel for working on the following painting.

"Grandparents Blessing"
12x12, acrylic on canvas.
Our grandson was given this colorful feather headress on his birthday from his Aunty which he promptly wore and that I knew someday I would paint. Guppy shapes were added swimming about as last time we visited we were shown his tank full of delightful wee fish. Though painting on a bright red background was a challenge it adds to the lightheartedness of the piece.
 I had so much fun doing "Grandparents Blessing" that it inspired me to work on a portrait of my daughter which I stole unbeknown to her offline.
"Squirrel"
12x12, acrylic on canvas.

When I saw the photo of my zany artistic girl on line sporting a moustache I was excited by the opportunity to use it in a painting. Now I don't much favour squirrels as they remind me of rats, which I am even less fond of having once been chased by a large rat when I was hugely pregnant with my son.
Aside from that my daughter loves them, so I photograph the critters that run around the tree out front and have captured them in various poses, which is great, as the squirrel has made the painting even more special. I admit this one is cute and after photographing theses critters for years they are now eking out space in my work.